Dear diary,

today has been the best day on our trip to Canterbury so far! It is the 8th September 2015 and right now I am laying in my bed in our accommodation in Canterbury feeling totally exhausted, but happy. So let me tell you about what happened. It was a little bit cloudy today, but there were also some moments when the sun was shining so brightly that we had to put our jackets off. From the days before in England my friends and I learned that it is always good to have a scarf with you or just another jacket because even though the sun was shining every now and then it could get cold due to the wind. When we got up today morning, Laura, Marina and I met in the kitchen to have a little breakfast and to make something to eat that we could take with us on the trip today. We also discussed what was best to wear today and I can tell you that we put way too much clothes on if I think about it now. We three are sharing a flat together with three other students. This morning we were all excited to go and visit Dover’s castle and the white cliffs and we were all looking forward to it.

At nine o’clock we left our accommodation in Canterbury and went to Dover’s castle by coach. When we arrived we had to wait half an hour to get our tickets which was a little bit annoying. We got a map of Dover’s castle and then the group could separate and we could decide on our own what we wanted to see. I think we were a group of 40 people today as some decided to go on a hiking trip with Mr. La Presti along the white cliffs. I formed a group with Laura and Marina and at first we just went around looking at the castle and went towards the sea. We were clueless where to go first as nobody has visited Dover’s castle before. By accident, we got to two entrances that lead underneath the ground. There were signs that each tunnel could be visited during a tour and so we decided that we wanted to join both tours. The first tunnel we visited was a hospital that was 15 meters beneath the ground and it was used during the second world war. It was a very impressive tour as they showed how a wounded soldier came into the hospital and what he did in there. It was made with an audio play and sometimes you felt like there were really bombs that crashed on top of the tunnel. They even created smells that fit the rooms that you were in.

This was the most impressive experience that I made today and I will never forget that! After this tour, we wanted to go into the second tunnel right away, but the tour was already full so we had to wait for the next one. That’s why we decided to take a look at the castle before coming back. The castle was beautiful and they had a lot of old furniture in there. I liked best that you could go anywhere you wanted and look at nearly everything. When we got back to the tunnels we were again too late for the tour because it was already full of people. That’s why we sat down near the sea and ate something while waiting for the next tour. This time we visited tunnels where the British had made their strategies and where they had communicated with their allies during the second world war. It was also very impressive and we got to see film material and a really good presentation of how the different countries that fought each other were armed. This second tunnel was 30 meters beneath the ground. The tour guide told us that there is a third tunnel, but that unfortunately we could not go there. It is just opened two times a year I believe and you have to register early for it to get a chance to make that tour. This third tunnel is called “dumpy” and it was 45 meters beneath the ground. It was build to keep as many people as possible away from danger when there is a nuclear war. The thing that bugs me the most is that we weren’t allowed to take picture or to film the tunnels.

After the last tour that we made we really had to hurry to get back to the coach and we were the last people who got there. At 14 o’clock we arrived at the white cliffs and we had half an hour to look around there as we had to pick up the people who went hiking in Deal. The cliffs were very beautiful and we made many pictures even though they all looked the same. Laura, Marina and I even took a stone from the cliffs with us as a souvenir.
At half past three we arrived in Deal and we all got off there because we were told that there was a really good restaurant where we could get good fish and chips. Most of us went to this restaurant and as it was a very little one it was very very full of people. After eating Laura, Marina and I went through the city of Deal to look around a bit and then we went back to the coach, found the others sitting on the beach and joined them till we had to get back to Canterbury.
After driving around that much today you can imagine why I am laying in bed totally exhausted. When we got back, we just played cards for a little bit, talked about everything that happened today again and then went to our rooms to sleep so we will be fit for tomorrow. And that’s what I will do now– sleep.

Good night!

Svenja