On Seeing England for the First Time Essay Example

📌Category: Education, Learning
📌Words: 1326
📌Pages: 5
📌Published: 05 July 2020

Four summers ago, I went on a school trip to England. Little did I know what was bound to happen. This trip was originally meant to be a literature tour of England. However, a lot more than “safely traveling” happened on this trip. The teacher mistakenly left me behind, but I was not the only one. Throughout the entire trip, I was left twice and before that, the teacher left her mother! This trip was one of my most memorable ones yet. 

It was a cloudy afternoon in England. The tour group I was with boarded a bus heading to Yorkshire. Everyone was tired, cold, and ready to leave. After driving for approximately ten minutes, the teacher Mrs. Sandra realized she had just left her mother behind. We immediately turned the bus around to pick Mrs. Sandra’s mother up. This time leaving with everyone we are supposed to have, we continued our journey to Yorkshire. 

After roughly thirty-minutes of driving, we finally arrived in Yorkshire. The large crowds that filled the streets distracted everyone from the cold and dreary weather. Our tour guide gave us a spot to meet in case something happened. We had to leave in exactly four hours to travel to the next town. We also had a bracelet with the tour guide’s phone number that he gave us in case we got lost. We were told it was his personal phone number. 

After we arrived in Yorkshire, everyone got off the bus and rushed to make it to our next tour. Everyone noticed a purple man on a bike. He was one of those statue men on the street who was completely covered in purple paint that stood still and moved only when you weren’t looking. We were all fascinated by him and we took loads of pictures. Eventually, some of my friends walked away, but I decided to stay behind and finish filming a video of him. My teacher, Mrs. Sandra, was supposed to stay behind all of us, but got impatient and decided to leave; unknowingly leaving twelve-year-old Maddie, the youngest on the trip behind, in the busy streets of Yorkshire. 

All Alone 

When I realized I my group left me, I began to worry. I checked my surroundings and realized the only buildings around me were pubs. I walked up to buildings approaching a candy shop. I was in tears at this point, I was clueless about what to do. I didn’t have a phone because I was only twelve at the time, so I had no way to call the number on my wrist. When I approached the shop my thoughts were, “it has to be more helpful than the pub”.

As I enter the store, I tried to calm myself. I then asked the lady working in the shop if I could borrow her phone. I told her how I was left behind and that I had I didn’t know where my tour was headed nor did I know how to get back to our meeting location. She then tried dialing the number on my wrist. However, the number didn’t work. During her second time calling the number, a man walked into the store with his two kids. His name was JOHN.

The employee and I then proceeded to ask John if we could try calling the number from his phone. After borrowing John’s phone to call the number I told him about what had happened. I also described Mrs. Sandra to him. He said that he had just passed her down the street so I decided to go with him to look for her. He proceeded to check out. After he bought candy from the lady, I thanked her for helping me. John assured me that I would get back to my tour in time and he then offered me candy to help calm me down. As ironic as it was, yes, I did end up taking candy from a stranger. 

After leaving the shop, we walked around where John last saw Mrs. Sandra. After ten to fifteen minutes of walking, we headed over to the nearest tour store. This store managed the majority of the tours. We then met two clever ladies with dark hair. They tried calling the number on my wrist. After the number didn’t work, one of the ladies mentioned that it was an American number so they would need the American area code for the call to go through. The “personal phone number” on my wrist given to me by the guide had been useless. The only opportunity I had to find my group was flawed, or so I thought.  

The lady who worked in the tour shop discovered the area code and called the number again. They answered. It turned out to be the company of ELT tours. The trip to England that I was on was an ELT trip so I told them about what had happened. They asked who I was and what our tour leader’s name was. I proceeded to tell them and they instantly contacted him. He eventually picked me up from the tour shop and I said goodbye to John and his kids. 

I’m felt so relieved. Although by the time he came to get me I was really hungry. After he found me, I told him that I hadn’t eaten because I’d been so busy trying to get back to the group. He showed me again where were supposed to meet and sent me back out on the streets of Yorkshire. Twelve-year-old me, back out, on her own, going to get food. This time I was confident and at ease. I was just hungry. After walking down the street I got stopped by a police officer. He asked if I was Maddie Barnes and I told him I was. He told me that I was lost and my group had called him because they couldn’t find me. I attempted arguing with him that I wasn’t lost and I was just trying to get a late lunch. Shortly after I came to my senses and realized that he was a police officer so I just needed to cooperate. He proceeded to tell me how he recognized me from my pink baseball cap and that I needed to come with him. I agreed and followed him back to my original meeting location.

The meeting location was a chapel. After we arrived, I saw Mrs. Sandra and her mother there waiting for me. They looked relieved but also frightened at the same time. She told me I was never allowed to leave her side. That didn’t last very long. 

How I Felt After

The rest of the day I was practically glued to her and had to go wherever she went. Ultimately, I got fed up with her grabbing me and acting like I was on a leash. I asked if I could go with Madison, Tessa, and Edward during our free time. TOWN?? She was hesitant and a little annoyed but she let me go with them. 

We left the group, decided to get food, and then go shopping. We were on a tight schedule. In a few hours, we had to get back on the bus and head over to Windsor castle for another tour. We lost track of time while shopping and while checking out at our last store Mrs. Sandra called and told us that the bus was going to leave us behind if we weren’t there in five minutes. We sprinted towards the bus and made it well under five minutes. Of course, the bus was gone and it was just an empty parking space. Mrs. Sandra decided to leave early so, yet again I was left behind. We then decided to get a taxi and meet her there. After calling the cab we told them where we wanted to go and we headed over to Windsor Castle. 

After we arrived, we paid the driver and proceeded to look for the bus. We then realized we had beaten them there. It was ironic since she left us when we were on time and we left later and still made it there early. 

In the end, Mrs. Sandra arrived and we all enjoyed our tour.  We didn’t lose any more people for the remainder of the trip. I was always an independent kid but this trip taught me to keep my composure, use problem-solving thinking skills, and to take action rather than staying put and waiting for something to happen.

 

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