"Bury St Edmunds"-usually when you name this town to people, they ask to repeat :" Sorry?". Apparently, it's difficult to remember it. But be sure, once been here, you will never forget how  it is called. Tiny and quiet at first sight, this place counts more than  a thousand years of rich history,connected with the most important parts in the life of medieval England . And what makes it rather more attractive is Bury Language school, to where hundreds of students from all over the world float each year. Making new friends, improving  your language skills, doing every-week sightseeing- sounds good? So, you're welcome!!!

My journey to here started with arriving at my host family's  home. Actually, the first day seems the most memorable because you suddenly happen to be soaked eyes and ears in absolutely new and unfamiliar atmosphere . When I popped out of taxi I saw a lovely little woman greeting me: "Hi, darling!"-and I was really touched by her hospitality and friendliness. Then, I came to her snug tiny house and the first thing I saw was a huge old portrait painted with oil on wood and put into glinted carved frame. This was a portrait of her grand -grand-grand-grand father! It was utterly amazing for me! Since that very moment I understood that I will live in a typical English family with strong traditions, a bit conservative but not less attractive.

On the next day we had a trip to Ipswich, a peaceful  town nearby. Our teachers chose quite a creative way of studying the place: we were divided in a few groups and given some worksheets with puzzled quiz about  Christ church, local history museum. We had only an hour for completing our lists. So by whipping up and down around the church, disturbing museum staff and bothering every met visitor with tricky( sometimes silly) questions, we actually did our job perfectly! " Give me five!" - said one of us joyfully when finally we handed in our work and suddenly everyone in our team felt that we had become friends for that hour. Nothing rallies more than a strong will to win!!!

Next days were full of different activities and events. We went to the sport centre and bowling with  school after our lessons, also with Spanish and Italian students we watched a movie in a local cinema and visited a swimming pool. It was absolutely stunning!!! There wasn't one single day we spent flatly. And on Saturday we had a long-expected journey to Cambridge...

We all imagine Cambridge as a peaceful small town with its prestigious old universities where the cream of the crop studies only. However, when you come here it's not ancient universities and extremely clever youngsters that catch your eye first but a heap of tourists wandering around the centre with cameras and dazed faces. As soon as you arrive there you start to feel yourself as a part of this huge mass of visitors. Every street  is like a small river has its own current: people move in some direction and it's extremely hard to get by if you start to move in opposite to that one. Like all rivers float to a sea , all tourists float to a market square at the core of the town. There you can buy lots of souvenirs clothes and some street food. By the way, shopping in Cambridge is worth doing. Another must-do activity is punting, riding on canoes down the river Cam, which is fairly enjoyable cause you can see majority of universities inside, i.e. its own yards, students' accommodation and libraries. We did all the activities with our group leader, very smart girl called Joanne.

The second week was quite similar to the first one. But our teachers changed. Instead of Piers we had Vicky and, to be honest, I liked both! Lessons were very well-organized. We managed to do listening , reading, exam preparation, learn some history facts and play games every day!!!!  And what is the most important,  it was all accompanied with good speaking practice. Quite often we went out in town on the last lesson and got some interesting tasks like 'Selfie challenge' or 'Nursery rhymes survey', that is we were forced to communicate with local citizens - irreplaceable experience !!! And then, we had after-lesson time-the most favorite time of each student. Dancing at disco in a local club, playing Deutschball, studying drama ,doing baking and having afternoon tea -  the list of activities we did seems really attractive, doesn't  it? But this isn't the end. On Tuesday we went to a spooky haunted place -Ely. Indeed, even the name of this town rings a bell with "eerily". It's the place where you will be told about ghosts at every turn. Spirits of nuns, a sinister Blue hand, a strange mute soldier-these are the most popular ghost-habitants of this place. Even my host said that once she felt herself as cold as ice when entered in some king's room there! "Why did you to go there then?"-  you may ask. Actually, Ely isn't only famous for its weird "citizens" and frightening stories in which it's up to you to decide whether believe or not. It's also one of the most ancient cathedrals located there, founded in 1083! Besides, you will have a chance to visit Oliver Cromwell's house, one of the greatest and the most  ambiguous figure in English history, who lived there for 11 years. By the way, this  is another person whose spirit you're likely to meet in Ely.

I hope you won't be left completely untouched by this article cause even when I read it again I want to return to Bury St Edmunds where I found lots of friends, met a great number of interesting people and made a progress in my English, especially in listening and speaking. And, of course, I learned a lot about England itself, which can be so different every day. And I'm not talking only about the weather. You can usually see English people dressed in jeans and snickers on the street but there's still smth in their eyes and speech left from the times of knighthood and chivalry. A kind of greatness pride of their country and conscience of their excellence. It makes you respect this nation and arouses an interest in their history and traditions.