Saturday April 20

After breakfast we headed to Windsor, where we saw Windsor Castle, the official residence of Her Majesty the Queen.

Then we headed to the airport for our return flight home. When the flight crew learned that we were a choir on tour, they asked if we'd sing. They announced us on the intercom and gathered around as we performed!

Hi everyone! We are on the bus on the way to the airport right now and I really don’t want to leave. I feel like everyone else in this group is going to eat me alive for saying it, but I have not really missed Facebook or the Internet at all. The only things I have really missed are my family and friends (and watching Friends on demand). Oh, and my retainer. I’ve missed that.

Today was a great day. I visited the lovely Windsor Castle, walked through all of the elaborate rooms, watched a marching band of full-uniform-clad guards play “My Heart Will Go On,” took a straight-faced picture with one of the guards, and spent 3 of my last 5 pounds on a divine pot of chocolate ice cream. Definitely a successful day. Also the weather is insanely beautiful.

See y’all soon. Cheers, as they say on this side of the pond.

Meghan

PS. Dear Mom, thank you for helping me write out my itinerary of what to wear each day. It was extremely helpful.

This trip was absolutely amazing! I had a wonderful time in England and I will never forget this experience. I also made many friends at the Gresham School and I am looking forward to keeping in touch with all of them. Although I’m sad this trip is over, I am so happy to have these memories that will last me a life time. I am so grateful that I was able to go to England with Lyrics and I will forever be grateful for this opportunity.

Anna S

Just destroyed Chris in Backgammon on the plane, although he’d deny it if you asked him.

Hailey

Dear Lyrics, friends and families,

From somewhere over the Atlantic, I am delighted to say that we did not leave anyone behind in England. Where to begin to share with you one teacher’s view of this amazing adventure? I have been fortunate enough to travel the world, but there is nothing that compares with taking a group of young people who become true cultural ambassadors. From our flashmob at the departure gate in Boston, through the church service at Covent Garden, the concert at Southwark, the visit and performance at Gresham’s, the concert in the magnificent Gloucester Cathedral, and in Holy Trinity Stratford-upon-Avon, to the heartwarming serenade for our bus driver, Barrington, and our final command performance for the flight crew aboard Virgin Atlantic flight 11, our students offered an inspiring symbol of all that is beautiful and hopeful in the youth of the USA. As one gentleman said to us after a performance, “I’m just a Gloucester peasant, but that was bloody amazing!” Everyone we met, from bus drivers to our beloved tour escort Almar Otjes, to our hosts at Gresham’s, found our students to be as delightful as we all know they are!

Beyond offering beautiful performances, our students soaked up history, culture and – of course – food everywhere we went. It was a joy to see their sense of wonder at the Tower of London, Churchill War Rooms, Westminster Abbey and Windsor Castle. History became real for them as they made connections with the past.

It is an awesome responsibility to be entrusted with the wellbeing of 44 young adults. They are, in so many ways, ready for independence and yet the risks are so great. The whole group made it easy for us to be their caretakers. They respected the guidelines we set for them, and used their freedom wisely and joyfully. They trusted us to make moment to moment decisions in their best interest, and they were flexible every day. They were a real family, and took care of one another at all times. As they have done so many times this year, they again made me proud to call myself their teacher and conductor.

To the moms and dads especially, thank you for entrusting your precious children to our care. You have raised kind, respectful, curious, joyful, sweet, funny, bright young men and women, and you have every reason to be filled with pride in them. I love them dearly. It will be very quiet at our house tonight and, though I always breathe a sigh of relief when I return them to you safely, I’ll miss the time we’ve spent together.

Thank you all,

KW

Virgin Atlantic flight #11 departs London 3:05pm - arrives Boston 5:35pm