LSIS Conference 2013

May 21 this year was a very special day for me. Me and my friend Sophie went to London for a presentation on college at the LSIS Workshop. The presentation happened the day after we arrived. We took the train from Gobowen to Birmingham, then the train from Birmingham to Euston Station. We went with staff members Maryanne and Zoe and took a cab to the Wellington Hotel, where we stayed the night. It was the first time I had my very own room in a hotel, with a big double bed, a TV and some nearby coffee and a kettle. In fact, the 4 of us had our own rooms, the only ones who shared a room were Zoe and Maryanne.

                              Me, Sophie and Maryanne at Euston Station, giving thumbs up.


On the train, we rehearsed our lines for our speech on our Facebook group Derwen Study Den. Study Den is an hour-long session me and Sophie are in at college on a Friday morning, where we learn Literacy and Numeracy online and post our progress on this Facebook group.

Me, Sophie and Zoe having a coffee before catching the train.

On the evening of the day we arrived in London, we went for a stroll around the city and had dinner at Pizza Express. We also stopped by at the shop behind the London Eye and bought a souvenir each. 

I bought an I ♥ London badge and a cool-looking pen.

At the workshop.

The presentation was met with success. The entire room erupted with applause and everyone loved us. Not long after, the news was spread on my college's Facebook page and some people at the conference tweeted. Here's a quote from Sohail Sayed:

 "Hi, I'm am a lecturer based in London. I was one of the participants at the LSIS research conference where I had the pleasure of attending one of the workshops held by Zoe, Maryanne and the two students, James and Sophie from Derwen College. I have to say that James and Sophie were by far the stars of the show which made their workshop the highlight of the whole event. It's not easy to stand up in front of a group of strangers and give a presentation; unless your name is James and Sophie! Your integrity and clear speech charmed and touched everyone and made it a delight to listen to. Well done to you and the teachers, Zoe and Maryanne for putting it all together!"

After the presentation, we took the trains mentioned earlier in this post and made it back to college at about 7:00pm. This whole trip was a Crowning Moment of Awesome. In my speech, I stated that "there's no-one who I'd rather be than me". Yes, it's a Wreck-It Ralph reference, and it impressed everyone due to how diplomatic it sounded. That's all there is for me to say now. See ya's.