We were met at the hotel at 11am and our hosts took us to the Singapore Flyer for a welcome lunch which was delicicous. We sampled a variety of spicy local specialities including Stingray, Sugar cane drinks, oysters, pork rib soup, tofu and much more.

It was great to spend time with the teachers with whom we would be spending the next few days over lunch. We even had a lesson in how to use chopsticks properly!

After lunch our hosts helped us orientate ourselves and to organise excursions for the afternoon and later in the week. Nadine and Jen were taken shopping and for more food by teachers from their school while the rest of us were driven to Clarke Quay from where we took a boat trip along the Singapore River towards Marina Bay Sands, the Merlion and other sights.

After returning to the hotel we all met up to walk over to the Singapore Flyer for a night time ride and view across the city before dinner of Chinese food along the river. This was an opportunity for some to sample their first Singapore Sling while others sampled the local Tiger Beer.

We were met at arrivals by representatives from Hillgrove Secondary, Hong Kah Secondary and Si Ling Secondary School and boarded the bus to our hotel Grand Park City Hall where we checked into our rooms.

After a local recommendation from our host teachers we went to Raffles City Mall for dinner in the food court and had a drink in Chijmes before turning in.

Having travelled from all corners of the UK (Newcastle, Manchester, London and Nottingham) we all met in the lounge and got to know each other before boarding the 13hr flight to Changi Airport, Singapore. We were fortunate that there were some empty seats on the flight so we could spread out. We enjoyed various films on the outbound flight - Les Miserables, The Impossible, Argo, Quartet, Skyfall to name but a few. A very uncomfortable flight characterised by turbulence throughout but we all managed a few hours sleep.