Johnston County — Two teen musicians from Johnston have returned from a once-in-a-lifetime gig. Anna Mukamal of Smithfield and Austin Benson of McGee’s Crossroads spent eight days touring and playing music in England.

Mukamal, a rising-eighth grader at Four Oaks Middle School, is the daughter of Beth and Jeff Mukamal. Benson, a rising junior at West Johnston High School, is the son of Ann and Randy Benson. They both take violin lessons from Pam Kelly, owner of Cape Fear Valley School of Violin. Earlier this month, 41 of Kelly’s students and 20 adults boarded the seven-hour flight to England.

Kelly’s students performed with English violinists in front of prestigious local officials and clergy. They played at The Abbey Church of Saint Peter, an Anglican church in Bath, and at a Methodist church in Taunton, a historic town in Somerset.

Kelly’s students learned England’s national anthem, while the English students learned the United States anthem.

“There is always something you have in common [with other people],” Mukamal said. “Even if you don’t understand all of their customs or accent, you can share your music with them, and you feel like you are sharing something together.”

“It really wasn’t all that different to me, because they are kind of on the same level as we were,” Benson said of playing with the English students. “Even if you are really different or in a different country, the people there are same. You’ve always got some common ground.”

The trip was not all about work. Mukamal, Benson and the other students got a chance to do some sightseeing in England. They visited the London Eye, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace. The students even got a glimpse of the royal family during a parade for Queen Elizabeth’s birthday.

The students stayed with host families for two days to learn more about England’s culture. Both families stayed up late playing board games, drinking hot chocolate and making English milkshakes with ice, milk and vanilla flavoring. The English use heavy cream instead whipped cream on desserts, and they mix ice cream and fruit together.

Fish and chips are a popular meal in England but did not impress Benson. “I was expecting the fish and chips to be ungodly good, but it really wasn’t,” he said. “It was just fish and french fries. My biggest thing is they didn’t have sweet tea and [enough] ice.”

The students picked up a few new phrases while in England. “It started raining outside, and Daisy, the 13-year-old in the [English] family, said, ‘Oh, it’s really chucking it down,’” Mukamal said. “I looked at her and said, ‘Whose sick?’ She said, ‘It’s raining quite hard.’”

Mukamal’s mother, Beth, was apprehensive at first about staying with a host family. “We were going into someone’s home, and we didn’t know their name or anything about them,” she said. “It turned out to be one of the most positive and rewarding experiences. We felt totally immersed in their culture.”