Day Two: Tour of Plymouth

Hello all!

While I figure I have some spare time before dinner, I will update you all about today's activities! Today started out early with breakfast at the dorm cafeteria and boy was it tasty! I had the absolute BEST sunny side up egg this morning, some hash browns, and some "fruit" which turned out to be a SUPER sour form of passion fruit. All of the ladies that work at the cafeteria are so nice and wear these cute little hats when they serve you- they say things like "'Ere you go, love" when handing me my toast and OJ, and it's just so darn cute!

After breakfast I headed off with the group to our first class. The building that our class is in is an art design class and has remarkable architecture. It looks like a huge chrome building and it overlooks the city (this I've taken pictures of). Class was really informative today. I have set up a new blog strictly for classroom use, and learned about how to update this blog into something way more awesome then I expected! All of these changes to this blog will surely come throughout this week sometime!

After class we had an hour lunch back at the cafeteria where I tried the fish. I figured that If I was to order fish, it should be from this town where it is their main export. It was pretty good, actually (granted I'm not much of a fish fan). One wierd thing I've noticed about England that is majorly different from the US are the condiments. Ketchup is extremely hard to find here (I'm talking about the small packaged ketchup). Instead the British use something called "brown sauce" for everything- I still have yet to try this. Over here they also don't use mayonaise- I found this out the hard way by trying some slaw at lunch today and spitting it back out on my plate because it tasted like a foot.

After class we all took a walking tour, guided by that nice man I mentioned earlier in the posts, JP. JP looks a lot like Dick Van Dyke (white haired version) except he is french and has a very thick accent. Nonetheless, JP showed us around the city and all of the major areas. It was unbelieveable. We walked down to the coast and saw the steps that the Pilgrims left from for America and many of the beautiful sights along the way. I even took a picture of the Plymouth Police Station for you dad! It's pretty funny looking! Not as funny looking as the actual police, though. I saw one walking through a mall today and he had one of those funny police hats on, hehe.

One especially interesting experience today was at the grocery store in Plymouth. Man oh man was it busy! It's nearly impossible to walk through the aisles without bumping into people! The food was also very different from what we have back home. Things are much smaller here and more expensive. The only item that I ended up buying were some "sea salt and vinegar kettle chips", which are AMAZING.

Apparently the "U-Scans" that we have at Meijer have made their way over here to England as well. It was kind of difficult paying because I am still unsure of all of the different coins (penses) that they use here so I think people were getting mad behind me in line as I counted and had to look for each amount on the backs of the coins, whoops!

After coming home from the supermarket and walking tour I hopped in the shower (which is always an interesting experience in itself) and managed to get the shampoo out of my hair a lot quicker this time, yay! We are now about to go do something for dinner and then I have homework to get to. That's about all for today. It's only 6pm here right now and I think I'm going to take it easy for the rest of the day after dinner! I hope everyone is doing well back at home, I miss you all!


Cheers,
Tara


Ps. Potato Chips="Crisps" here while "chips" are actually french fries! Ahh, confusing!

June 28th: The first day in England

Hello!!

After a long day, I've finally made it to England!!

The flight wasn't too bad. There was a thunderstorm in Canada that caused some turbulence (and some white knuckles from me on my seat)and the food was actually a pretty decent meal of pasta marinara with an extra delicious sample of cheese and crackers! The plane was a lot smaller than I had expected and was very cramped for space. It was for these reasons (and the occasional jolt of turbulence) that kept me from sleeping on the eight hour flight. But alas!! I have made it to England!

Walking through the London Gatwick airport seemed like it was a scene out of a movie while hundreds of people align a walkway that you must walk down in order to depart from the airport. I realized today that cutting in a queue (which is the English word for a "line") is a very serious ordeal and should never happen under any circumstances.

After leaving Gatwick Airport we took a 4 hour bus ride to Plymouth. The bus ride was entertaining and it allowed me my first look at the beautiful country I had recently arrived in. England is full of lush green acres of farm land and there are cows EVERYWHERE. It was quite the sight driving on the expressway on the "opposite" side of the road and I learned that speed limits are never posted on expressways because the speed limit on these roads is a general understanding within all citizens of England. England also uses cameras on the side of the road to snap pictures of cars that are speeding past a designated point alongside of the roads. The bus ride was very scenic and I even got to see Stonehenge from the road! The sights were beautiful, the roads were impeccably constructed (with no pot holes) and the small quaint villages that we drove through look like something out of a story book.

During the bus ride we stopped at a rest stop and I made my first purchase of some English "chips" (fries). The people that worked there were especially entertaining and tried to make jokes as they handed us our food.

When we arrived at Plymouth (still most of us without sleep)I couldn't believe how beautiful a coastal town could be. The shore line and the buildings around it are unlike anything in the United States. I was then escorted to my room by the friendly man who works with the study abroad program named CJ. I had my first shower experience in my dorm room and the water pressure was so low that it took nearly 20minutes to rinse the shampoo out of my hair. My computer almost got fried because of a faulty converter that I received but it seems to be working fine now.

I just recently got home from my first English Pub called the "Friendly Professor" to watch the Euro2008 game of Spain v. Germany. I ordered a "Becks" in a bottle for only $1.50 (in reality $3 American). The pub was jammed wall to wall with spectators for the game. I finished my beer without a problem (yay me) and it wasn't even bad after all! The English couple that I sat next to in a booth were explaining some of the inner intricacies of the game to me and it was an overall good time!

The people on the trip seem really great and friendly. I am looking forward to getting to know them all. Tomorrow is the first day of classes and our walking tour of the city of Plymouth. I'm so tired, I still haven't slept since before my plane took off yesterday so I'm about to get to bed. I will keep everyone posted about what else I see tomorrow and I hope everyone has a good night!


Cheers,

Tara



Apparently "cheers" has a variety of meanings. "Goodbye", "thank you", or "I'm sorry" (as i found out when someone stepped on my foot at the pub).