Friday, June 15
We spent most of the day exploring the two campuses where we’ll be attending class. While our flats are right next to one side, the other campus is about a fifteen minute walk away, across a bridge and through an adorable neighborhood where all the doors are bright colors. I love this.
Campus is pretty great. They love the font Chunk Five — it is everywhere, from brochures about the university to painted on the inside walls. It’s wonderful not being surrounded by Ball State red (aka a designers worst nightmare) at all times.
We met our professors for the trip and they are great. Our guides, Boogey and Nicola, spent time telling us about the best ways to travel and just comparing the differences between here and America, whether it be from music to words to a person’s way of life. Also, we did this all over tea. Never leaving.
Even though we just had tea, we had it again because students at the university wanted us to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee. We celebrated over fresh strawberries, delicious desserts and vintage clothes, which is like a dream come true because we all know how much I adore strawberries and how badly I want to be a hipster. Like I said, I’m never leaving.
For the next few hours, we hung out, ate dinner, got ready and hung out in Flat 4. Then, we went to the clubs.
The clubs here are just the best places. First of all, the club we went to is in an old church. And, it’s name? Tramps. This place is awesome. They serve drinks in fish bowls, they only play mash-ups and they love Zumba music. I was in heaven. We walked in and it looks like a pretty regular dance club, but after looking around, we discovered it was so much more. Inside the club, there were more clubs. Like, four more, each with a different DJ, genre and general group of people. I can’t even explain how cool it was. They also had really cool type on the walls. I’m obviously a huge nerd, but how can a place be bad when the typography is this great?
Also, I had the best thing happen to me. Clearly, I love British accents, but I never thought that the effect could be reversed. Anna and I were talking to each other, when this guy stopped us while we were walking down the spiral staircase. He was elated that we were Americans and could not stop going on about how much he loves America and loves our accents and basically, how he loved us. At the same time we were talking to this guy Lucas, Drew comes up the stairs carrying some girl who adored him because of his accent. IT WORKS BOTH WAYS. We were nervous that people wouldn’t like us because we were American, but that is not the case at all. The DJ gave “those American girls” shout outs all night and everyone wanted to dance with us. It’s so funny how people think Americans are supposed to act. One British guy even asked a girl in my group if “Your high school was just like ‘One Tree Hill.’
One huge difference between clubbing here and partying in Muncie is that there is a pretty strict dress code at these clubs. In order to get in, you have to be wearing heels, which is so strange for us, considering we have friends that have worn sweats to the bars. After awhile, our feet hurt, Michael and Drew were exhausted from being the only American boys and I was fairly positive I broke my tailbone due to a fiasco while being picked up by a British guy. We decided to leave pretty early, but we will definitely be back. Tramps is clearly where it is at.
When we got back to our flat, we all realized how insanely hungry we were. We also realized that we have no idea how to use the phones. This is probably important for us to learn.
Saturday, June 18
Drew, Anna, Erica and I went to lunch where we were semi-socially awkward. Apparently, people here don’t drink with lids or straws, nor do they partake in refilling their soda. Strange.
Sam, Annie, Drew, Anna, Leeanna, Craig, Alex and I spent most of the day walking around the city again. We stumbled across the cutest tea garden in the middle of the city — the flowers and everything there were just gorgeous. Also, all of us were really excited because we had been there first, so Chelsea couldn’t Instagram everything better than us.
Since we began exploring Worcester, Anna and I have been hyping up this restaurant that we saw and were super excited to try it. It’s called Chicken and Pizza. That should have been our first sign. Drew, Sam, Annie, Anna, Cameron, Donnie, Michael and I all went and it was definitely an experience. If you ordered pizza, it came with fries. However, they wouldn’t ask you what kind of pizza you wanted. Cameron ordered one and it was like a surprise when it arrived. You could get doughnuts and ice cream as an optional side. Annie’s meal had two very long, very dark hairs in it. The ketchup was served in old acrylic paint bottles. The chicken was really small and Sam was worried that we were eating pigeons. Annie hated everything about it and said she will vomit every time she walks past the place. Sam loved it and wants to go back tomorrow.
We got ready and all made our way to Flat 4, where we played probably the best game of “Cheers, Governor” that has ever existed. Rules included walking like a dinosaur, wearing my glasses and mimicking Annie’s laugh, which slightly resembles a gasping bird.
We decided that we wanted to go to a pub tonight. We were going to go to Bushwacker’s, but they wouldn’t let the boy’s in because they were wearing sneakers. We went to O’Neils instead and it was the best life choice we made.
We walk in with a group of about twenty of us and basically take over the back corner of the pub. Our group stretched down a giant table and we were all laughing, talking, dancing, singing and drinking. After that, so many events happened. There was a live band, which Chelsea got so excited about that she almost cried. I bought my first legal drink. I became best friends with two British men named Daily and Matt, who is getting married in a castle. Anna taught everyone how to faceswipe and everyone faceswiped Drew. (No one loves faceswiping more than Cameron). And, then, there were the bathrooms.
I haven’t been to many bars, but when I have, the bathrooms are disgusting. I dropped my phone in the bathroom at Doc’s in Muncie one night last year and refused to talk on it for a week. The bathroom, which the British refer to as the Toilet, at O’Neils was a completely different story. This bathroom was probably cleaner than my kitchen from last year. The stalls were individual rooms, everything was ivory and gold and Chelsea and I discovered why all the girls at the bars look so nice at all times. There was a straightener AND blow-drier just in the bathrooms. (Although the blow drier might have just been me not understanding how to use English hand driers. But, there was DEFINITELY a straightener).
On the way home from the pub and remembering our food dilemma from last night, some people wanted McDonalds. THERE ARE BOUNCERS AT MCDONALDS. That is how fancy the nightlife is here. I don’t know what kind of outfit you could possibly be wearing to be denied entrance at McDonalds, but that can happen. Who knew?
We came back to Flat 4 and told stories, hung out and recapped the night for a couple hours. When I went to bed at 4 a.m., the sun was already starting to come up and I realized how incredibly lucky I am to be able to have this type of experience.
Sunday, June 17
I woke up early to pigeons outside my window that sound exactly like Annie’s laugh. After Anna and I finished getting ready and looking at pictures/videos of last night, we had Drew come up to our flat so we could make lunch, where we discovered that English kitchens are hard. Like, really hard. There are so many buttons and knobs and instead of having words, there are pictures. It was just too confusing for me, so I made my frozen pizza in the microwave. It was gross. Pizza for a pound was apparently not the bargain deal we thought we achieved.
After that experience, we all got on a coach to go to Hellens Manor, which is rumored to be the most haunted place in all of England. If you know ANYTHING about me, you know that this would terrify me beyond belief. I lived in a haunted house my sophomore year of college and refused to be alone there — I even moved my mattress into my roommates room and slept on the floor for three months. When it comes to anything haunted, I am a baby.
As it turns out, Hellens Manor is beautiful and I absolutely loved it there. We explored the grounds for a couple hours and it was amazing how much there was to see. There was everything from classic statues to scenic ponds to a giant elephant made out of twine. It was so fun and, don’t worry, Chelsea Instagramed all of it.
When we finally went inside the house, it wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. There were a few weird things, though. It was definitely a few degrees cooler in a room that a man was murdered in, but the creepiest thing was a seemingly normal bedroom.
Apparently, the daughter of the prominent family that lived there had fallen in love with someone much lower ranked than her economically. She ran away to be with him and, two years later, showed back up at her parents doorstep, husbandless and alone. In the time period, it would have been impossible for her to survive on her own. By this time, her father had died, but her mother was alive and welcomed her back into the home. However, she was to be punished for bringing such shame upon the family — so her mother locked her in her room for thirty years. From the ceiling, there was a long rope attached to a bell that she would have to ring whenever she needed anything and on the windows, there were words etched into the glass. It was definitely one of the more disturbing things I’ve seen in my life and I’ve seen Drew attempt a cartwheel, so that’s saying something.
When we got back to campus, we grabbed dinner at a fast-food fish and chips place and took all of the food back up to Ryan and Colleen’s flat. It was so crowded, but so nice to be sitting with all of my new friends eating greasy food and laughing. Everyone here is so great, we’re just all instant friends and having the best time together.
Boogey took a bunch of us to the pub that he bartends at because it was karaoke night. Let me tell you, these people take their karaoke seriously. Whereas we would perform upbeat songs, the locals were more into the slow, strong ballads. It was an all-around fun night and just so great to be sitting in a bar in England, singing songs and making new friends on a Sunday night.
I love it here. If this weekend was an accurate preview of what the next eight weeks have in store for me, I am never leaving.