Getting Acquainted

I'm an English major and a Linguistics minor. I love Brit Lit and the history of the English language. So I've had it as my goal to visit Britain, especially once I became a Jane Austen and Harry Potter fan.

York is a wonderful town for a student (I wouldn't want to raise kids here though—no lawns!). Everything is history and cobblestone and brick and bakeries and cafés. But it's not a museum; it's a livable city.

So far, my experience has been tiring. It's difficult to get settled in when you have to walk everywhere (my legs!). I went to Sainsbury yesterday (the supermarket) and just about died trying to walk back. It turns out I took the long, roundabout way there. It's strange hearing this really thick accent all around me, but I feel like, in a few days' time, I could do a solid impression.

I went to my first pub last night with the other study abroad students. It was called The Stone Roses. I had a cocktail with vodka, kahlua, milk, and chocolate. Yum! However, I'm not sure that a pub like that is really my scene: dim lighting, LOUD music, and nowhere to sit. I'll have to keep checking around for a better one.

Today (Saturday) we went to the seaside town of Whitby (The image above is a picture of the Whitby Abbey). To get an idea of what Whitby looks like, picture a seaside town. Ok, that's Whitby. It smells like fish (not in a bad way) and salty wind. We walked to the pier, which was too cold to be enjoyable. I had my first fish 'n' chips there, which was "gorgeous."

On the coach ride back, I was trying to think about what made the Yorkshire landscape so different from anything I've seen in America. It's strange. It looks a lot like an American landscape, but there's something different that I haven't been able to put my finger on today. Two words: sheep and hedges. Ok, I know I've seen sheep before, but not in this capacity. Sheep are to England what cows are to the Midwest.

The British landscape is so much more beautiful (in my opinion) because all of the plots of land are divided by these cute hedges. And everything is hilly and green, and it looks awesome, even when it's cloudy.

Tomorrow I have a day of errands, including buying a train ticket to Edinburgh to visit Julia and Alex! I'm sorry this post was so scatterbrained, but I'm still getting the hang of everything. I miss you all!