Me, my boyfriend, three professors, 10 total strangers, flight anxiety, and an extreme tendency of motion sickness. This trip was destined to be great from the start!!! Well, not exactly. It was destined to be whatever I made of it, and I’m happy to be able to say now that Dramamine and I were able to make this a memorable experience for all of the right reasons.
All jokes aside, my first ever time in England was enjoyable and enlightening. I was able to learn a lot about Medieval history, of course, but also took in quite a bit about current English culture. I now understand all the hype about the tube, and can also attest to its incredible convenience. I should probably add that I never waited more than 5 minutes for my train to arrive, so I honestly can’t complain like those who have experienced delays, sorry. Something we certainly do not do here in America is eat dessert with every meal, which is something I felt like the English most definitely do! No complaints here though; I was more than happy to eat chocolate pastries with breakfast, go to a Patisserie Valerie for a post-lunch fresh fruit tart, or to casually go to Betty’s just for some more tea and mid-day chocolate cheesecake. The other thing that I was most certainly pleased with was the variety of hard ciders that was available to me at every single pub. There’s a chance that I’ve never inquired about it, but here in America I have definitely never been offered the choice of strawberry-pomegranate or kiwi-lime hard cider in a bar. I could write a whole blog about the flavored ciders alone, but for the sake of this single post I will just say that they were really good.
To anyone reading this who has never been to England and might be considering going on this trip, do it! You’ll never be more amazed by the beauty of a cathedral. You’ll never want to immediately move in anywhere as much as in Hampton Court. You’ll never find more charm than in the cobblestones of the streets of York. You’ll never love the royal family more than when you’re standing inside Westminster Abbey, and you’ll never feel such success as you will after your first solo ride on the tube.
(Also, if at all possible, bring along a significant other so you can force him/her to take cute pictures of you everywhere you go like I did 🙂 )
-Kristen Pyrch-