First Couple Weeks In Leeds

So I know I've been in Leeds for almost a month...and I said I was going to keep a blog, but I guess things got a little too crazy. Now that they're settling down, I'm taking this rainy (typical) Sunday in England to study and blog! How exciting. Anyway, I'll start off with the adventure I took on the almost 24 hour journey from San Antonio to Leeds. I left for the airport with the usual 1.5-2 hour time gap to get through international security, and I ended up having more than enough extra time to spend with my family before I had to go. While getting ready to head into security, I realised that I left my raincoat at home! So my dad had to drive all the way back home to go get it so I did not freeze once I got to England...and believe me, I would have without it. After finally getting through all of that, my flight was delayed because the plane was late from where ever it was coming from! I had a connecting flight in Charlotte, so if it was delayed enough, there would have been significant problems. However, plane arrived eventually and everyone boarded and there were literally no more than 20 passengers in a giant international plane! I ended up meeting a man from London and we talked about culture differences and the fact that I was going to have to go on London Underground during RUSH HOUR. I started telling him about Tech and my study abroad program and then he began to speak badly about Leeds, which was funny since the other man next to us piped up and revealed he was a Leeds graduate! The flight attendent told us via the intercom that due to the lack of people on the plane, that we were free to move to any free seat. This was very nice since I pretty much took over the entire middle row of the seats and slept for as long as I could (which wasn't very long...too many butterflies). Anyway! The interesting part of this story is when I finally got off at London Gatwick..I had to find the Gatwick Express to get to London Victoria. That wasn't too hard, and before I knew it, I was in London. Funny thing is...the Underground is underground, right? Well, they're not done building the elevator (um, talk about handicap unfriendly AND luggage unfriendly), so I had to lug my huge suitcase down the stairs if it wasn't for the awesome guy at the Tourism office who offered to take my luggage all the way down to the train and give me a tour of London the next time I was in town! BAM!
Marci 1, London: ...Still winning.
So, what I didn't know about the Underground is that it's pretty much cutthroat to get on the train. It took about 20 minutes to finally get to the front of the chaotic mob that was attempting to shove themselves into this tiny traincar, right? WELL, like I said, cutthroat world...I got pushed over by a bunch of miserable looking people and ended up tripping over my luggage- embarrassing, right?? Well, this guy with missing teeth that was arguably an ex-punk rocker from the 1970's/80's was nice enough to hold back the masses so I could get myself and my giant luggage onto the train. We had nice chat about how everyone in the Underground looked like they just saw a train run over a kitten or something..and then we talked about his bike accidents. Unfortunately, I did not get his contact details...but he was definitely a character that I won't forget. When I FINALLY got to King's Cross, I was early so I waited for about an hour until my train to Leeds got there. Nothing really particularly interesting happened until I was about 5 minutes from Leeds and the train came to an abrupt stop. You know, it seems normal, a train stopping when it's close to let other trains enter the station first...5 minutes go by...then 10...and eventually 30 minutes later the captain finally annouces that we couldn't go into the station because...

SOMEONE GOT HIT BY A TRAIN.

All right, now you don't hear that every day. The authorities were investigating so here I am...so close to my destination but in reality, I was about an hour and a half away from my destination. It was terrible, and then the thought of the train going over the rails where someone's body was..it wasn't too pleasant. Past that, I arrived at Leeds safe and sound and found people to share a taxi with. Surprisingly enough, I stayed awake to do a couple really essential things and then passed out until the next day...

Now, that's only my first day. FIRST DAY. In a nutshell, I ended up going to many of the international student's events and met people from countries I had never met people from before! Croatia, Finland, Denmark...it's really amazing how international this school is. I ended up trying so many different foods and despite having a language similarity...England is so much more different that I thought it would be.

Things I've randomly noticed:

I'm clumsy, and I fall A LOT so I think it's kinda funny when I do and I laugh. However, here if I laugh at myself fall, I guess I appear insane or something because I've gotten the strangest looks...

Maybe this is just a difference from Tech, BUT they go out literally every night.

Costume parties are frequent and encouraged (it's amazing)

They say "hiya" instead of "hey/hi/hello"

Jeans aren't prominent here. If you're not a fan of the leggings as pants fan...you'd die. I however...love it.

Besides that, I have had the chance to travel a little bit in Yorkshire and outside of Yorkshire (but not too much, YET!)

So far, I've been to York, Harrogate, and Liverpool.

York and Harrogate are very similar to me in the sense that they are very small towns in Yorkshire...and they are both very beautiful in the spring. I've learned more British history in the past couple weeks that 12 years in public school and 2 years in university have taught me...I might be a pro now. Who knows? I have some really particularly pretty pictures...

Clifford's Tower in York
York Minster..in, well, York
The gardens in Harrogate.
New Zealand themed garden in Harrogate

Things that we did:

York

• Visited the Castle Museum...they had rooms from all sorts of different time periods and an entire exhibit for the 60's!
• Saw York Minster...it's gorgeous.
• Wandered the Shambles..it's the picturesque street of old England!
• Visited the Richard III Museum and confessed to our sins before an 'execution'...too bad the executioner was on holiday!

Harrogate

• Visited the Royal Pump Museum...and tried sulfur water. While it's healing attributes are undeniable, the taste doesn't seem worth it!!!
• Visited the gardens. They were gorgeous even without the flowers!

Liverpool

• Visited the Liverpool Cathedral, the largest Anglican cathedral in Europe.
• Took a stroll through one of Europe's oldest China Town's. The smells were incredible.
• Took a bus tour of important Beatle's sites (childhood homes, Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane, etc.) Our tour guide was amazing.

To end this post, I'll write a little bit of what the next few weeks will entail since I've got to get some of this homework out of the way!

• A trip to North Wales
• *Possibly a trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon
• DUBLIN, IRELAND
• Bath & Stonehenge
• Easter Break: Italy, Croatia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Spain(possibly)

The end!