Beginning of our five day North Trip. I will be honest… I am not looking forward to this trip. I feel like we have such little time left in London that I don’t want to spend it going to writers’ houses and church history sites. The only cool thing is The Beatles museum that we are going to in Liverpool on our last day. Until then we will be stuck on a coach for long periods of time and staying in crappy hotels/hostels.
So someone on the program is an idiot, because as soon as we boarded the coach at 7:30am they started playing the movie Bright Star. Yeah, I would have liked to watch it, but for goodness sake shut it off so everyone can sleep. They didn’t play a movie during our second leg of the trip, when people were actually awake, but they did play a movie during the third leg, but they turned it off early for some asinine reason. I swear someone at the front of the bus was an idiot.
The first place we went to was Chatsworth House. The only significance of that sight to me is that it is where they filmed The Duchess and the Pemberley scenes from Pride and Prejudice (Keira Knightley version). It was cool seeing all the rooms she walks through in the movie. Loved it! Haha our bad luck! They had a huge Pride and Prejudice exhibit for the past couple of years, but took it away recently. Lame! They are going to reinstall it by the end of the year. And lucky us, we got to go through an exhibit on some old Lady somebody.
Boarded the bus again and went to Haworth Village (aka Bronte Village), where the Bronte sisters grew up. Took a tour of the parsonage they lived in with their father. Then went on a tour of the surrounding moors. Yup, definitely anticlimactic and unexciting.
Now we are in York in our crap hotel, the Ibis. I am rooming with Laura Nielson, which is great! Haha we are sharing the handicap room. The doorway is really big, there are railings everywhere, and there is no tub. I compared our room to Allyson’s, and our beds are ridiculously small compared to theirs. If theirs are twins, ours are super narrow and are for beanstalk people. Weird. We do have a tiny couch though. Ya, don’t foresee having any sad feeling about leaving this place. The worst part is that our heater doesn’t work. Our room is freezing. Right now I am sitting in my hotel room wearing a scarf and my coat because it is so cold in here. I am sitting next to a small somewhat broken space heater that I found in the corner because I am so cold. I feel like an old person!
Dinner was great tonight. So turns out there are no options for food in the area we are staying in, except for KFC and a chain pub called Wetherspoon’s. It has been raining non-stop today, and York is no exception. Cold, wet, and hungry we went to Wetherspoon’s with a rather large group. In pubs, you grab a table, remember the number, and then go up to the bar to order your food. Well there were a lot of people, especially from our group, when I went up there, so had to wait in line. While I was waiting in line an old man taps me on the shoulder and asks where we are from. Somehow I end up talking to him for about half an hour. I loved it! He was so nice and we had a great conversation. It was funny though, because my friends were worried that I was stuck in an awkward conversation so two of them came up separately to rescue me, but I didn’t need rescuing. I was enjoying talking to him. Haha it was funny though, because I was talking with him so much that I couldn’t order because I didn’t want to be rude and turn away. I finally managed to order when Allyson attempted to rescue me and I introduced her to the man. So here’s a little bit about Joseph, but I like to call him Joe. So our conversation started with him asking me where we were from, then I started telling him about our studies. We talked a lot about the U.S. He’s never been. He has heard of places like New York, Las Vegas, California, and knew that Utah was near Arizona. He was surprised to here that California was warm even during the winter, because it is usually raining in York and they have been having their worst winter. I told him about California, and then he told me about York. He told me about the places to see there, and then he talked about the Roman architecture there, and how he doesn’t like it. He wishes they would tear it down. He thinks America sounds better because everything is new there. I was astonished by this because I think all of the architecture and history in Europe is fascinating! We happily disagreed. He talked at length about his grandchildren, especially his eighteen year old grandson who is 6’5” and wants to be an actor, but it is so expensive to send him to acting school. He would love to go to school in the States, but it would cost upwards of £10,000. His grandson just doesn’t have the money, because his mother works at Boots the Chemist and his father is an electrician. Joe then pulled out his wallet and showed me photos of his five grandchildren. He was a very proud grandpa. Haha, so somehow we started talking about music. Oh I know! After mentioning that I was from California he said that he loves the Beach Boys and started singing “Surfin’ USA”. It was hilarious! I asked him if he liked The Beatles. I was very surprised to hear that he does not like The Beatles. We talked about the British Invasion in the U.S., when The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, etc. took over the U.S., and that The Beach Boys were our counter to their music (and that many in the States did not like them). Luckily I like The Beach Boys, so we are still able to be friends. Haha, so while he doesn’t like The Beatles, he does like The Rolling Stones, and loves Queens, although, “it is unfortunate about that queer, Freddie Mercury”. He kept going on about Freddie. That conversation transformed into a conversation about other musicians, and then into American actors. He and his wife really like watching CSI and NCIS. He prefers CSI Miami. He also really likes James Dean, as well as a handful of other actors that I didn’t know. Haha he said “bloody hell” and it was awesome. He also said “pissed off”, and then said “excuse my French”. I guess “piss” is a swear here. I loved him! Such a nice man. I am so glad that I talked to him! Haha he also asked me my age, first saying “I’m not trying to be cheeky…” So funny. We talked about a bunch of random things, and then he started telling me the story about how his son met his wife. They met on the beach in Nice, France. She was from Germany on holiday. He assumed she didn’t speak English, so cockily went up to her and was trying to impress her. She did speak English, which took him by surprise. They ended up dating for four, almost five years, and then she said they better get married because they had been together for so long, so they did. Random. Don’t know how that story started. This is when Allyson came and got me again because my food had arrived at the table. I said goodbye to Joe and thanked him for the conversation. I felt bad for leaving him, because I kind of cut the conversation short. I really liked talking to him! It made my night! He was so nice and so much fun to talk to. He was very funny. He also asked if I grew up on a farm… what does he think CA is like? He did mention produce and oranges in his description. Haha me on a farm? Get real! He also asked if I had any siblings… and if I was spoiled as an only child.
Had a good dinner of fish and chips, checked out some guys at the bar, and then headed back to the hotel. Have to be ready by 9am tomorrow. Better than 8am, but I am very tired and want to sleep!
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