It's me again!
Hello everyone!
I'm at UWE (pronounced you-we) now. It's the university that we're attending
while we're here (yes, we actually have to have some sort of class too). We've
been here since noon-ish. I'm trying to think of what I've done since I last e-
mailed you. I already feel like I've been here for such a long time! Let's
see...
On Saturday night I ended up walking around our neighborhood with Lyndy and
Jane. We went to Gloucester (pronounced Glouster) street and walked down awhile-
it had a lot of shops and restaurants and things like that, but most of them
were closed by the time we got there. I really like our neighborhood. It's very
cute and English. :o) On our way back, we decided to stop at our first bar. It
was called the Hobgoblin-we thought that was a cute name and it didn't look too
loud or crowded yet. Then we walked back to our house and ended up getting to
sleep around 10.
Yesterday seemed like a really busy day. We let ourselves sleep in, and then we
had breakfast with Rich and Julie (our host parents). It was actually perfect
timing. Then they gave us a ride over to Whiteladies Road which is a big street
that they say is "posh and trendy". We even got to ride in Julie's convertible
with the top down. Haha! We walked around on our own for awhile and saw a lot
of interesting things. I like that you can walk almost everywhere. Everything
was pretty and fun. We eventually found our way back and met up with the group
to walk around with them. I don't even really remember everywhere that we
walked. We saw an arch to the older part of the city, and we eventually walked
down to the waterfront area. We saw a lot of the same places we had walked by
before actually. We found a little tourist store and were able to get a few
postcards. Then we found our long way back to our place using the map Rich had
given us. We were so proud of ourselves for being able to find the way back
ourselves. We relaxed a bit when we got back (after walking for about 6 hours
straight), and then we had dinner with Rich and Julie. I just love them.
They're so nice and so funny. We had some interesting conversations at the
dinner table about past students they've had with them, the words for bum,
wind, and dustbin (butt, gas, and trashcan), and more. And we were able to eat
a lot too-which was good since we were so hungry after our long walks. Then we
met up with the rest of the group at a bar called Babushka back on Whiteladies
Road. It was a nice place-cool spiraling stairs, pool, someone playing guitar,
kind of dark...and I liked that we could be upstairs with our group instead of
being in a huge crowd. Jane made a nice British friend there too-his name was
John. She was just chatting with him, and he offered to buy her a drink twice.
She didn't accept though, because she has a boyfriend at home and she thought
that would be wrong. Anyway, I think the three of us were the first ones to
leave (around 11), and we headed back to our house.
This morning was our first morning that we actually had somewhere we had to be.
After we got ready, we went downstairs to grab some breakfast. They had lots of
chocolate cereal, but we had trouble finding any bowls. So, instead, we used
glasses-and put the cereal and milk in there. Oy!
We had to meet at this place called Colley's to catch our coach (bus), so most
people had to walk or take a bus there. We, however, were offered a ride by
Julie. It was great! Everyone was standing at the stop as we pulled up in this
little convertible with the top down. You should have seen their faces. lol!
We're so spoiled by our wonderful host family.
So, we went on a bus tour of Bristol-which was cool, because they told us a
little about the history and showed us some things we wouldn't have been able
to walk to. For example, we saw the SS Britain which is a big ship that went to
America in the 1400's (that Jane's friend John had told her about, so she was
excited).
After the tour we came here to campus where we had a lunch buffet and an
orientation. They gave us lots of information about it, but I'm not going to
bore you all with that-this e-mail's probably too long already for most of you.
So, anyway, here we are-we're in the computer lab at the school right now, and
we have a little while until our coach leaves to go back to our area. When we
get back we were thinking of going to this STA Travel place to get information
for our weekend trips. We're definitely going to London next weekend, and I
think Lyndy's coming with me to visit Stephanie in Paris the next weekend. It
should be really exciting!
A few interesting differences we've noticed:
Well, there's always the language of course. It's really nice that they speak
our language-so much easier to communicate, but there are so many things that
are different. of course I expected that, but it's just interesting when you
find it-trousers=pants, pants=underwear; fries=chips, chips=crisps; etc. And
another thing we were talking about at dinner was the flavors of "crisps" that
they have. They have flavors like hamburger, beef and onion, and today we saw
lamb and mint!!! Now that's unique. Also, the whole driving on the opposite
side of the road is always interesting, and all of their cars are a lot
smaller. We're thinking that we're going to be walking a lot on this trip,
which we actually really liked. Maybe it'll get me back into some sort of
shape. lol! Or not...
Anyway, I'm sorry this was so long. I'm sure you probably didn't all care to
hear all of these details. I understand if you just skim it or don't read it at
all. Also, if you responded to my last e-mail, I haven't responded to
everyone's yet, because I haven't had much time on the internet. I'll send out
mass e-mails when I get the chance, but if I don't send out individual e-mails
as often, don't take it personally. A few of you asked for my address here, so
I'll just send that in this mass e-mail just in case:
46 Kings Drive
Bishopston
Bristol, BS7 8JH
And I'll be at that address until June 11, when we leave for Bruges and
Brussels. I hope all of you are doing well. Love and miss you!
-Sarah
I'm at UWE (pronounced you-we) now. It's the university that we're attending
while we're here (yes, we actually have to have some sort of class too). We've
been here since noon-ish. I'm trying to think of what I've done since I last e-
mailed you. I already feel like I've been here for such a long time! Let's
see...
On Saturday night I ended up walking around our neighborhood with Lyndy and
Jane. We went to Gloucester (pronounced Glouster) street and walked down awhile-
it had a lot of shops and restaurants and things like that, but most of them
were closed by the time we got there. I really like our neighborhood. It's very
cute and English. :o) On our way back, we decided to stop at our first bar. It
was called the Hobgoblin-we thought that was a cute name and it didn't look too
loud or crowded yet. Then we walked back to our house and ended up getting to
sleep around 10.
Yesterday seemed like a really busy day. We let ourselves sleep in, and then we
had breakfast with Rich and Julie (our host parents). It was actually perfect
timing. Then they gave us a ride over to Whiteladies Road which is a big street
that they say is "posh and trendy". We even got to ride in Julie's convertible
with the top down. Haha! We walked around on our own for awhile and saw a lot
of interesting things. I like that you can walk almost everywhere. Everything
was pretty and fun. We eventually found our way back and met up with the group
to walk around with them. I don't even really remember everywhere that we
walked. We saw an arch to the older part of the city, and we eventually walked
down to the waterfront area. We saw a lot of the same places we had walked by
before actually. We found a little tourist store and were able to get a few
postcards. Then we found our long way back to our place using the map Rich had
given us. We were so proud of ourselves for being able to find the way back
ourselves. We relaxed a bit when we got back (after walking for about 6 hours
straight), and then we had dinner with Rich and Julie. I just love them.
They're so nice and so funny. We had some interesting conversations at the
dinner table about past students they've had with them, the words for bum,
wind, and dustbin (butt, gas, and trashcan), and more. And we were able to eat
a lot too-which was good since we were so hungry after our long walks. Then we
met up with the rest of the group at a bar called Babushka back on Whiteladies
Road. It was a nice place-cool spiraling stairs, pool, someone playing guitar,
kind of dark...and I liked that we could be upstairs with our group instead of
being in a huge crowd. Jane made a nice British friend there too-his name was
John. She was just chatting with him, and he offered to buy her a drink twice.
She didn't accept though, because she has a boyfriend at home and she thought
that would be wrong. Anyway, I think the three of us were the first ones to
leave (around 11), and we headed back to our house.
This morning was our first morning that we actually had somewhere we had to be.
After we got ready, we went downstairs to grab some breakfast. They had lots of
chocolate cereal, but we had trouble finding any bowls. So, instead, we used
glasses-and put the cereal and milk in there. Oy!
We had to meet at this place called Colley's to catch our coach (bus), so most
people had to walk or take a bus there. We, however, were offered a ride by
Julie. It was great! Everyone was standing at the stop as we pulled up in this
little convertible with the top down. You should have seen their faces. lol!
We're so spoiled by our wonderful host family.
So, we went on a bus tour of Bristol-which was cool, because they told us a
little about the history and showed us some things we wouldn't have been able
to walk to. For example, we saw the SS Britain which is a big ship that went to
America in the 1400's (that Jane's friend John had told her about, so she was
excited).
After the tour we came here to campus where we had a lunch buffet and an
orientation. They gave us lots of information about it, but I'm not going to
bore you all with that-this e-mail's probably too long already for most of you.
So, anyway, here we are-we're in the computer lab at the school right now, and
we have a little while until our coach leaves to go back to our area. When we
get back we were thinking of going to this STA Travel place to get information
for our weekend trips. We're definitely going to London next weekend, and I
think Lyndy's coming with me to visit Stephanie in Paris the next weekend. It
should be really exciting!
A few interesting differences we've noticed:
Well, there's always the language of course. It's really nice that they speak
our language-so much easier to communicate, but there are so many things that
are different. of course I expected that, but it's just interesting when you
find it-trousers=pants, pants=underwear; fries=chips, chips=crisps; etc. And
another thing we were talking about at dinner was the flavors of "crisps" that
they have. They have flavors like hamburger, beef and onion, and today we saw
lamb and mint!!! Now that's unique. Also, the whole driving on the opposite
side of the road is always interesting, and all of their cars are a lot
smaller. We're thinking that we're going to be walking a lot on this trip,
which we actually really liked. Maybe it'll get me back into some sort of
shape. lol! Or not...
Anyway, I'm sorry this was so long. I'm sure you probably didn't all care to
hear all of these details. I understand if you just skim it or don't read it at
all. Also, if you responded to my last e-mail, I haven't responded to
everyone's yet, because I haven't had much time on the internet. I'll send out
mass e-mails when I get the chance, but if I don't send out individual e-mails
as often, don't take it personally. A few of you asked for my address here, so
I'll just send that in this mass e-mail just in case:
46 Kings Drive
Bishopston
Bristol, BS7 8JH
And I'll be at that address until June 11, when we leave for Bruges and
Brussels. I hope all of you are doing well. Love and miss you!
-Sarah