April 17, 2014
Hello from Sheffield!!!
Ok, so over the past couple days, I travelled to Shrewsbury and stayed there for two nights with my cousin Josey at her friend Amy's house. The weather has been stunningly sunny every day! We stayed with her family, (Mom, Dad and Sister Hannah) who were so nice and accommodating! We had many fun conversations about the differences between the U.S. and England, and it turned out to be quite a riot!! And I felt right at home when I woke up to hear Julie in the kitchen singing to the radio the "video killed the radio star" song! Thank you to Pete and Julie (Amy's parents) for letting us stay! It was absolutely fabulous!! They also had a few animals, Rolley (a big black lab), Bob (a cocker spaniel), and Chub (their large constantly hungry kittty lol), so it felt like being in any american home!! Also, the house they live in is 300 years old. 300!! I couldn't believe it!! The history here is so amazing, it makes the U.S. seem like an infant!! The house layouts are so different as well! Very interesting, seemingly designed to have more social interactions, so more openness and shared dwellings, I really like it! Also, Sheffield is where Charles Darwin studied for a while, and I got to see the library! So cool!!
We then went to a place called Alton Towers, which is an amusement park, with a big group of Josey's friends. It was an absolute blast!! The theme park was different from any American one I've been to in that, they actually try to scare you. So for example one of the rides called "The Smiler" had 14 loops and was crazy, but the real crazy part was that they set it up to be basically a horror film you have to get through in order to get to the roller coaster. They played creepy music, had people running around with these insane smiles (with a little mouth piece that forced them to smile), and the last step before you get on the coaster was an all dark room with strobe lights, and creepy music again, spinning spirals projected on the walls, and don't forget those creepy guys to jump out and scare the bajeezus out of you!! And right when you got on the coaster, before you took off, these huge medical lights light up right in your face like you are about to be chopped up into bits by an insane person!! All in all, quite the experience. Even the names of the rides were very different, we seem to have really intense scary names, with moderately scary rides, they have nice names for rides that scare the crap out of you!! Rides like the Smiler, Rita, Air, and many others!
So I finally made it to Sheffield last night! I am here staying at the Uni dorms with Josey who goes to the University here! Today is finally the first overcast day but hopefully it burns off!! Josey and I plan to wander around town today so she can show me her University as well as other fun places!! It will be nice relaxing with her for a few days before heading out to London!!!
As the all the British say,
Cheers!
Corinne
At a park in Shrewsbury
Josey and I
Amy and Josey
Charle's Darwin's place of study!!!
The Smiler
Amy, Me, Josey
Amy and Josey on the Enterprise!
Josey and I
