I feel like we've been here longer than four days. I think that may be due to the fact I'm more aware of things here. I like to think I'm a pretty observant person to begin with and now I feel like I'm on hyper drive...noticing all the little details, sizing up the different fashion trends, trying to read every little sign, and most importantly...vigilantly waiting for the little green man to light up so I know it's my turn to walk across the street. Refer to the first blog post. Cars really do not stop for you here...and neither do the cyclists!
So yesterday, Elise and I got my student card made. I wasn't able to do it the day before when Elise had because I left my passport in my room. I thought I was being internationally savvy as that was one of the travel tips recommended on the US Embassy site...well that turned out to be a big fail. The student center at the university needed my passport to copy so that they could issue my card..but I digress...so we got that all settled yesterday, got some morning work done, wrote my first post, and then we popped out for our downtown adventure. Our surrogate parent, Dr. Steinke (whom I found out today has an amazing first name to hear in a British accent, Douglas) wanted us to find the train station (Picadilly) and a few other places downtown (Primark (essentially a mix between Kohls and Forever 21) & Arndale Shopping center) so that we were more comfortable navigating the city. Excuse me...that would be Arndale shopping CENTRE. If I'm going to convince people I'm British, I need to start playing the part...which includes spelling things with extra letters.
The trip downtown was great. It started off with a much needed beverage...STARBUCKS.
Some things from America just cannot be replaced. Elise is much better at directions than I am so we found Picadilly (of course, not until after I insisted that the train station was in fact in a different direction and caused us to go in a circle) without much trouble. Now, we wanted to go by the Picadilly gardens..except the signs kept confusing us. Little did we know, we had passed it several times mistaking it for something else. Primark and Arndale are huge so it was not difficult finding those. I only brought along one granola bar for the day so I was starting to become a bit famished! **Side note** For those of you who do not know me well, I am a frequent snacker. I also have an addiction to fruit snacks. I brought over 3 boxes and I'm now down to one. I tried to ration myself...that didn't work out well. **Continuing on...Elise and I settled on a cute little Italian restaurant close by. I had a cup of soup & some bruschetta. I opted for a coke because the water was 2.50 pounds. Yup, that's right, water is not free. Elise and I may have freaked out when we read the menu. Someone may need to discuss this little issue with Parliament.
After lunch we began our trek back to the flat. We stopped off by the university to check out the Manchester museum. It is pretty tiny so we were surprised to learn that they had live animals! Manchester is like a mini-UN...so many cultures are represented here and learning a little bit about the history of the city was neat. Plus we got to color a picture when we got to the end of the museum. Before heading home, we popped into Sainsbury (giant grocery store...essentially like Kroger) and got some items for the rest of our week.
My dinner choice last night was good...tonights...not so much. I opted for this rice pilaf. I do not think I'll be purchasing that again.
Anyways, before we called it a night yesterday Elise and I went out for a beer at a place nearby (The Ram & Shackel) which was recommended by my dear friend Jamie (native Brit) whom I've known since 1st grade. Elise and I were surprised that with a name like Ram & Shackel that it was a pub. We caught the last part of the Poland vs. Russia football game! I was hoping Poland would win. We were a little disappointed that no one tried to come up and talk to us. I didn't think we stuck out too badly...however, my money issue at the bar may have given us away. I still have not caught on to how much each of the coins are worth. I generally have to pull all my coins out and flip each one over. How embarrassing. Maybe next time I'll be brave enough to walk up to someone and hopefully by the end of this week I can figure out how much change I have on me!
Well, bottled water isn't free and many people order it, particularly with carbonation, if you are trying to seem continental. You should be able to get most places to bring you some tap water for free though, particularly if you are ordering something else to drink. Some places will say that they don't do that, but many will.
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