mushy peas and fosters beer

It's just me and my single room. I moved in today to the most adorable flat in the very middle of London. I have yet to leave the room because I am too scared of what I will find- but from my observations out the window and listening to people in other rooms- I have concluded that there are five floors (I'm on the third. No elevator. I'll have a nice butt by the end of the summer) and that the keys stick in the locks because there is no air conditioning. My internet plug-in was broken so I unscrewed it from the wall with a plastic knife that I had leftover in my purse from a meal a few days ago. Being from the midwest makes you very resourceful!

The last week has been a blur. After missing the layover to edinburgh, scotland I was stranded in New York City for 24 hours. Although, I must say, if you have to be stranded somewhere NYC is the place to do it. My mother, sister, cousin and friend from home went to lunch and then bought some broadway theatre tickets from a both in times square. There were no kilts but I'm not complaining.

72 hours and no shower or sleep later we arrived in Edinburgh, Scotland. Who doesn't love grown men in kilts, right?! Due to time, we hit the basics: The Palace of Holyroodhouse (where the Queen lives when she is not in London), the Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Britiania (the royal yacht). If the number of pictures taken were any indication of the amount of fun we were having, my mom, sister and I had a blast. I truly felt like I was in another world. We ate at hole-in-the-wall pubs and drank foster's beer for lunch just like all the locals. Their accents were so thick that they had a hard time interpreting our American accents. Everything moved in a very slow pace and wearing plaid was an honor. Oh, and we decided on the whim to spend our last night on a walking ghost tour of the town. While the tour had absolutely nothing to do with ghosts, other than that it was dark and some of the other people on the trip looked like zombies, we got to see parts of Edinburgh that we never would have seen. 

            

The next morning we took the early train to York. This was an experience in itself, for I am traveling with an entire summer's worth of luggage. We passed wild sheep and the North Sea and all kinds of things that you begin to take for granted after a 3 hour train ride. My mom's friend from Whitby picked us up and we crammed into her eco-friendly speck of a car. York is just like how I had always envisioned England to be. Cute old men with canes walking down cobblestone streets. Houses with flower-boxes in their windows. Shops selling tea and crepes and sweets. Old churches with fascinating histories. It was wonderful, and, if I hadn't been so tired from traveling, I may have been able to keep my eyes open on the bus tour.

      

Then it was off to Whitby, where my mother went to high school. It is a small fishing town right on the sea and it is stuck in a time machine. Everything there is about 30 years behind, which is endearing to visit but perhaps not to live. We tracked down my mom's old house and stood in their lawn taking pictures until she remembered that her old house was in fact the one next to this one. We ate seafood for every meal- including breakfast when the bed and breakfast served us herring and scrambled eggs. We walked up to the Whitby Abby, which is the oldest Abby in the world. What was left of it was beautiful and we shared it that day with hundreds of english school children so it was fun to share in their awe. It is so strange to think that my mom used to hang out on the same pier that we walked down and eat in the same restaurants. 

       

Now I'm sitting in my flat with my freshly re-wired internet and am going to have to venture out to get some dinner. I have plans to meet up with some other Mizzou students tomorrow night so I am really looking forward to that. 

Cheers!