The more time that passes, the more I am able to really be settled. I have started to establish as much of a routine as you can when you are temporarily in a place, but I like it. My weeks typically consist of going to class Monday and Tuesday, doing course work Wednesday, a trip to Beeston for some coffee at Bean on Thursday, then Friday either going on a trip or prepping for a trip....HOW BLESSED AM I? There are always other fun things going on during the week, but those are the consistent activities.
So two weekends ago I went with the travel society at UoN to a place called Whitby in northern Yorkshire for the day. I honestly didn't know anything about Whitby, but they were advertising that it was a seaside town and that it was where they filmed the Hogwarts Express scenes from the Harry Potter movies so I was sold!
It was quite a coach journey, but it was totally worth it! I have been fortunate to live near the water my entire life (I did live in Orlando when I was a baby, but because I don't remember that it doesn't count for this purpose haha). I have a deep love for the water and everything that goes with it (marsh, salt smell, ocean breeze). I realized on the coach that this was the longest in my entire life that that I had been landlocked. I had no idea how much it had effected me, because when we drove up a hill and saw the water in front of us, I couldn't help but shed a tear or two. Side note: I've realized on this trip how much of a crier I am...not in a bad way, but apparently any strong emotion that I feel, like happiness, results in me crying hahaha. Whitby was beautiful! It is a maritime town and we were literally just on the water. There were seagulls, sailboats, and that wonderful salt water breeze that I missed so much! There wasn't pluff mud, but this was the closest I have felt to home since coming to England. There were some absolutely beautiful sites, including the ruins of the old Whitby Abbey, a giant whalebone that represented the former whaling industry, and incredible cliffs leading down to the coast. Turns out that they didn't actually film Harry Potter in Whitby itself, but it didn't matter. It has been the prettiest place I have visited so far :)
The week following Whitby I basically couldn't do anything because I was too excited for what would be coming that Saturday........A VISIT FROM MY BROTHER JOHN!
I met John in the Pret-a-Manger cafe next to Kings Cross station 2 Saturdays ago. Poor guy got there about an hour before my train from Nottingham would arrive, but eventually I got there and we met up. I knew it would happen, but of course I cried! I did keep it pretty much together, but come on I was seeing my one and only sibling after being separated from my whole family for 5 weeks! Once I pulled it together we went and checked into our hotel that we would be staying at for the night and then went on an adventure. John had found, before he arrived, a bass guitar conference in London that was going on the day he arrived. For anyone that doesn't know (and everyone should because he is great) John is a musician and his primary instrument is bass, although he plays many others! So when he found this conference obviously we had to go! On the way we saw Big Ben, Parliament, and the London Eye. After a tube trip and a bit of undirected walking, we managed to find the conference center. For someone like me that doesn't know anything about basses the conference was really cool, but I think that John was able to get a better grasp on it than I did. He was able to play a couple different instruments and watch some other players. Once we had seen everything, we ended up going back to the hotel, getting dinner there, and going to bed. John had some pretty serious jet lag (very understandable) so we just decided to take it easy!
The next day we went back to Nottingham and I got to introduce John to several of my friends. Basically John got to experience my normal week but with some bonus features. We went to a cocktail bar for my friend's birthday, to the city center, to Bean (OF COURSE) and Beeston, to the formal that my residence hall was putting on, and around my lovely campus! One of the highlights for me was going to a bar for an open mic night that some of the girls on my corridor were singing in and John got worked into the set!!! SO COOL!
To change things up a bit, we decided to take a day trip to York on Thursday. It was a bit of a longer journey than I had anticipated, but that was just half of the adventure :) York was really cool, with lots of different shops, beautiful architecture, and a lovely waterway. We were exhausted when we got back to Nottingham that night and basically just crashed! We spent of the rest of the time just hanging out and relaxing a bit before heading to Gatwick on Saturday.
It was so nice having John here. It gave me a little bit of a boost actually being with someone from home!!
I'm superrrrr excited because this Friday I'll be getting on a plane to go to........DUBLIN!!! How else would I spend St. Patrick's Day?!
Sorry that the pictures are out of order hahaha
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