Hey all, for those of you who have talked to Judi, you know I am actually here
and alive. Its definately been an experience so far. The plane over wasn't so
bad, however I could have done with out the screaming child the ENTIRE 7 hrs
flight... That aside, i breezed through customs and visa checkpoint, but when
i got to the train station it was nuts! Of course, as Judi will tell you
Europe operates on a 24hr clock but speak using terms like "half past, quarter
till". Me and numbers do not go well together... When i finally got my train
ticket which was 90something £(pounds) that's almost 200$ to me and you. I got
on the wrong train and missed the right one. Fortunately a nice guy with a
super thick accent steered me to the correct one. Oh and did i mention when i
got here my phone didn't work? So I had to use a payphone to call Sheridan
(landlord) and Ally (roommate) to let them know i was here. Ally was supposed
to pick me up at the station in Durham. Well I got no answer so I had to leave
messages and hope someone would be there...

On the train ride there the guy
sitting next to me was really chatty (he was from new zealand) and talked the
whole time about Europe, politics etc. he gave me his number and e-mail if I
ever visit his town cause he was a tourguide. So then i try to get off at my
station but because of all the ppl and 3 giant suitcases i couldn't. So i
missed it and went on to the next station, and got off to call Sheridan and
Ally again. Fortunately I did and Ally was ok with waiting a little longer. So
i got back on in the other direction and went back to the station. Ally was
super nice, he grabbed my luggage and threw it in the car and offered to take
me to the supermarket. And yes for those of you who must know, the accents are
cool and I find that I prefer scottish accents (which Ally is scottish) to
british ones... I have yet to meet any irish though. So the supermarket trip
was an adventure. There are no breakfast biscuits, only cookie biscuits, there
are also no sausage patties, only links. The bacon is cut differently too.
Ally was a food translator most of the time, and guess what.... You get to bag
your own groceries, and the grocer sits in a cushy chair and just rings it!
Ally warned me that although the food was cheap it was "all rubbish". Yep, he
was right, the only thing that tastes the same is the milk and eggs. So on
that note, i need EVERYONE to send me easy recipies for anything, spice lists
too! ASAP! Or you know you could always just mail me the dry ingridients mixed
up of some recipie, i won't say no to that... But not everything is as bad or
crazy as it sounds.

The village I live in outside Durham is picturesque and
there's rolling hills, horses, all the houses are brick with shutters and
little gardens. The british sure do love their gardens, even our house has
one. It does kinda look like you've stepped in time or something. The shopping
area in Durham looks like the set of harry potter's shopping lane, and so does
the train station! All the main streets are cobblestone and the shops look
hundreds of years old. The castle is huge and there's cathedrals and little
church yards every few yards. There was some important person there this past
friday at the cathedral but I never did find out who. So that's most of what's
been going on, its cold here close to winter weather, and I'm going back to
the grocery store tonight with Ally, so SEND ME RECIPES!!!!!

Talk to you all later!!

Cillista