Emily in Liverpool
Trip Start
Unknown
1
2
5
Trip End
Ongoing
Liverpool,
United Kingdom
Sunday, March 30, 2008
After seeing Dani off, Emily and I went back to the room and got ready to leave. We ended up running a little late so we ran to the tube station so we could get the the bus station, only to find that the tube station was conveniently closed. So we ran to several bus stops until we found the right bus to get on. We finally made it to the National bus terminal and I was about to explode with the pain of the weight of my bags. Thank goodness Emily was there to help me. We ran onto the bus and made it with five minutes to spare.
On the five hour bus ride to Liverpool I was able to pass a lot of the time sleeping, which was nice. But poor emily was kept up by a group of obnoxiously loud students behind her.
When we made it into Liverpool we were both starving, but Emily's roommate had other plans for us. I met most of her roommates and they are extremely nice and excited to meet a friend of Emilys. There are I think 7 total roommates, all of which are of different nationalities. But they all have friends or girlfriends/boyfriends over so its always a full house and seems like there are a lot of things going on. Everyone knows english so that is the common language, but a lot of them know eachothers origional languages too, so everyone once in a while you will hear random conversations in a different language. Its really cool. There is French, Swiss, English, .... and I cant even remember the others. Everyone is really involved with everyone else, they cook together and hang out in the common area. And OH MY GOSH they dont have a TV! But really there is so much going on all the time that I never even noticed, and no one cares to have it.
So when Emily and I entered her house it was, "Are you coming to the party tonight? it will be great fun!" from everyone at different times, and being told that we better get ready now because they were leaving in one hour. So we hurried and I got to learn how to use the shower device that heats the water and all of the other little things that are different. The theme of the night I guess was Spring, so we tried to dress up to look like flowers or at least wore bright colors (except for emily who was a party pooper and didnt want to wear anything but black) When we were ready it turns out we had a whole nother hour to leave, so Emily went out for pizza. It was delicious! Thin and crunchy, yet soft, full of flavor but wasnt overloaded with stuff. I got a carmalized onion and balsamic with goat cheese pizza. YUM....
That night we went to an event at a place called The Potted T... something, i cant remember. Anyway its actually a boat that has been converted into a club kind of thing. It sits on the water and you have to walk up a plank with rope banasters to get on it. You go down the stairs and there is a stage and tables and a big space for dancing, with a small bar in the back, and a table full of costume peices that you can rent to wear for the night. Emily got some angel wings. That night was a comedy act event. They brought in 4 or 5 different groups from around Europe that did comedy skits and strange yet funny acts. It was a very good time! After the show the music came on and everyone danced. Even the guys! No one has a problem with dancing here, its just goofy and fun to do. No one gets really close to each other like in the States, its just for fun.
It was a great first night in Liverpool!
22 march
The next morning Emily was my tour guide and showed me around Liverpool. She pointed out all the best bars, shops and cafes. I think Liverpool has the best cappacino. Liverpool is a fun place, it has some main streets that go on for a while that are full of shops and squares, but it is different from france where it doesnt have a lot of outdoor seating or a coffee culture, the people that drink coffee are mostly the artists in the creative cafes. She also took me to the older area where there were huge government buildings and a lot of different kinds of museums. We were trying to go to the library but it was closed, so instead we went and looked around the art gallery. We also went into St. Georges Hall which is an old jail and court. We got to go in the jail cells and it was really creepy. That night Emily and I went to the grocery store and bought some food to make dinner, but ended up not making anything because we were invited to a group dinner at her friends house. He had prepared some cheese fundue (hes swiss so it was really good!) We got there and there were was an English girl, a girl from the Netherlands, the swiss host, emily's swiss roommate, and a german neighbor. Not only was it great food but great conversation, as any topic that came up we usually went around taking turns sharing the special ways we do something in our country. Like our signature kind of food. (Emily and I thought of sweet corn?) With the fundue we had bread, mushrooms, pineapple, and cherry tomatoes to dip in it. And of course we washed it all down with white wine. It was fantastic.
23 march
EASTER! For Easter, Emily and I wanted to go to the huge cathedral by her house. It is really amaazing. I think its the largest in the UK and one of the tallest. Its a protistant church so we were able to follow along better than if it was Catholic. It was a long service but it was really nice. We took communion and got to see all of the traditional dress and different rituals they had. It was really nice. After the service we walked around the cathedral, which had all kinds of huge rooms and other chapels inside of it. It took us over an hour and still didnt see everything. It is beautiful inside too, with architectural details in every inch that you look. There is a well know arch there that emily happened to randomly find (she didnt know which one it was but randomly started talking into one and it happened to be the right one) where if you stand on one side of the arch and talk into it, then a person on the other side can hear you clearly. I didnt believe that it would work, but was amazed with I heard emily say "Hello Janell" in an echoey voice.
After church we just relaxed and took a nap. That night we made the food that we bought the night before, which was salmon on spinach salad. It was SO delicious! Ive learned so much about cooking just from being here for a few days. Ive learned that as long as you have a basic idea, you can throw a lot of random stuff together and it will always taste good.
24 March
Emily's parents came into England today via Manchester airport and emily went to hang out with them. I took this alone time to relax and get myself organized. It was a very mellow day, and the aweful weather made me very tired.
For dinner, Emily's roommates had organized a sushi night, so we all stood around the kitchen table and rolled sushi for a few hours. I had never made my own sushi before. If you have the right quality of ingredients, its really easy! Then emily and her parents came back and we all had delicious homemade sushi. It would have cost a fortune at a restaurant, because we made A LOT, and it was so good!
