My trip across the pond

I can't believe I haven't posted anything since February!! I am absolutely horrified! What a slacker I have been! The two people out there that regularly read my blog can flog me later. If it is any consolation, I have plenty to blog about right now. My husband and I recently went on a trip to the United Kingdom with his family, and it was absolutely fantastic. We were only there for ten days, but we hit just about everything. Here are some highlights, and I promise to post some pics as soon as I can tear the camera away from my husband (it is new, bright, and shiny, which are all things he is fascinated by). I may have to do multiple posts to make sure I cover everything, so bear with me.

Manchester

My husband and I flew into Manchester where my brother-in-law is studying at the university this semester, and that is where our adventure began. Manchester is a nice city with a really young demographic. There isn't much for sight seeing (although they do have some free art and science museums), but it definitely has a fine selection of clubs and pubs. We definitely had our fill of beer and pub food, including fish 'n chips and mushy peas, while we were there.

In Manchester, I had my first experience staying at a hostel. It really was not too bad since the one we stayed at was clean and the people were friendly, but it definitely had its downsides. For instance, I never had a hot shower the entire time I was there. The best I could do was lukewarm. Also, I was the only girl in a room with four sets of bunk beds all occupied by men. I made my husband sleep on the bottom bunk so he could guard my honor as needed. Other than that it was not bad, and one of our roommates was a very nice Norwegian guy who hung out with us while we were in Manchester.

The weather was almost always cloudy and chilly while we were there. I had planned for this and I made sure I was nicely bundled up in jacket, hood, and gloves. Congratulating myself on being so well prepared, I stepped out was amazed at what the native Manchesterites wore, in particular the young women like myself. Most of these women were wearing club clothing, which hardly covers anything, and none of them had jackets. Imagine wearing tube top, miniskirt, and heels while it is 40 degrees F and raining. I thought they were crazy!

Football (soccer to us yanks) is huge over in the UK. Manchester has a very well known football team called Manchester United, and as you can imagine, the city loves its football. We got a chance to see the Manchester City team, which I think is a step below Manchester United, play while we were there. I have never seen anything like it! The opposing team's fans had their own specific section, and this section was completely surrounded by a ring of security guards to keep Man City fans out and keep the visiting team's fans in. The crowd was constantly singing fight songs, but the only one I could understand was "Come on City! Come on City!" Instead of shouting obscenities when the ref made a bad call, which is standard protocol for any Red Sox's game, the fans yelled out, "Rubbish! You're rubbish!" For some reason, I found this hilarious, and I couldn't help but get caught up by all the energy and foreign accents surrounding me. It was a lot of fun.

Put on your kilts and break out the whiskey because my next post will be about Scotland...