York & Whitby...AKA: "Freezing Times"

Life in England, is a busy, busy time. Between classes, traveling, planning travels, preparing our Sing Song video, Skyping with loved ones, and trying to get enough sleep, there's barely any time left in the day to do the most important thing: update my blog so that everyone at home can now how crazy life here is! But this morning, I forced myself out of bed at the ridiculous hour of 9 AM, made a strong cup of French-press coffee, and sat down in front of my computer, ready to inform the world of my going-ons.

Last Thursday, before the rooster crowed, we were on a bus driven by Fearless Dave the Bus Driver headed to York. We did not know what to expect...I suppose we all thought, "Hm...I suppose it'll be like New York, but older." Ha. Not quite. After a four hour ride to North England, we exited the bus and were immediately greeted by a Mr. Freezing who proceeded to make us miserable for the remainder of the day. We walked into town, past the astounding Cathedral or Abbey, and Malia, Kristi, and I stopped at a precious little deli for lunch. After we ate, we took some time to regain our courage to battle Mr. Freezing again, and we spent the remainder of the day popping in and out of the ridiculously cute and even more ridiculously expensive shops in the town of York, which is vastly different from New York, might I add. By 4:30, we were once again on the warm bus, and Dave led us into the town of Whitby which is right by the North Sea. Claire, Kristi, and I were too cold to venture outside after dinner in our hostel, so we waited until morning to experience the little harbor town.

In the morning, a large group started the day at the Whitby Abbey Museum which was practically connected to our hostel. We walked through the museum and then explored the amazing ruins of Whitby Abbey which is over 1000 years old. This is the Abbey that Bede, the "Father of English History," recorded the Synod of Whitby taking place in the 7th century which was a major turning point in British history because this is when the nation decided to following the Roman Catholic traditions instead of the Orthodox traditions. The ruins were absolutely fascinating and even more mysterious--I'd give anything to hear those walls talk.

We then walked down the 199 steps into the town of Whitby to find some famous fish and chips. We stopped at Magpie Cafe which has the reputation of having the best fish and chips in England. Malia and I were stuffed from lunch at the hostel, so we didn't have any, but everyone in our groups said they were absolutely amazing. We then wandered in and out of some shops. Whitby is known for its Jet. A black semi-precious stone. I have never seen anything that black in my life and it's absolutely beautiful. Malia, Natalie, and I decided that we needed to buy jewelry to remember Whitby by, so we searched the shops in the town until we found the perfect rings. Malia and I ended up getting the same ring with an oval jet stone in the middle. So pretty! Feeling accomplished, we climbed those 199 steep steps again back to our hostel. Whitby was great and the beach was so pretty, but so cold!

The next morning, after breakfast and a brief walk into the town, we left little Whitby at 10 AM. Fearless Dave drove us into Nottingham--that's right! Robin Hood's Nottingham. We were going to experience the center of English middle class culture: football ("soccer" as Americans call it). I don't know much about soccer except what Jason has told me and what I Googled when we first started dating in order to try to impress him (it didn't work); therefore, I was a little skeptical about whether or not I would enjoy sitting in the cold for 2 hours watching Nottingham Forrest take on Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship League (one step below the Premiere League which is what Man U and Chelsea are in). To my surprise, I enjoyed it so much! Dave told us that there were about 35,000 fans in the stands. One thing that stuck out to me about the fans, was the songs. They sang songs together throughout the game--everyone knew them as well as other chants and cheers such as "C'mon you Reds!" and "Worst referee in history" (the latter was my favorite). But when thousands of people began singing "You've lost that lovin' feeling, whoa, whoa that loving feeling..." I couldn't help but laugh. I have no idea why they sang that song, but I thought it was absolutely hilarious.

Anyway, Nottingham Forrest (the home team--the team we were cheering for) won! Happy and excited, we got on the bus and returned to Oxford where we soon got in bed to try to recover from a busy, but fun-filled, weekend. I may try to return to Whitby when it is a little warmer, and if I get another opportunity to attend a football game, I'll be jumping on that like a kid on a trampoline!