At approximately 11:30AM on May 7th, eight bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Buckeyes walked through security of Port Columbus International Airport and headed toward gate C54 on the first leg of our English excursion.
Maybe it was the stress of finals, the emotional goodbyes at the end of the school year, or the sheer amount of planing and stress induced by this trip, but there had always been a minuscule part of my subconscious that was convinced we were not actually going to another country. Therefore, I was not at all nervous to fly until the plane was taking off. It felt like going up the hill of an extremely tall roller coaster, which is always the worst part, but once we were above the cover of clouds, I quickly fell victim to my exhaustion. It seemed like I had just fallen asleep when the seat belt lights started to flash and we had begun our initial descent into Detroit. Now, I would not by any means consider myself a connoisseur of airports, however, the Detroit airport was pretty amazing complete with light shows in the hallways, every food establishment you could ever want, and a tram that ran inside the building (Ohio State loyalty aside, I guess That State Up North has at least one descent amenity...). After we had eaten and stretched our legs, we began to wait to board our final plane to England.
This flight was much more comfortable given its larger size, refreshments aboard, and availability of entertainment. Once our plane had taken off and I watched the States disappear under a blanket of white, I attempted to sleep my way to London. For the most part, I think I just laid there with my eyes closed hoping to trick myself into sleep, but you can probably image how well that went. When the sun rised at approximately 5AM, but my iPhone still read midnight, thus began the confusion my body is still experiencing as I type this multiple hours later. We had apparently arrived in London early and were forced to circle above the city for about an hour while we watched, and were teased by, the promise of a new side of the world thousands of feet below. When it was finally time to land, I did not realize at the time that we would be in England for another four hours and see nothing but the airport. Our group of eight from Columbus plus two from Detroit had to meet up with two more members from our program, attempt to find where our coach was coming to pick us up, and discover that our coach had not yet shown up. After the bus situation was resolved, we made our way to Stratford-upon-Avon (the birthplace of William Shakespeare) however, I did not actually witness our physical journey to the city because exhaustion had once again gotten the better of me.
2 hours later, we pulled up to our quaintly-named English bed and breakfast, Quilts and Croissants. The twelve exhausted students proceeded to refresh and nap for the next 30 minutes and then began our exploration of probably the most picturesque town I have ever seen (pictures below). Many bed and breakfasts here have clever names relating to Shakespeare such as the Cymbeline House or Twelfth Night. In addition, so many areas in Stratford are modeled to look like old century England, such as the pud we ate dinner at called the Old Thatch Tavern.
Given the fact that the only places I have seen of this country thus far are its airport, its almost too perfect small town, and nothing in between. So, you can imagine why I would not be surprised to step outside of Stratford's borders and find that I have not in fact left the confines of central Ohio. You spend so much time learning about other countries in school, but never actually visit them so you just have to believe they exist. Travelling abroad for the first time is like finally discovering that the rest of the world actually exists.
If I have learned anything so far in my one day of international travel, it is that things I found so common in the U.S. are not the norm whatsoever. For example, being brought up in the States, I had grown accustomed to turning on your shower from inside the shower instead of pulling a cord outside of it. Apparently plumbing in the U.S. has made me soft because in England, each sink has two faucets, one for hot water and one for cold. In order to get the right balance for warm water, you have to frantically shift your hands back and forth between the faucets. It is quite stressful in my opinion and usually just results in experience both scalding hot water and frigid cold water. In addition, there is the great "chips" vs. "crisps" debacle. As it turns out, if your sandwich comes with chips, do not get your hopes up for a handful of potato chips with your meal because you will be sadly disappointed with the plate of french fries that your waiter brings you (already made that mistake once today). Also, what we would consider the soda Sprite is what they refer to as lemonade. You can only image how disappointing that was on the plane ride over.
Overall, the daylong travelling it took to get here was exhausting, but it was well worth it and I can not wait to continue exploring this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
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