I think I'm in love with England.

The blog is currently and officially living up to it's name. I am officially in Europe starting with the UK. It has been just five days since I've been here and I am currently sitting in my cousin, Kathy's house in England. I just arrived here four days ago and before that I was at my other cousin, Laurie's just about fourty -five minutes away. Lately, it has been going wonderfully but the beginning was a little rough. It all started at customs in Manchester. I won't go into details but basically I walked up to two lines, one for UK residents and the other for non-residents - that's ME! And a very short line I might add. I thought to myself, "Boy, this is gonna be nice and easy." And boy was I wrong. There were certain things I should've been more prepared for apparently, things I didn't quite know about and this caused me some trouble and I was almost not aloud into the country. But I got through, really on the basis of trust. I wasn't really scared at the time, maybe just a little frustrated but there was nothing really I could do. Afterwards I realized how close I was to my dream being flushed down the toilet. Oh ya, and it's toilet here, not washroom. I called it the washroom and my little six year old cousin asks, "why do you call it a washroom?" Later on her mom asked her if she needed to use the toilet and she replied, "No mom, it's the washroom!" Haha, it was cute. So anyways, after I got through customs I ventured off to find the train station. A little less clear than I expected but no biggy. I was tired and very hungry so I stopped for a tuna sandwich at 9:15 am, 1:15 am BC time. Both strange times for a tuna sandwich but I was hungry! I scarfed it down and eventually found the ticket booth for the train. Then I needed to call Laurie to tell her what train I was on. The pay phone didn't work. I had a sneaky suspicion this would happen due to my lack of technology knowledge. I know it's a pay phone, how hard can it be? But my suspicion proved me right. What proved me wrong was my knowledge. The payphone actually didn't work. I asked a lady for help incase I was stupid but it didn't work for her either. Plus it ate my money. Grr. She let me use her cell phone just 8 minutes until the train came.Which really is enough time but this was the first train I've ever been on so I was a little nervous about missing it. The lady brought me over to the train to make sure I got on the right one. She was the sweetest. Heaven sent. I sat down with my beautiful but huge backpack on my lap, closed my eyes and tried to hold the tears in. I was finally able to breath and my first thought was, "You crazy nut, what are you doing?" Needless to say I was happy to see my cousin on the other end of my train route. I then managed to stay up most of the day minus a 2 hour nap. Laurie and her family live on a bible school campus, Capernwray Hall which is in the group of schools like the one I worked at in BC so I got the tour of the main building which looks like a castle but apparently isn't an actual castle. It's pretty neat-o. I was tired but felt normal that day. The next couple of days I felt like an alien. I was exhausted, nauseated, and had a headache. I expected to be tired but not sick. Ugh, it was awful. So I didn't do a whole lot as I recovered but thankfully I will be back at Christmas. I am now feeling normal which is always nice! While I was there I did go for a really nice walk. The school is located among rolling hills, hundreds of sheep and my favourite, stone walls! I ventured about for around two hours. I loved it. Yesterday, Laurie took me out for coffee at a really cute tea house on a farm and that was great too. I enjoyed the short drive through a town with cute homes and again, stone walls. While at their home, I'd read or play Mario Kart with the kids, and just chill out. Two of my evenings contained of 'music lessons' with Brianna, my six year old cousin. She instructed me with songs from her story books and was very particular about me doing it just as she liked. Too funny. Like I said before, now I am at my cousin, Kathy's and they have a three year old son, so the entertainment has not died! On saturday we all headed up to the Lake District which was absolutely beautiful! I loved it and the weather was perfect! We went to Windemere Lake and had a picnic lunch, drove through a couple of the cutest towns I've ever seen and then had a walk partly around Rydal Lake. Afterwards we had a quick pitstop in the town of Grasmere where the famous poet, William Wordsworth was buried (I didn't know who he was until we got to the town). I will let the photos do the rest of the talking but seriously, I could live there. Yesterday we went to a christmas fair but didn't do much christmas shopping. It was on the property of an old hall (the Astley Hall) which is now a museum, art gallery and war memorial. Kathy and I looked around the house while her husband, Simon and son, William ate ice cream and ventured around to other things (it was a big fundraiser with things like a little skating rink, horse and carriage rides, bouncy castles, puppet shows, etc.) The hall wasn't massive like Mr. Darcy's in Pride and Prejudice but it sure brought me back to those times. The bedrooms were beautiful and the piano room was the bomb. The ceiling was the most intricate ceiling I've seen yet. I could play piano in their forever. And then we walked along the property. There was a pond outside the building and a massive field with forest along the side. I walked along wondering what it was like to live back then. I'd be wearing alot more dresses, that's for sure.

My cousin, Kaitlin and I up on the tower of Capernwray Hall (my very first day!)

Capernwray Hall

Can't go anywhere without seeing sheep

on my walk

stone walls :)

Windemere Lake

An old house at Windemere Lake

My cousin, Kathy and I

On the way to Rydal Lake

The paths were so rugged, I loved it!

William walking along. You can see a bit of the lake to the left. I realized later I didn't actually get a good photo of it.

In the town of Grasmere

Astley Hall

Well, I was going to go for a walk today but it is (surprise, surprise) raining! I'll probably veg out. I'm not sure what tomorrow brings but Wednesday I am off to Germany for five weeks! Can't wait to tell you all about that!