It started off as a beautiful calm morning, but it soon turned into a crazy day. If something could go wrong, it did. I probably shouldn't say that, more could have happened, but it was a day of surprises! Some of these details you might not care about, but I just wanted to get the whole experience down. The link for the pictures are at the end.
The morning bus comes to the dorms at 8:20, but the train out of town to get to Fountains Abbey was too close to when the bus would drop us off. We decided to catch an earlier bus up the road. When we got there in the morning, the schedule that was posted was different than what we found online, so we had missed it. As we were checking the schedule, the University bus that we normally take drove down the road to the dorms. We needed to be on that bus, but there was NO way to get back up to the dorms in time to catch it. So we stood on the side of the road and flagged it down as it was coming down. I've never felt like such an idiot in my life. The bus driver was going to stop, but then he did like 20 feet passed us. He was mad.
We got to the train station and looked at the board. The train for Leeds was leaving in 2 minutes on the platform on the farthest end of the station. We ran and hopped on with maybe 30 seconds to spare. As we open the train time table, we realized that we had just gotten onto the train that stopped at every station between Huddersfield and Leeds. It got us there 20 minutes later than the straight through train that would have left 10 minutes later at Huddersfield. Oops.
We get to Leeds and talk to friendly person behind the counter to see what the fastest way to Fountains Abbey was. We had looked it up online the night before, but we wanted to check. She was no help and wasn't even making any sense. She was really friendly, but didn't know what she was talking about. She was telling us that the first available bus to take us to Fountains Abbey got there at 3:30, and the last bus out was at 2:30. So we would have to leave before we got there? What? Ok, so we stick to the original ''plan.''
We get a bus from Leeds (a really nice double decker) to Rippon. It was a beautiful sceneic drive and I'm glad I stayed awake for it. Some of the other girls slept, we'd been up since 6am to catch the early bus that didn't exist. Once in Rippon, we mosied around the town for 2 hours, ate lunch in a pub, and got rained on.
Once the shuttle bus FINALLY came to take us to Fountains Abbey at about 2:00, we were so ready to just GET THERE!!! The bus driver took the most crazy route to get there. We passed at least 3 signs that said FOUTAINS ABBEY ---> 2 miles, and we went <---. I guess that was the route that she was supposed to take, and we only picked up one other person on the way there. It was a little bus; she was driving SOOO fast down these one lane back country roads. It still took us an HOUR to get there though.
Enter Fountains Abbey. Commence rain. To read more about the history CLICK HERE. We ran through the park, because we only had an hour and half until the last bus out of Fountains Abbey left. We were literally running at points in the park. I really wish we could have spent more time there, but it was BEAUTIFUL!
We get back on the bus to go back to Rippon, and it's only an 8 minute bus ride. We all got off the bus were so miffed. We should have just walked there instead of waiting around town for 2 hours, we could have walked there in a half hour. The bus ride home was uneventful, but we were exhausted at the end of the day from sitting around on buses and trains all day.
Here are the pictures, proof I was there :)
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
More England-ism and Randomness
Last night we were having devotional, peacefully in my room. We were in the middle of 2 Nephi 25:26 when there is POUNDING at our door. We all freeze and get really scared. They then start yelling, ''Boothroyd D!'' and yelling and pounding on the door. It was funny and scary at the same time. We called security to come and we watched from the kitchen window as the security guys went into Boothroyd B! We were waving out the window for them to come over to our apt but they didn't see us. Mean while the drunken men at our door eventually left saying, ''we just want to be your friends!'' Yeah right.
We also had apple sponge with ice cream for dessert. You lay sliced apples in the bottom of the pan and then pour the sponge cake batter over the top and bake it. It was a very delicious meal :)
Tonight we were invited to the Bishop's home for dinner and it was SOOOO good!!! One of the things that she made that was ''English'' is Yorkshire pudding. It was a bread/roll thing that was sweet and it was really good.
We also had apple sponge with ice cream for dessert. You lay sliced apples in the bottom of the pan and then pour the sponge cake batter over the top and bake it. It was a very delicious meal :)More Englandisms
English people put the annunciation on different parts of words here and it takes a split second to register what they might be saying. The prime example of this, is my name. Here's the pronunciation: can-DEES.
Remember how I said that they put an ''R'' sound at the end of words that end with a soft ''A.'' Here are some of the words I've heard in the last few days that this happens to: law, Daniella, Jessica, idea, America.
Road signs here are a crack up. I don't know what half of them mean! I will do a whole photo album of all the signs that we've taken pictures of but here's a preview.
Portion sizes here are much smaller. When you first get your plate it's kind of like, ''what? that's it?'' But them you realize, that's really all I should be eating anyways.
Rubbish bin = trash can
Pram = stroller
Trolley = cart/shopping cart
Toilets = the restroom...going to use the lue (I don't even know how you would spell it)
Napkins = serviettes. Don't ask for napkins.
Fag = slang for a cigarette ... I hate that word
A stone = 14 lbs
Mobile phone = cell phone
There are no drinking fountains here. Water is scarce and I have yet to find a place to refill a water bottle anywhere.
There are no cinnamon rolls :( I wanted to make monkey bread as a treat and we asked a lady at the grocery store and she had no idea what we were talking about. She said try to explain what it is and I'll tell you if we have something like it. Nope.
The KitKat bars here are my favorite. They are my favorite at home too, but the chocolate they make them with here is different and it is SO much better. I'm addicted.
The words that English people use for adjectives like, COOL, AWESOME, PRETTY, NICE, GOOD IDEA. I haven't heard any of these. Instead I've heard:
Brill! ...short for brilliant
Fab! ...short for fabulous
Gen! ...short for genius
Posh!
Capital!
Lovely! They use this one for EVERYTHING. (New York was lovely when we went on holiday. This food tastes lovely. The movie was lovely. The lesson today was lovely. Lovely job.)
Last but not least, I've put up some random pictures from the last couple weeks of nothing particular. CLICK ME
CHEERS!
Forgot these!
Here is a video I forgot to post with York yesterday. It's just showing you how narrow and cramped the staircase was!
Saturday, May 16, 2009
A Tale of Two Cities: York
York was incredible! It had buildings there that are some of the oldest ever. Okay, I might have just made that up, but everything is really old, and beautiful as you'll be able to see from the pictures. It was a wet rainy day and I kind of had woken up on the wrong side of the bed that day with a sprained ankle from the day before, still adjusting to time, and time of month, yuck. But once we got into the city it was an awesome day. I'm glad that I made the most of it because it was definitely a day that I'll never forget!!!
CLICK ME!!!
CLICK ME!!!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Scratch that
That is what my day used to be like. We found out today that we've been banned from the Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and all hospitals and clinics in the area. That's right ladies and gentleman staff has been informed that we are not to step into the hospital. I guess it is illegal in England to be registered at two different universities, and since we got ID cards for University of Huddersfield (even though we aren't registered for any classes) that counts plus BYU. We were supposed to have had some kind of visas or something. I don't even know, it's a huge mess. But they told Erin, our instructor, that we weren't to enter the hospital or any other clinics in ''the trust,'' not even to say goodbye to the staff or give them our thank you gifts that we brought. So no more 5 am wake-up calls :) . But now we aren't entirely sure what we'll be doing for the next week until we leave for Scotland. They said something about attempting to get us into the private sector but since it's such short notice that might not work either....Oh boy!
Today was fun though. It was Michelle's birthday and we went to Nando's for lunch. It's the only chain restaurant in England but it was SUPER delicious!! We then went shopping for a bit. While we were in the store there was a lady that was working there that asked where we were from. She was from Chicago and she was so happy to talk with us, for almost an hour! It was great. She told us all of the horror stories she's ran into with the health care system here. It was nice to hear that we aren't the only ones that thinks it stinks. But she told us things we should go do in Scotland and around here and when we go down to London. It was nice to talk with her.
We then found a mall in town that we hadn't seen before, I got some cute Vans for only £10 and now we are home getting ready to head out to a cricket game. But I think it might get cancelled because it looks like rain. What a surprise!
Today was fun though. It was Michelle's birthday and we went to Nando's for lunch. It's the only chain restaurant in England but it was SUPER delicious!! We then went shopping for a bit. While we were in the store there was a lady that was working there that asked where we were from. She was from Chicago and she was so happy to talk with us, for almost an hour! It was great. She told us all of the horror stories she's ran into with the health care system here. It was nice to hear that we aren't the only ones that thinks it stinks. But she told us things we should go do in Scotland and around here and when we go down to London. It was nice to talk with her.
We then found a mall in town that we hadn't seen before, I got some cute Vans for only £10 and now we are home getting ready to head out to a cricket game. But I think it might get cancelled because it looks like rain. What a surprise!
A day in Hudderfield
I have some extra time to kill this morning, I'll tell you why later. But I though I would let you know what a typical day for me is here in Huddersfield.
I go to bed each night and stress out when it comes time to set my alarm clock, which is on my cell phone. For some reason my phone is picking up a signal that makes my clock one hour slow. The clock on the computer that I have borrowed from the University is about an hour and half fast. So I never know what time it actually is. But I set my alarm on the phone and make sure that it is going to wake me at the correct time of day, even though the numbers are all wrong. I get up between 5-5:15 depending on if I need to shower and get ready to go to the hospital, in street clothes (I will NEVER BE A DAY NURSE!!!!). We hike to the bus stop about 15 minutes away (all downhill thankfully) at 5:45. It is a beuatiful walk and wakes me up in the morning so I am grateful for that! The bus comes at 6:06 (except for the first day, it was 10 minutes late and we thought we had missed it). We switch buses in the middle of town to take us the hospital to arrive at about 6:55 (side note: how to pronounce Huddersfield in an English accent-- uh-duhs-filled)We change into our atrocious uniforms and go the the units, which are called wards. My ward starts report at 7, and Brits are VERY punctual, almost to the point of no flexibility, and so I always miss the first three patients of handover. We get report from the night nurses and start medications. I will try to refrain from my spiels about the health care system here, but don't worry, you'll hear about it later if I haven't already told you! Anyways we start meds, which are called tablets. On my floor we have to wear these silly red vests that say ''DO NOT BISTURB MEDICATION ADMINISTRATION IN PROGRESS.'' The nurses think they're stupid too and don't wear them, but make me. So dumb. Anyways after meds, we go around with the doctors and write down what the plan is with the patient. We then follow their every wish...ok, don't get me started. Sometimes my nurse will disppear in the middle of an important time of day, giving baths, doing meds, admitting patients when it's really busy, etc. I find out, ''she's gone for her break'' or ''she's having her morning tea time.'' The atmosphere is so differenct in the hospitals here than in America. My shift is supposed to end at 2:30 and the nurses usually shoe me away at about 2:15 and say that everyone else has already left and I might as well go. After clinical we take the bus back to town and stop at the grocery store or just go straight to the bus that brings us the dorms. In the afternoons, we take walks, watch movies, take naps, plan our Europe trip, or just sit around and talk. At 9pm we have devotional and then we get ready to do it all over again.
Right now I am sitting in a computer lab on at ''uni'' (what they call campus, or the university). I was supposed to go around the hospital today with an ICU outreach team, but they got schedules mixed up with another student nurse, so I decided to just take the morning off because Erin told us we could have one morning off during our three weeks. So a caught up on reading blogs and looking at pictures from friends and family all around the world right now: Taiwan, Ecuador, Jordan, Australia, Washington D.C., Japan, Connecticut, Utah, and England :). The computer won't let me upload photos for some reason, otherwise I would have put some up of Huddersfield. It really is beautiful here. I am so glad that we are staying in the countryside and not in the city (I don't like ciites). I will soon post pictures from York, Fountains Abbey and everyday life in England. Miss you all!!
English lingo hospital and non:
Are you queueing? -- Are you in line?
BM -- blood sugars...none of the nurses know what the M stands for.
Off-duty book -- the work schedule
Cheers -- Can mean just about anything you want: hello, goodbye, thanks, what's up?, nice to see you, etc
Love -- everyone is called, ''love'' How are you paying, love? What's your pain like, love? Cheers, love!
Tablets -- Pills or medications
Sick --nausea and vomitting. I was so confused the first time someone asked me for a sick tablet. I was thinking, ''you're in the hospital mister, of course you're sick!''
Stayin in or take-away? --For here or to go?
Cannulas -- IVs (it's like in New England they put an R sound at the end of the words that end in A like idea. But in other words, they don't pronounce R's''
CHEERS, LOVE. I'm off!
I go to bed each night and stress out when it comes time to set my alarm clock, which is on my cell phone. For some reason my phone is picking up a signal that makes my clock one hour slow. The clock on the computer that I have borrowed from the University is about an hour and half fast. So I never know what time it actually is. But I set my alarm on the phone and make sure that it is going to wake me at the correct time of day, even though the numbers are all wrong. I get up between 5-5:15 depending on if I need to shower and get ready to go to the hospital, in street clothes (I will NEVER BE A DAY NURSE!!!!). We hike to the bus stop about 15 minutes away (all downhill thankfully) at 5:45. It is a beuatiful walk and wakes me up in the morning so I am grateful for that! The bus comes at 6:06 (except for the first day, it was 10 minutes late and we thought we had missed it). We switch buses in the middle of town to take us the hospital to arrive at about 6:55 (side note: how to pronounce Huddersfield in an English accent-- uh-duhs-filled)We change into our atrocious uniforms and go the the units, which are called wards. My ward starts report at 7, and Brits are VERY punctual, almost to the point of no flexibility, and so I always miss the first three patients of handover. We get report from the night nurses and start medications. I will try to refrain from my spiels about the health care system here, but don't worry, you'll hear about it later if I haven't already told you! Anyways we start meds, which are called tablets. On my floor we have to wear these silly red vests that say ''DO NOT BISTURB MEDICATION ADMINISTRATION IN PROGRESS.'' The nurses think they're stupid too and don't wear them, but make me. So dumb. Anyways after meds, we go around with the doctors and write down what the plan is with the patient. We then follow their every wish...ok, don't get me started. Sometimes my nurse will disppear in the middle of an important time of day, giving baths, doing meds, admitting patients when it's really busy, etc. I find out, ''she's gone for her break'' or ''she's having her morning tea time.'' The atmosphere is so differenct in the hospitals here than in America. My shift is supposed to end at 2:30 and the nurses usually shoe me away at about 2:15 and say that everyone else has already left and I might as well go. After clinical we take the bus back to town and stop at the grocery store or just go straight to the bus that brings us the dorms. In the afternoons, we take walks, watch movies, take naps, plan our Europe trip, or just sit around and talk. At 9pm we have devotional and then we get ready to do it all over again.
Right now I am sitting in a computer lab on at ''uni'' (what they call campus, or the university). I was supposed to go around the hospital today with an ICU outreach team, but they got schedules mixed up with another student nurse, so I decided to just take the morning off because Erin told us we could have one morning off during our three weeks. So a caught up on reading blogs and looking at pictures from friends and family all around the world right now: Taiwan, Ecuador, Jordan, Australia, Washington D.C., Japan, Connecticut, Utah, and England :). The computer won't let me upload photos for some reason, otherwise I would have put some up of Huddersfield. It really is beautiful here. I am so glad that we are staying in the countryside and not in the city (I don't like ciites). I will soon post pictures from York, Fountains Abbey and everyday life in England. Miss you all!!
English lingo hospital and non:
Are you queueing? -- Are you in line?
BM -- blood sugars...none of the nurses know what the M stands for.
Off-duty book -- the work schedule
Cheers -- Can mean just about anything you want: hello, goodbye, thanks, what's up?, nice to see you, etc
Love -- everyone is called, ''love'' How are you paying, love? What's your pain like, love? Cheers, love!
Tablets -- Pills or medications
Sick --nausea and vomitting. I was so confused the first time someone asked me for a sick tablet. I was thinking, ''you're in the hospital mister, of course you're sick!''
Stayin in or take-away? --For here or to go?
Cannulas -- IVs (it's like in New England they put an R sound at the end of the words that end in A like idea. But in other words, they don't pronounce R's''
CHEERS, LOVE. I'm off!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
A Tale of Two Cities: LIVERPOOL
Liverpool is the home of the Beatles, the greatest band ever!!! We left early in the day to get as much in as we could. The train ride there was absolutely beautiful with lots of flowers all along the way. The city was more of a "modern" city, even though there are still a lot of old beautiful building. I walk down the street, even in little Huddersfield and am completely amazed by the architecture. Every building is so old and tells it's own powerful story. I wish the buildings could talk.
I explain the whole trip in the captions of the photos here!
For those who have already looked at the pictures on facebook, I've changed them. Added caption, and made sense of them. Facebook wasn't supposed to have published it yet, oh well. It's ready now.
I explain the whole trip in the captions of the photos here!
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