To the Europe Abroad

Valentine's Day 2010.
2 Valentine's Days' ago, I was proposed to. Last Valentine's Day, my fiance' was off fighting our war in Iraq. This Valentine's Day, I was stuck in a foreign country, again without my fiance'...and it was one of the greatest Vday's I've ever had.

Over majority of the girls in the study abroad program this semester have boyfriends. So all of us felt the same alone-feeling. So, we planned a girls day/night out. First, we hadn't been the the Winter Garden's of Sunderland yet, so we decided to go there first. I'll admit, they weren't what I had expected. The museum was a little random, a nice effort, but very random. There were art galleries, next to fish tanks, next to historical artifacts. It was weird to say the least. The Winter Garden itself was very quaint. I thought it could have been a little more kept up than it was, but it was something fresh to see.

The gardens outside were beautiful. If you go to the Winter Gardens in Sunderland, skip the museum and winter gardens inside and just go to the small Mowbray Park outside. It was a pretty cold day to be walking around the park, but we have already planned to make it our hobby in the spring.

The park is filled with green and colorful flowers. It would be a great place for a picnic or just laying out in the grass for hours with a book. Very peaceful.

From there, we ventured onto the metro. We took the Metro all the way to South Shields to see the coastline. When we arrived it had already started getting dark and the breeze was colder than cold. We walked about 1 1/2 miles and were finally at the coast...

The North Sea.
It's beautiful from anywhere. It's not like the ocean I saw in Cali, and it's nothing like the Ocean in Maryland. The waves look cold, but picturesque. Every wave looks like it tells a story or holds a piece of history. America has history of course, but England just has a different form of history, in my opinion.

So after we got a little cold on the beach, we headed back into town and found a cute little Italian place to sit and eat our meal. Everyone toasted their wines and ate their meals. Dessert was a treat. Although the restaurant seemed to be out of everything on the dessert menu, we found ourselves some chocolate and quit complaining. We traveled back to Sunderland on the Metro and made it just in time to see Valentine's Day the movie. It was a great movie, but for a bunch of girls missing their men, I'm going to say it was a bad choice on our parts. We left the theater crying and laughing at ourselves.

It was a perfect mix for an English Valentine's Day.

This is one of the many stain glass windows that can be seen in Newcastle. A group of us took the metro into Newcastle expecting to do lots of shopping. When we got there, we were happy to see that it was a lot more historical than we had thought. Churches can be spotted throughout the city and the river makes for a great view. There were plenty of shops too. Streets branch off from the middle of the city, filled with shops like an outdoor city mall. I love the clothing style here. It's not exactly what I thought it was going to be like, but I love it. For girls, leggings are almost always worn. The tops are always fashionable, but also reasonably priced. Unlike trying to buy the $50 cool shirt from Hollister in America, here you can buy the new cool shirt for maybe £12.

I won't say that everyone is this friendly. Being the international girls that we are, we are very cautious. We didn't just run up for free hugs. We stopped and laughed first, questioning what they were really up to. Then we waited to see if anyone else was running up for free hugs. We even made sure they weren't trying to mug people. Once we ponder like crazy women for awhile, we walked up and asked kindly for hugs and pictures. When we finally asked why they were doing this, one of them simply replied, "just sharing the love." It was a funny small experience in our big semester adventure.
I say that not everyone is this friendly, because the social rules are a bit different in the UK, I think. For example:
America- You walk through people on the busy sidewalk and say "pardon me" or "excuse me", or you just plainly step out of their way.
UK- You walk through people on the busy street and say "pardon me" or "excuse me", but nothing is said back to you and you get trampled over or shoved. No one says excuse me and no one cares. They don't think you're rude for not saying "excuse me". They just think you're weird for saying it period.

We all agreed that we wanted to go back to Newcastle plenty of more times. It's a great place to go when you're stuck in Sunderland. Sunderland has some great sites too, but Newcastle just has a lot more to do in general. It cost us about £2.80 I believe, roundtrip, to take the metro from Sunderland to various stops in Newcastle. The shopping was great, the history was amazing... and did I mention the pubs? .....

Castle Garden

I will have to say that York is one of the most beautiful places I've been. The above is a photo taken in the city's Museum Gardens. Although the museum was actually closed when we were all there, the castle made the trip complete. The ruins that remain are magnificent and there are really no words that could give the scene justice. The castle lies just on the side of the Museum Gardens and along with a gate, protects a centuries-old cemetery. The tall pillars that once stood, now lie on the ground in large stone pieces. Few graves can actually be walked on of past ministers in the area.

The trip to York was a trip organized for the study abroad students. We left early in the morning on coach and upon arrival, the first place the group went to was the York Minister:

York Minister

The base of the church dates back to AD 627. The church has been destroyed, rebuilt, destroyed, and refurbished, multiple times. The Great East Window, finished in 1408, is the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world. When entering the church, one can first see various tombs and worship areas. You have to pay about £8 to get in and tour the rest of the cathedral. Although I did not do it, I wished I would have and hope to be able to before my semester here is over.
More information on the cathedral can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_Minster.

We next traveled through the various shopping streets to find the Holy Trinity Church. This amazed me almost more than the York Minister:

Holy Trinity Church

York is a very beautiful city. There are several shops and high-end stores through almost every street in the cities center. So far, If I had to pick anywhere in the UK to live, it would have to be York. The houses are quaint along the outskirts of the city, while the apartments within are fairly kept and quaint as well.

Another historical mark of the city is Clifford's Tower:

Clifford's Tower

This tower once held 150 Jews fleeing the city men carrying swords and torches. In 1190, rebelling without order of King Richard, sheriffs and townsmen went throughout the city persecuting Jews. Those whom fled to the tower seeking refuge, soon found themselves surrounded. Rather than being captured, they lit the tower on fire and committed suicide. Any survivors were murdered the following day. Finding out about this bloody massacre, King Richard fined the citizens of York and dismissed the sheriff.

The city also contains a great wall that once protected the castle and its keep. We actually walked about a half mile on it. Be careful though, because there aren't guard rails on one side so falling is an option.
Great city. Amazing history.

Thee Tickets

Airport Taxi