There's Nothing You Can Sing That Can't Be Sung

The British Rail system is quite the experience!

This weekend was jam-packed. First we hopped on a train (a big trend for the weekend) to the birthplace of Shakespeare. Stratford-upon-avon is a tiny little town that didn't feel like giving us such good weather. But we made do and saw his birthplace, his old school, and his grave. Mostly a historical town with pretty scenery and little shops. During the sunny moments, we walked along the river Avon, with beautiful birds and boats strewn across the length of it. It was absolutely beautiful to walk along and look at all the bright green grass on the riverbank. From there, we hopped on another train to the city that didn't let me down... Liverpool. I had been warned by our Program Director that it would be lame and that was reenforced by a few other side comments. When I pictured it, I thought of the recent movie "Across the Universe": Frigidly cold port town made up of lots of dock workers and a few tourguides to pump up the Beatles history, but I still had high (maybe idyllic) hopes. Little did I know, Liverpool was named Cultural City of Europe for 2008, which, according to all the posters proclaiming it around the city, is a big deal. There are huge museums easily seen right across from the train station and a beautiful port scattered with shops. The highlight of our weekend was definitely the private taxi tour of The Beatles Story. Our tour guide, Lull, showed us sights from Penny Lane and Strawberry Field to the childhood homes of both Lennon and McCartney. We even saw the Cavern Club (where the Beatles were known to frequent and perform at) and the school where Paul and John first met on July 6, 1957. (The school was having a Summer Fete across the street from St. George's church, whose cemetary has a grave of a certain woman, Eleanor Rigby...the boys later borrowed her name for one of their popular songs.) The sightseeing, although fabulous, had nothing on the nightlife and our experiences with the locals. First of all, we stayed in a hostel. I slept on a bunkbed only a few feet away from a man we dubbed "The Phlegm." Enough said. Secondly, I haven't met people as friendly as those "Liverpudlians" outside of the South. Their local dialect is so interesting! These so-called "Scounses," the locals speak with an accent more similar to the Scottish/Irish accent than the posh English one. It took a lot of concentration to understand what they were saying, but we somehow managed. (The fact that the people we talked to just happened to be cute university boys also helped our focus...)

Liverpool will always be one of my favorite experiences here... I doubt I'll be able to top it!

By the time we made it to Manchester, we were completely worn out. We attempted some shopping, but crowds and prices are always a deterrent, so we ended up not seeing or doing much there. Oh well, if that's the worst part of the weekend, I'd still call it a great weekend! Trains on the way back got delayed so the long way home was made even worse. Thus, today was probably the laziest Sunday of my life!

P.S. Let me know if you've got a passion for the Elizabethan Church... haha, I can hear you all thinking "yeah, right, like my intense interest in watching paint dry." Well, I tried.

Love is all you need!
-Megan