Thursday, June 5, 2008

The Top Ten Things I'll Miss About England

Well today I'm going to have to do five things on my list to stay on track. starting with wearing a uniform.
8. Wearing a uniform: While living in England I have had to wear a uniform to school everyday. A yellow polo shirt with a navy blue sweatshirt over top. Wearing it shows a sense of equality and belonging to the school. Nobody can say they are better than anyone because they have better clothes. Everyone is the same. Who cares about individuality uniforms help people get along a little bit better. I would wear my uniform everyday if I could. I hate to take it off when I come home. I hope my school back home starts uniforms now too. ( this whole article is a complete joke. I hated wearing a uniform. it was possibly the ugliest one on the planet. Not being able to show individuality is bad. I do not love to wear uniforms) =)

7. Ice pops: As some of you may know my brother and I have had to walk home from school everyday. On the way home there are a couple stores that sell candy, drinks and ice pops. These ice pops cost five pence. they are just the tube like, frozen flavoured ice pops that you squeeze to push of the frozen stuff up. they are delicious. people here buy twenty at a time and eat them as they walk home. the most I've bought at one time is 10. Personally I like the blue flavour and Tropical fruit (which is yellow). Grayson likes those flavours too. These ice pops are a little addictive. everyday my brother and I ask each other if they have any money to buy them. when we don't we go into a ice pop withdrawal and don't talk very much on the way home. When we do buy them we talk a lot as we go home. I'm going to miss those ice pops.

6.Walking everywhere and stores in walking distance: I have loved how walkable York is. Downtown is just a seven minute walk from our house. We go down there a few times a week to look at magazines at Borders or to go shopping. I usually go downtown to go look at Sports Illustrated at Borders or go to the Sports Store next door called JJB sports, (where I got my new Chelsea soccer jersey). Walking everywhere is also a much healthier way to get around than driving. Our whole family has slimmed down because of how far we have walked. (We'll probably put all the weight back on when we go back home because all the restaurants we want to go to) In Grand Rapids all the stores are far away and it takes a bus or car to get to them. Here they are just a ten minute walk away. I'm definitely goin to be walking more when I come home.

5. Fish and Chips: Fish and Chips are the best English food by far. The fish is usually dripping with grease and the fries are thick and hot. Gravy is the best thing to put on the chips. The fish is the best part. The crunchy deep fried batter on the outside, with the hot soft fish on the outside gives the dish a fantastic crunch. Just typing this mak
es my mouth water. Usually my dad and I are the only ones to get fish with our chips. My mom and siblings don't like fish so they usually just get a big order of chips. (by the way if you didn't know chips are fries). my mom usually gets gravy on her chips too. I hope that the Fish and Chip stores in America are as good as they are here.

4. Cathedrals and Castles:
England is home to the best Castles and Gothic Cathedrals. The York Minster is mind blowingly detailed. the stone and wood is carved and cut in
to such detailed shapes that you can't catch every detail. It is amazing that people five hundred years ago could build such giant and detailed buildings. I'm also going to miss the bells on Sundays ringing from the towers. I doubt that a building such as a cathedral could not be built the same today as it was hundreds of years ago. The cathedrals also show how old Christianity is. The people in that time believed the same religion (give or take a few rituals and rules) that we do today. Castles are found all over the country. Although usually not as extravagant as cathedrals, castles are still interesting because of the stories of knights and kings. The castle in Edinburgh even had a moat and draw bridge just like the stories I've read. I would love to see a castle as it was used when it was first built. To see the moat and the guards on horses or the draw bridge being raised or lowered to let people in. America has some castles such as the Disney land castle or the ones found in Las Vegas (= but I'm going to miss the Cathedrals and Castles of England.

3. Weekend Papers: In my opinion England has some of the best weekend papers. On Saturday our family gets the Guardian. The New York Times of England. It has very good articles and I love how small the paper is. Not small as in number or articles but the size of the paper. it is very easy to hold as you read it because of the size. On Sunday we get the Observer, the Sunday version of the Guardian. I usually just read the sports section. These papers got me interested in English football while I have lived over here. I hope these papers are available in America.

Check tomorrow's blog for the number two thing I'll miss.

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