2c i Manchester

March started off quite slowly. My class was really looking forward to our  class study trip to Manchester, England, and so was I. Exchange has given me a bit of a travel itch and I was now ready to see some other parts of the world and this gave me a great opportunity to do so. We all got a class sweatshirt (that perfectly show cased Danish humour) and we wore them on the way over there which made it easier for everybody to find each other as we found out way through the Copenhagen and Manchester airports. Which were huge!

We started out by leaving our school at midnight  on Saturday the 17th (or Sunday the 18th, depending how you look at it) and after riding it for five hours we finally arrived at the airport. None of us got to sleep very much so we were all very tired and as we tried to sort through the confusion of checking in. Since two classes from my school were going to Manchester, there was about 55 of us to check in, check our bags, and get through security! Immediately after arriving at Manchester Airport we headed through customs. Now if you haven't travelled to a country that is apart of the EU, then you should know that when you go through customs you have a line for people coming from an EU country, and then there is a line for everyone else. So everyone headed over to the EU line while I headed through the other line all alone. Luckily they didn't really give me much trouble, the girl sitting there was training so she had to ask all the questions "Why are you traveling? How long are you staying?" but it was a little nerve wracking because for some reason she kept looking to the person next to her to approve my answers! I think the fact that I was an exchange student in Denmark traveling with my Danish class to England may have confused her a little….

After we all made it though we took the train closer to the center of Manchester and closer to where we were supposed to stay. After dropping off our bags at the hostel, we went for a walk around the city for a couple of hours. It was very exciting (and I may have been having a little bit of a mild freak out) but we were really tired after the long journey so most of us wanted to go back to the youth hostel and sleep. But instead sleeping we had for our first dinner in England together at this wonderful Indian restaurant before finally making our way back to the hostel and crashing into bed.  After that the week went by much too quickly! We were treated to a English breakfast every morning by the hostel. It was the traditional English breakfast with eggs, bacon, fried tomatoes, potatoes, mushrooms, and beans, but not a lot of us dared eating the beans. While we were there visited Caritas, a worldwide organization that helps the homeless in the community become functioning again, they help young mothers so they don't lose their children, and then help in foster care and adoption. We also visited the Manchester University campus and spoke with a few students. Many of my classmates were curious as to how the students felt about having to pay for their university, since here in Denmark they don't pay for university. On our own time we visited Arndale, a huge shopping center with over 200 stores. Mia (my first host sister ) and I enjoyed some Taco Bell for the first time in 8 months!  It was nice to be back in a country where the prices on things made a bit more sense. It was nice not having to pay the equivalent of 4 US dollars for a 20 oz bottle of soda! Of course while I was there I took advantage that there were Starbucks (almost) everywhere. It was great to drink a white mocha, white chocolate americano, and vanilla bean frap again!

Sadly our time in England had to come to a close. We all thought that it went much to quickly, but at the same time we were all ready to go home and sleep in our own beds and drink some normal tasting tap water. The trip home seemed to drag on as we moved from train to plane to train to bus, with lots of waiting in between!  But finally we made it home at about 7:30 the next Friday and I fell into bed sleeping for a solid 11 hours before waking up again.

Vi ses!
<3 Kelsea Jo

Just before we headed back home.