March

If I were to write about the last two and a half months in as much detail as I wrote my previous blog posts, I don’t think anybody would read it. I’ve been neglecting this juuuust a little bit. But to be fair, that’s only because I’ve been keeping busy. After all, in the past few months, I’ve spent a large amount of time (and money but we won’t talk about that) travelling. And the time I haven’t spent travelling has been spent finishing up last minute homework I procrastinated on. And pretty much every second I haven’t spent doing that has been spent with some of the most wonderful people on this planet. Seriously, I checked the entire world and, try as I might, I could not find any lovelier people.

But anyway. I’ll divide the next few posts into separate months so that it’s not such a daunting task. Otherwise I might never actually write this thing.

I took a few small trips in March, but nothing overnight. One such trip was to Liverpool with Sophie, her friend from France and Arlémi. I left earlier than the other three and saw the Beatles museum on my own. I actually felt a bit starstruck, seeing instruments they played in various concerts, and personal possessions such as John’s glasses. Unfortunately, I didn’t leave myself nearly enough time to see the entire exhibit in as much detail as I wanted to, and I had to go through the last part quite quickly to meet up with my friends in time. Nevertheless, our day in Liverpool was a lovely one full of mossy gravestones, odd cathedrals and fake French food. Oh, and great music at the Cavern Club from Paul McCartney’s döppelganger. Liverpool always delivers.

Some wax Beatles

John Lennon's actual eyeballs looked through these glasses

Graveyard at Liverpool Cathedral… is it weird that I took photos of this?

Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral: Unconventional but interesting

The Carvern Club, rebuilt across the street from the original pub where the Beatles used to play

Another trip I took in April was a student-union-organized trip to Blackpool. Which was unfortunately a bit of a flop. I think Blackpool would be great in the summertime: beaches, amusement parks, stuff like that. But on the day we were there, it was a cold, miserable day that looked something like this.

Put a bird on it

Fake London Eye and fake Eiffel Tower

Some of us were feeling sick, some were feeling tired, and none of us really knew what there was to do in Blackpool. So we walked along the beach for a bit, where I made my permanent mark on the city:

Not surprising that I have terrible footwriting considering how terrible my handwriting is

Then we visited a park.

This is a park.

This is a statue in aforementioned park.

  

Then we went home early. But not before checking out the beautiful reflection of the sun on the water.

Best part of the day

Another day trip we took in March was to Lancaster, which is a pretty little city. Unfortunately I don’t have any evidence of this, since it rained the entire time and I had to keep my camera in my bag. We started off by touring the castle:

Lancaster Castle entrance

 

We spent the rest of the day just sitting in various pubs, eating and drinking. Which may sound like an uneventful day, but as you will remember from the beginning of this post, my friends are the loveliest people in the world, and therefore it was still enjoyable.

A few more fun things happened in March. We celebrated the birthdays of five of our international students with a big hippie-themed party at Roper Hall. A lot of people got dressed up and it was a blast.

Peace and love and whatnot

We also had a big potluck for Sophie’s birthday. I figured everyone would bring simple dishes (and I can't cook) so I brought a sensible bowl of rice. Turns out people made crèpes and pastries and all these fancy dishes from their own countries. My rice lay neglected in the corner, but nobody seemed to mind. Those nights with everyone at Sophie and Ashleigh’s flat are some of my favourite memories from this exchange

Little cakes for a little squirrel

Clara and Jeffie

So that’s March in a nutshell. I think it was sometime in March that I really started to feel at home in Preston: I’d acquired a craving for British chocolate and a habit of walking on the left side of the sidewalk (neither of which I’ve been able to completely eliminate). And now, at times, I actually feel homesick for Preston. I don’t think that feeling will ever completely go away. But somehow, I’m okay with that.