Avventure di Ruby

Continued...

Sunday I went for another sunny walk through the hills and then had a lovely english slow-cooked lunch with my Great Aunt and Uncle.

Monday was one of the most incredible days full of sunshine, cliff driving around the coast and through the mountains of England. Megan, Ali and I took a trip through Exmoor to Lynmouth and Lynton where we indulged in the seaside, walking, english fudge and most importantly, incredible sunshine.

Tuesday morning Ali took me to her sister’s house, Rosie’s who lives in the most gorgeous home with her husband and lovely dog, Barney. The roads were icy and got my adrenaline rushing with minimal fear and great excitement through the green hedges and countryside. I spent the with Rosie and Barney, relaxing, going for a walk and essential hot tea and fire.

Wednesday morning we went for another walk and then drove into Taunton to provide food to the homeless. I really enjoyed it and thought it was an insightful and necessary  experience. That evening I got to spend with my Great Aunt and Uncle, all to myself. We had an amazing British meal, complete with puzzles and banana-grams, British documentaries and reminiscing over lives I was never there for.

Thursday we explored the countryside with the lovely puppy and then I took a lovely but rather long bus trip to Liverpool, a now missed and favourite city of mine. Mid-way, 4.5 hours we had a transfer of about two hours in Birmingham where unfortunately I stuck close to the station so spent a lot of time at Starbucks, really refreshing. Then back on the bus for another 4.5 hours. The evening was spent chilling with my great cousin Hannah, chats, film and sleep.

Friday morning Hannah went to work and I went to roam the streets of outer Liverpool. It was so cold, yet utterly beautiful.  After her work we went for another roam around and then to have dinner. We ate at an amazing place with huge ass meals and drinks. I can’t understand a thing they are saying and have to ask for interpretation from Hannah which is a laugh as well as the waiter in the corner sneaking bites of his cake behind the counter. We took a train into the central part of Liverpool and went to the climbing place where she goes frequently. We had heaps of fun and then I ended up breaking some skin and we headed off to buy some groceries from my fave, Tescos. We spent the night in, enjoying films and tv.

Saturday morning we went to have breakfast at a bakery that is known for its bread and full-carb menu. The best. We then took to the streets our happy little souls, my confused Australian accented mind and her skip in the step. We saw the classics, the yellow submarine, the two cathedrals (only city with two cathedrals), titanic museum and parts and the wonderfully authentic Liverpool. It proved to be such  beautiful individual city with its popular culture and accent. We had lunch at the Egg Cafe, with a view of the water we enjoyed a vegan lunch and enthusiastic chats. We stayed pretty late and tried to join the famous club the Beatles and many others played at, The Cavern, strangely people were clubbing at 5pm in the afternoon though we didn't find the pleasures. 

We took the bus back and cooked up a storm of chicken and noodles and later with profiteroles. Unfortunately I got food poisoning and spent the night awake and awkwardly creeping around the house   to get to the bathroom. Too much information? Sorry.

Sunday morning my bus was due to leave at 8am so we were up and in a taxi in time for my bus back to Taunton. I was horribly weak from being up all night and spent the bus ride at the front watching the scenes pass by.

Back in Taunton, with the lovely Ali, Bruce and Megan I spent the day resting and trying to recover from my heavy food poisoning experience. I did go for a light walk for some fresh air with Megan and had some fresh tea in a village cafe.

Tuesday I was dropped off at my Great Aunt and Uncle’s home with Rosie and another sister of her’s, Katherine to spend the day in Wells, a town by the seaside. We spent lunch together at a cafe with a light stroll down the pebbled beach. We also headed to a cathedral near by, can’r remember to much about it other than it holds the eldest clock in the world and a very very old cloak chest. Here are some photos though…

Then back to Taunton where we met for dinner with the rest of the families at an incredible asian buffet. We ate an amazing buffet and took many proud trips with Megan and finished the objective to try all the desserts.

English Family, Sunshine, Frost and making my way home : week one

I spent Sunday evening with one of my mum's cousins in their lovely terrace home in Bristol. He has two lovely daughters. The following day was the 18th of the eldest, she took the day off school and I joined her and her friend for lunch in the city centre. We then browsed the streets and amazing vintage shops with alternative style and caught the bus home. She had some friends coming over to celebrate her birthday and I sat in the living room and listened and tried to understand the fabulous British lingo. The evening was really relaxed and she had a good birthday.  

Tuesday morning I said my farewells to everyone before they all left for work and school. I  organised with another set of distant cousins to meet up for lunch, later in the afternoon. Her and her mother came and picked me up with my huge bags and we went out to a cafe for some warm soup. We had a lovely walk along the coast and streets of Bristol. They  then very kindly took me to the bus station where I caught my bus to Taunton, almost a three hour trip.

The endless amounts of cousins are confusing so interpret it how you would like. Another cousin came and picked me up from the bus station and we took the lovely road to her house in Nether Stowey, a lovely little village surrounded by green fields and protruding cottages. She has 2 boys that have now left home and then a daughter one year younger than me and of course her husband.

It was so good to see them again and I was really looking forward to the plans Megan and I had made (youngest daughter).

Wednesday morning Megan had college and while she was studying hard her mum, Ali and I took a trip to Dunster Castle. Unfortunately it was closed but we did get to walk around the grounds, see some dungeons and touch the lovely stone. We stopped for a morning tea in a cottage made into a cafe where I fulfilled my ginger obsession with a ginger scone and cappuccino. We walked a little more and then went to meet Megan for lunch in Taunton.

Thursday, Megan planned a lovely day out in Bath. We took a train and had an amazing day out together. We walked around and got a lovely feel for the city and successfully navigated our way to the Bath Abbey where we took a spontaneous tower tour. We were taken up to the bells, where they were rung, in and behind the clock face and on top of the   tallest tower where we admired the incredible view.

We then went to have lunch at a cafe above a shop, overlooking the river. We enjoyed soup and then had the most delicious cakes afterwards, mine of course a ginger concoction, gingerbread cheesecake. We then made our way to the Bath fashion museum, walking about double the hill that was necessary but eventually found our way back down and spent a good 2 hours browsing fashion’s history.  

After the museum and trying on all the dresses and outfits as possible we made our way to Bath’s Roman baths.    

We didn’t have much time to get around and see the whole city but we did have a lovely time. In the late evening we went to an Italian gelateria and I got to speak my first Italian outside of Italy and enjoy some waffles. In time to catch our train back we had an earlier dinner and then made our way back home.

Friday we tried to make it an easy day and spent the morning walking through the countryside and then relaxing at home together.

Saturday I had planned a trip to Oxford and the train left at about 08:25. We hopped on the   train and had a nice trip to our change over at Reading station. We had 10 minutes to find the next platform, arriving at 10b and having to climb the stairs, run across the station and back down the stairs to platform 3. We arrived with a couple of minutes to spare and I decided to check the arrival time for the train. Turns out, we were at the wrong platform and had to take the same long stairs and route crying from laughter to get there in time. We jumped on the train and parted the platform within the next minute.

We arrived in the beautiful city of Oxford, with packed bike spaces (where I honestly think it's impossible to ever get in and out let alone find your bike), incredible buildings and icy air. We had a booked bicycle tour so we went to the meeting spot packed with people and had no idea how we were meant to know which one was ours. I just happened to ask the right guy and turns out we had the tour to ourselves with one young guy. We grabbed our bikes that were significantly dodgy and struggled behind the guide.

He was really informative and I really enjoyed the tour, all the gossip about university rivalry, ancient traditions, the said-to be inspiration for Narnia by C.S Lewis and the pub (The Eagle and The Child) where he would meet with J.R.R Tolkien often to discuss life, spirituality and other things. We also got to visit the pub where some of Harry Potter was filmed (The Tuff Tavern), the famous location of the butter beer. Riding around was really cold in 2 degree weather so as soon as we had wrapped up the tour the only thing we wanted was everything hot. We went to the pub where C.S Lewis and Tolkien both sat and ordered hot chocolate, coffee, soup and hot chips.

I had later booked a tour at the Oxford castle which took us up the only remaining tower for some history and outstanding views.

We got the train and change-over just in time with some confusion and separation though arrived home all in one piece.

Two months returned and I have finally uploaded a post! Another one coming...

Thanks guys,

I spent the last week of my dream in Italy in Fabriano, my first Italian home and my incredible family there. I arrived Monday morning and unfortunately my host mum was quite unwell but I happily brought her her food and hot drinks while I tried not to get sick. 

I spent the day at home chatting and soaking it up as much as I could. It was the first week back at school so all my friends, Rodolfo and Rebecca were at school during the day. I spent Tuesday afternoon with Chiara, we went for walks in the snow and chatted for hours in front of the fire. In the evening, I went to the cinema and saw Passengers with Rodolfo, Marco, Nicolò and Francessco. Unfortunately I was busy throughout the week so we weren’t able to catch up again and was incredibly sad to leave this all behind. I had so much fun with them whenever we were together. 

Wednesday evening I went out with a friend and we slowly froze like the towns fountain and streets. 

Thursday afternoon I also spent with friends out in the city centre. As a family we had dinner at a pizzeria with the other exchange students and their host families as a little farewell for Chiara and I.

Friday I spent relaxed and sensed I had a cold coming so I stayed in bed and drank so much tea and honey to scare it away. I went out for dinner with Chiara and some friends from school, unfortunately I started to feel unwell and went home early in order to warm up as I didn’t want to travel sick. I had temperatures throughout the night but by the morning my body had calmed down and I was ready for my friends birthday party during the evening. My friend was the Mexican exchange student, I went to the party with Chiara, met many new people including another exhange student from Canada. I had amazing pasta, pizza and cake for my last evening meal in Italy. Slowly during the night while playing games and chatting my eye started swelling and by the end I couldn’t see out of it. I was not very keen to arrive in england with a fat ass eye. Sunday morning I was packed and ready to go, I said fast and tragic farewells to my Iltalian siblings and then my parents and I took a drive to Rome with time to have a walk around and see the colosium. We had our last supper (lunch) in a little restaurant with pasta and focaccia. 

I wasn’t ready for goodbyes and I don’t think I would have ever been but I did it with certainty of returning and nit enough words to express just how thankful I was for everything they did for me and the love I developed for them, as my real family. I took a short flight to bristol with a swollen eye and arrived around 19:00 where my mum’s cousin picked me up from the airport. My English travels continued later on…