I’m feeling a little bit strange this morning because I had a really crazy night…
First of all, I couldn’t even get to sleep, possibly because of my 4 pm cup of tea. Then I had the most bizarre dreams – about a flying salamander on my window sill and these weird British spiders we keep finding all over the place (they’re monster-sized here for some reason). Anyways, when I lifted the blankets off my head and opened my eyes this morning I was so disoriented…I was expecting to be in my room at home and it took me a second to realize where I was. I guess now that it’s been over a month my brain is starting to realize that this is not just a vacation or a temporary visit.
First of all, I couldn’t even get to sleep, possibly because of my 4 pm cup of tea. Then I had the most bizarre dreams – about a flying salamander on my window sill and these weird British spiders we keep finding all over the place (they’re monster-sized here for some reason). Anyways, when I lifted the blankets off my head and opened my eyes this morning I was so disoriented…I was expecting to be in my room at home and it took me a second to realize where I was. I guess now that it’s been over a month my brain is starting to realize that this is not just a vacation or a temporary visit.
The rest of this week was pretty dull - went to class, saw our friends, did some more Bikram (which I'm getting better at but still not impressed with). I tried Chilli for the first time (we put ground up tofu instead of meat) and it was a very hearty meal - good for a chilly day (hehe).
The highlight of our week had to be the day trip we took to Birmingham on Saturday. It was the most random thing I’ve ever done. We just decided at the last minute to pick up and do some shopping in Birmingham. So we walked to the train station, bought our tickets and hopped on the train! An hour later we arrived in the 2nd largest city in the UK, but more importantly, we were in Bullring’s – the largest mall in the UK! I was in retail heaven. I don’t even know where to begin explaining the concept of this mall to you. It’s designed to be integrated with the city centre. There are some parts that are indoors (resembling the Eaton’s Centre), and other stores that have entrances from outside. If you continue walking outside you can browse through the outdoor flea market, dine at Wagamama’s Japanese restaurant, or just listen to the church bells that toll at the most arbitrary times of day (like 5:30pm…I know…strange). I nearly fainted when we went into Selfridges – a UK department store. But it’s more than just a department store. It is THE department store. Any possible brand you could want from Missoni to Lucky Charms can be found in this store. They have endless floors of clothing, accessories, food, and who knows what else (I had to leave after looking at the price tags). They also import American items that you can’t find in the UK to their stores and sell them for 4 times the price you would normally pay back home (ex. A box of Lucky Charms cereal goes for about 6 quid here, that’s almost 15 CDN dollars for cereal!).
The highlight of our week had to be the day trip we took to Birmingham on Saturday. It was the most random thing I’ve ever done. We just decided at the last minute to pick up and do some shopping in Birmingham. So we walked to the train station, bought our tickets and hopped on the train! An hour later we arrived in the 2nd largest city in the UK, but more importantly, we were in Bullring’s – the largest mall in the UK! I was in retail heaven. I don’t even know where to begin explaining the concept of this mall to you. It’s designed to be integrated with the city centre. There are some parts that are indoors (resembling the Eaton’s Centre), and other stores that have entrances from outside. If you continue walking outside you can browse through the outdoor flea market, dine at Wagamama’s Japanese restaurant, or just listen to the church bells that toll at the most arbitrary times of day (like 5:30pm…I know…strange). I nearly fainted when we went into Selfridges – a UK department store. But it’s more than just a department store. It is THE department store. Any possible brand you could want from Missoni to Lucky Charms can be found in this store. They have endless floors of clothing, accessories, food, and who knows what else (I had to leave after looking at the price tags). They also import American items that you can’t find in the UK to their stores and sell them for 4 times the price you would normally pay back home (ex. A box of Lucky Charms cereal goes for about 6 quid here, that’s almost 15 CDN dollars for cereal!).
If I haven’t made it clear enough and you’re still wondering how much shopping I did – I only bought two sale items from Zara (we don’t have one in Leicester).
After dinner (at Wagamama’s of course) we grabbed the next train to Leicester and parted ways with beautiful Birmingham. Unfortunately my camera battery needed charging so I wasn’t able to take any pictures but not to worry, I intend on re-visiting Bullring’s many times over the next year. I don’t understand why everyone gives Birmingham such a bad reputation – mind you, we didn’t venture outside of the city centre. But still, the people are more diverse and trendy and I’ve heard great things about their nightlife. If all else fails, you can always judge a city by the quality of its shopping centre!
A+ Birmingham!
4 comments:
The mall is called Bullrings? Here I was thinking you went to Spain and didn't tell me!
Ew those spiders are gross...don't let Shanta see, she might try to vacuum it up through the computer :P
Ciao
Am
Cute doctor? I don't know any cute doctors...hmmm :p
And amm, I didn't think of that before uploading that pic...haha poor shant! "my spidey sense is tingling..."
Shanta wouldn't need to vacuum up the spider through the computer, her scream would scare the spider right out of the picture...
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