So, to start off with, and to better explain the time it takes to travel across England, Suffolk is a county on the complete opposite side of the country from where I am. It only took about 3 hours to get from Cirencester to the village where Anna lives in her awesome beach house. The first night we went to a local pub and had some, then I received a tour of the house, watched some TV, and called it a night. Oh, I also met her family and her grandparents, who'd invited us to see a play with them on Saturdaay.
Saturday we woke up, had some breakfast and then Anna drove us (me, Anna, and Anna's sister Helen) to the train station to meet her Grandparents. I rode my first train, which was rather exciting and I found out some rather interesting things about where I was. For starters there was an old American air base not far from where Anna lives. Anyway, when we finally reached our destination, Lowestoft, we went to grab a tea and I had my first scone. We then proceeded to do what most girls do when set loose in area where there are these things called stores, we shopped.
While waiting for the play to start we also walked down by the sea. Apparently Lowestoft 1) is the furtherest most eastern point in the UK and 2) used to be a major port in its hayday, even though now it seems to be slowly dying. At the sea we did what any tourist would do and take lots of pictures of the brownish water of the North Sea, and then we went and played games in an arcade.
Finally, we met back up with the Grandparents for some lunch and then we were of the see "My Dog Has No Nose." It was meant to be a comedy, and the first half was very funny, but somewhere around the middle of the second half it took a very dark turn, down a very dark alley, in a very shady neighborhood. And I think most of the little old ladies who were there, which would be most of the audience, were a little shocked. Actually everyone was a little shocked, the little old ladies where very shocked!
When then went and grab another cup of tea from the restaurant where we went when we first arrived. Which maybe this is the nostalgia for the lost of department stores and the slow decay of shopping malls that my generation secretly keeps tucked away behind our xboxes, porn, and buried underneath our alcohol drenched party clothes we don't want our mother to find out about, but I was really excited that this restaurant was actually part of a real department store. Now, before you argue that Wal-mart had departments and restaurants and cafes and nail salon and photographers and hairdressers and opticians it's just not the same as a real department store or a mall. Maybe it's because I grew up shopping at places like Younkers, Sears (before Kmart took over and it was actually good), Von Maurs, and does anyone else remember Montgomery Wards? Don't get me wrong, I am a Wal-mart Shopper and a frequent one at that, but I still miss real department stores.
Sorry, I got really of track there. Back on the train we ate the remainder of our lunch because we are just that cool. We learned old school ways to remember things from a book Helen had bought, launched some sheep from Anna's iPhone, and then we were back. Watch some more TV, and an in depth conversation about the rise and fall of Girl Power and Boy Bands and Simon Cowell's global domination, ate some sausage plait (aka sausage braid), watch some more TV, and went to bed again for another busy day.
Now, Sunday was kinda a special day. We went to Aldeburgh, another seaside city. Aldeburgh is apparently the place to get fish and chips, so we got up early and drove there so I could have my first real fish and chips. OH YEAH! As were driving we past through at town called...Snape. I being a huge Harry Potter nerd 1) laugh in an insanely silly giggle and 2) started singing Snape Snape, Severus Snape, Snape, Snape, Severus Snape. Anna and Helen also joined in. The car ride was full of Wurzels and Old school music provided by Helen from the iPhone. And we brought Primrose (the neighbors dog) with us.
Once in Aldeburgh we checked to see when the fryer started and then went for a walk along the beach. There was some kinda of old military post there that we went to see, but road (because it was quite far away and we were lazy and drove) was so bumpy we were practically off-roading. We also went to an antique shop and saw some duck and some swans and the House in the Clouds. It's not really in the clouds, just really tall.
FINALLY it was time to get my fish and chips. And they were delicious and proper like. I even had a pineapple fritter, which is basically deep fried pineapple (I say basically, it is deep fried pineapple) but it's not true deep fried pineapple in my mind because it wasn't served on a stick.
It was then time to go back. We drove through Snape again and I of course had to sing the song, again. Anna and I packed, and then we played with her new Macbook and I went and saw her chickens. But my time in Suffolk was slowly drawing to a close, but not before I had a proper roast dinner. And it was delicious, the whole family had gotten together again and Anna's mom even attempted a pumpkin pie in honour of me being American and celebrating this weird holiday called Thanksgiving, and being away from Thanksgiving just made it seem like an even weirder thing to celebrate.
Finally we were back at college and back to normal. Well as normal as my life can get.
One last thing before I end this blog, mainly because I think it's sheer genius! I went to the Rock again Monday night with Anna. It was superhero themed. Anna was Wellie Woman and I...I went as Jesus. Someone asked if Jesus was a superhero, and being at the RAC and knowing that they like nothing better than drinking I responded with. "Yeah, his superpower is turning water into wine." The response I received "Did he really do that?" I had a good laugh.
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