Boats, Banksy and Beese's.

It's been exactly two weeks since Beth and I arrived in the UK. I'm not sure what it is, but it already feels like we've been here much longer. Perhaps an overload of new experiences can mess with a person's head and expand their sense of time? Either way, we've now moved into our Air BnB in Bristol (which we've booked for a month), and things have begun to feel a little less hectic... okay, things are still hectic, but at least we don't have to wear flip flops to shower anymore.

Our Air BnB:

• We quickly realized that we were very lucky to find this place when we did, and book it before anyone else. There's already someone else booked to stay here the day we are supposed to leave. I have nothing but good things to say about the place and host. From the collection of feminist magnets and signs around the house, to the herb garden that we're free to use in our cooking, to our experienced host's helpful advice about the city, we've really felt quite comfy and welcomed here.
• We are only a 25-30 minute bus ride away from the city centre, and within walking distance of a little grocery store (and an Indian takeaway, which I've drooled over from afar, but have yet to try).
• The area is lovely. Walk five minutes, and we've reached a nature reserve that is home to Beese's Tea Room and Pub. It's only open until the end of September, but we got a chance to sit on it's patio overlooking the Avon River and enjoy a traditional cream tea. (Hint: cream tea is not just tea. It is also scones, jam and some strange butter-like substance called clotted cream. I stuck to the jam). We've also met many animals in the surrounding green areas -- cats and dogs of course, but also pigs, and a very friendly and curious pony. I may have gotten way too excited over the last two. And we definitely did not have a "whimsical forest" photoshoot because that would be silly.

An example of the many wonderful women-empowering signs around the house.

The front hall featuring a sneaky selfie.

                                   

The view from Beese's patio.

This is cream tea. All of it. Not just the tea.

Eastwood Farm Nature Reserve

Obligatory photo of pig best friends.

Since I've gotten here, several people have asked me "What made you decide to come to Bristol?". The answer involves a combination of being intimidated by London and it's housing market, the fact that my teaching agency has an office here, and the results of several google searches that brought up words like "artsy", "green spaces" and "friendlier than London". What's more interesting than me trying to concisely sum this all up to whoever's asking, is their inevitable response: "Oh, well, you picked a great city!" Everyone I've talked to here seems to genuinely really like living here, which gives me hope that once the "honeymoon" phase of being somewhere new passes, I will still be glad to call it home.

Some notes on Bristol:

• It's definitely not London. We get around on buses rather than the tube (and yes, people do sometimes say "cheers, drive" rather than "thank you" when getting off the bus). Things are more spread out, but the city centre is definitely walkable if you want to check out a few cool places, Rush hour is still really busy -- it's still a city of nearly 500,000 -- but I haven't yet had to fight my way through four rows of shoving people to get onto public transit yet, so there's that.
• Hills. So many hills. It's also not San Fransisco, but you get the idea. The University of Bristol, as well as my teaching agency, are at the top of a big hill that tends to be full of students at various parts of the day. There are many cool vintage shops, cafes, and bookstores on your way up (or down). There's also Cabot Tower somewhere near the top, This is an 105 foot tall tower that was built in 1897 to commemorate John Cabot's voyage from Bristol -- he's believed to have "discovered" parts of Eastern Canada, in an attempt to reach Asia. That's why there's also a Cabot Tower in Newfoundland. We climbed up a narrow, winding staircase to reach an amazing panoramic view of the city at the top -- well, Beth went to the top. I stopped at the first viewing area because I am a claustrophobic baby.

  

  Like, come on, this is kind of terrifying when you're 90 feet up.

  
  

  

  But the climb was so worth it.

The university is absolutely beautiful. There's an area called the College Green -- picture your stereotypical college movie scene of students laying in the grass on blankets, playing frisbee, studying together, and so on, and surround that with a cathedral, a very old library, a city hall with fountains out front and patches of colourful flowers.

Bristol Cathedral by College Green, further down is the library.

Looking onto the waterfront.

• There really is a lot of street art here. Banksy is obviously the most famous street artist around here, but he's not the only one. Pretty much anywhere I turn in the city, there's a mural of boy riding a turtle wearing a strainer on his head, or a man in a bowler hat pouring paint down the side of a building, or some other crazy, larger than life piece of artwork staring down at me. I'll have to actually bring my camera downtown some time and capture some of it.

Anyway, that's a pretty basic overview of our first impressions of Bristol. I expect to have some more specific posts later, but I figured it needed an introduction. The past week has been a whirlwind of house hunting, sorting out logistics with my agency, and a couple voluntary days at schools before I get my police check in and can start work. But I'll leave off here for now for fear of rambling, and say cheers for now! (Did I use that right? I'm pretty sure I did. Whatever. I'm committed to saying it now).

Cheers,
C.

London Lessons

Hey world! So we have been in London for about three days now, and I feel I have already learned so much about being a clueless Canadian newbie here.

Our Flight:

• We flew to London Gatwick via Iceland. One perk of flying Iceland Air is that they give you free Iceland water upon boarding the plane. It tasted more glacial than normal water, as far as I could tell, and almost made up for the whole "no free meals on the plane unless you're a kid" thing.

• My "in flight entertainment" consisted of a frozen screen. Luckily, Beth somehow found headphone splitters so we could both fall asleep to Mockingjay Part One.
• Descending down to London meant flying through about four layers of thick clouds, and I asked myself why I even bothered to bring my sunglasses.

Notes on Hostel Life

• Beth's program booked her a hostel for the first two nights, so we both stayed in different ones at the beginning. Hers was in a nice part of town, over a fun, lively pub. My area could essentially be described as very "Brantford". My hostel pub plays depressing classic rock ballads, and is usually populated by a mix of young people, and greying men watching football and singing along to said depressing ballads.

• When I arrived, all I wanted to do was nap and shower. The nap went great, but apparently I signed up for the ice bucket challenge as there was no hot water at all. It was... invigorating.

Some notes on London life:

• Walk as far from the road as you can when it rains. I got splashed by a double decker bus, and although I felt like it was a sort of initiation into London life, I would not recommend it.
• Blow drying your boots with a hostel hair dryer is not an effective way to dry them. Sure, it makes them warm and wet as opposed to cold, but then it just kind of feels like something peed in them. 
• Cars on the wrong side of the road = weird. Drivers on the wrong side of their cars = weird. Beth and I keep having minor freakouts when we see a "ghost car" with "nobody driving it".
• The tube/public transportation in general is so straightforward and convenient. Avoid rush hour though, unless you want to wait for four trains to pass before you can squeeze into one.
• Beer pong tables and beer pong being played at bars = normal? Also, as I type this, a bulldog is casually chilling on the floor of my hostel pub. London bars are weird.

Cool Places:

• Okay, so I am generally apprehensive about super "touristy" attractions. Maybe it's just because it's off peak tourist season, but the crowds at Big Ben/Buckingham Palace were not awful at all, and seeing the sights was totally worth it. It's not like other tourist attractions I've been to where it's a kind of crappy area surrounding the attraction, which you can barely see due to the crowds. The whole area surrounding these tourist spots is beautiful and definitely worth a look.

• Camden Town/Markets: I could write paragraphs on how cool this area is, but I will spare you the novel. Basically, it's like Queen Street West in Toronto times 10. Hipster/artsy/gothic/raver type shops, an entire outdoor street food market, and our FIRST CAT SIGHTING, YESSS.

Pretty banners at the market.

This cat sat in the doorway of the shop and silently tolerated people petting him and 'aww'ing at him.

A maze of shops.

Coolest food stand by far: "Cereal Killer", a custom cereal bar.

Crazy glow in the dark two-level raver shop with life-size robot people on the walls.

Your average Wonderland picnic.

All of this happened to be beside the river.

Well, that's it for now. Upcoming adventures include a Rugby World Cup party, and heading off to Bristol. But now, we are off to find some snacks.

Until next time,
C.

Hello World.

Hello world,

I am currently laying in bed, making a blog. Is it cliché to make a travel blog? Probably. But tomorrow I am uprooting my life to England for potentially a long time. I am coping with this by blogging instead of getting a good night's sleep. Whatever. We all have our coping mechanisms.

First up I will answer some frequently asked questions. Nobody has actually asked me any of these questions, but I imagine they will once I am a famous blogger, and it will probably be annoying with them being asked so frequently and all. So let's get them out of the way now, shall we?

1. Who are you?: I'm a 23 year old girl with a boy's name. I like cats, coffee, photography, and trying to be an un-pretentious vegan. I am a recent graduate of Laurier Brantford's teaching program, specializing in Primary Junior education, and you are probably falling asleep already so let's move on.

2. What does your blog name mean?: About 4 years ago, I went to Israel for the first time. Upon returning, my friend (and current travel buddy) Beth commented: "You went all the way to Israel...and half of your photos are just of Israeli street cats...Why am I not surprised?". So the blog name implies that while some English cats may be photographed at various points in time, I will also attempt to capture other important aspects of English life.

3. Why are you going to England?: So basically in Ontario, everyone's like "what teaching jobs??" so a ton of young teachers are going abroad because of jobs actually existing there. I'm one of them. I also really want to gain some travel experience and teach children with adorable British accents, so there's that.

4. What grade are you teaching?: I am starting on a supply contract, which means I don't have my own class, but I am guaranteed a certain number of teaching days per week. I will be living in Bristol, so I could be at any number of Bristol elementary schools on a given day. It just depends where the need is. I expect lots of frantic Google Maps-ing ahead.Okay, MTV,  you've seen my blog, now it's time for you to get out. For real though, time for bed. Lots of travel ahead, so strap yourselves in for some sarcasm, mishaps, shenanigans, and possibly even some high-jinks!

Goodnight (Canadian) world.
-- C.