UCSC Student Abroad: The Dead Woman Who Came For Tea

I’m finally visiting Coventry, England for the first time ever where I’ll be attending University. Today is only a day trip for this small town girl but Coventry has already shown its size to me quite well. After grabbing a quick, cheap, and greasy £1.25 bacon and chicken stuffed baguette from one of the many inexpensive food places for students, I then went to Starbucks to order my typical Mocha Frappacino only to give the cashier four pounds and him trying to shoo me away without my change. I said shyly, “Um, I gave you four pounds…” which the cashier then replied, “OH, DID YOU?” The first time in my entire life I’ll be living in a city and I love the blatant rudeness already.

If there is any aspect of this city I love the most thus far within my first hour of being here is how many young people are walking around. They’re all so different. You’ve got your nicely-suited 20-something young guy on his Blackberry wearing that typical gorgeous English smile to show he is on top of the world.

Quickly looking to your left, you’ve got four teenagers running through the Starbucks door like lively youths do, while the mannerly old couple to the right just stare and shake their heads, questioning the future of the world with those types running around loosely.

And then you have your usual guy with a football jersey on and tennis shoes and track pants…stereotypically English from head to toe.

I love the people here. They’re everywhere. I’ll never be alone.

In other news, something quite funny happened yesterday. My friend Michael and I were walking back home after a quick chocolate run to one of the local shops in Shrewsbury when we passed a car parked on the side of the road with a woman leaning over her steering wheel. We stopped on the sidewalk across the street to see if she moved. She didn’t. We started to get worried. Then, her head dropped lower as if she was dead. Michael quickly ran over to the car and said, “Hello, excuse me?”

That’s when the woman popped her head up above the steering wheel while holding a cell phone. Michael asked, “Are you okay?!”

The woman then started laughing and quickly told us that she was alright, just bowing her head and cell phone away from the sunny window as she could not see her cell phone screen with the sunny reflection. We then began to laugh and told her we thought she was dead!

However, right after, she happily stated, “Thank God for people like you.”

That put a smile on my face. Michael and I walked back home and sat down for dinner. Fifteen minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Lyneal, Michael's sister, had a visitor come over for tea and as she walked in, Michael and I turned to see who it was and suddenly realized it was the “dead” woman in the car. She was Lyneal’s friend!

She laughed and I laughed and Michael laughed as we all pointed to one another and exclaimed, “It’s you!” I’ll never forget that story.

I’ve been in England for three weeks now and I feel like I’ve done so much. The thing is is that I haven’t done much necessarily but that every single thing is so entirely brand new to me. “Tyres For Sale” was a sign I saw yesterday and I freaked out. “Who the hell spells tires with a Y?” It’s the small things that make me look twice.

Or the fact that I’ll be taking a double decker bus to University every single day. Or the fact that every time I speak, I receive a strange look. Or the fact that washing machines are located in the kitchen. Or the fact that all the roads are ridiculously so small that parked cars literally park in the street. Or that movies I’ve already seen in California are just barely being shown in the cinema in England.

Or the fact that Mexican food really, and sadly, is nonexistent over here. “What’s a burrito?” someone asked me. “They’re like pillows…filled with delicious meats,” I said…

…just kidding.

However, the real fact is, I’m terribly in love with England. At times I do feel out of my element and wonder if I’ll ever make it through and perhaps that feeling will become worse particularly when University starts up once again but the majority of the time, everything is so enjoyable. It’s hard to describe the feeling of actually LIVING in a new country. It’s all fun and games when you visit a place but moving to a new country, there’s a sense of a transitioning belonging to a place…almost like a small battle of Californian Sierra versus English Sierra. There will be instances in which I think to myself, “No, this is stupid. I want to do this MY way…the way I was taught.” But then I have to remind myself that it’s not what I learned in California and in America that matters anymore…it’s what I do here that counts and that which will benefit me the most. I have lived in California my entire life and England will be my home for only one year however, this is my dream right here and right now. I’ve been planning extensively and have been thinking wildly about this place for a long time. English Sierra is in no way more important than Californian Sierra but that is me now. I am here now. And every day I am happy. Finally.

It was totally bitchin’ though that I heard the new Red Hot Chili Peppers song while grocery shopping though; let’s me know California is still in my heart and looking out for me in small ways…