The "Essence" of Europe is Chocolate

Day 5
May 16, 2011


7:10am

Wake up call.

Shower and clean room for check out.

Quick breakfast of cereal and a waffle/crepe thing with jelly.

Before loading the bus I went with a few girls to take pictures in front of the Preston Temple (in the rain, of course). Preston seems a lot like Washington or Oregon. Rainy and cold. I guess their summer only lasts a couple weeks and we missed it by a few days. Oh well. 

After taking some pictures we boarded the bus and drove to Birmingham where we went to Cadbury World for one of our “business visits.” Not really a business visit, but a public tour of the factory. Worst part? Nasty tomato soup for lunch in the Cadbury Cafe. It is not really tomato soup. Instead I think they just put watered down Ragu sauce in a pot and called it lunch. Ick! Best part? Free chocolate samples all along the way. 

 

Bonus: Cadbury World ride (similar to Small World/Disney-type rides). 

We were probably twice the average height and age of the usual ride participants. We also watched a little “Essence” show which was a presentation of the history and making of Cadbury Chocolate. It was pretty good. You can tell the marketing was trying really hard to gear towards kids and make Cadbury a fun and memorable experience so people would associate positive feelings towards their product and brand. I think they did a pretty good job. (The free chocolate didn’t hurt my opinion either!) I bought a few small bars of chocolate in the gift shop at the end and then we rode the bus another few hours to London. I sat up front this time with Heather. We talked a little bit and then tried to sleep (very uncomfortably). I was pretty bored––the bus rides are not my favorite, I can get a little stir-crazy. 

However, the ride wasn’t terribly long, and we arrived in London around 5:30pm. We were assigned rooms and then unloaded. 

Side note: I didn’t have a roommate the first nights in Edinburgh so I was saying to Heather and Michael, ‘I really hope I have a roommate this time, I don’t want to be stuck alone again!’ when Professor Kimball calls out my name first, “Brittney! You’re alone...”  'Oh! Great...' Luckily April was sitting nearby and heard my rant and she offered to take the room and I got her roommate assignment with Michelle (who, ironically, was the other girl who was without a roommate in Edinburgh). So that was wicked nice of April, because I really didn’t want to be segregated from the group again. I like to be in the loop. 

Anyways, the sun stays up later here so we had plenty of daylight to go walk around the city a bit. I went around the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and the London Eye with Suzy, Hannah, Janelle and Michael. That was fun. 

I really like Michael, she’s nice and we are similar in a lot of ways. This was the first night that I really hung out with these girls, minus mealtimes in Preston, so it was good to go out with them. We grabbed a bite to eat at a Pizza Express that’s a little bit behind the main boardwalk along the Thames. We got a 20% discount from a hotel coupon, plus a student discount I think, so it was the cheapest option for us (especially in pricey London). The pizza was good, but we split it, and they were pretty small so I was still a little hungry afterwards, but it was fine. Dinner with the girls was good, but for me I thought it was a little awkward still since we didn’t all know each other that well. There were several lulls and silences in the conversation that made me wish we had a bigger group. But other than that it was fun. 

  

{Street Performer by the Thames}

 

{Seeing Through the Eye of London}

 

{Hannah, Suzanne, Janelle and I taking the Tube} 
 

After dinner we headed back to the hotel on the tube, where the British announcer lady instructed us constantly to “Mind the GAP” between the train and the platform (she was very concerned for our safety apparently). Unfortunately, the Premier Inn hotel does not provide free wifi (jerks...but typical in Europe) so I went with the girls to the McDonald’s down by the station and used their free wifi. Ahh, sweet relief to be connected to the world again! That was my first night of internet since my initial landing announcement the afternoon I arrived in Edinburgh. Weird. We stayed on too long though, and one of the workers told us to leave so that paying customers could use the seats (the McDonald’s was surprisingly busy at 11pm). Oops.