Finally made it to Birmingham! The trip started out well, with a Starbucks run in the morning before catching our bus to the airport and seamless first flight from PIT to IAD (despite the very tiny plane and long wait on the tarmac) for our 2-hour layover. Even though some time was lost waiting for them to bring us stairs to get off the plane, we were still able to stop and get food before going to our gate. Originally, I was going get cinnamon pretzel bites from Auntie Annes, but they were out of them. I ended up getting a yogurt parfait (that was small and expensive for no reason, and I didn’t really enjoy it anyways) that I ate while waiting for our plane. Overall, the second fight was pretty terrible and long. There was a bunch of us from our program sitting in a row, so I ended up talking to the girls around me for a lot of the flight. I tried to sleep, but the seats were so uncomfortable, and I only got about three hours.
Getting off the plane was a relief, but what came after tested my patience. We got our luggage from baggage claim and made our way out where we thought we were going to meet our bus driver. We hiked from terminal 3 to terminal 2, and sat for an hour waiting for him, but he never came. Eventually, we were able to get on the bus and snag another 2 hours of sleep before we actually arrived in Birmingham to start our day. My first thoughts as I got out of the bus into the city was that it was overwhelming. I had just woken up, I was in a city I had never been before, and there was a lot of people around. Other than that, I loved how the city looked and felt and was excited to start exploring.
After dropping our bags off at the hotel and freshening up, we started our journey at an Irish pub called O’Neill’s, where despite all the new foods, I got mac and cheese. Not my best moment (I really should have tried something new), but I needed some normal food after the awful food from on the plane. I loved the feel in the pub, including all the soccer games that were on the TVs and the welcoming atmosphere. I was also able to get some caffeine at this pub, which definitely helped me survive the jet lag that accompanied our long 7-hour flight. After we finished up there, we made our way down Broadway St., taking in all the sights and history Birmingham had to offer.
We started our walking journey in Brindley Place, looking at the canals and stores around us. I found it so interesting that some people live full-time in the little boats on the canals. Personally, I don’t think I could live in that tiny boat, so good for them! I loved seeing all the stores and restaurants that Birmingham had to offer. You could really see the diversity in the restaurants as we passed them. There were Mexican, Indian, Thai and Italians restaurants, which were only a few of the many diverse food options that I saw as we were walking. There was also a lot of similarities in food options as the US, such as McDonalds, Wing Stop, and Five Guys. I wonder if they taste similar. As we continued our journey, there was even a little carnival-type event going on in Centenary Square, which included different rides and games that you could try out. While in the square, I found the building I think is going to be my favorite: the library. Just from the design on the outside and how big it is, I already know I am going to love it inside. Unfortunately, it is closed on Sundays, so I was unable to go inside today. I will make sure that I get in there at some point, because I would love to see how their library looks like compared to one in the US. We then moved onto the town hall and art museum. We briefly stepped into the museum to see the little cafe in the back. Personally, I am not a huge museum lover, but I would go to that museum for that cafe to study any day. We ended our tour going to a gothic church and seeing all of the architecture inside of it. It was so cool to understand the background of the arches and why roofs are built in arches and not flat!
Somehow, after all of this exploring, I ended up being the navigator for our walk back. I like to think of myself as directionally skilled at home, but apparently not in a foreign country. I only made a few wrong turns, but apple maps were really confusing to follow. Thankfully, we made it back to our hotel to have some free time to ourselves. During this time, I decided to go out to dinner with a couple of the girls in the program. We ended up at a pub in Brindley Place and ate some nachos for dinner. I ended a wonderful first day eating ice cream at a cute place called Opulence Desserts with my friends. Overall, I had a really fun first day and am excited to continue my trip and see BCU.