Today was day 8 of our trip. We have officially been here over a week! Today we got to sleep in a little before taking the bus to Black Country Living Museum. When we got off the bus, we had to walk 20 minutes to actually get there because we missed the connecting bus. We arrived at the museum, and started our journey touring what used to be an actual coal mine.

This part of the day was my favorite. We watched an introductory video about the mines before putting on our hard hats and heading into the mine. We were split into groups and given one flashlight per group. The flashlight was actually a candle, and it mimicked how much light the actual miners had when they were in the mine. I learned that there were only boys allowed to work in the mine, and they started out as young as 10 years old. Their first job was opening the door for the horses, which carried the coal. They were believed to be paid around 6 pence per day. At one point, there was not an age limit to who could work in the mine. But, after a flood that killed around 24 children, they changed the law and made it so it was only boys 10 and above. Women were not allowed in the mines at all, so they prepared food for the men and sent it down the shaft. They worked from 6am-6pm in almost complete darkness. Personally, that sounds horrible being in the dark that long in those conditions. We ended our tour and started to explore the town.

I had yet to eat fish and chips on this trip, and I heard that the fish and chips were really good here, so I got some. Last time I got fish and chips they were not my favorite, but the ones from this shop were absolutely amazing. The salt and vinegar that was added really enhanced the flavors, and it was the perfect meal for lunch. After lunch, we walked around the museum. Normally, I am not a huge fan of museums, but this one was basically all outside and had a lot of little activities that you could try out. I really enjoyed walking around and looking inside all of the buildings and seeing how life was like in Black Country in 1872. While we were there, there was a 60’s themed event going on, so there was a lot of people dressed up and dancing and there was a little carnival as well. My favorite part was the little vintage pop-ups that were added for the event. I was able to buy a teacup and a lot of rings that are super cute, which I am very excited about.

We ended our time there around 2:30 and caught the bus back to Birmingham. The bus ride was about an hour, and I took a nap for most of it. When we got back, our presentation groups got together to work on our presentations for tomorrow. We ended up ordering Pizza Hut for dinner as an easy meal to eat while working and finished up our presentations for tomorrow. After dinner, we went to get ice cream at La-Pop, which was absolutely amazing. I am excited to finally present our presentations tomorrow and get them done.