Today we went to Black Country Museum, which is not quite a museum at all. It is a collection of historic buildings that were relocated to Dudley, England. I really enjoyed going into the school house where there was a teacher actor. People sit down and we go to “class.” She inspected our hands for varnish (nail polish) and anyone who had nail polish on had to go to the front of the class and the rest of students had to points and say “shame on you.” This is because nail polish would not have been allowed during this time in history. She would ask for volunteers to come up and do something like read from a book or ring the bell. It was very entertaining and funny. Then me and a few other students bought fish and chips. Fish and chips is a staple UK food that I haven’t gotten to try yet. “Chips,” are what we call french fries in the US. It was really good and I was happy to finally try it. There was a lot of area to explore, it seemed to just keep going. We went into candy shops and bakeries. There were historic houses that we were able to walk in and view. One place was a medicine store where we got to use the grinder and were shown how they made medicine at the time. There was live music and a carnival area. We also went to a flea market that was there where I purchased a small bottle of perfume. 

Once we got back me and another classmate, Jackie, went out to shop. There was a market going on here in Birmingham as well. We got to walk around and see what all the vendors had. Then we bought Chinese food, I got fried noodles with chicken and chicken dumplings. It was super delicious. We were eating at a table outside that had other people there. Two women sat across with us and we started talking. They were so sweet and they are one of my favorite people I’ve met on this trip. They told us this market is here before holidays, right now its currently up because of Eid. Eid is a muslim holiday, they said similar to Easter and it involves a lot of food. We talked about our experience so far in the UK and they were so excited for us to experience some of the things that are just apart of their culture and upbringing. One girl is from London and recommended what markets are worth it when we go there next week. After our dinner me and Jackie bought dubai strawberries that were really good. This market helps show the diversity of Birmingham through various foods, desserts, jewelry, and other items. I was glad that this event was happening while we were here.