Today was our first day of real exploration outside of the area of Birmingham. Do not get me wrong, I really do enjoy the city of Birmingham, but I have been wanting to look into other places during the trip. We went to the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, England. The houses and shops were real replicas of the historical buildings during the time of the Industrial Revolution, where it was started. The idea behind the museum is to replicate and understand what was happening at towns during the rise of the coal industry in the Industrial Revolution area, giving it the “black country” nickname. We visited the arguable “first ever steam engine” but it is debatable because in the United States we claim that Pittsburgh had the first steam engine, so we do not truly know who came first.

We then visited a great replica of a school in the late 1700’s. There was an actor that acted like a teacher. I was honestly a little intimidated by her because she was walking around yelling at people who walked in late or were talking too loud. She made half of the girls including myself stand up at the front of the room for a public shaming if they had nail polish on, bringing to life how strict life was for young girls back in those days. We went over different classes they would take such as mathematics, reading, writing and music. I enjoyed seeing how content was taught since teachers are a lot nicer and easy going in modern times. We visited the real coal mine site that had remains of the mining carts, rails, and leftover coal that was all over the ground. It was interesting to see so much coal just laying around on the site because resources like that are usually being bought up instead of being used as decor. 

Ruby, Meredith, Naomi, Jackie, and I walked the entire town and found so many fun things to see and do. We first got the highly reviewed fish and chips. The store and recipe has remained the same since the 1700’s with quality ingredients and furniture. The fish is cooked in beef drippings which are from rendered beef fat, adding an extra savory flavor compared to the fish I had on the first day of being here.

We then went to other smaller buildings in the town like a pharmacy, they called it a druggist, an inn, and the canal that had multiple house boats that we were allowed to go into. The style of the town was very rustic and I enjoyed seeing how life truly was during the Industrial Revolution. We then went to the bakery where Meredith and I got a raspberry filled cookie which made my entire day. I then bought some trinkets and sweets for my brother and mom, but I can’t get into specifics because I know they are reading this. I love seeing and learning new things and had a really good time at the Black Country Museum, and am very excited to write about visiting Oxford tomorrow!