Hey Everyone!
So the big talk of UK news has been snow and cold weather! Freezing in fact. From talking to a lot of the locals, this is very rare, especially for this time of year, so as it could be expected, it is causing a lot of frustration with the locals since there are more road delays, slippery parking lots (one of District Nurses in Strattford broke her hand/wrist today), and just bitter cold temps. It has been interesting to watch the news though and see how it is emphasized, and it seems to be very much the same as in Ohio. Comparatively speaking, the conditions in Gatwick are probably like a level 2 snow emergency in Ohio.

Today though has been a great day despite the chilly temps. We went to breakfast at the hotel which was amazing, and then went to Strattford Upon Avon hospital to meet the District Nurses (community health) and go on some of the runs with them to see their patients. It was very neat to see how their health care works since they have social medicine under the NHS and it is free to all; that is with taxes of course. It was really cool though to have this opportunity to see what they do and to compare similarities as well as some differences too. There were many language differences encountered today, including "The Lou" which means bathroom and "the boot" which means trunk (of a car). Also, one of the funny phrases encountered was "it was bloody awful."

Next, we walked to Shakespeare's birthplace and went on a video tour and also toured his house. Boy were those stairs steep! Also, the doorways were a little shorter for my liking, being that I am 5'9," and the people during the 15th Century slept sitting up. We also visited Anne Hathaway's house and garden. Finally we went to Shakespeare's grave at Trinity Church. The stained glass was gorgeous, the seating designs were interesting because some of the seats were against the wall perpendicular to the other seating, and lastly, the ceilings were definitely vaulted. One of the cool things about the architecture too was that the statue angels were holding the family crest.

I also had the opportunity to go to a market and shop. Unfortunately they closed earlier than expected, so I didn't get to see all of the unique offerings. However, I did get to go to a lot of the shops and clothing stores. Spending money is so much harder to do here, because number one, the currency is so different its hard to figure out which coin I am holding, and also, its hard to think of what I am buying in pounds. I keep converting it to the dollar amount in my head and can't bring myself to spend that much money. It was a lot of fun though going in the shops, browsing, window shopping, and also listening to the British accents.