That time I lived in the UK

When I was 9 years old, my family went to live in England.  It was an awesome experience, and one that I will never forget or take for granted. Let me tell you a bit about it!

My mom and dad surprised me one day when they told us that I would be leaving my 4th grade class in February to go live in the UK for about half a year.  It was one of the greatest experiences that a 9 year old kid could ever have!  When my father was in high school, his family left to go live in the UK and he wanted us to have the same experience.  He did this through getting a job as a Universtiy professor at the University of Nottingham in Nottingham England.  This meant that we were to go over a live there for less than a year, go to school and then travel europe in a Saab.

My father left for the UK early and bought a Saab in sweeden.  That was part of the deal, buy a car to have over there, and bring it back to the US when we were done with our travels.  We got to London and spent a week and a half there kind of getting to know the city.  My father has always liked walking and this was a chance for us to walk 5-8 miles per day and see everything that we could.  I immediately loved London and all that it had to offer.  The culture was different, but not that different.

After our time in London, it was time to head up to the Nottingham area to find a place to live for the next few months.  I remember driving to many different places in the city and in the suburbs.  We eventually found a place to live in a little town called Southwell.  This was a place about 40 minutes outside of downtown Nottingham.  This was the place we were to call home.

This is the sarisons head - a pub and hotel we stayed at before moving into the house we rented

The Southwell minster.  I spent many hours here... I was a 9 year old obsessed with architecture and design

Living in Southwell was pretty cool.  I got into a school called Lowes Wong.  It was a primary school and classes seemed fairly similar to those of the 4th grade.  I remember being a little ahead in some areas, while a little behind in others.  School lunches were served family style and I will write about that later...

I walked to and from school every day and swam on a local swim team.  I made friends and wholly enjoyed my time in Southwell.  It was an absolutely amazing experience and no doubt shaped who I am today.  I hope to someday give a complete cultural experience like this to my son!