Hayley Makes It Through The Week - Episode 3

Barely.
No, it really wasn't that bad, just a few "bumps" (or should I say "dents"?) in the road.

I'll start off with the bad news first. Well, somehow I managed to get really really ridiculously sick on Wednesday and half of Thursday. M was feeling a bit sick the day before, but I didn't think anything of it since she was actually pretty normal. Either way, that night I ended up with a nasty cold (or whatever it was) that lasted all day Wednesday and keeping me stuck in bed sleeping. It was terrible! What a way to start off your first week in England! It's pretty much all gone now, and if it's just a "traveler's tummy" like they say, then hopefully I won't be getting it back any time soon!
Okay bad news numero dos: I got into a bit of a car accident. Sad, I know, but it's true. I blame this on my still being slightly jetlagged...
Jetlag - 2, Hayley - 0
...and the the fact that I was still quite sick and quite out of it yesterday. It wasn't that bad of an accident though, really it wasn't. (Aunties, Bachan and Grandma: I'm fine, really, I am. Don't call mum and ask her if I'm okay cause I really am fine! lol) I was driving through Dunchurch, which is just before Rugby, and it was a narrow street with parked cars on both sides and fast ones coming from the opposite direction. I didn't notice how close I was to the parked cars so as I was going around the slight curve, I side-swipped it. Both cars are fine, so it's all good. I'm just a little shaken that's all. Okay, I'm completely shaken up after freaking out and crying like crazy (not to mention calling up mum and dad the minute I got home) but it's okay now. It really wasn't that bad in the long run. But you can sure as heck bet that I was a ridiculously cautious driver today! Geez louise, I was checking my mirrors constantly and going so ridiculously slow that even trucks (or "lorries") were passing me, which is kind of sad when you think about it, but I really don't care at this point!

"Why is Hayley driving today?!"
It was my day off (I have Friday to Sundays off) and I wanted to make the most of it so I went to Kenilworth Castle. Finally! A castle! History! The very reason I'm here!
Kenilworth Castle, located in Kenilworth of course, is about a 25 minute drive from Stockton. It's mostly in ruins but it's in fantastic ruins. You know, I think sometimes I prefer the ruins more than I do the castles in mint condition. It's like they've been lived in so much more. Then again, I'm probably going to be saying that I like mint condition castles more than ruins next week after I visit Warwick Castle so...
Kenilworth has officially been the first tourist attraction that I've visited since I got here. And hey, I'm now a member of English Heritage. For just 32 quid, I get free access into over 300 sites. Not bad. Unfortunately that doesn't cover most of the sites in London, but it sure as heck covers pretty much everything else! Nice.
Oh did I mention that was also my first expense on my very first credit card? Yeah, that's kind of awesome, I know. So when someone asks me, "Hey Hayley, what was the first thing you bought with your very first credit card?" I'll be all like, "Dude, I totally bought a membership to English Heritage. Beat that." Except I don't say "dude," and when someone's asking me that 40 years from now, I probably won't still be saying "totally."
Either way, I'm proud. (Parents, you'll be getting the bill in the mail at the end of the month. I kid. I kid. Actually you will, but I'll be paying so...)
I don't have too much to say about Kenilworth because it's really the kind of thing that you have to experience. I'd tell you the history, but you can wikipedia that. I'd tell you how it looks, but I'll be posting pictures on my facebook shortly. In the mean time, here's another video of me at Kenilworth:

See Hayley At Kenilworth

Yes, the rain. The weather here is absolutely unpredictable. I don't even understand how the Brits bother to employ any form of weather channel or forecast because whatever it is, it's wrong. They should never ever say that it's going to be sunny but rather just face the fact that in England, it RAINS. And it rains. And it rains. At least in Richmond you have some sort of an idea, but no, not here! I specifically checked last night to see what the weather would be like for today and it said it would be partially sunny, low chance of precipitation. When I walked out of my room with just a cardigan and my Rocketdog shoes on, Cherry suggested I take a raincoat just in case. She obviously knew what she was talking about because it absolutely poured buckets (as you may have noticed in the video) and I was drenched to the bone. This was also the one time that I did not wear my wellies.
Lesson learned.
So remember folks, no matter what the season, what the forecast says, no matter what, just wear your wellies and your rain jacket. And maybe some gloves and an umbrella because the rain gets you quite cold.
Just remember, the forecasts are all...

(Real screen capture taken from weather.co.uk)

Anyway...

I drove through Rugby yesterday, only briefly before you know, side-swipping someone but it was quite interesting because I drove past the school that actually created the sport of, you guessed it...rugby! Nowadays, that school charges 30 000 quid for a student's tuition. Yowza. There's no way I'd ever be going there! Nonetheless, it was cool to just casually drive by a site that invited something millions of people around the world follow today and say you've been there.
The town of Rugby looked quite nice though, so I intend to go back. Mostly because I saw a lot of young people out and about, so maybe I can go hang out there sometime and see what's happening.

Okay okay, one last thing before I end this ridiculously long post. I enrolled in a pottery class! Not gonna lie, I'm pretty excited. I never got to do any sort of art in high school since I was always a theatre girl, so now's my chance. Plus I'll probably get to meet some cool people in that class as well. My first class starts on Tuesday. Wish me luck!

Maybe I should post more frequently so that I don't have these crazy long posts eh? Hmm, we'll see.

Facebook Status:
Hayley is: congratulating herself on making it through her first week in England.

Ciao mein!

H-Po