Lost for Apples

     Amazingly, we have now been here studying abroad in London for over a month. This is still something that I have to get used to. I have not missed home as much as I had expected, but now that it is coming into the fall season here and at home, I am craving the stereotypical fall activities. Some of the things I miss most are apple picking, pumpkin carving, haunted hayrides, and other fall spirited activities my friends and I like participating in. Thinking about what I was doing last fall semester makes me miss home. One way I heard makes adjusting to a new culture easier is doing what you would at home in the new culture. Since I am missing these aspects from home, I decided to try the adjustment technique.

    Mariah, my roommate on campus at WNE, and I decided to explore and try to go apple picking this past week! I felt this would be a good opportunity for us to go off on our own since we will be traveling on our own during our fall break here in just two weeks. Unfortunately, the circumstances did not prove to be successful for apple picking, but it was a good experience for figuring out the transportation systems on our own. Normally we do not have any issues with traveling, but we were using the National Rail, which was a new experience for us both. Mariah and I had no problem leaving the station. The trouble came on our way back from our unsuccessful apple-picking trip. Once we were almost to the pick your own farm, we discovered that the farm was closed. Somehow, we did end up venturing to the birthplace of the Paralympics, Buckinghamshire. I found this as an interesting place to stumble across, even though there was nothing around but a sign as shown above. On our way back, we realized that this station was not set up, as we are accustomed to. The station was so small and did not have any place for scanning an oyster card, our normal means of paying for travel. Fortunately, we ended up successfully figuring out what train to take back. The best thing I can take from this experience is learning the National Rail System, and to always double check, that the place you are going to is actually open on the day you plan on visiting! In terms of missing home, I know that I always have next year to pick my apples, while being in London is such a special opportunity to be a part of now.