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Published: October 6th 2008
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This past weekend, I travelled to Peterborough for a host-family stay. It was my first train experience, and it did not start well.
A few of us (IFSA-Butler students) missed the train because of a ridiculous demand for buses from UEA to Norwich city center on Friday afternoon. It was really hectic and stressful; our group got split up because of the crowd. Five people in our group were able to squeeze onto a couple of earlier buses and barely caught the train. The rest of us waited about 45 minutes, watched at least five buses pass our stop because they were already full of people, and finally caught a bus only to miss our train by three minutes.
It really wouldn’t have been so bad because there was another train from Norwich to Peterborough just an hour after the one we missed, and our tickets were open for any journey that Friday. However, because Butler bought our tickets in groups of four and each of our tickets said, “Group of 4,” the ticket-checker guy gave us a hard time about why there were only three of us on the later train. I was already stressed out and just
wanted to sit back and relax after a terrible two hours of running around, and the man was just being so annoying! After three times of patiently trying to explain our situation only to have him continually insist, “But your ticket says there are supposed to be four!” I finally told him that I would personally write an email to Butler myself about being careful with booking group journeys just to get him off of our backs, and he finally settled down.
After getting rid of Mr. Annoying Train Man, the ride was fairly pleasant and quick. It took us about 1.5 hours to reach Peterborough, and we were met by two representatives from the EIL (Experiment in International Living) program who personally brought the three of us to our families. Katie, another Butler student, had gotten to the Parlato home only a bit over an hour before me, so the whole thing didn’t turn out to be so bad.
Generally, the Parlatos, besides having a British accent, were a family not unlike one that could be found in America. Caroline, my host ‘mother,’ is really lady-like and sweet. She had recently gotten back from a trip to
NYC to visit her boyfriend, who is a financial adviser working there on a business trip for a few months. Her oldest daughter, Francesca, is 16 and is the stereotypical 16-year-old girl - really demanding of her independence and tries really hard (although she would never want anyone to acknowledge this, of course) to come off as very sophisticated and mature. Alexander, a 15-year-old boy who we saw for only about 15 minutes, is really reserved and barely had the courage to say hello to us (middle child syndrome or simply awkward teenage boy?). He opted to stay with friends for the weekend instead of living at home with five women in the house, which I can’t really blame him, but it would have been fun to get to know him too. Gabriela, the youngest, is a spunky 9-year-old and definitely personifies “the baby of the family.” She was very demanding of constant attention, although she was adorable enough to pull it off.
All three of Caroline’s children are absolutely gorgeous. They all have really dark hair and intriguingly light blue eyes. Caroline mentioned that their father is Argentinean (they have been divorced for quite a while, from what
I deciphered from conversations). He is now remarried and has a 2-year-old, which has been difficult for Gabriela because she is always used to being the baby of the family. The kids visit their dad quite often, as he lives only a ten-minute drive away.
Saturday morning, Caroline dropped Katie and me off at Peterborough Cathedral for a guided tour, along with all EIL students staying in Peterborough for the weekend. It was really windy and miserably cold, and I wish I could have paid more attention to the history being recounted for us on the tour, but all I could think about was how terrific a nice hot mug of hot chocolate would be. It was a very thorough tour, and I probably would have enjoyed/remembered it ten times better if it weren’t for the weather. Oh well - my photos will have to do.
After the tour, we were on our own. Caroline had errands to run for the day and told us we could stay in town until late afternoon, so Katie and I decided to explore Peterborough’s city center. It is kind of like a miniature version of Norwich, except a lot smaller and
thus less exciting. By the end of the afternoon, Katie and I had walked around about four times and felt like we knew it really well. We also toured the museum, which had a different exhibit on each of the three floors. We went shopping and managed to go into almost every single store in the fairly respectably-sized mall. And, finally, we finished our day with a late lunch at a really cute tea place called Harriet’s Teahouse. We had a three-tiered tray of finger sandwiches/scones/chocolate fudge cake that came alongside our teas and coffees; it was all so adorably British. I think Harriet’s Teahouse was my favorite part of the whole weekend.
We got back to the house and completely vegged in front of the TV. It felt so nice to be in a house with all of the tidings of what a “home” consists. Caroline babied us all weekend - we got packed lunches for when we went out, and she made us dinners and took them to us while we watched TV. It was so sweet. Caroline and Francesca went out for Caroline’s sister’s birthday, Gabriela stayed at her dad’s house for the night, and Alexander
was staying with friends, so Katie and I were left alone in the house. Caroline said she would have dropped us off at the city center again, but because there was a rowdy football game, she wanted us to be safe at home. We had an impromptu Girls’ Night In and had a really good time bonding during “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Sex in the City” movie…and about 20 minutes of “A Cinderella Story.” There was a pub right across the street, but neither of us felt like going out, so we each read for a bit and fell asleep. It was the most uncool thing to do on a weekend in England, but we didn’t care because it just felt so nice to relax and have a “mom” take care of us for a weekend.
On Sunday, Caroline picked up Gabriela from her dad’s and took the three of us to another mall on the other side of town. Gabriela made me into her real-life Barbie and had me try on all the dresses she liked. In every single store. It was kind of exhausting trying to humor her, but she is so cute, and I couldn’t resist
playing along. Then, Caroline picked us up and we all had a late lunch together. She made chicken with loads of steamed veggies and these things called Yorkshire pudding, which isn’t like the pudding you’re probably thinking about. They’re these cup-shaped, crispy bread things made from pancake-like batter. Really simple, but they go with pretty much any meal and taste really good with gravy. Caroline told us that Yorkshire pudding is very British and very popular at the pubs if we ever want to try the awesome homemade kinds. Usually they call it “Toad in the Hole” on the menus, which is just Yorkshire pudding with sausage inside (not actual toads…). Besides a plate of fish and chips, so far I haven’t really had actual British dishes, so I will have to check out those “Toads in the Hole” sometime soon.
After that, Caroline and Gabriela dropped Katie and me off at the train station. It was a really good experience. There isn’t much else to Peterborough than shopping centers, and I suppose the stadium that we never saw, but it was a nice, relaxing weekend, and I enjoyed the experience of living with a British family. And now
dead end
on the way to the servants' quarters next to the cathedral I am back in my lovely flat with my biochemistry textbook persistently calling my name. Oy. In the words of my friend Melissa, “Homework is seriously cutting into my study abroad experience.”
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Nghia
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oo caroline...what a babe haha