Transition to Travel

This morning was a sad morning- it was my last in London.

It was also an exciting morning- the first morning on the Garfield Weston Exchange!

My hour long train to Coventry was quick and painless. The countryside that I passed through was beautiful, of course. Arriving in Coventry, I jumped into a black cab and headed to my hotel, the Quality Inn

The hotel was nice; not a five star joint by any means, but it had everything I needed and the staff was friendly and helpful.



My room was cozy, but it had everything I needed

I met Emily from Young Farmers at about 2pm. She organized this entire exchange for myself and the other exchangees. She’s pretty fantastic. We had tea- the first of my most British adventures. Shortly after, Margaret (another YFC staff member), David (YFC again) and the two other Canadians arrived.

The other girls are Jennifer and Meredith. Jennifer is the youngest and is from Manitoba. She comes from a bee-keeping background and works with horses. Meredith is the same age as me and is from a beef farm in Quebec. She is friends with the dear Gillian, a 4-H YAC friend.

L to R: Jennifer, Meredith and I

We had sandwiches whilst being prepped for the coming weeks. The challenge: 4 weeks in rural Britain.

After a few hours of relaxation (aka Youtube) it was dinner time. I cannot explain to you how delicious the food was. I wish I had photos.

First of all, we had the entire dining room to ourselves. Private dinner party? Sure, why not!

Also, we were having a hard time deciding so the waitress had the chef come out to chat with us. Um, star treatment much?
We shared some potato skins as a starter, followed by our mains. I had the most delicious spinach and ricotta pasta.

Dessert, or ‘pudding’ as the Brits call it, was a rhubarb tart. It was scrumptious.
We went for a walk into Coventry to work off our dinner ;) and then headed off to bed as we had an early morning.

You see, I woke up at 6am. That folks, is not natural. But alas, I had a train to catch and there were adventures waiting for me.

Before I go, I should let you all know that here in Coventry , they have ‘Ladies Parking.’ Yes, ladies, we get our own- how charming!