Ever, AJ

Amsterdam, Manchester, Capes

First off…just wanted everyone to know, I have Internet access only during certain times of the day. Hence, the late blog post. So bear with me as far as blogging and emailing. But I would still love to hear from you and get back to you as soon as I can.

We landed in Amsterdam after a tasty breakfast egg sandwich. Tasty meaning it tasted like sour milk and rancid pepper. The flight came in around 8:20 am their time (which was 1:20 am South Dakota time).  I had gotten a total of 25 minutes of sleep and was starting to feel it. I was wicked hungry due to the lack of quality I had just consumed. I was looking real forward to a Starbucks coffee. Then I realized…I’m in Amsterdam.

I was freaking out only a little thinking I would have trouble finding my gate, but it was quite easy. Almost everything was in English and it wasn’t too busy due to the early morning time. I found my gate, had to wait in line, and then go through a mini security check before entering my gate. The plane was already there so we didn’t have to wait long before boarding. Sadly, my stomach was growling so load I tried my best to sit as far from someone as I could so they wouldn’t hear it. It was making those embarrassing noises that could easily be mistaken for gas…am I the only one that has those?

Finally we started boarding. I was one of the last people to board so I was looking for my seat. Seat 21B. By row 3 I realized…seat B is right in the middle of two people. Come ON! And what do you know…back of the plane. I got to my seat and the poor girl in the aisle seat was sneezing her brains out, her eyes were all bloodshot, and she was blowing her nose so much her nostrils were raw. Oh perfect, just what I need, an hour flight with the woman who will give me a cold so I will be sick the first week of school. Looking to my right, I see who will be occupying my left. There sat a big, straight faced, no eye-contact, black man. Oh GREAT! The biggest of the three of us is next to the window scrunched and I’m next to him! I sat down and instantly knew there was not even an option of me using the armrest. He was just too big to even put his arms at his sides. Unless I wanted to be touching arms with this gentleman, I had to lean far to my right encroaching on sick-girl’s space. I just couldn’t believe I was between two people, again! I was so tired by this point I thought my body would just pass out without my permission. It felt like if I’d let them, my eyes would go cross-eyed and stay that way, with my mouth hanging open…that’s a funny picture. The only reason I was forcing myself to be awake was because they were going to serve breakfast as soon as we had leveled out in the air. I needed food. It wasn’t too hard to stay awake though, because the large man to my left could fall asleep in five seconds and he snored. Loud. Come ON! So the instant we hit the air he closed our window shade. I really wanted to see England from the plane, but he did not care one bit. We finally got our breakfast and what do you know, it was nasty. The coffee tasted burnt and the sandwich was just plain gross.

We landed in Manchester around 8:40 am (another time change). I was so excited I could hardly stand it. The instant I got off the plane I just couldn’t stop smiling. I probably looked like a creepy girl walking around with a smile plastered on my face. So next up was customs. Now, I had heard some pretty scary things about customs, but my experience was a breeze. I had all the papers ready I needed to show and the lady didn’t even look at one. She took my passport, asked where I was headed, I said, “Capernwray Bible School”, she stamped it and I was on my way. Some students have told me they were asked loads of questions and stood there for up to two hours. I was thankful that wasn’t me. I made it to baggage claim, got my bags, and headed to the Train Station.

I bought my train ticket then made my first UK coffee purchase. It was a cappuccino, but what I didn’t know is that they don’t put any flavor in a straight up cappuccino. So it needed sugar, but otherwise real good. My train wasn’t scheduled to arrive for another two hours so I started journaling. I journaled specifically about what it’s going to look like lifting my two bags by myself, that together weigh 94 pounds. The train step was a good two feet off the ground! About an hour after people watching, listening to accents, and letting the fact that I was in the U.K. sink in, a very large group of young adults walked past me. I immediately knew they were from Capernwray. They all had two to three suitcases and I recognized some faces from the Capernwray Facebook group. I went over, introduced myself, and took the train with them.

I somehow happened at the front of the line to board the train. Oh great, now 20 kids can watch me try and lift these Bessies and fail miserably. I took one in each hand and heaved them puppies up. First time I failed. I about fell over backward from the weight of my backpack, and a suitcase fell over on the ground. Fail. How embarrassing! Not to mention, I started sweating profusely and realized, great, I’m going to smell like B.O. before I ever get to Capes. I gave it another shot and, praise the Lord, they ended up on the train somehow. About 10 of us had hopped on by the time a conductor (or train worker?) came by and said, “There’s no room you have to go to the front car.” Great, cause we were in the very back car. So here we go filing off and I had to do the bag thing all over again! I did not think I had the strength to even pull them, much less toss them again. Well, somehow I got them up and about eight of us ended up having to stand. We were right at the first class door but would have had to pay an extra six pounds in order to be upgraded. We said forget it and stood. The train ride was so fun, but it was about 1.5 hours, standing. The scenery, buildings, and houses were so pretty though and real fun to see. Everything, and I mean everything, is built out of brick. I love it so much! It all looks straight out of a movie. It was a really nice time to get to know a lot of Cape kids on the ride from Manchester to Carnforth. I couldn’t help but repeat the British announcer when she would announce the next stop. The towns had such quaint names and were just fun to say.

We finally arrived in Carnforth. Carnforth station is so cute I just want to hug it. There are cute little shops and houses, it’s great. All the cars are so tiny and foreign and I could just sit and listen to these people talk for the rest of my life. From here, a van was supposed to come pick us up and drive us out to our new home. The bus showed up early and we started piling in. The cute vans said Capernwray Bible School and all the pedestrians looked at us like aliens. We were quite the mob.

The drive to Capernwray only took about six minutes. The shops, houses, little farms, and roads are so quaint and cute. Everyone drives on the wrong side of the road (and the car) and speed around corners like there won’t be a car oncoming. Whenever we would pass another car, it seemed like the rearview mirrors were going to smack each other and break off. They never did but I’m sure we were just inches away. We arrived at the front gate of Capes and were really excited. It’s like, this is something I’ve seen in pictures for months and months and months, so it doesn’t even seem like it’d be a real thing. We pulled in through the gate, down a little road, and there it was. The castle. It’s real. It is beautiful, huge, and everything I’d thought it’d be. We started piling out of the cars, got our room assignments, grabbed our luggage, and headed into our new home for nine months. Finally…here.

For those who are interested…my new address is…

Amanda Maurer

Capernwray Bible School

Carnforth

Lancashire

LA6 1AG

England