Day Tripper

The time has come, the students said, to explore the many sights.

Like fish and chips and Beatles bars,

Like cathedrals and high heights.

On Saturday, approximately 300 students left Leeds for a day long excursion to Liverpool; owner of one of the busiest seaside docks in the UK, home to the largest Anglican church in the world, and birthplace of a little band called The Beatles.

After dragging my resistant body out of bed at 7:30am and trudging to the buses on what was the coldest day since my arrival, I was told that my bus was overbooked. They offered anyone who volunteered to get shifted to another coach free chocolate. That's all it took to get my hand up in the air. I joined a group of five others chocoholics but quickly began regretting voluntarily standing out in the cold, and subjecting my face to the violent, subzero winds. After 20 minutes of waiting to see which coach we would be placed on, the organizer informed us that they had miscounted and we could take our originally assigned bus. So basically, I volunteered to board the coach last and received no choco-reward. Solid start to the day.

The rest of the trip more than made up for the slightly rocky morning. Alysha, Jessica and I traveled the entire town on foot which proved to be the best way of exploring the city. We were dwarfed next to the massive Anglican church, treated to fresh fish and chips at a local cafe, and then surrounded by Beatles memorabilia. The day was so full of adventure that unlike the boisterous morning bus ride, the trip home was completely silent with almost everyone awkwardly leaning against a window, their chair, or their neighbor, lulled to sleep by the coach motor and dimmed city lights.

Highlight of the trip: Visiting the Cavern, the underground pub where The Beatles got their start, and singing along to the classics with Beatles fans from all over the world. Since you couldn't be there with me, pour yourself a pint and watch the video for a little taste of what it was like.