It’s no secret. If you’ve talked to me in the past fourish months, it won’t come as a surprise that I do not like England.

                                                             There. I said it. 

And no, I didn’t bump my head or get my blog hijacked. This is coming from the girl/woman/somewhere in between who loves traveling and experiencing new cultures. 

Fact: I always said that after college I wanted to live in another country and possibly teach. 

I should’ve been more specific because England is NOT my cup of tea. And definitely not the country I had in mind for my post graduate plans. For those reading this who love England or even worse, are from England…I’m sorry…..but not really because you have a passport that will let you live in any of the other beautiful countries in the European Union.

Now some of you may be wondering why? Why don’t I like charming ol’ England. Well stick around and I’ll tell you.

The weather. 

I truly thought that the English/those visiting England were being dramatic when they said the weather is terrible. They were not exaggerating. If anything, I don’t think they were harsh enough. The weather here sucks. 

You know when you look out the window and the sky is grey/dreary/rainy how you instantly want to stay inside. It’s depressing right? When these days happened at home during winter or spring I would stay inside and curl up with a good book or binge on Netflix. In England, this is EVERY day. EVERY DAMN DAY. 

The sky is always grey, preventing even the slightest bit of sun from peeking through the clouds. With the lack of sun and constant wind, it also stay relatively chilly and damp. Seasonal depression is a real condition that affects people during the dark winter months. Well no wonder the English look so miserable because they have it all year round.

The food.

Two words: mushy peas. Peas are already pretty soft, so I don’t really understand the need to make them mushy unless you want to just straight swallow them without chewing. 

                       

Everything is bland and covered in some sort of watery gravy or looks like it’s been sitting on a diner table all day long. Thankfully, I know how to cook. There are also some authentic Thai restaurants around, so I can have a little flavor in my life. 

Tip: Don’t try the Yorkshire pudding either.

The people.

                                          

I don’t want to apply this to everyone because I have met some lovely people during my stay here. Despite those few, most of the people here don’t have any manners. No one says thank you or excuse me or even hello. When I’m at the grocery store people will just walk into me or stop and stare at me until I move. I had always thought that Americans were rude, but nope. The English take the cake on that one.

True story: I was trying on shoes in a store, and a woman shimmied behind my boyfriend (which scared him) and knocked over a display of shoes INSTEAD of saying excuse me.

The people pt. 2

I wasn’t really sure how to categorize this next one, but I guess it also falls under people, or culture. 

A couple years ago when the Kyle Jenner lip challenge kept popping up all over the internet and world, I was pretty shocked. I’m not sure why young girls felt the need to have their natural lips ballooned up to bee strings, but hey that’s just me.

Guess what? That trend didn’t die in England err… Leeds. Yorkshire is the equivalent of the Jersey Shore. It’s full of fake boobs, lips, hair, eye lashes, butts, you name it! Everyone here looks like a walking Dolly Parton disaster. They are made up of silicone and extensions. The amount of fake boobs I see in a night out makes me feel like a teenage boy. 

Remember how I mentioned that the sun doesn’t exist in England? That’s no problem for the people of Leeds! Almost every girl/woman I see–and frequently the men too–are an unhealthy shade of brown or orange.

                                  

               This is a picture I pulled of the internet, but it’s also what I see in real life here.

I can’t even count on my hands the number of times I’ve gone to try on clothes only for there to be fake tanner/bronzer smeared on the inside. It makes me wonder how often they have to wash their pillow cases and what their faces look like hidden under that goop. 

My dislike of England shouldn’t have come as such a shock to me since I never liked the U.K. version of The Office (Steve Carrell all the way)! I do want to say that my experience has been mostly in Northern England. While I have been to London (which is pretty cool) and around other areas, I have encountered the most people in Yorkshire. 

Anyhow, living here hasn’t been completely terrible and not everything about England is bad, so in my next post, I will talk about some of the highlights of this country–if I can come up with a long enough list.