Welcome

Beloved Britain,

I am here.
I am finally here.
And I love you.
Yesterday I finally arrived at Bournemouth.
I had a very pleasant flight to London Heathrow and a nice journey to Bournemouth by coach.

(Bournemouth, at the sea side)

It is not only a stereotype, it is a fact: the English people are very polite (e.g. the cashier at the supermarket even apologized that we had to wait for so long!).
And they are funny, too (e.g. the bus driver: "We even have washroom facilities in here - yes, it's all very exciting!" ;-) ).

The first lesson I learned here in England, despite the fact that the motorways are full of litter on the sides - the Britons must definitely take better care of their environment (this is not meant as an offence, dear Britain, simply as a kind advice), was that the public telephones are disappearing.
Yes. It is sad but it is true, acccording to the friendly man at the Bournemouth information centre at the coach station.
At the airport I met two other German girls and we travelled to Bournemouth altogether.
After our arrival there they wanted to call their host family and the only public telephone we could find at the station was obviously not working properly (we watched two women struggling with it).
I then approached the man at the information centre and asked him whether this was the only public telephone here.
He said yes, according to his knowledge, because the public telephones are disappearing due to the fact that more and more people got mobile phones. "But there might be one at the supermarket or there might be one at the petrol station or there might be one at the train station..." - "Might", I nodded, unsatisfied.. "Well, thank you!"
The two German girls then simply got into a taxi without calling their host parents before.

...

England,
I love it how people call each other "mate" or "love" here.
(When you get off a bus you thank the driver and my bus driver replied to my "thank you" with "You're welcome, love". "Love" and "mate" are tiny words but they make all the difference. They make you feel welcome.)

At the language school I learned to know some other German girls and we did some shopping at the local supermarket and talked German, of course. Apparently, a man listened to our conversation because he addressed us in German. We three were all very surprised because we did find it unlikely to meet a Briton speaking German. His German was not bad, by the way. He was very friendly and even offered his help to find our way back to the town centre. He wished us a nice time on "the island" (he said this in perfect German!).

The girls and me had a nice walk through Bournemouth to get an overview and I have to say that I like it. Just have a look at the bath cabins at the beach, they are lovely.

(look at the coulours, see how they perfectly match the landscape!)

I have to make another remark on the people here in England: beside the fact that they are extraordinary polite and helpful, they are very chatty, too. And I like it. It is so nice to talk to the people sitting next to you on the bus, you can learn a lot. It is also nice to simply be smiled at when you catch yourself walking down the road with a huge smile on your face, entirely satisfied with your situation, satisfied with being in England.
Spread happiness! :-)

So, that's all for now, Britain, my love,
I think I'll have a nice cup of tea now,

Janina


Postscript:
Regarding the environment I seriously do think that the Britons have to improve some things. It sometimes seems to me that they do not really care about their environment. It hurts me to see that. (Bitain, this again is not an offence, I just write down my observations).
If they do make an effort to care about the environment they have to announce it. I am serious now but at the supermarket I found this sign above the refrigerator: "Caring for the Environment: These doors save enough energy to make over 4 Million cups of tea per year." See? And what I found funny was that they even mentioned their much loved tea here. :-)