Well, I've finally made it across the pond to England! It still almost doesn't feel real, but then I look around at the very distinct English countryside and the cars driving on the left side of the road and I know for sure I'm not in Connecticut anymore.

The first few days have been a blur of activities, first classes, new friends, and very little sleep. We've only been here for six days, but it feels like much longer. We've been to Liverpool and Chester so far. Liverpool is a mad city, with tons of people. You can get away with wearing anything in Liverpool if you're a girl. Some of them walk around with curlers in their hair, and apparently Liverpool is the only place they do that, according to Danny, who goes to school here and lives on my floor.

Everyone is so friendly here. We made friends with some of the boys in our building, Lady Openshaw, the first night here. When we're out and about in the city, people will hear our accents and start talking to us about America and what we're doing in England. Almost every person we talk to, especially all the cashier girls in the stores, tell us they want to go to America. Since we're here right now and totally enamored with this country, we have a hard time imagining why!

One of the biggest differences I've noticed between Americans and English are the boys, or the lads. They are extremely loyal to each other and aren't afraid of showing love and affection, whereas boys in the States are more reserved about that type of thing. It's very refreshing to see and makes our nights out at the local pubs fun.

The other day, Jocelyn, Ashley and I went to the football pitch and kicked a ball around for a little while and ended up hanging out with three young English boys. They were all very good players and seemed interested in asking about our country. They asked us about sports, politics and music and wanted to know about the differences between our country and theirs. They were slightly immature, which just goes to show that fifteen-year-old boys are the same everywhere. Refreshing.

One of them did ask us an interesting question though. He asked us if we had lived the American dream yet. None of us really knew how to answer that and asked him what the American dream was, to which he replied "Wealth, health and happiness." I'm still not sure if I've lived the English version of the American dream yet, but for now I'm going to try and live my own English dream.