What to say about being in York. I was there from May 8-15. The whole reason I stayed in York for the week I was there was because my friends Gerise and Larry were not able to come. They were supposed to be visiting this week, but due to circumstances beyond everyone’s control, Larry’s passport did not get there on time so they were not able to come on the trip. Suffice it to say I was really bummed not to see them, and I know they were disappointed and quite frankly in shock that the passport office too SOOO long with issuing the passport!
So, since I’m done with all of my school visits, I had a week free to choose something else to do or somewhere I wanted to go. I had already bought my train ticket to Bradford which is where I was going to stay with Gerise and Larry. Train tickets here are difficult to get refunds on, so I decided to just keep with that ticket since it was kind of expensive, and go to a city close to Bradford. I chose York because I had been there for a day in March and I enjoyed it. It’s a charming little city, a touristy town and just a lovely place to be. So I chose to go there because it made the most sense with all that in mind.
This is the first week that I’m on vacation after having completed all of my schoolwork my school observations. I was looking forward to a couple of weeks of writing and wrapping up some things (next week will be my last week in the UK). But my body had other plans. I was sick last week while I was at Larbert High School, but I forced myself to go to school because I wanted to be there and see what they do. But I felt like I had strep throat or something; possibly Covid? I honestly never found out for sure what it was. But, while in Scotland, I was able to get antibiotics from a pharmacist in Falkirk. They made me feel better for the 5 days I took them. But as soon as I stopped, my symptoms returned. My symptoms were a sore throat, coughing, and I had lots of fluid behind my right ear making it difficult to hear. So, the week after Scotland, while I was in York, I was quite sick. I had a sore throat that would not let up and all of the fluid was still in my right ear. I was not able to hear out of my right ear for a whole 2 weeks. I could not get the fluid drain and my throat would not stop hurting. Finally, I decided to try to find a doctor to go to, to see if I could get this resolved. But getting a doctor in the UK is no easy task (it’s a bit easier in Scotland than in England, but either way it is EXPENSIVE if you are not a citizen). I ended up calling an after-hours number called 111. It’s kind of like 911 in the US but not really for emergencies. It’s just another release valve to the shortage of doctors in the UK, I think. I don’t honestly know why it exists but it’s a free phone call so I called it and was able to talk to a doctor. I told him my symptoms and essentially he told me that I needed to go to the urgent care center. Well, that is next to the ER…AT THE HOSPITAL. So I walked over to the York Hospital and they had booked me an appointment with a GP in the emergency room. What a racket! But I was glad to get some actual advice on what to do.
So, Friday morning I found myself sitting in the emergency room waiting room of the York Hospital. I waited for an hour, but when I finally saw the doctor, it was a pretty quick and painless discussion. He looked in my ear and told me that there was nothing majorly wrong, but the drainage would eventually drain out and I would be able to hear again. He also gave me more antibiotics that I would take for longer and stronger. That was all free because it was through the emergency room. It was really nice to have some resolution – I felt like I could relax a bit because I had hope that the sore throat would improve. The ER doctor didn’t swab my throat, so we don’t really know if I had strep. Some people have suggested that I might have gotten Covid a couple of weeks ago and I think that theory might be right.
But anyway, after I got the antibiotics, I felt such a wave of relief. My throat has been hurting so badly all week and it was not letting up. I could not sleep and I had to continuously take ibuprofen. I couldn’t really enjoy being in York because I was just worried about my health. Well, Saturday night when I got home, I realized the doctor had only given me half of the number of pills I needed. UGH! Talk about frustration and a bit more stress! So, I had to go back to the ER Saturday morning and tell them what happened and essentially see another GP again to get a second box of antibiotics so I could have the full amount. It was quite a frustrating process. But nonetheless, I got my antibiotics and was feeling really happy that I have hope to get better soon.
Otherwise, while I was in York, I spent a lot of time just binge watching the TV show Nashville and resting on the couch. My body was so tired and that’s also why I think I may have had Covid because I just kept being tired every day. I did make myself leave the apartment every day to walk around and get some food and just be out and about, which was nice, because I wanted to enjoy the fact that I was in York. Anyway, there’s not much more to say about it than that. By the time I left, on Monday, I was still not feeling great because I was only halfway through my antibiotics. Being sick in a foreign country sucks.
These are few pics of my time out and about in York. It's a series of coffee shops and beautiful buildings. The beer was after I was feeling a bit of relief the last day I was there.
Travel from York to Bristol
Monday, May 15 was another travel day. I was traveling from York to Bristol. The reason I chose Bristol next is because, again, it was a place people had suggested as a nice place to visit that I had not been before. And it’s in a part of the country that I had not been before (southwest), so I decided to go. However, the train treck was no joke. York is in the middle of the country near Leeds, and Bristol is in the southwestern part of the country, so I knew it would be a long, arduous journey.
Crazily enough (or maybe not), the train ride for the longest part of the journey got cancelled – the train that was going to take me from the middle part to the southern part of England. But I remained calm because what I have learned is that there is always a solution to get there. I have also learned that I do best when I can just ask someone what I’m supposed to do. So that’s what I did. All day long. Lol. Because my entire journey was redirected. The train tickets that I purchase on my phone are always coded to tell you what train you can, and can’t take. And I don’t understand it because there’s all these different train companies and different codes of tickets that I have not learned. Luckily, there are lots of rail station workers that are typically quite friendly and very helpful. So they helped me figure out the next train I could get on that would take me closer to Bristol without having to buy a new train ticket. Suffice it to say that 10 hours later I was in my new Airbnb that I would be staying at in Bristol, which is the last week of my time in the UK.
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