Girls' Day Out at Beamish: The Living Museum of the North

Hello and welcome back to my newly revamped blog! Some quick updates of what has happened in the last month or so that I've been MIA from here:

• I've finished all my coursework for my final year of uni.
• My bags are more or less packed to fly home exactly one week from today. 
• I've been hanging out and spending tons of time (ie. cooking, eating, talking, and playing The Werewolves of Millers Hollow) with a few wonderful friends I met here.
• I've been partaking in major Chuck, emo movie, action movie, and zombie movie marathons (because my taste is diverse and eclectic like that).

So since I have some spare time left before I fly home for more fun adventures (and because there's only so much you can cook, eat, and play Werewolves in a day, and because there's nothing much else to do here in Middlesbrough besides getting drunk), I've decided to update this abandoned blog with what I've been up to recently in the land of icy winds, starting with the Beamish Museum.

What it's all about // Beamish is basically a 'live' museum with preserved architecture, vehicles, and actors in costumes from past eras portraying how life was in Northern England. If you're into all thing old and antique and vintage-y, you'll love this place.

What those creepy looking things are // Dental instruments of old. And those sets of teeth were apparently popular, fashionable gifts for girls in their early twenties (ie. me) to receive as having all your teeth pulled out (whattheheck?!?) and replacing them with false ones made them more marriageable as false teeth wouldn't decay, hence eliminating morning breath and dental fees, which were extremely hefty. I'm glad I live in the 21st century where it's totally unfashionable to pluck out your teeth at twenty. Geez.

Why I'm so happy in this picture // Because the lady at the back was in the process of making apple crumble. Yum. We didn't get to try any though. :( Boo.

L-R: Naz, Mabel, and me!

Although we were on a school trip, the three of us ended up hanging out and doing our own thing pretty much the whole trip. I think we spent half the time in the museum lying on the grass because it was so sunny and inviting!

The highlight of the trip was definitely the girly time. I'm not much a fan of antique and old things - futurish, science-fiction-y, nerdy, minimalistic, sleek, and automated is more my kinda thing (hey, I grew up in the city, what can I say?), so Beamish is definitely not a place I'd visit on my own. Still, with sun and good company, any place can be fun.

(Even if rides on an old steam train that we were so excited about only last for like five minutes, and the place smelt quite stinky most of the time. My theory was that they were trying to recreate an authentic environment of when proper sewage facilities weren't available yet. Oh and by the way, coming to England has dismissed all my childhood dreams of living on an English farm à la Enid Blyton books forever. I now realize I wouldn't last a week on a farm - it's city life all the way for this girl.)

Final snap // Remember this game? Seeing this brought back tons of fond childhood memories. Ah, good times. :)