Meeting Family in London

Joshua German, Staff Writer

   On the London Trip with Student Media, I had the most amazing opportunity. I was able to meet some of my family on my step-father’s side. My Great-Aunt Kath was the person I contacted when I got to London. It took a lot of planning, since I didn’t actually get in contact with anyone before I went to London, but I was able to secure a day that both of us could meet. I took a train by myself and went two hours to Gloucester. When I got off the train Aunt Kath greeted me right away , we got into her car and I met my Great-Uncle Roy. 

   They were both extremely nice right off the bat, and took me straight to their house. They have an absolutely beautiful garden in their backyard, and while I was looking at that Kath made me a Cornish Pasty, a bread roll and English Tea. While I was eating, some more relatives came over including Rich and Julia. I had a great conversation with him, and he told me how all of the bars are dying, the origin of the Cornish Pasty, and how England deserved to lose a Rugby game because they are bad. After that, Kath and I went to the local Gloucester Cathedral, where some of Harry Potter was shot. 

   It was a really awesome place, and we were able to explore the whole place. She then gave me a short tour of all the main sites in Gloucester, including the Hopper memorial, their dock, the giant crossroads in the center of town, and some actual Roman ruins built underneath the city. We stopped by Rich’s house and I met Laura, Kelsey, and McKenzie. They also had three dogs, Reggie, Ronnie, and Fatty Boom Boom. They were adorable, and meeting some more extended family was pretty great. When we got back they made me fish and chips and we looked through an old scrapbook with photos of my grandmother and all of my relatives from England. 

   I had to leave soon after that, and they were very sad to see me go. They offered to let me stay with them if I am able to come back, and it was an amazing experience overall. Easily my favorite part of the entire trip, and all of my family was so nice and treated me like they have known me my whole life.