Lost in Dudley

So I never realized how much I really took for granted at home. For instance, having a washer and a dryer(I will save that story, for another time), and knowing how to use public transportation.

Having previously lived in two big cities, I felt that public transportation was something I easily could catch on to and basically knew how to use. The metro in Washington D.C is like an old habit, and getting around Philly became second nature. So, I figured how hard could the bus system be in the Midlands, I speak the same language, so I would be able to read the maps, and understand the drivers and I had already mastered the tram (mind you it only goes in two directions, so not a hard task). Boy was I mistaken.

It was now our third Friday in West Brom, and Julian and I decided we wanted to continue to broaden our horizons, and check out some of the towns around us. The next biggest city after Birmingham is Wolverhamptown, and then there at two small towns in between Dudley, and Walsall. Well we didn't want to travel all the way to Wolverhamption, so we decided on Dudley, we could go to the Cinema there, and around the Cinema there are lots of restaurants, a bowling alley, and a few pubs. Perfect Friday night, all we had to do is get on bus 74 and get off at the right stop, and we would be able to see the Cinema from the road. Easy..... Of course not, other wise why on earth would I be telling this story. Well of course we missed the stop, so we figured we would just get off at the next stop and walk back. Turns out the next stop was in the town center of Dudley at the bus station. Cool, still no problem, a bit longer walk, but we can do it. So off we went, and about 3o mins later we realized, hmm we haven't seen the Cinema, and we honestly have no idea where we are. And we began to laugh, we were like hmm even if we called someone we wouldn't be able to tell them where we were all we knew was we were on a road, and there was a chip shop near by. Here we were an American and a German lost in Dudley (at least we thought we were still in Dudley). And to be honest, neither one of us was phased a bit, we chalked it up to another adventure in the Midlands. So we walked for about 10 more minutes, and decided maybe it was time to turn around, so we caught another random bus, with hopes that it would take us back to the bus station and we could start over.

Eventually we did end up at the Cinema, but by this time it was around 9:30 (we left our flat at 7) and we didn't have time for a movie, so we went to a pub and grabbed a bite to eat, and really actually laughed about what a fun and random Friday night it had been, and heading home.

Even though we didn't have a perfect night, I couldn't help thinking to myself. Well has nice as it would be to have someone hold my hand and show me the ropes of where I am. Its been kind of fun learning things trail by error. As I told my friend in one of my emails, its def a sink or swim situation, and I am def going to swim. :-)

Cheers!