Warning: this should really be called “5 Fun Things About Harlow, England, in 2004”, but I’m sure that some of this stuff still exists today.  Right?

1. The Main Drag.  About 2 streets away (read: 30 seconds) from the Campus was the “Main Street”.  Warning: this should really be called “5 Fun Things About Harlow, England, in 2004”, but I’m sure some of this stuff still exists today.  …Right?  I’m sure it had an actual name, but I can’t remember it right now and Google Maps is oh so far away…  This street had everything a college student needed – a liquor store, a grocery store, an Oxfam store, and the Tasty Fish (a small restaurant which served more than fish).  Plus, just saying that you were going to the Tasty Fish for dinner was amusing.  It’s still amusing in my opinion.  If you don’t get it, well… I guess you had to be there.

2. The Train Station.  With the exception of the subway trip I took 5 years previous, this was my first time on a train (I was too young to ride the Newfie Bullet before it was decommissioned).  The trains are more modern than I would have liked, but I’ve realized I love travelling by train.  There is a train station in Old Harlow (where the campus is located), which is super close to the campus, and we were only 50 minutes outside of London. Yay trains!

3. The Helpful Strangers.  So… we got lost.  A couple times.  This was before the wide-spread use of online maps on smart-phones, when we had to rely on directions (which were far from direct and led us through a clearing and down an industrial street).

4. The bars.  There were 3 bars (or Pubs) in the proximity of our campus.  One of them had a trivia night and served haggis on Robbie Burn’s Day.  I didn’t drink much,  but that’s still crazy – 3 bars within 1 minute walking distance.  And Strongbow on tap is a wonderful thing.

5. It felt like Home.  One day I was walking back to campus after getting my groceries at the Tesco.  It was nice outside, not too cold, and the sky was a beautiful blue.  I felt like I could have been in CB, walking home from the local grocery store (except CB has a LOT more hills than Harlow).  I felt at home, and that’s a wonderful feeling.