Sunday Stroll

I had a chance to sleep in today, and then joined one of our program leaders and a good number of students on a Sunday Stroll around campus. I was a little worried, thinking this might turn into a hike, but was informed we would end up getting food, or Sunday Roast as they call it, so I was a little more excited after that. We took a picturesque hike in the fields and woods around campus and explored the village of Falmer which is actually very small and quaint. We stopped at the pub there and we all got food. Most people got Sunday Roast, but I decided to get a jacket potato (baked potato) with cheese and bacon. It was delicious! We then walked back to our dorm through campus and Rachel and I decided to go grocery shopping. This was our second time shopping at Sainsbury (the supermarket) and we knew our way around a lot better. I ended up spending about the same amount of money as the first time I went shopping, so it seems I may need to go shopping about once a week to get fresh items. My favorite purchase was a High School Musical cake on sale for two pounds. Because I bought the cake, I informed some friends that I would be having a mini early birthday party that night. I had plans to get a lot done school-work wise that afternoon before the party, but ended up Skyping my family for over an hour because Marissa was home and I wanted to watch the Chiefs game with them. I did get a lot checked off of my to-do list though, and even had time to bake some cookies for the party. I invited about ten people and played music from High School Musical and the Jonas Brothers while we ate the delicious cake. Jena and I even performed the Hoedown Throwdown once! Overall, I would say that it was a very successful last minute early birthday party.

The picture above was taken on a hill above campus. It shows campus in the foreground with Brighton and the beach in the background. Below is my cake and cookies for the party.

Stonehenge and Bath

I had to wake up at 6am today to be on the bus for our group trip to Stonehenge and Bath. I slept the two hour coach (aka bus) ride to Stonehenge, and then we explored the site for about an hour. The audio tour was quite fun and I took way too many pictures! But the tour takes you in a circle around the monument, and I wanted to get pictures from every angle! Then we got back on the coach and headed to Bath. It was only about an hour drive, and we watched Love Actually on the way, which is an even better movie when you’re in England and recognize some of the places they are in the movie as places you have visited! Bath was very beautiful; we roamed around on our own for a couple hours and got some lunch before heading to the Roman Baths for a tour. Rachel and I explored the city together and decided to become rugby fans since the city was awash in blue and black as the first Bath Rugby game of the season was starting while we were there. We haven’t decided which team will receive our undying allegiance yet, and we’re working on becoming football (aka soccer) fans as well. The tour of the Roman Baths was also very interesting, but I was tiring by this point, and once again, I took way too many pictures! We weren’t allowed to touch the water, so I’m not sure I was cured of anything. We got to listen to nifty audio tour guides (handheld sets worn about the neck) at both Stonehenge and the Roman Baths, but I’m not sure how much information I retained. Sometimes I was too distracted by the English accent and amazing sites to actually pay attention to the words! Around 4:30, we headed back toward Sussex, and I alternately slept and read The House at Pooh Corner for the journey which was made longer by a car accident that stopped all traffic. In the end, we made it back around 8pm, sore, tired and hungry. But it was definitely worth it to see two such great sites!

Spiders, cupcakes and ghosts

I think today’s blog posting will be best started off with a funny story. I woke up this morning, and found a big spider on my hand towel by the sink. I took a deep breath and decided the best thing to do would be to shake it out the window. So I grabbed the towel, crossed the room, opened the window and proceeded to shake the towel out the window. The spider did not like this and crawled on my hand. I freaked out and dropped the towel and the spider down three floors to a patch of grass. I had to go fetch the towel before I went to class, and now I’m without a hand towel until I do laundry (which will be a while since the washing machines cost 3 pounds and the dryer costs one pound!). Then I power-walked to class to make sure I got there in plenty of time to get settled for my presentation. Since it’s a reading-based class, my presentation was really just bringing up points I found interesting as well as discussion topics, but seeing as half the class was out at the pubs until the wee hours of the morning, my audience was not the most receptive. I combated this by waving my hands around a lot as I talked. Overall I think it was quite successful! I made myself lunch then a few other people and I went into Brighton for the afternoon. I made sure to stop in the Everything Is One Pound store and found some great deals! We then went for coffee, but I’m not a big fan of coffee, so instead I had the most delicious cupcake. It was peanut butter cake with chocolate icing and the girls I was with found it very amusing how excited I was about this cupcake. Then we headed back to the dorms, I took a nap, made dinner and then it was time to go back into Brighton for a ghost tour. Our tour guide was great, and it wasn’t scary it all, mostly just really funny! It also helped that our Activities Director from the University of Sussex, who is very amusing, kept randomly cackling in what was meant to be a creepy manner. After the tour, we stopped at a kebab place, but I had already eaten so a few other girls and I decided to come back another day to fully appreciate the kebabs. Now I’m off to bed so I can get up bright and early tomorrow morning to go to Stonehenge and Bath!

Leed's Castle

Another day off and another adventure! A girl in my class planned a trip to Leed’s Castle in Kent and invited the rest of us along, so five other girls (three from class and two others) and I set off for Kent this morning at nine. It was about a two hour train ride, but by the time we got there, the sky had cleared, the sun had come out and it was the perfect day for exploring a castle! Although the weather does change its mind quite rapidly here- there would be moments when I was freezing and moments when I was hot. On the grounds, there were gardens, duck ponds, peacocks, a moat, a maze, a dog collar museum, and of course the castle. We explored them all! In the gardens, I felt a bit like I was in the secret garden, but probably because I had read the book for class on the train there. The castle was very neat and I referenced Harry Potter too many times to count! We headed back in the late afternoon; I made myself dinner, and then went to work planning out my presentation for class tomorrow. After that, I hung out with some other friends and we talked about how sad it was that the Americans just don’t know what to do with their free time since we’re only taking one class right now and we’re not allowed to work a job. I’m not complaining though, I’m thoroughly enjoying this relaxing and fun part of my study abroad trip!

Getting into the Swing of Things

I woke up early today (8:30!) to get to class at 9, but was happy that my class was over at 11 and I had the rest of the afternoon free. I made lunch (UK version of Ramen noodles, a turkey sandwich, and grapes- I am such a good cook!) then read The Secret Garden outside on the lawn for a while. It was a bit chillier today though so I didn’t last too long. Then it was nap time, which is infinitely more enjoyable now that I’ve stuck a folded up duvet cover under my mattress cover so I’m no longer sleeping on what feels like concrete! I had a chance to talk to my Great Aunt who lives up in Manchester, and she told me some of the best places to visit. Then it was movie night for my class. I suggested that we order pizza, and although it wasn’t as good as American pizza, it tasted pretty good (and came with “potato wedges!”). For some reason, I'm hungry all the time here! We watched The Railway Children which we’ll read later in class. Then we were supposed to watch The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe but we had all already seen it (me more than everyone else I think!) so we headed out. I ran into some friends in the dorm and we hung out and colored with watercolor pencils, which was really fun. I also looked up my schedule for the rest of the term and it looks like I might just have two 2 hour classes on Monday and one 2 hour class on Wednesday, which would be really nice for traveling. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of reading for those classes though too!

A Bright Day in Brighton

Sorry this post was a bit delayed- the internet is very slow and unreliable! I didn’t have class today (Tuesday), but I did have some reading to do, so I decided the best place to do my reading was at the beach. It was another gorgeous day outside, so I hopped on the bus and took it down to the Brighton Pier. I read for a while on the pebble beach and watched all the other people swimming and lounging about. I heard one guy say “back to the ol’ grindstone” as he left which was quite amusing. Of course, I had to dip my feet in the ocean, even though the water was really cold! I finished reading Alice in Wonderland and decided to get a snack- so I got chips and ice cream right on the beach. Then I decided to explore the Pier itself, and found it full of food stands, arcade games and carnival rides! I unsuccessfully tried my hand at a game or two and would like to go back sometime to ride some of the rides. Next, I wandered over to the Royal Pavilion, one of the major landmarks of Brighton, and took a couple pictures (certain people might want to note the flowers). My next stop was Churchill Square, which is a big shopping center. Unfortunately, I didn’t remember how to get there, so I wandered around for a good thirty minutes or more until I came upon it. I noted later as I rode the bus home that if I had turned right instead of left at one intersection I could have cut my journey by about thirty minutes or more. Oh well, I worked off those chips alright! Some of you may know that I am not a big shopper and be questioning my desire to find a shopping center. Well, don’t worry, the real reason I wanted to go to Churchill Square was that I found out about the Build-A-Bear Workshop there! It was my one stop in the mall, but sadly I did not find a good English shirt for a certain special bear. I was getting pretty tired by this point, so I hopped on the bus and headed back to campus. A couple of hours later, I joined the rest of my program as we headed back into Brighton for Karaoke night at a pub there. It was fun, but there was no singing done on my part! Tomorrow I have class at 9am, so it’s back to the ol’ grindstone for me…until Thursday when I have another free day!

Labour on Labor Day

Today was the first day of my British Children's Lit class. It was two hours long (which was a bit rough for getting into classroom mode) but I'm loving the topic! There are only eight people in my class and only two of us are English majors. We only meet a total of eight times before the end of the class, so just this week I have to read three whole books (Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland and The Secret Garden, oh and 5 chapters of David Copperfield), do a presentation in class on Friday, and we're having a viewing party of The Railway Children and The Chronicles of Narnia on Wednesday night! BUT I have all of Tuesday and Thursday off! I think it will be a good month to go exploring! It still doesn't feel like I'm at school. After class today, I went to ASDA, which is owned by Walmart for some supplies. I got most of what I needed and some more food- this whole cooking for myself thing is an adventure! After my trip to ASDA (which is near the Marnina, so I got to see the sea!) I came back to the University just in time to join in on a tour of Brighton, which is a good sized city just a couple miles outside of the University, and on the coast! The tour was a bit long and I don't think I'll remember half the places they pointed out, but then I got Chinese food for dinner! I miss Crabrangoons (and doughnuts from our buffet place at home) but I'm glad there is at least Chinese food to be found! I promise I'll eat English food eventually though! I definitely want to visit Brighton more extensively in the future espcially to take pictures of some gardens we passed through at the Royal Pavillion. The weather was really nice today- in the 60s! I hope this continues tomorrow so I can do some of my reading outside, but I'll take an umbrella just in case!