A Nice Surprise

I had an unexpectedly good weekend.

So here’s what happened. I went to the International Office to pick up a ticket for a trip to Warwick Castle (which is in two weeks I believe). Upon entering the room and looking at the various options for trips, I noticed a sheet describing a tour of the Sussex countryside that was planned for the next day (Saturday). Oh, why not, I thought. I’m not doing anything else so I may as well go.

I’m SO GLAD I decided to go. I met a really nice girl on the trip and we ended up hanging out the whole time. It was raining and the fog was ridiculous (you could barely see anything), which was disappointing because it meant we couldn’t go to Beachy Head. Beachy Head is this really huge cliff that has amazing views. It’s also a very popular spot for suicide in the UK. Understandably, we couldn’t go.

We visited the Seven Sisters Cliffs, which was cool, but the rain and wind was uncomfortable. Afterwards we traveled to Eastbourne, a really pretty seaside city. It must look gorgeous when the sun is actually out. We had a bit of free time so we ate at a pub (my first pub!) and went shopping. I finally got a UK phone so now I can contact other people here, and we went to a place called Primark which is my new favorite store. They have great clothing and accessories in there, and even better, it’s cheap! I’ll definitely be going back.

We stopped at the ruins of a castle next. Apparently it's only half the size it used to be (vertically I mean). For a castle it was pretty small. There wasn't much to see so we didn't stay very long. It was an interesting visit though. My umbrella blew inside out. That's always fun.

Our last stop was in a town called Alfriston. It’s a quaint little English town with narrow roads and cute little shops. We went to an adorable tea shop and I finally had a cream tea and a scone. The scone was delicious.

Random interjection here, but I’ve been wondering what the UK equivalent of a biscuit is for a long time. Because okay, an American cookie is a British biscuit, so I wondered what an American biscuit would be—that is, I wondered what the word for it was. I’d heard of scones before but I never had one, so now I know. They’re not exactly the same of course; biscuits aren’t really sweet like scones are, but they have the same texture. I hope that made sense.

Anyway, I now know why British people put milk in their tea. It’s really good. I usually only drink fruit teas so putting milk in that would probably be weird, but for regular British tea milk is an excellent addition.

When we finished our tea we looked in some shops. I bought a mug, surprise surprise. After looking in a few more shops it was time to leave. And guess what? The sky started clearing up about half an hour before we left and by the time we got on the bus it was a beautiful sunny day. Argh. Good job sun.

So that was a good day. Sunday was okay too. I didn’t do much but it was relaxing. It’s always nice to be pleasantly surprised. I liked that trip better than Stonehenge, and I was expecting it to be just average. You never know what can happen.

In other news, I may be planning a trip to Paris. We shall see. It won’t be for a while though, probably December. Eurostar is expensive unless you book really early, so I’d better make the decision fast. I tried looking for plane tickets but, long story short, it didn’t work out. The train is the best option I have.

Okay, a few more British tidbits for you before I go:

Instead of saying, “Can I help you?” cashiers just say, “Can I help?”

Some British people end their sentences with the word “yeah”, or stick it into the middle of a sentence. I guess it’s similar to an American saying something like, “So I was walking down the street, right, and then blah blah blah”, the “right” being the equivalent to “yeah”.

They ask, “Are you alright?” more than “How are you?” This threw me at first, because in the U.S. people usually only ask “Are you alright?” if you look like you’re upset, so I was worried that I was walking around looking sad or something. Nope, just a cultural difference.

People seem “greener” over here than in the U.S. On my campus one store charges for plastic bags, and when I went to one supermarket off campus the cashier told me that their plastic bags were free, as though it’s a question that many people have. It actually works—I got a few free reusable bags at the Freebies Fair early in the term, and I bring them with me whenever I go shopping. Less plastic bags! Maybe America should consider it…

Okay, I have to go work on an essay. Is it weird that I’m kind of enjoying writing it?

Hm…there’s no trips this weekend (as far as I’ve planned) so it’ll be a bit more relaxed. I’ll update again soon J

Stonehenge and Some Fun Facts

Well, I had a theory, tested it, and it turned out to be correct. Unfortunately, my theory was that every time I say I’m going to do something, something else happens in an attempt to prevent it from happening.

I considered not writing that I was going to Stonehenge for that exact reason, but decided to go ahead and write it just to see what would happen. I got sick is what happened. I still don’t know what it was, but I think it was a stomach virus or something. Painful stuff.

However, I refused to let it stop me from going to Stonehenge because I really wanted to go. By the weekend I was feeling mostly better, though I still had some sniffles. That didn’t matter though, because I was at Stonehenge!

It was really cold out. We walked around in a circle that goes around the rocks. We couldn’t touch them, which was sad but expected—can you imagine thousands of people leaning on and touching the rocks every year? Bad idea. They could fall and crush someone and that’s just a lawsuit waiting to happen.

I saw a mug in the gift shop that I fell in love with, so I bought it. It has a painting of Stonehenge on it and it says Stonehenge along the inside rim. It’s smaller than average but it’s really cute. I also got another little souvenir: some friend/family member back home will be the lucky recipient of their very own Stonehenge keychain! I’m being slightly sarcastic, but it is a nice keychain.

I’ve tried to stop thinking about money in American terms. That is, I’m trying to stop converting the pounds into dollars in my head and deciding if it’s a good deal, because it usually isn’t, and if I continue my head might explode from realizing how many dollars I’m actually spending. I had this dilemma in the gift shop, but I had to have that mug.

Anyway, we also went to Bath to visit this museum. We saw all the ancient Roman baths and stuff, it was cool. The city was nice too. We were free to wander around for a few hours. I just went shopping, not knowing what else to do.

So! Here’s some random English facts for you non-English people out there. These are things I’ve discovered within the past…wow, it’s nearly been a month. Most of it’s about food, because I have to actually buy food for myself instead of relying on a meal plan.

Prawns=shrimp. I already knew that, but I didn’t realize how popular the shrimp flavor is here. They have shrimp flavored chips (which they call crisps), shrimp sandwiches, shrimp…everything really. I tried a shrimp sandwich. It was okay, nothing special.

Indian food is huge here as well. I’m curious as to why. Maybe there is no reason and I’m just looking too deeply into it.

They have this stuff called squash, which is a highly concentrated fruit drink. You pour a little into a glass and then fill the rest of the glass with water. I guess it’s kind of like those powders you mix into water bottles, except it’s liquid and comes in huge bottles.

The packaging here is smaller. I thought maybe it was just here on campus that the juice cartons and food packages were small. I thought it was because it’s more convenient for college students to fit small things into our shared fridges. Turns out, no. I went to a real grocery store and everything was the same size. I saw a “family size” carton of orange juice that is only slightly bigger than a regular orange juice carton in the U.S. No wonder Americans are so fat: the food is cheaper (compared to the pound), AND you get more of it.

Eggs don’t have to be refrigerated! This blows my mind. They stock them on regular shelves. Turns out refrigerating them makes them last longer (obviously) but it’s okay to keep them out for a few days. Weird.

Sprite tastes sweeter here.

Okay, it turns out all of that was about food. You can see where my mind has been this past month.

Guess I'm done for now. I’ll write again soon when something exciting happens :)

Edit: I didn't mention anything about the history of Stonehenge. That's because I don't know it. So when we were walking toward the stones there were these little audio tour things that you were supposed to pick up (they had them at the Roman Baths too) but our leader/guide person didn't tell us that, so we just walked right on by, which is why I pretty much know nothing of the history. Shame, but I can't do anything about it now.

Englandy Goodness

Hey all. This post is going to be a random collection of thoughts that I’ve had since I’ve arrived.

Everything’s going pretty well so far. I’ve settled in, and I love my room. The campus is gorgeous. It’s just the right size, in my opinion. Not too small, not too big. I think I mentioned that in my last post but I keep repeating it because I love it.

My classes have started, unfortunately. Just kidding, just kidding. I’m actually excited about my classes this year. I’m in this inexplicable mood to learn. Weird huh? I just read Twelfth Night, a Shakespeare play, for one of my classes, and thought it was really good. I’m such a geek.

Let’s see, what to say…oh, there’s too many coins. It’s like they have a coin for everything. I’m more used to it now than I was at first. Actually, I kind of prefer the pound coins to the pound notes. It’s just easier I guess. So…complaining about the coins doesn’t make much sense if I prefer it, huh? I think it’s kind of like when you first try something really different you don’t like it because you prefer it your own way, but you sort of reluctantly start liking it after a while. If that makes sense.

Hm…it only rained twice and I’ve been here for weeks. So much for the “it always rains in England” idea. It’s sunny outside right now. Really beautiful.

By the way, I went to London two days ago. I wanted to wait until I went to London to post again so I would actually have something to talk about. It was a fun day. First we (it was a trip for international students) had a tour around London, and then we had about five hours to explore. We were on Fleet Street at one point. I got all excited because I love Sweeney Todd. Seeing the Millennium Bridge was exciting too because it was in the 6^th Harry Potter movie and I love Harry Potter. Again I stress, GEEK.

On the tour we drove by Harrods, and I decided immediately that that was where I was going. I met another international student who wanted to go, a very nice woman, so we caught the tube at the end of the tour together and made it back to Harrods.

Harrods, by the way, is this famous store in London that sells basically everything. Grocery items, candy, pianos, chandeliers, clothes, flowers…it’s a random selection of goods, most of them expensive. But they had a Krispy Kreme in there, which made my day. Mmm donuts.

After that, we went to a couple of nearby stores like H&M and some stores with names I can’t remember. I got a few things. Shopping is usually torture for me, but H&M tends to have stuff in my size, so I’m glad I’ve located a place that suits my needs. All in all, a good day.

The London tube system is fairly easy to understand by the way. The people working there were actually helpful, which is always nice.

As for school itself, I’ve joined a few clubs. It’s nice to get out and meet new people, especially people with similar interests.

So…everything’s looking good so far. I’ll update again soon, I promise J

Oh, and Stonehenge this weekend! Awesomeness.