The Sussex Experience

The Last Post :(

2010-07-07T11:59:00.000-07:00

Well, I’m back! And I really miss England. The flight back was smooth, no problems. It’s weird to be back in the U.S. but I’m not having any problem adjusting, except for the missing England part. I thought I would be experiencing “reverse culture shock” or something but it’s been fine, so that’s good.

So here’s some basic tips about studying abroad in England:

1. Decide how long you want to go. I have no idea how people could only go for one semester—I went for a year and I still wish I had had more time. But it all depends on personal preference. If you have all your major/school requirements in order then I’d suggest going for a year, but if you’re homesick easily then just one semester should do.

2. Learn about the money. Yes, there are a lot of coins. Be prepared for this. I went to the store the other day and was surprised when I was handed back five one dollar bills. It looked like so much; I had gotten used to getting coins back as change.

3. The metro in London is really easy to use. Utilize it.

4. If you’re planning on travelling while overseas, make sure you have all necessary visas/travel documents. Some countries require a separate visa.

5. Packing is rough. I’d suggest bringing a bunch of old clothes you don’t want, and then when you buy new clothes you can just donate the old clothes to charity or something. That way you won’t have extra weight in your luggage—the new clothes will replace the old ones. I thought the problem would be fitting everything into two suitcases—the actual problem was the excess weight.

6. If you’re the type of person who doesn’t mind going to the library, I think I’d recommend getting your schoolbooks from the library instead of buying them. The main reason for this is, again, luggage. Books are HEAVY. I bought one book for a class that’s like 5 pounds (weight, not money)…not fun. And there’s no guarantee you can sell them back to the store, so just take that into consideration. The library would save you money as well. Of course, if the books aren’t available at the library then you’d have to buy them.

7. If you’re into musical theatre, or even just regular theatre, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE utilize the West End in London. I discovered it too late unfortunately. The prices for shows there are cheaper than they are in the U.S. (for the most part) and they have tons of discounts for students. Check the tkts booths for lower prices (yes I spelled it right, Google is your friend), and check each box office for dayseats (Wicked has a thing where if you show up on the day of the performance and you have proof that you’re a student, they’ll give you the best available seat for 25 pounds. I got a premium seat for 25 pounds, it was awesome). Plus, the shows are amazing. I only saw Wicked but from what I saw at West End Live the other shows are incredible as well.

8. If you’re planning on travelling in England, look into National Express coaches. They have funfares where you can go from Brighton to London and back for two pounds. TWO POUNDS. The thing is, you have to book early enough to get that price. Also, you have to click on the funfare section—otherwise when you search for buses the site will give you regular prices.

9. The food is different. Prepare for this. Beans on toast, tons of curry, etc. There’s a very big Indian influence when it comes to English food.

10. Leave the stuff close to home for last. That is, if you want to go travelling and you’re living in London, go travelling elsewhere and leave the London stuff for last. The reason I say this is because if you run out of time or money, at least you’re already there in London (it won’t take much effort to explore), whereas if you want to go to, say, Germany, but you don’t have any money, you just can’t go. Of course, I’d suggest spreading it all out, but it’s very common for people to say oh, I’ll do this eventually, I have plenty of time…plenty of time left…a whole five months…four months…one month…TWO DAYS?!? So just make sure you plan your time wisely.

11. Beware about certain words. “Pants” means “underwear” in…er, English. So if you say “I have to change my pants” be prepared for some odd looks.

12. Have an open mind.

13. HAVE FUN!

So…this is it. My last entry. I can’t believe it’s over! I hope this blog has helped someone. It’s been fun writing and hopefully other people have gotten some useful information in all of my ramblings and such.

And well…that’s that. Have a great year everybody!

Noooooooo!

2010-06-24T09:34:00.001-07:00

I'm leaving tomorrow. I'M LEAVING TOMORROW.

I don't want to go. Not now. Can't I have another month? Argh, whyyyyyy?

My exams are over, I'm in the process of packing. I've accumulated far too much stuff so now I have to figure out how to get it all back.

Since I have "leaving the country stuff" to do, let me give a quick summary of other stuff I should have written about but haven't:

1. Basically my last couple of days in Rome were boring. There was an interesting procession type thing going down the road on Sunday, but other than that I just stayed in the hostel waiting for some sort of information. Eventually I got a flight back here.

2. I went on a trip to the Isle of Wight. It was basically a really long walk up a really big cliff. I wish I had known how steep it was before going, as I'm terrified of heights. Going up wasn't the problem though, it was going down. Still, it was a nice little outing. I'd never been on a ferry before, I wasn't expecting it to be so nice.

3. I also went on a trip...uh...somewhere. Yeah, I don't really remember where it was...it was some castle in England. There's tons of them so I can't remember what the name was. It was nice, but it rained that day so it was really cold.

4. I got my Nano book in the mail! It's awesome to actually hold something you've written.

5. I'm officially obsessed with Wicked. I've seen it two more times. There was a massive cast change so it was interesting seeing different interpretations of the characters.

6. I went to West End Live in London on June 19th. I got up ridiculously early, got a bus to London, queued for 2 and a half hours, and had a great view. West End Live is basically like a concert of West End shows, where the cast members perform a couple of songs from their shows in full costume and makeup (with a few exceptions; the woman playing Elphaba hadn't been greenified). It's amazing, and it's free. Does America have one of those? If not, we need to start doing it.

7. I went to the Brighton Pier today. It was really nice, and fattening. I got these delicious donuts that were loaded with grease and sugar...mmmm. I also had fish and chips for the first time here (I was determined to eat that meal before I left). So I think I've gotten all my English stuff out of the way.

8. When I went to see Wicked the other day I spent most of the day in Green Park and St. James Park. They were both really serene, though packed with people. London has some really amazing parks. I haven't been to Hyde Park though.

9. On the way to those parks I passed Buckingham Palace (not sure why I'm writing this backwards but oh well). I think it was the changing of the guard, but there were so many people crowded around the gates that I gave up trying to see what was happening.

So, that's that! I can't believe it's almost over...I mean seriously, I can't believe it. I don't want it to be true. I actually kind of love London, and I definitely love Brighton. I don't want to go back yet :(

I'll be on my way to the airport this time tomorrow...argh...I want to put off packing because it just reminds me that I'm leaving, but I should probably get on that so...

When I get back I think I'll post one more time, and that'll be it for this blog. It was a great year, and I hope anyone reading this has found it informative, or at least entertaining.

Well, I'm off to (convince myself to) pack! See you soon!

The Roman Adventure, p.2

2010-06-02T07:06:00.001-07:00

Right into it:

Day 3

I woke up early to go to Vatican City. I got lost, again, but got directions from a really nice guy walking by. I eventually made my way to the line, which was extremely long. However, I think waiting times are slightly exaggerated online. People make it out like you're waiting for hours. It was maybe 20 minutes max, and since I got there early I didn't really care how much time it took.

Once I got inside I...well, walked around. The statues were cool--there's this one hall filled with them, most of them representing Roman gods. I also really liked looking at the ceilings when I reached the painting/art type areas. For some reason I didn't expect it to look like a museum, but it did...only it was extremely massive, way bigger than an average one. I don't think it's as big as the Louvre in Paris (or...hm, maybe it is), but it's still huge.

Er...that's all I suppose. I mean, it's a museum, so I don't know what else to say.

I went into the Sistine Chapel next. I have to say, not impressed. It pretty much looked exactly like all the other rooms in the Vatican museums.

After that I went back to the hostel because I was tired. I know it doesn't seem like I did much, but all the walking got to me. A bit of rest gave me some energy, so I got up and went to Circo Massimo, this place that use to be a race track. It's a long, long track that tourists love to wander around. I'm not sure if they still use it for anything, but it was cool to look at.

Then I tried finding the entrance to the Baths of Caracalla. To make a long story short, I found it, but by the time I did I had already walked around the entire thing trying to figure out how to get in, and I was so tired of walking up hills I decided not to bother. It was basically like, I was maybe 20 feet to the right of the entrance, but I didn't see it so I went right instead, and walked around the entire thing only to realize if I had just gone left instead I would have found it in seconds. UGH.

But the area was so nice that I didn't really mind walking around, because you could still see inside it pretty well. There were only a few people walking around inside, I think it's a pretty well-kept secret.

Day 4

Well, time to leave! The bags are packed, I just have to get up and...huh? Mom just sent me a text...something about a volcano...what on earth is she talking about? Ugh, whatever, it's too early for this...time for a shower...okay I'm awake now, what was she talking about? Meh, whatever, I'll just go print my boarding pass now...this was a really nice trip...enter passenger information, awesome...MY FLIGHT IS CANCELLED???!!?!?

That was pretty much what happened when I woke up that morning. I thought my mom was making the volcano up to be honest, mainly because it was so random. The panic didn't fully set in until the next day when no information was being given to anyone. I spent half the day on the phone with my mother trying to figure out what was happening, and the rest sitting in the hostel room listening to music, not wanting to be too far away from a computer. I did get some straciatella gelato for the first time though--it was delicious.

Day 5

I had to check out of my hostel and go to another one because Ciak was already full for the night. Of course, as soon as I checked out I was told that oh, by the way, someone cancelled, but it was too late, I'd already booked another place. I'm not going to say what the name of it was, but it was kind of shady. I wasn't that comfortable, but luckily I only stayed for one night.

I checked in early but the room wasn't ready so I decided to go to the zoo. I was actually that bored. I'm glad I did, because it was such a nice area. It was really wooded and quiet and...I dunno, forest-y. When you look at a tourist map of Rome, you'll notice it because the entire area is green. The zoo itself is a long walk (what a shock) from the metro station, but it's a good place for a walk anyway. There's also this park next to it, which I kind of wanted to sit in, but I wanted
to reach the zoo even more.

It was alright. I mean, it's a zoo. The monkeys were fun to watch, but most of the animals were either asleep or just lying down, not caring about the people watching them. I thought one of the lions was sleeping and took a picture, and then when I moved my camera his eye had opened. It scared half to death, but it was pretty funny.

So that was the end of day 5. I'm still not done! More to come later...I also have some trips I went on here in England to write about...I'm getting backlogged, but I have exams to study for, so it'll have to wait for another day. Bye guys :)

The Roman Adventure, p.1

2010-05-18T14:34:00.001-07:00

This is long, long overdue, but I’ve been doing a lot of work for school. So, two essays and two presentations later, a summary of my adventures in Rome:

Day One (starting in Brighton)

I woke up. I caught the bus to the coach station where I got the bus to Heathrow. I missed my stop, not realizing I was supposed to get off at Terminal 5. I had to catch a bus back to terminal 5. It was funny because I had to pay 50p to get the bus, but all I had was a 10 pound note, and the driver didn’t have change, so the three people who were also on the bus immediately started going through their change and one of them paid for me. Old people are so sweet :)

Anyway, after that I got to the proper terminal and got on the plane. It was a really smooth ride, pretty much no turbulence except towards the end when we went through some clouds. Once I arrived in Rome I caught the train to Termini station, then I took the metro to Viale Manzoni. The hostel was a short walk away, around 4 minutes. I stayed at Ciak Hostel, a nice, cozy little hostel, which I’d definitely recommend. (No, they aren’t paying me to say this, I just found their staff to be amazing. They’re all really nice there.)

And then after I checked in, I wandered around to find somewhere to eat. That’s when I had my first issue with the language barrier. The guys who worked at the pizza place didn’t speak a word of English. They kept asking me if I spoke any other languages and I felt really stupid for only speaking one. I eventually got my message across, got some pizza, and went back to the hostel, hoping the next few days would be less awkward.

Day Two

I decided to start early and went to the Coliseum. Unfortunately my sense of direction is terrible, so pretty much whenever I wanted to go somewhere I went the direct opposite way. (Eventually I spent so much time there that I did learn how to read the map properly, so yay for entrapment by volcano?) I walked the wrong way for ten minutes, then walked back the right way. It was pretty much a straight line from the hostel to the Coliseum. I walked around the entire thing trying to figure out how to get inside. Upon walking around a second time I realized the entrance was extremely obvious, and that I still sucked at directions.

It was really cool. There’s a little museum type thing on the second floor, and you can walk around the inside (but not on the ground on the inside). I had already downloaded a free thing about the Coliseum before I left, so I listened to that while I walked around. They had gladiator fights in there and everything.

Next was Palatine Hill, which is

a short walk from the Coliseum (there are signs; the Roman Forum is next to it too). It was really pretty, though very uphill. I was tired after only a few minutes. I’m not sure what else to say about it, but it was impressive to see.

I went to the Roman Forum next. I really, really wish I had had a tour guide, because I had no idea what I was looking at. There were no signs that I could see. I wasn’t even sure if I was in the right place. It was a bunch of broken down stone buildings, and while it was cool to look at, I didn’t actually know what it was. Tour guides are expensive though, and considering all the extra money I spent while I was later trapped there, I’m glad I didn’t waste any more money on a guide. (Overall, you don’t need a guide for the Coliseum, or necessarily Palatine Hill, but I’d definitely recommend one for the

Forum.)

I was very tired after the Forum, but the day wasn’t done yet. I tried to go to the Pantheon and somehow ended up at Trevi Fountain. I’m laughing as I write this because that’s completely ridiculous. I have no idea how I ended up there…I thought I was following the map. Fail.

I bought some souvenirs and sat down and got a picture and through a coin in…you know, all the touristy stuff. I

checked the time on my phone and decided to get some gelato too—fragola, or strawberry in English. It was good but to be honest nothing special. I decided to sit down again right before searching for the Pantheon, just to

rest a bit more. After a few minutes I got up and tried going to the Pantheon. Five minutes later I want to check the time again. But I couldn’t. Why? Because my phone was gone.

Yeah, that second time I sat down is when it happened. I got up and the phone fell out of my pocket. I know, because I remember thinking something felt odd, but figured I was just being paranoid. Good job me.

So I immediately turned around to go back to the Trevi Fountain. After all, there was still a chance it was there, right? Only not really, because it’s probably the biggest tourist trap in Rome, and there’s a gagillion people sitting and standing around there. And what made it worse is that I SUCK AT DIRECTIONS, so even though I’d just come from there, when I tried to go back I ended up lost, and it took maybe 15 minutes to find it again. Of course, the phone wasn’t there anymore.

Really irritated, I decided to just go to the Pantheon, and thanked my lucky stars I had brought a spare phone just in case. It ended up being extremely useful, what with the volcano and all.

You know, I feel really bad for contributing to the whole “women are horrible at directions” stereotype, but I really am horrible at it. Sigh.

And the Pantheon wasn’t even that impressive. There was this massive scaffold covering half of it, and there wasn’t really anything inside. I made my way back to the hostel for the day.

Even though it kind of sounds like I had a bad day, I actually really enjoyed it, and I talked to some nice girls when I got back, so it was a decent day. It sounds kind of negative reading it back, but it really wasn’t. I guess I just figured I only have 2 more months in England anyway, so losing the phone wasn’t that big of a deal. I mean, in 5 years when I look back at my life, I seriously doubt losing that phone will even matter in the grand scheme of things.

It’s all about perspective people. That’s my bit of optimism for the day—enjoy it, it’s rare.

This is getting really long actually so I’ll continue this another day. I’ve used the word “really” a lot in this entry, sorry about that. I’m really, really sorry about that ;)

The Roman Dilemma...is OVER!

2010-04-25T03:34:00.000-07:00

Really quick, really short update. I'm back in Brighton! I got back a few days ago and I've basically been to lazy to post, but I just wanted to give an update. I managed to get a flight back. Thank goodness this nightmare is over. I guess it'll be a cool story for the kids one day.

Anyway I have a bunch of stuff to do this current week so I'll post again soon.

The Roman Dilemma of 2010, p. 1

2010-04-18T09:41:00.000-07:00

Hello there. Well, there's a ton of drama going on right now so I may as well make it interesting.

And now, a first look into the mind of one of the thousands of stranded people due to the Icelandic volcanic eruption.

Yeah, that's right. I'm stuck in a foreign country with pretty much no hope of getting back any time soon. I'm in Rome right now. I got here last Tuesday and was set to leave on Friday. Only what happened? A volcano, that's what happened. And of course, it happened to me.

I'll update more another time, mainly because right now there are only two computers in the hostel and everyone is in freak out mode trying to figure out how to get back home. School starts this week. I have two essays due next week. I'm a student, which means I only have so much money. This is a nightmare come true, and you're getting a first look!

Right now I'm looking into a bus or something. It'd take forever, but all the trains are sold out. It'ds just a horrible situation. British Airways isn't doing a single thing---I'm stuck paying everything myself. Very, very not good.

I'll just write a quick summary of Rome then:

1. They drive like crazy people. Those scooters/motorcycles/whatever they are are everywhere, and they try to squeeze past you even when the "walk" sign is on.

2. There are pizza and gelato shops everywhere. It's awesome. One bad thing is that drinks are really expensive. If you plan on coming to Rome I'd suggest bringing a water bottle and just filling it up at the numerous water fountains located all around the city. That's free, and considering how expensive this city is, free is good.

Actually, that's all I'm writing for now. I have to go and try to find a bus or train or whatever. Stress galore.

Oh well. at least I didn't go all the way to the airport only to be told to go back. That would've been horrible. My WONDERFUL mother texted me the morning I was going to the airport and warned me about the volcano, saving me from a trip.

Laterrrr.

To be continued, muahaha......

Edinburgh :D

2010-04-03T07:26:00.000-07:00

Hi! So guess what I did last weekend? I went to Edinburgh! Which I learned is not pronounced the way it is spelled. Who knew?

It was a nice trip. Of course, with my luck it started raining as soon as the train pulled into Waverley Station. Luckily the hostel was very close by.

I’d like to talk about hostels actually. I think students who’ve never done any research on hostels seem to think you’re going to end up murdered by a crazy person, due to that movie called Hostel. I’ve never seen that movie but apparently it’s gory or something. But in reality, hostels are a great place to stay. Yeah you won’t have a room to yourself (or you could if you’re willing to spend a little more) but that wasn’t an issue for me. The room held around 12 people I think. You can request a single sex room if you want (which I did), though some hostels don’t offer them. The hostel I stayed at had lockers so I felt my belongings were safe (no pun intended).

Since it was raining, the first day wasn’t amazing. I got there at around 2 in the afternoon after taking the train. I wandered down the Royal Mile after putting my stuff at the hostel. I went to a few museums like the Museum of Childhood (which had these really cool old pedal cars that kids could pretend to drive in; they only have those cheap plastic ones now). I tried going into the Palace of Holyroodhouse, but it was closed that day. Exhausted from all the traveling, I just went back to the hostel and went to sleep early.

The next day I got up and went to the castle, which was like a three minute walk from the hostel; it’s ridiculously close by. I really liked looking at all the old stuff inside (sorry, my ability to describe things properly is extremely lacking). It was a cool looking castle, and it was sunny, so that was a bonus. I had a sort of brunch at a café in the castle, and then I was off.

I went to the Palace of Holyroodhouse next. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside. That’s where the Queens stay when they visit Scotland, or something.

After that I took a free tour around the area. The guide was very entertaining and it was nice to hear a bit of Edinburgh’s history. There’s this thing called the Mercat Cross where they used to nail thieves’ ears to the wall of it, and they had to stay there for 24 hours while people threw food at them and stuff. They could rip themselves off, but then part of their ear would be missing, so people would later know they were a thief anyway.

I also visited the Elephant House, the place where J.K. Rowling first started writing Harry Potter. I didn’t like the menu though, so I didn’t eat there.

I also tried to visit the Royal Botanic Gardens. To make a long, pathetic story short, that didn’t happen, and I ended up just getting something to eat and going back to the hostel.

I left early the next day. I decided not to go to Princes Street, because it’s just a bunch of shops, and I don’t need to waste any more money. I got breakfast at a place on the Royal Mile and then got the train back to Falmer.

Overall, the trip was okay. I didn’t see the highlands, but I wasn’t planning to. I think it might’ve been nicer if I’d shelled out some more money to take a day trip to the highlands or to loch ness…but really, I just don’t have that kind of money. Maybe another time.

It was a nice little getaway. I’m still on vacation until the 19th. I’m still working on my nano (I keep coming up with new ideas, it’s so annoying…I just want it over with) and some other stuff…I also have to pick courses for next year soon. That should be fun. I’m not being sarcastic either, I like picking new courses.

That’s that then. I’ll see you soon :) Happy Easter!

Really quick

2010-03-24T16:58:00.001-07:00

Time for an update.

Well, it’s vacation. Wow, that didn’t sound enthusiastic at all. For some reason I’m thinking ahead and I feel like a month isn’t enough time…which is amusing because people in the states only have a week.

I went to see Wicked yesterday. I’ll spare you a “wicked” pun and say it was amazing. We were really close up, which was a bad idea in hindsight because when you’re that close you have to crane your neck to look at stuff happening on top of the stage, or in the air…or something. What I mean is, sometimes there were people climbing up the sides as monkeys and it hurt to look up at them after a while.

But yeah, it was amazing. And after coming home and doing a ton of research on the cast and spending a ridiculous amount of time on youtube attempting to find videos of the people we saw last night, I’ve come to the completely uninformed conclusion that the London show is WAY BETTER than the American one. I actually have no idea whether that’s true or not, but I’ve been comparing versions of “Defying Gravity” all day (even different versions by the same person) and I like the British cast better. The woman playing Elphaba is the only one who actually sounds like the witch…and that’s enough focus on that.

I also went to Covent Garden yesterday. To be honest, I don’t know what to say about it. It was a bunch of stores on a bunch of streets. I guess it’s cool if you want to go shopping, but I expected it to be a bit different.

And…that’s all I have to say. Since it’s vacation I’ll try and update once a week like I did before. Bye 

I want to play a game...

2010-03-10T05:39:00.000-08:00

Right into it:

BritBit 1: Crutches. The crutches here are different than the ones in the U.S. They don’t go under your arms, they go around your elbows and you hold onto a part sticking out of the crutch. They look old fashioned, but they’re the only types of crutches I see here, so I’m guessing those are the ones they use.

…I really don’t have anything else to say. Everything is so familiar now; nothing stands out. Have I mentioned the faucets? Yes. Have I mentioned…hm…I know. Let’s play the look-around-the-room-and-see-what’s-different-than-the-U.S. game.

Oh!

BritBit 2: Just noticed a bag of crisps. Lays potato chips are called Walkers here. It was amusing the first time I saw it, but now it’s normal. I actually forgot what Lays were called the other day—I heard someone talking to someone else saying that “Walkers aren’t called Walkers in the U.S.” which is what reminded me of this fact in the first place.

BritBit 3: Just noticed the cereal boxes sitting above my head on the shelf. There are several British versions of popular American cereals.

Cocoa Krispies = Kellogg’s Coco Pops

Cocoa Puffs = Nestle Nesquick. I was confused when I first saw this, because Nesquick is a chocolate drink in the U.S., not a cereal.

Honey Nut Cheerios = Honey Cheerios. Basically the same thing.

They have Rice Krispies here too. I think they have Special K as well. Unfortunately, they don’t have Captain Crunch with crunchberries or Apple Jacks or Fruity Pebbles. I found some websites that ship all kinds of American foods (amusingly, Mountain Dew and Lucky Charms are the most prominent product on all the sites’ home pages; they are the quintessential American snacks) but it’s ridiculously expensive. I’ll manage without it.

Still looking…

By the way, Eurostar contacted me today about their atrocious Christmastime performance. I’m getting a refund AND a free return trip on Eurostar! I have no idea where to go though…I’ve already been to Paris; it seems like it’d be a waste to go back when there are other places to go. Then again, the other places are Lille and Belgium, which don’t exactly appeal to me. I have no pressing urge to go to either of those places, so I could go back to Paris and visit a few places we missed last time…and now I’m just thinking on paper so I’ll move on.

…Random note, but I can’t believe how clean my room is…relatively speaking, anyway.

Okay, focus. British things, British things…

BritBit 4: I really didn’t need as many outlet converters as I thought. I’m only using one, to my surprise. At home I use at least five. I have two converters but when I brought them to Paris (they were useless and I knew that, I don’t know what I was thinking) I never bothered to plug one of them back in when I got back. The only thing plugged in is my computer. I bought a phone here so the charger is already in…I don’t know, British format. If I need another outlet I just unplug my computer and use it for the other thing. So anyone planning on studying in the UK, you might not need as many converters as you’d think.

On another note, my main light isn’t working. During the day I open the curtains, but at night I have to use my mirror light and my desk light (which happens to be on my nightstand for inexplicable reasons). I tried contacting the porter about it and he said someone would be around to fix it the next day. That was last week. I’ll guess I’ll go back later and DEMAND SERVICE…or, more realistically, ask politely for someone to fix my light.

Oh!

BritBit 5: I found a store that sells sneakers! Which, by the way, are called trainers here. I’ve tried looking for them, but all I’ve been able to find were flats and heels and such—all of which didn’t fit because the sizing here is weird. 3s are too small and 4s are too big, though some 4s do fit, depending on the shoe. Argh.

Anyway, I found a store near Churchill Square, the only mall (that I know of) in Brighton. The store is a sneaker paradise, and practically everything was on sale. So I got some new shoes, yay me. Also, I got a new coat for a decent price, since winter is almost over and they’re putting winter stuff on sale. It was a good weekend.

Okay, I think that’s a decent length for an entry. Oh, by the way, my classes are going okay. Just thought I’d mention it, since that’s kind of why I’m here in the first place.

Enough with that boring stuff. See you next time!

Randomness

2010-02-24T17:34:00.000-08:00

Hello there. I seem to have unofficially gone from updating once a week to once every two weeks. Oops.

It's hard to think of things to talk about. At first it's like wow, everything's different! After five months it'd difficult to notice little cultural differences. But here's one...

BritBit 1: CCTV. I don’t know what it stands for, but basically it’s a bunch of surveillance cameras all over the place. Whenever you walk into a store it has a sign that says something to the effect of, “This place is being monitored by CCTV”. At first I thought it was some special sort of camera that everyone had, but I see it absolutely everywhere. Apparently it’s the government keeping track of people. Some people don’t like the idea of being constantly watched, which is understandable. For some reason the first thing I thought of when I found out that it was the government’s cameras is that it’s good, because if you’re ever falsely accused of a crime you will already have cameras everywhere proving you weren’t there. I watch too many cop shows.

You know, I think about different things for BritBits all the time, but as soon as I sit down to write, I forget what they are.

Wait, I think I remember one:

BritBit 2: As well. As well, as well, as well. People here say “As well” all the time. Americans just say “too” usually. It’s like every conversation I hear, people say “As well”. It’s slightly annoying.

BritBit3 3: Top Shop. It’s a really popular clothing store. Apparently they have them in the U.S. too, but I’m not very fashionable so I didn’t hear of its existence until I got here.

BritBit 4: The X Factor. It’s a show kind of like American Idol…actually, it might be exactly like that, I’ve never seen it. It’s a singing competition and everyone loves it; it’s huge. It might be coming to the U.S. soon, so Americans will get to experience it as well…oh crap, I’ve started saying it too.

I’m really, really tired. Papers aren’t fun. I know I just had some due the last time I posted, but I had another one due today.

It’s weird to think I only have a few more months here. I’m not looking forward to the reverse culture shock…being surrounded by Americans again…ugh. It’s weird to think about. I’m so used to hearing stuff like, “I’m gonna go to the pub and get a pint, yeah, and do a bit of dancing as well.” It’ll be odd to hear the American version, “Dude, I’m going to the club tonight and getting wasted.”

Okay, that’s all I have to say. Later.

A bit of travel

2010-02-08T15:33:00.000-08:00

Hey there! Papers, papers, papers. So much writing to do. Uni is so much fun. Not.

Well, I actually have something to talk about this week. On Saturday I went on a trip to Stratford upon Avon, Shakespeare’s birthplace. Last term I had gone on a bunch of trips and so far this is the only one I’ve gone on. There’s a reason for that.

So I went to the Study Abroad office to buy some tickets for the trips they offered (which, by the way, are fewer than last term). I get there and oops, every trip except one (which I don’t want to go on) is sold out. I decided to sign up for the waiting list for Stratford.

Onto last week. I get an email saying a ticket has opened up and that it was a first come first serve basis. What do I do? I run to the office and buy it, that’s what, getting there about 25 minutes after the email was sent. So I guess that worked out in the end, huh?

Anyway, Stratford was oddly entertaining. I learned the meaning of the word ‘potluck’. In Shakespeare’s time they would cook a sort of stew in a pot and they’d just throw food in there, and every time bits of food would get stuck on the bottom of the pot, and whenever they cooked they would scrape the food off the bottom and mix it in with the rest of it. If you got the food you wanted, like chicken or beef or something, then you had potluck. Yay history! Also, ew history.

Guess what else? The phrase to be “worth your salt” is about the fact that salt used to be really expensive. And they ate on square wooden plates and they washed them with ash or something. Also, they kept a fire going in the kitchen all day and night, and if a wife didn’t keep it going her husband had the right to hit her. Ugh, history.

We saw Shakespeare’s house (where he grew up) and his and Anne Hathaway’s cottage (his wife). We actually got to go inside the cottage, but we weren’t allowed to take pictures. The tour guide was going on about different idioms like the potluck thing, and then at the end he oh so casually mentioned they were selling a book in the gift shop that talked about other idioms as well. How clever. Not.

Overall it was a good tour. I say it was oddly entertaining because I usually find history boring, but learning about the meanings of all those phrases was cool. I guess that’s why I’m an English major.

Moving on, here’s a quick thing I remembered while I was in the store today:

BritBit 1: This is one of those everyday things you forget about after a while. In the UK they write down the price of the item on the item itself. That is, the price you see on the item/near the item is what you pay. In the U.S. they tell you the price BEFORE tax, so the actual price is slightly higher. Here if it says 14.99 then it’s actually 14.99, not 15.07 or whatever. I actually noticed this when I first got here but, as I said, I forgot.

The U.S. apparently got snow last week. We got a bit of snow today but not much. Here’s hoping it doesn’t come here.

Also, the Superbowl was last night. I hadn’t even known it was on. I don’t know who played and I don’t care who won, but I’ve watched some of the ads online and they were pretty good, especially the Doritos ones.

Well, time to go work on those papers. See you next time!

Another quick one

2010-01-28T12:39:00.000-08:00

I have absolutely nothing new to say this week, except:

BritBit 1: In the UK the ground floor and the first floor are two different things, whereas in the US the words are synonymous.

Nothing else new to report, sorry. Term has started and I’m overloaded with work, which is why I missed posting last week. Also, I feel kinda bad about saying that I think British accents are annoying. I mean, I still think it, but I feel bad about it. It depends on my mood.

Also, there are several types of English accents and I’m not sure which is the one/are the ones I don’t like, which makes it all complicated. So I guess the more accurate thing to say is that I hate the cockney accent. That’s the only one I know the name of, besides Manchester, which is also annoying.

Erm…okay, that’s it. Sorry for the lack of a good update but I’ve been assigned at least 3 books a week to read (ah, the life of an English major) and it’s rough.

BritBits, Groceries and...Zzz...

2010-01-12T13:44:00.000-08:00

Time for an update.

School has started up again. I’m kind of excited and dreading it at the same time. It’s an odd feeling.

I have a few BritBits that I realized when my brother came to visit.

BritBit 1: British people really do talk with strange inflections in their voices. I honestly wasn’t sure if it was just me, but my brother commented on it too, asking, “Why do they talk like that?” No idea. They just sound overexcited all the time.

Speaking of which,

BritBit 2: The English accent is annoying. Yeah, I said it. How it took me this long to realize that is beyond me. I guess it’s kind of like…you expect something to be one way and so that’s how you perceive it, despite the fact that it’s actually different. I expected the accent to be slightly less hot than in the movies, but still attractive. No. It’s annoying. I kind of wish I hadn’t realized it, because now it really bothers me.

You know Giles’ accent on Buffy? Or Wesley’s on Angel? Or basically any British actor ever appearing in a movie? That’s not how they sound. The girls kind of sound like Drusilla from Buffy, except for some reason she has American inflections. That, and she’s crazy. These references are probably lost on most people so I’ll just stop now.

BritBit 3: When you’re on the metro in London there’s a voice that says “Mind the gap” before you step onto or off the train. That means “watch out for the space”. I was used to it but my brother commented on this too.

BritBit 4: They call dishwashing liquid “washing up liquid”.

BritBit 5: They have a bunch of foods that they label “Americano” or “American style”, but most of them don’t seem particularly American to me.

Since I’m talking about food, I guess I can talk about the grocery stores they have here. Sainsbury’s is one of the big ones. They have typical food aisles and stuff, but one thing I noticed is that they have canned food. I don’t remember if I said this already but they have hot dogs in jars and “dinner” in cans. I haven’t tried it because it just sounds gross. They have ready meals you can get 3 for 5 pounds, which is a good deal for a college student. They also have stuff for kitchens and some DVDs and random other items.

ASDA is another big store, which is actually owned by Walmart. It’s basically the British version of Walmart. They sell clothes, groceries, electronics, etc. Their food is cheaper than Sainsbury’s but it’s harder to get there because it’s not in the city center (I’m talking only about Brighton by the way, not the entirety of England). I prefer ASDA because I think the food tastes slightly better, and it’s cheaper. The key word there is cheaper.

Gosh, this post is so lifeless. Sorry, I’m really tired. I’m trying this thing where I sleep at night instead of during the day—I know, crazy—and it makes me really tired. So far it’s working, but in order to do so I have to force myself to stay up all day instead of taking a nap like usual, which causes me to go to sleep at around 9 or 10 instead of 1 or 2. You’d think sleeping all night would make me refreshed during the day, but it doesn’t. My body is used to the opposite and it hates me right now. I’m questioning whether it’s worth it, because I feel like a zombie.

Also, it snowed again. This is the worst weather the UK has had in…I think 30 years. Yay me.

Also, my housemates are back. I miss the quiet.

I can’t wait for the weekend. Sleep sounds amazing right now.

Until next time :)

By the way, the pictures are of ASDA, not Sainsburys.

The Paris Chronicles: pt. 3, Food and Shelter

2010-01-01T15:45:00.000-08:00

Here’s part three of my summary of Paris. It’s all about the food today. Again, this is about budget dining, not 5 star restaurants. I’m just a poor college student after all.

If you don’t want to spend a ton of money on food, you don’t have to. I did a ton of research before I went and I read all kinds of stuff. None of it came in handy, except, “Don’t call the waiter ‘garcon’ because it’ll be rude.” ‘Garcon’ means ‘boy’ in French, so even if they do it in the movies it would be dumb to do in real life.

There are places to eat all over the place, and it’s not necessarily expensive. The first night we just looked at the menus in restaurant windows and decided on a place that seemed good. A lot of times the owner will be waiting at the door and say hi to people in an attempt to coax you inside. At least, I’m assuming they were the owners; they could have been regular waiters.

Some menus are in French with an English translation underneath, and some have no English at all. It doesn’t really matter. English certainly helps but you don’t need it. Certain words are similar enough to English for anyone to understand. Sometimes the menu will have pictures next to the words so that helps too.

I learned that the word ‘entrée’ is not the same as the English word. I think entrée in French means appetizer…except I think they also say “aperitif” for appetizer so I’m not really sure what an entrée is. Wow, this isn’t exactly useful.

Typical courses include the oh-so-famous snails (“escargot”) and frog legs, as well as normal foods like fish (poisson) and other meats. If you want to remember that “poisson” means fish, think about The Little Mermaid. In the movie the French chef is singing in the kitchen as he’s about to cook Sebastian, and he sings, “Le poisson, le poisson, hee hee hee, haw haw haw.” Oh, Disney.

Chicken is “poulet” and…that’s all I know. Seriously, you don’t need to know that much. If you’re planning on going to Paris and you’re concerned, you can look up some basic French words online. Odds are the waiter speaks basic English so he or she can help you.

Day one: I had pasta with salmon and a weird Schwepps drink. By the way, they use bottles, though they also have cans. My brother had frog legs and peach iced tea. I loved what I ordered (delicious), my brother didn’t like his. But he liked his drink, and I didn’t like mine. Meh.

Day two: The hotel gave free breakfast. We got both a crossaint and a roll each, orange juice, and a choice between coffee (café), something I didn’t understand, and hot chocolate (they just call it chocolate). It’s small, but from what I’ve read the French don’t eat large breakfasts. It was nice little morning snack.

For lunch: We were starving so we weren’t really taking our time to look for a great place. We stopped to look at one place and the owner (I’m assuming) said that he spoke English and that we should come inside. Either we looked like obvious tourists or he heard us speaking English. Either way, we went inside. I got a cheese and chicken crepe, which was weird because the crepe was sweet, and iced tea. My brother got this chicken kebab with tons of cheese and couscous and rice. It was okay, but I didn’t really like the crepe.

For dinner…I honestly have no idea what we ate. I can’t remember. I’m starting to think we skipped lunch and actually ate the crepe for dinner.

Day three: We had the same breakfast. For lunch we went to a place right outside Gare du Nord. It was kind of…Americanized, I guess. I got chicken wings and fries; my brother got the same.

Okay, so we didn’t really eat that much French food other than frog legs and the crepe. Still, we didn’t spend that much.

Some restaurants have special menus where you can get an appetizer, a main course, and a dessert for around 11 euros. You would have to choose from a pre-selected menu but still…that’s a good deal. The last restaurant had something similar to that: a main course and a drink for 8 euros. Considering the drinks are around 3 or 4 euros each, that’s a good deal.

This might sound stingy, but you might want to bring a few water bottles with you so you don’t have to buy drinks, as they’re really expensive. I’ve recently started bringing Capri Suns with me whenever I go out. It’s cheaper that way. Plus they have Capri Suns here (England) so I’m all set.

There are also tons of little cafe/shop things that sell crepes, crossaints, paninis, etc. that sell quick snacks or lunches you can pick up rather than go to sit down restaurants.

Since this is going to be my last post about Paris I’ll just add a bit about choosing a place to stay. I was convinced that hostels were absolutely cheaper than hotels, but after the train was cancelled and I decided to look for a cheaper place, I found a hotel that was even cheaper than the hostel I had booked previously. I would suggest going to hostelworld.com, they have all the hostels on there. They find hotels too—I only realized this when I tried finding a new place.

The difference between a hostel and a hotel: in a hostel you stay in a room with people you don’t know. There can be up to 12 people in a room I think. The more people there are, the cheaper it is. Of course, this can lead to uneasiness and theft, but the price is what usually attracts college-age students. You can find a hostel with a private room but, as I discovered, by the time you pay for a private room in a hostel you can probably find a hotel for the same price. Read reviews online—just because it’s cheap doesn’t mean it’s bad.

We stayed at Hotel Gerando. I’d recommend it. It’s close to Gare du Nord, where the Eurostar trains get off, so it’s convenient if you take the train and arrive late and you just want to go to sleep. It’s basic: it has beds, lights, a bathroom, and a TV. I’m not big on extras so I didn’t care that it was small and that the TV only had two channels…in French. Bring a computer or an mp3 player and you’ll be fine. You shouldn’t be spending that much time in there anyway—it’s Paris! Go out and do something.

Recommendation: see the monuments at night. We didn’t, and I kind of wish we had. Isn’t Paris the city of lights? I only just remembered that…sigh.

So that ends the Paris discussion. It’ll be back to good old England next time. Happy New Year everyone!

The Paris Chronicles: pt. 2, Shopping

2009-12-28T12:32:00.001-08:00

This post will be a summary of shopping in Paris. I’m not an expert by any means, but I did buy things, so I have a bit of experience. This is mostly for touristy stuff (t shirts, key chains, mugs, etc.); I didn’t do much clothes shopping.

First things first: don’t buy things under the Eiffel Tower. There’s a couple of shops under there and they all have expensive touristy things. There’s also a little stand thing near a corner before you go under, and I’d recommend not buying anything there either. My brother and I got cheated.

So everything was fairly expensive, like I expected, so I wasn’t that put off. The cheapest things at the stand that I just mentioned were key chains for 1.50 (euros). We thought, wow, what a good deal compared to the rest of this stuff. Then I bought a pocket mirror for 10 euros because I thought it was really cute. After walking around under the Tower and then going to cross the street to get a better view, we were approached by guys selling stuff. Their arms were full of key chains and model Eiffel Towers. We automatically said no and kept walking, but as we got closer to crossing the street we actually heard what one of them said: “3 for 1 euro.”

My brother and I both paused and said, “Wait, what?” We went back and bought more key chains. It was then that we realized we had been cheated. By the end of the day those guys were selling 10 key chains for 2 euros—and we had spent 1.50 for one! So if you see a bunch of guys (mostly African) with tons of merchandise in their arms, go to them. Their prices are cheaper, and you can bargain. Across the street there were men sitting on the ground with displays of what they were selling, and they had a bit more than the guys directly under the Tower. I got a little glass figurine of the Eiffel Tower. Actually, it’s one of those figures with the image inside a glass square thing. I don’t know what they’re called, but I love them, so I got one. They wanted it for 6, I paid 3.

Don’t know how to bargain? Never fear. I already had experience having been to Ghana before, so I consider myself something of a pro. *Brushes shoulders off* First thing is, be willing to spend a minute or two talking to the seller. Whatever the original price is, you can bring it down. There are a few exceptions, like with the key chains I said before. 3 for 1 is a good deal; asking any lower is just being stingy. I don’t know, just use common sense. Think about what price you want to pay, think about whether it’s reasonable, and then ask that price.

This is an example scenario (if the grammar seems bad it’s because that’s how they talk):

Shopper: Ooh, this is nice.

Seller: Oh yes, *insert description of whatever it does/looks like here*

Shopper: How much is it?

Seller: 6 euro.

Shopper: Oh…

Seller: No, it’s okay! Tell me how much you want to pay.

Shopper: 3.

Seller: Oh no, that’s too low. Okay, okay, 5.

Shopper: I don’t think it’s worth more than 3.

Seller: Come on, 5, is good deal.

Shopper: Mm, no thanks.

Seller: Wait, okay, 4.

Shopper: Mm…nah, no thanks. *start to walk off*

Seller: Okay, okay. *nods head, extends hand for money*

Whenever they do that I always confirm the end price. So in that case I would say, “3 euro, right?” and then they would nod. I always do that because once I went through this whole thing and at the end the guy acted like we had come to the conclusion he wanted. Always confirm.

The walking off thing makes them desperate. It’s like, oh no, I’m losing a potential buyer. I think the starting price they offer is usually high because there’s always that one person who goes, “Oh, whatever,” and pays for it without bartering. But you can bring it down. It might take a little longer than the scenario I gave you, or it might not. It all depends. If you’re willing to spend 5 minutes you could probably get it down a lot, but it takes time.

Now, this ONLY APPLIES to the people you see on the street. Don’t try it with someone in a shop. Regular rules apply there.

For regular touristy stores, be sure to shop around. That mirror I spent 10 euros on? I found similar ones in a shop that were selling 3 for 10. I felt dumb. (Just a side note here, it’s not like I spend tons of time looking in mirrors. I’ve just never had a pocket mirror and I’ve actually started looking for one recently and haven’t been able to find one, so when I saw it I thought it was my lucky day and decided to buy it, despite the ridiculous price.)

So remember, if you see something in one tourist shop, it’ll be in another, and it might be cheaper. There’s tons of shops, and a lot of them are close together, so don’t worry about not finding whatever you’re looking for again.

They sold a lot of scarves along the streets too. Scarves, hats, gloves, and some purses. If you cross the street at the Eiffel Tower to that…museum/building place (I don’t actually know what it is) and you go up the stairs, there’s guys up there selling purses on the ground as well. They weren’t knock offs, they were just regular purses. I’m not a name brand person so it didn’t bother me. If you’re looking for Prada or Louis Vuitton or whatever then you’d have to go to a regular store. Champs d’Elysees has tons of rich stores so if you want to spend some hardcore money, go there and walk up and down. There’s a giant Louis Vuitton there. There’s some regular stores there too, so non-rich people can find some stuff as well.

We did go into some normal clothing places too. I got some boots. By the way:

BritBit 1: Girls love boots. I don’t know why, but it seems like every single girl has boots here, and it’s annoying. Seeing a girl in sneakers is rare. If she’s wearing sneakers she’s probably also wearing a punk sort of outfit, or a…I don’t know what the word is. Skater, maybe. I guess the only reason it’s annoying is because everyone looks exactly the same: shirt, leggings/tights, boots. Leggings have taken over.

BritBit 2: They wear shorts with tights. I’m used to it by now, but when I first arrived I thought it was strange. They even do it in the winter. As in 30 degrees outside (Fahrenheit). How can people stand the cold?

Anyway, French stores are just the same as other stores. You don’t really need to know French to buy anything. Like I said in my last post, I bought some earrings in another store and it was fine. No advice needed here.

Okay, so that’s my overview of shopping in Paris. I’ll post again soon talking about…something French. I haven’t decided yet. Au revoir!

The Paris Chronicles: pt. 1

2009-12-26T11:46:00.000-08:00

…Wow. I have a ton to report.

I’m going to be posting several times over the next few days. Remember last post when I said I had the feeling I would be posting more often, or something like that? I actually have more to post than I thought, due to the failure of Eurostar.

So my brother came to visit. We were planning to go to both London and Paris. Guess what happened the first night? It snowed. A lot. We were supposed to go to London the next day, a Friday.

The buses into the city were all cancelled, so I had to reschedule the bus for the next day. That worked out, I guess.

But then guess what happened? We made our way to London on Sunday to go to Paris. We got up at 5 in the morning, arrived, and were told that all the trains were cancelled due to bad weather. The security guy actually said something about condensation, but I couldn’t understand his thick French accent so I’m not sure what that means. All I know is, the train was cancelled, and I was out of a lot of money: the train, the hostel, the bus to London—that all costs money, and it was all down the drain. Needless to say I was not pleased.

The train was also cancelled on Monday. Sarkozy finally got involved—he ordered that the trains resume on Tuesday. They were all reserved for people who didn’t get to travel on Sunday and Monday, so my brother and I decided to try and go again. That time, it worked. Instead of going by time they just stuck people on the next available train.

So we FINALLY made it to Paris. Overall grade: C-. I wasn’t impressed to be honest. First of all, it was overcast. Second, when we got there on the first day it was already dark, so we didn’t do anything except go to the hotel. Speaking of which, I still had to pay for the first night at the other hostel I booked. Thanks Eurostar.

We went to Champs d’Elysees the second day. Unfortunately we went down the wrong way so we didn’t go to many shops, because there weren’t many around. I fail at directions. We also got lost on the way to the hotel the night before. My mistake.

We then walked to the Eiffel Tower. The top half was covered in fog but later it cleared up and the sun came out. There were these hardcore armed guards there patrolling the place. There were also some pigs towards the middle with a sign close by, but since I don’t read French I have no idea what they were doing there. We also got cheated on some souvenirs, but I’ll mention that another day.

The city is kind of gross. There’s spit all over the ground and we saw a guy peeing in the street the first night. Charming. Plus my tickets for the underground didn’t work several times, and I had to get someone to open those doors that are attached to the machines you stick the tickets in to go through. I’m not sure if there’s an actual word for that.

We also saw the Louvre. The Louvre is a nightmare. If you ever plan on going and you want to see the Mona Lisa, do that first. The museum is huge. I mean, I knew it was big, but I didn’t realize it was so big that the map didn’t even make sense. There were two drawings for the same floor…I think. Basically, we got lost inside, and by the time we asked someone where the Mona Lisa was we were already tired, and then it took another…I’m guessing 15 minutes to find it. The museum, I reiterate, is HUGE. Plus it was far away, you couldn’t walk right up to it. There was a rope that designated how close you could get to it, and there was a crowd around it. Plus the painting was protected by glass. I can’t help but think that the painting is difficult to locate because they don’t want it to be easy to find for anyone trying to steal it.

After that we got something to eat and then went to Notre Dame. This sounds silly, but it looked bigger in the Disney movie. I love that movie by the way. Hellfire? One of Disney’s best songs.

Anyway, it was nice looking inside. I liked the windows. Honestly though, it was kind of…I’m not sure what the word is. I don’t want to say creepy, I just got an odd feeling while in there.

Afterwards we wandered around some more. We went into some shops to find stuff for family members back home. I got a bunch of stuff for myself too. I’ll go into that on another day as well.

The next day we went back to Champs d’Elysees and went in the right direction. There’s tons of shops there. The Arc de Triomphe sits at the end, which is pretty cool because we hadn’t even realized it at the time. It was...tall. I'm not sure what else to say about it. I wanted to visit Sacre Couer or however you spell it, but we were out of time. We rushed back to Gare du Nord and caught the Eurostar back to London. As it is, we could have stayed longer because we got back two hours or so early for the bus back to Brighton. Oh well.

So! Stuff about France:

1. Everyone speaks French. Duh. All the signs and everything are in French.
2. Some people speak English as well. It’s actually not that hard to get around without knowing French. I bought a pair of earrings at this store and the cashier didn’t speak English. She tried to tell me that I couldn’t return them, but she only knew a bit of English so it just came out as, “No…change,” with a lot of gestures towards the earrings. I figured it out eventually and we laughed about it so it was no big deal.
3. It reminds both me and my brother of New York. I hate New York.
4. They really do have snails on the menus at restaurants. My brother got frog legs on the first night. They weren’t that good, but only because they weren’t seasoned. I’ve had them before and they can be delicious if cooked properly.

I don’t know what else to say. I think you can leave comments, right? If anyone reading this has a question, just leave a comment.

I’ll end here. I’ll try to post again tomorrow and talk about buying things in Paris. Fun stuff.

P.S. I look really young in that picture next to the pyramid...ugh. I just turned 20 (happy birthday to me!). I'm told I will like this "looking young" thing in the future. Is the future here yet?

Some quick BritBits

2009-12-16T11:46:00.000-08:00

Time for another update!

I went to get my hair done today (braids, if you care) and I learned a bit more about British speech. Well, I knew these things, but I had forgotten about them, so it was a little refresher.

BritBit one: British people pronounce the beginning of some words with an ‘f’ even though there is no ‘f’ there. For instance, they’ll say what sounds like “froo” when they’re saying “through”. They do it in other instances but I can’t think of any other examples right now.

BritBit two: Just a bit of slang—“bang out of order”. It basically means someone has done something wrong, or said/done something uncalled for. If you’ve seen the Harry Potter movies (woot!) in the fifth one Ron says to Harry, “Seamus was bang out of order mate,” after Seamus had accused Harry of lying about Voldemort being back and said something about his mom nearly not letting him come back to Hogwarts. If you didn’t understand any of that you need to pick up a Harry Potter book ASAP. Here’s another example for you: If you’re having an argument with a friend and you snap and call them…I don’t know, a slut, they might gasp and say, “That’s out of order.”

BritBit three: I can’t remember if I’ve written this already (story of my life) but they call a five pound note a “fiver” or a ten pound note a “tenner”. It’s shorter, it’s easier, it makes sense.

That’s all for today. I get the feeling I’ll have a lot more to write about in the upcoming days…muahaha cliffhanger.

Bye all!

Free at last, free at last...you know the rest

2009-12-10T11:59:00.000-08:00

Sorry sorry sorry! I’m overdue, I know. But the good news is, the term is over! I’m free!

Let’s give a few quick updates: I had my band concert last night. It went really well, apparently the audience said it was the best the band has sounded in a while. This is my first term so I’ll just take their word for it.

I finished my two essays. Yay me.

I haven’t started editing my nano yet. Boo me.

That’s it for my personal life. Let’s move on to more interesting things.

BritBit numero uno: While at the concert they had little snacks for people to eat, including cookies (or should I say biscuits?), wine (it’s still weird for me that alcohol is not even a problem for college-age people), and these things called mince pies. Now I’d heard of mince pies before, but I had no idea what they were. I asked two girls sitting next to me and they had a difficult time explaining it, beyond saying that there were raisins and the pies are really sweet. So I tried one, and they were right. They do have raisins, and they are sweet. It’s like a mini pie with really sweet fruit filling. I didn’t like it. I’m not a fan of raisins.

But if you don’t like raisins, you must be thinking, then why did you try it at all if they said there were raisins in it? Well imaginary questioner, I just like to try stuff sometimes. It might’ve been so delicious that I didn’t mind the raisins. Unfortunately…it wasn’t.

BritBit numero dos: I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this (how many times have I said that? I can’t remember) but here they only go to school for three years. In the U.S. college is four years. Also, here “college” is like “high school” in the U.S…I think. So, if someone here says that they took maths in college they don’t mean university, they mean the equivalent of high school. Oh yeah, and they say “maths” not “math”.

BritBit three yo: I have no idea what a surgery is. I went to the pharmacy to get something and the ladies there mentioned going to the surgery. In the U.S. surgery is a procedure in which stuff gets cut up. And by “stuff” I mean your body, and by “cut up” I mean operated on. The first way was simpler.

Let me look it up now…okay I give up. I keep getting links for the actual practice of surgery, not what the UK version of the word means. Hm…it’s a mystery. I’m guessing it just means the doctor’s office, or the hospital.

BritBizzle number fizzle: Does parmesan cheese have to be refrigerated? I’m almost certain it doesn’t, but everywhere I look here it’s in the refrigerated section. This has nothing to do with England except for the fact that I discovered it here. How weird. England is challenging all of my previous beliefs about food.

Sidebar: Glee is the most amazing show ever. I say this now because the songs are stuck in my head and it’s hard to concentrate. If you have a TV, watch Glee. It’s on Fox. By the way, not a fan of Fox. They cancelled Firefly, and therefore they suck. What is Firefly? Watch it on hulu. If you’re not in the U.S. and therefore can’t watch it on hulu, buy it. It’s a sci-fi western. Yeah, that sounds weird and kind of stupid, and I was reluctant to watch it at first, but it’s amazing. The pilot starts off slow though, so be sure to stick to it. Also, they cancelled Dollhouse and it just started getting good. Fail.

I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be plugging these things. It’s not like I’m getting paid for it. *shifty eyes*

Seriously though, I’m not getting paid for it. I wish.

Well, I’m done for now. Also, my birthday is next week. I just realized that when I looked at the calendar on my wall ten seconds ago. I always forget about my birthday until a week or so beforehand. Weird. Anyway, you can send presents to University of Sussex room number…just kidding.

‘Til next time! Peace and love :)

Pssh. I thought you said it was a challenge.

2009-12-01T16:18:00.000-08:00

50,020 words. I won. I’m awesome.

I’m talking about NaNoWriMo of course. I managed 50,020 words in 29 days. I could’ve added a thousand or two more if I had worked on the last day, but I decided to take a break. So I’m proud of myself. The novel isn’t actually finished, but I’m planning on finishing it this month and editing it in January. This is kind of unfortunate because it means I’m putting another project on hold, but I guess that’s what happens when you write five million things at once.

Well that was probably boring for anyone who isn’t me. Let’s move on to some BritBits because nothing else exciting has happened this week:

Elevators are called lifts. That’s a simple one.

The double decker buses are cool. I really want to go up on the second deck but so far I haven’t. I’m afraid of heights so I don’t know why I want to go up there, but I think it’d be fun.

Free range eggs are expensive. This isn’t really a BritBit because I think it applies everywhere, but it’s annoying. They were out of regular eggs and I didn’t feel like going back to the store later so I just bought them. Life shattering stuff, I know.

Have I mentioned the faucets? I hate the faucets. In the US there’s one faucet in the sink that runs both hot and cold water. Here there’s one faucet each for hot and cold water, which is terrible because when you wash your hands you either burn them or freeze them. I’ve yet to discover a way around this. It’s amazing what a little innovation can do. One single faucet eliminates that problem easily.

Cell phones are called mobiles. Another simple one.

It actually does rain a lot here. The past couple of weeks have been awful, raining nearly every day. Even if it starts out sunny, by the end of the day it’s raining again. Today was the nicest day in weeks. So the rainy England stereotype might be true. I wonder why it rains so much. Hm…

Um…that’s all I can think of right now. Sorry, I’m a bit preoccupied. I have two essays due next week, and I know that’s a horrible excuse and I hate when people use that excuse…but I have to. Duty calls.

I can’t believe it’s December already. It’s good because it means vacation is coming up, but the one bad thing is that essays are due. Oh well. One more week and I’m done until January. Awesomeness.

Later.

Sigh. It's always me.

2009-11-25T12:12:00.000-08:00

I know I just posted yesterday, but I have to share this.

So I was on my way to class and decided to get a cheeseburger for lunch. I go into the store and buy one, except they don’t have cheese. I’m cool with that, if slightly annoyed. I can’t even remember the last time I ate a burger without cheese. It’s like eating pizza without pepperoni—what’s the point?

But anyway, I get the burger, and now my mood is a bit down. I suck it up and take a few bites of my burger, going outside and walking towards my class. I’m about to take another bite when out of nowhere something hits the right side/back of my head. I thought someone threw something at me before I noticed by burger was gone. A bird landed in front of me and my burger lands a few inches from it. It was then that I realized it had stolen my burger. A bird STOLE MY BURGER. It was fairly large, kind of like a gull. And it started cawing and other birds showed up to eat their newly acquired meal.

So I paid for a burger that didn’t even have cheese, and a bird stole it from me. Needless to say I was not pleased. I was so displeased, in fact, that I wrote a mini rap about it during my lecture:

Yo I’m walking down the street
With a burger in my hand
I’m about to go to class
When BAM! Something unplanned
Occurs. I get hit
On the back of my head
It’s a bird and very clearly
It wants to be fed
Whoosh goes my food
Right down onto the ground
The bird picks it right up
And makes a really loud sound
It was calling other birds
To eat the stolen meal
I’m standing here in shock
Imagine how I feel.
I’d only taken three bites
And now my food was gone
The bird is clearly the queen
And I’m its lowly pawn.
Oh well. I have to go.
Class will start really soon.
I hope the day won’t get worse
But—sigh—it’s only noon.

Yep. There it is. I’m going to assume getting food stolen by a bird isn’t an England thing, and I was just unlucky. Here’s hoping it doesn’t happen again.

Cheers.

Harassment, a segment title, and a lesson in inflection

2009-11-24T16:07:00.000-08:00

Hey there.

It was a quiet week and weekend. It passed by fairly quickly. I have two essays due in two weeks, and my NaNo is coming along swimmingly…which is a weird phrase, by the way.

I guess I could go on about some more British tidbits…hm, I should come up with a catchy title for my British life section, since I talk about it nearly every week. British tidbits…aha! BritBits! Yeah, you know that’s awesome.

Sooooo it’s time for another segment of BritBits!

Something odd actually just happened yesterday. In the UK you need to have a TV license if you have a TV or if you watch live TV on your computer. Seeing as I don’t have a TV and I don’t even know how to get live television on my computer, I don’t need a license. However, someone in my house had gone to the mailbox and brought a stack of mail into the kitchen, many of the envelopes coming from the same person. It said “URGENT” on it so I assumed it was a bill or something about the university.

It wasn’t. It was a threatening letter stating that I had not informed TV Licensing, some company, that I did not need a TV license and that my house is currently under investigation. They said to call to inform them if I didn’t need one, so that’s what I did today. And what happened? The lady said they were sending someone to my house anyway.

Really irritated by this point, I went online to search what one of these “visits” were like and found multiple comments saying “Don’t let them in.” They have no right to enter anyone’s home. They aren’t the police. They have no warrant. They’re just a company trying to sell something, and being rude while they’re at it.

So basically, it’s harassment, and they’ve been getting away with it for years. They’re like Jehovah’s Witnesses, except they act like they have authority and they get people to let them in their homes. I’m not sure why this company hasn’t been shut down for consistently harassing people, but whatever. I’m ignoring them from now on. Talk about invasion of privacy.

So. There’s that.

Another slightly interesting (if obvious) BritBit is that Thanksgiving isn’t big here. That makes sense, as it’s an American holiday. Still, online I see all these social networking sites talking about Thanksgiving and I’m not sure how I feel about it. I would have forgotten about it if it wasn’t everywhere I looked online. I feel like I should care that I’m going to miss it, but I don’t. I’ll probably end up eating pizza.

And that’s another thing. The UK is extremely Americanized. I mean yes, they have their own culture here, but I was expecting a bigger difference. The food is different but they still have Pizza Hut and Burger King and even KFC. They have Sprite and Coke and Cheerios and Capri Sun. They listen to American music, they watch American television, they watch American movies. I wasn’t expecting any of this, or at least not at this scale. This just makes “culture shock” even more laughable than I found it before I came here. I thought it wouldn’t be that bad, and that was when I was expecting huge differences. I’d compare it to visiting another state. Yeah there are lots of differences, but nothing anyone can’t handle.

I just remembered something else. British people have different inflections in their tones. It drove me crazy when I first arrived. So, for instance, let’s take this scenario: two roommates are looking for…um…a remote control for the TV in their room, but they both realize it is missing at different times. They can’t find it, so they both assume the other has it. So one day the first person finally decides to ask. In the U.S. the conversation might go like this:

Person 1: Hey, have you seen the remote?

Person 2: What? You don’t have it?

In the U.K. it might go like this:

Person 1: Hey, have you seen the remote?

Person 2: Do you not have it?

It seems almost exactly the same, doesn’t it? But it isn’t. The inflection in the tone of the second person is different. The American person’s pitch increases throughout the sentence, so that the last word (“it”) is the highest pitched word. In the U.K., however, the last word goes down in pitch. So it’s sort of like, “do You NOT HAVE it?” whereas in the U.S. it’s, “you Don’t HAVE IT?” That’s how you determine if a question is a question: the pitch increases at the end. Have you ever seen those girls who speak like every sentence is a question? We think it sounds like a question because of the rise in pitch, not really because of the words she’s using. If someone said, “What is the capital of Texas.” with the same pitch throughout the entire sentence, the average person would be confused for a second or two because it would be unclear if it was a question or a statement.

Why is this important? I dunno, I guess it isn’t really. It’s just something I noticed, and it probably doesn’t apply to every single person here. Just generally speaking. I guess it interests me because I’m an English major and language fascinates me. Or something.

Okay, one last BritBit: British people are not reserved. I don’t know where this idea came from, but it’s a lie. They’re just as loud as Americans. This could be due to the fact that the drinking age is 18 so people are wandering around drunk. That, or it was just a misconception to being with. Here I was, hoping for a quiet, relaxing year away from the rowdiness that is America. Nope. Don’t believe everything you see on TV people.

Speaking of which, I miss TV. I had one in my room last year but I couldn’t exactly pack a TV in my suitcase. I guess I could have had it shipped…but then I’d have to pay for a license. Sigh. Nothing is free anymore. I hope this atrocious practice doesn’t spread to the U.S. Though I guess it already has, since you have to have a digital cable thingy in order to watch TV now. Still, that’s not really a license. And now I’m rambling.

That’s it for now. See you next week. Happy Thanksgiving!

Good times, missed food, and more English stuff

2009-11-17T20:11:00.000-08:00

Hello there! I am back and ready for action!

I had a great weekend this past…weekend. Let’s just ignore that awkward phrasing, shall we? I went on an overnight trip to a local town with the Christian Union. I had a great time. I can honestly say I have never been around so many nice people at one time. Ever. I mean, the level of niceness was almost of ridiculous, like they had some sort of secret diabolical plan. It’s kind of like fattening up a pig before slaughter. The pig is all excited to get lots of food, thinking their owner is amazing, but they don’t realize the evil intentions behind it, muahahaha.

I’m kidding. I know there isn’t a secret plot against me or anything, it’s just that we live in such a cruel world that sometimes you forget that good people exist.

That bit of philosophy aside, it was a great weekend. We all brought sleeping bags or, in my case, comforters, and we slept on the floor…the very hard floor. Fun times. There were a few sessions where we listened to a speaker about the Bible, which led to some of interesting discussions. We watched Hitch on Friday night, always a good time, and there was a 90’s party on Saturday night that was pretty awesome. Who doesn’t love the 90’s?

And now, moving on, it’s time for a bit of a rant.

I miss American food. I really, really, really miss American food. In particular, I miss American cereal. Cocoa Puffs. Fruity Pebbles. Captain Crunch with crunchberries. Apple Jacks. This is the stuff dreams are made of, and they don’t have them here. The cereal selection is actually pretty limited. And they don’t have grape jelly so I can’t make peanut butter and jelly. I’ve tried looking in several stores for it but I can’t find any. They have this flavor called blackcurrant, which is apparently a fruit of some sort. I haven’t tried it yet and I don’t currently have any plans to.

They also have this stuff that I finally tried during the weekend away. It’s called squash. I don’t remember if I mentioned it before, but it’s this concentrated fruit juice liquid type thing, and you pour a bit into a glass, and then fill the rest of the glass with water. It’s not good. I can stomach it, but I would never go to the store and buy it. It’s just watery juice. I don’t see the point. Maybe it’s healthier or something. Silly Brits, caring about their health.

Oh America. I miss your unhealthy foods. I miss sour patch kids and Twizzlers and those giant blow pops. It’s a hard life I lead.

One thing I’ve learned since coming here is that there are way too many accents. I haven’t learned how to tell the difference between most of them yet, but I can still recognize the difference, if that makes sense. As in, I can hear the difference in a person’s voice, but I don’t know what area that person is from. I can, however, recognize the Manchester accent, because it stands out.

What else is going on…well, my nanowrimo book is coming along swimmingly. I’m thousands of words behind, but I’m not worried. Why? Because I discovered the most amazing tool to ever be invented in the history of EVER. It’s this website called Write or Die. You enter how many words you want to write, and you enter the time you want to write it in. Then you click “write” and go. It sounds simple, but it’s really effective because there’s a clock ticking down to 0, and if you stop writing for five seconds or so the screen starts to change colors. I’m not sure what happens after turning slightly red because I was so unnerved I started typing again. I might just let it run to see what happens. I started out typing 500 words in 15 minutes and I’ve gotten it down to 10 minutes. It’s a great site for me because clocks counting down freak me out. My brother (I have a twin brother) used to play Sonic on his Sega Genesis (old school right?) and whenever Sonic was underwater for too long this intense music started playing and you only had a few seconds to get above water before you died. It always freaked me out. In fact, all video games seem to have scary music whenever you have a few seconds to do something, and it always bothered me. So that’s where my fear of being timed comes from.

That was a strange tangent. Let’s get back to English stuff.

Okay, I’ll talk about one more thing before I go. Actually, two things. One, it’s weird going into a store on campus and seeing alcohol. It’s even weirder seeing students buying it, like they’re adults or something. Psssh. We Americans know better. I’m joking, by the way.

As an avid hater of alcohol, I don’t really like the huge drinking scene here. There’s a huge drinking scene in the U.S. too, of course, but here it’s legal so it’s more accepted. I just find alcohol gross. The smell makes me nauseous. I’m not saying I don’t want other people to drink it or anything. I just don’t see why getting drunk is fun. It doesn’t look fun. It’s only fun for me, because I get to watch people act like idiots. It’s free entertainment.

And the last thing: living in a house is awkward. If you don’t make friends with your house mates it can be uncomfortable. Sometimes you just don’t click. Say, for instance, they’re more of the partying type, and you may not be. Just as an example, say you’re spending the month writing 50,000 words for fun while they think getting wasted is just as amusing. For instance. In a hall if you don’t make friends it’s still big enough that it doesn’t matter. In a house it’s more personal. So if you decide to come to Sussex, or have a choice for a house in general, remember that. You can get lucky and become the best of friends with your house mates, or you could be stuck in an awkward situation.

And that concludes this post ladies and gentlemen. See you next week!

Oh, wait a minute. One more thing. Recently it was implied that all Americans like George Bush. Huh? Absolutely not. I’m pretty sure it’s the exact opposite. Just wanted to clear that up.

Fail.

2009-11-09T14:04:00.000-08:00

Oops! I nearly forgot to update. This is going to be quick for two reasons: 1) I’m way behind on NaNoWriMo, and 2) I’m falling behind in school. Being sick 2 out of 6 weeks so far is NOT GOOD.

This weekend I went to Warwick Castle. It was pretty cool. On the bus ride there and back we watched Cool Runnings (always funny), Meet the Fockers (it was fairly amusing) and Forrest Gump (I don’t care what anyone says, I hate that movie). In the castle there were these creepy wax figures of the people who lived there back when it was occupied. You could also climb up these stairs and go to the top of one of the towers, but after climbing a bit I had to go back down because I was terrified. I have a thing about heights.

It was really cold there too. We spent the afternoon there but there’s only so much you can do, so I wandered around bored for a bit. There were some beautiful views though. Oh, I took this gorgeous panoramic picture that I'm really proud of. I used some special feature on my camera that I've ignored for a while. It's kind of small on here but it looks pretty when it's bigger.

I’ve joined the Christian Union on campus. It meets every Monday and it’s incredible. Never have I met such a nice group of people all congregated in one place. Everyone is so friendly and caring. It’s a nice way to start off a week.

Ugh. Sorry for another bad post but I have so much to do, so I have to go. I’m determined to win NaNoWriMo no matter what. Oh, and there’s that pesky schoolwork too.

Next week will (hopefully) be more interesting, I promise! I know, I fail. Sorry.

Sick of being sick

2009-11-02T08:48:00.001-08:00

I don’t have anything major to report this week, due to being sick. Again. Also, it turns out the first time I was sick I had swine flu. I went to the Health Centre and the doctor said that’s probably what it was, and I was just unlucky enough to get sick again. Go figure. I don’t know what it is I have now. To be honest, I don’t care, I just want it to go away.

Since I spent most of the week in bed I don’t have that much to say. I missed out on any fun Halloween activities that may have happened, as I was too busy coughing up a lung. Ugh. Oh yeah, Saturday was Halloween. I’m kind of annoyed. I wanted to see Saw 6 but I didn’t feel well enough to go.

My classes are going okay, but I’m worried about falling behind since I’ve been ill so often. This week will be spent catching up.

There is something exciting happening this month though: NaNoWriMo! What is NaNoWriMo, you may be wondering. Well, it’s short for National Novel Writing Month. Basically it’s a challenge to write 50,000 words in one month. You don’t actually win anything, but you get the satisfaction of accomplishing something. 50,000 words seems too short for a novel (to me) but you can still work on it when the month is over. It’s good inspiration for me to actually start a novel I’ve been thinking about writing for a while. Unfortunately I didn’t do enough preparing and now that I’m actually writing it I realize I haven’t done enough research. Whatever, I can always go back and fill in important information later. The point is to write.

Speaking of which, I should probably go work on that. I don’t really have anything else to say right now. Wow, what a lame post. Sorry about that, I’ll try to be more interesting next time.

A Nice Surprise

2009-10-26T08:03:00.001-07:00

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

2009-10-19T13:33:00.001-07:00

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

2009-10-12T03:40:00.001-07:00

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.

So...tired...

2009-09-27T16:14:00.000-07:00

I've arrived in England! Actually I arrived yesterday, but so much was going on I didn't have time to post. England is gorgeous. Unfortunately, I was in a bit of a bad mood so I'm not sure I appreciated it as much as I might have otherwise.

Why was I in a bad mood? Well for one, the flight was delayed. Then the entertainment system had issues. Then when I got to Heathrow I had to wait an hour to get a bus because the buses that came sooner were all sold out. Then when it was time to get on the bus it was delayed because of an accident. Then, about half an hour later, I got on the bus to Gatwick Airport, where I had to switch buses. I waited twenty or thirty minutes for the bus, it finally arrived, I went to the Pool Valley coach station, got a taxi with some other Sussex international students (there were representatives from Sussex there to help us) and I made it to Sussex! I was TIRED. I could barely keep my eyes open.

It's a beautiful campus. It's a lot bigger than my home campus, thank goodness. It's not too big though. It's sort of my dream campus, the one I imagined when thinking about going to college in high school.

One thing I've noticed already is that people say "Cheers" instead of "Thank you". There was something else I noticed, but I can't remember it now because I'm still really tired despite it being a day later. And I'm sore from carrying my luggage. Ow.

I'll post again soon, when my brain is fully functional. I feel half asleep right now. I hope this post is coherent. Bye for now...

8 Hours and Counting

2009-09-25T09:38:00.000-07:00

Well, I can’t sleep. I’m leaving tomorrow…okay, technically I’m leaving today; it’s really early in the morning as I type this. I’ll probably post this later in the afternoon.

So, today’s the day! Packing was even harder than expected. I thought I’d packed less than 50 pounds, but after weighing my suitcase I realized I was over. By a lot. A lot of effort later, I’ve gotten it down to less than 50 (I’ll probably be going shopping…a lot…so I’m leaving space for future purchases).

I got my class schedule, which was pretty exciting. It’s exciting now anyway. Once school starts it’ll probably be a different story.

I’m really hyper right now. I have a hard time sitting still, like I’m about to leave in five minutes. I’m nervous I’ll forget things, or that I weighed my luggage wrong and it’ll be too heavy, or other such catastrophic events. I’m nervous about meeting people as well. My previous zen has pretty much disappeared.

I can’t even sit still to finish writing this. My mind is going at 100 miles an hour. I think I’ll end here for now. I’ll post another entry once I’ve settled into my house in Sussex. Which, by the way, will be interesting because the past two years I’ve been in regular dormitories. We’ll see how this goes.

Stay tuned folks…

And so it begins...

2009-09-01T13:42:00.000-07:00

Since this is my first blog entry, I’m wondering where to start. Let’s see…I could go on about much effort it takes to go to another country for a year. To go from Clark University to the University of Sussex one needs a ton of paperwork for the application, then applying for the visa, then booking a plane ticket, and going over everything a million times to make sure everything is in order.

Or I could go on about how excited I am that there are only 24 days until I leave for Sussex. It’s torture watching people go back to school and knowing that I’m here for nearly another month. Every day I check the mail, hoping for some scrap of information relating to my studies. I received my housing information last week and got ridiculously excited. Now all that’s left is my class schedule, which should be coming in the next couple of weeks.

I could also go on about how nervous I am. I’m worried about this whole “culture shock” thing that people keep mentioning. Actually, I’m worried because I’m not worried. It’ll be a completely new experience, but for some reason it’s in the back of my mind. I usually adapt well to new things, so here’s hoping that stays true. My knowledge of British culture is actually more advanced than it should be. I have no idea how I know so much British slang. It must be all those Buffy episodes and Harry Potter books. Biscuit, bin, berk, prat, pillock, crisps, quid, blimey, snogging…it’s all floating around in my head.

I’m not even that worried about taking a plane by myself, even though it’ll be my first time doing so. That, plus getting to London, taking a bus to Brighton, then getting to the university campus…it’s a lot of effort, but I think I can handle it.

No, the thing that’s bothering me most is whether or not I’ll be able to fit everything I need for an entire year into two suitcases and a carry-on. Now there’s a dilemma.

I haven’t been this excited in a while. All alone in another country…it’ll certainly be an adventure. This is my year of travel, self-discovery, and of course hard work. I can hardly wait—bring on the tea and biscuits!