So, today was spent taking care of business... and goofing off a little bit too.
I went by the American office and found out the Communication ethics class I was wanting to take isn't "running". So, I signed up for Journalism. Am I asking for punishment? Yes. Lots and lots of punishment. With Journalism, Literature Criticism & Theory, Drama in Society, and Visual Culture, my academic plate will be a feast. However, I am very much looking forward to it, but knowing the impending doom of research and homework, I decided to skip over to Scotland for a couple days before school ACTUALLY starts.
I also went and registered with the doctor today. It didn't take long. Everything is public health, so appointments should be made in advance. You are assigned to a GP, but you can see specialists if you make an appointment in advance.
I also went to the grocery store and bought some beef (YES!), cheese, Minestrone soup (which is delicious!!!), and other things. I got back to the flat and went to the American office again to drop off my payment form for the field trips.
Apryl and I are leaving for Scotland tomorrow on Flight 705 to Edinburgh from Gatwick at 14:05. We are coming back on Thursday Oct. 1st on flight 712 from Edinburgh to Gatwick at 19:45. Everything should go peachy. We've booked two beds at the High Street Hostel on Blackfriars Street (ha ha). And all the trains seem to be running in good order. Hooray!
I drew a couple of pictures today, trying to get back into the habit of doing live study and patience work. The one of the fence I like. I tried doing one of the hills, but I got distracted and drew flowers and people instead...
The sunset today was so beautiful! It's as if the vibrant sky reflects the vibrant life beneath it... It was the brightest orange imaginable against the deep blue, pink, and soft gray/purple of the shadowed clouds. I didn't take a picture because I didn't want to stop looking at it. And there was also a bright blue/green in there as well. The clouds made huge hillocks and the sky looked like a landscape within the sky and a sky within a landscape. Awesome in the full sense of the word: awesome.
I took a walk around the field. I like taking little strolls at dusk around the futbol field. It's so calming, but I got cold... I don't know how I'm going to survive in Scotland, but I am sure I will, somehow. I am SO looking forward to going to Scotland!!!
I read in the Metro newspapar (the one that is distributed around the Buses and Trains) about how more single jail cells are being over booked as doubles and doubles, "trebled". Someone who was being interviewed warned against the system becoming more like, "American-style mass incarceration." I was little miffed at this. It makes it sound as if America were some hell-hole infested with criminals and/or and unjust judicial system.
However, they could be right. The point needs more research. I don't know a whole lot about the jail situation in the United States, but I will get to the bottom of it and put the information right (if only in my mind), if it is wrong.
"American-style mass incaceration"... sounds like a restaurant dish or something...
It's been bugging me all day. I read it and said aloud, "Wha-? What is this?" the guy across from me looked up...
This is what you get for reading the papers. They are thought provoking (gasp!).
Anyway, it's almost ten now, and I need to get up early and pack, so I bid you all good night!
Scotland, here I come!
Hannah
Monday, September 28, 2009
The Typical Weekend
Saturday night, the 26th, a lot of the girls from the flats got dressed in black and we went to the party for Minjung. There was LOTS of cake. Apryl and I had baked two box mixes, so our cake was huge! and then the girls upstairs baked a cake as well. There was everything chocolate, and our balloons dangled from the ceiling of the kitchen. It was fun. We listened to music and chatted with the people. After a while, they all went out on the town and Apryl and I hung around Paddock Fields for a while seeing if we could find any British people to talk to, but we didn't, so we went to The Bear for a little while and just chilled out. Well, I tried to. The Bear was crowded, so the only place to sit was right behind the pool table... So my eye nearly got put out several times. Then I kept dropping my clutch, and when I was trying to cross my leg into a more comfortable position, it slipped and my shin went crashing into the iron disc leg support under the table. Apryl laughed. Ha ha, Apryl. Ha ha. Actually, it was pretty funny, but it was very painful. And then this guy just kept staring me down, but wouldn't say anything. No friendly, "Hello" or "How's it going?"... nope, just a cold hard stare. We watched some highlights of football matches, and then we decided to catch the 11:5something bus back to campus (you have to pay a pound cash after midnight... yes we are cheap).
You know, I'm getting rather used to the cigarette smell. Probably not such a good thing to get used to, but I am all the same. And I have never smelled so many people wearing perfume/cologne/au de toilet in my life. EVERYONE wears it. No one just smells like soap and deodorant. They either smell like a wonderful scent from a bottle, or they smell like terrible B.O. and wonderful scent from a bottle. Or, a terrible scent from a bottle (not all of them smell good). However, for the most part, it smells good, there's just so much of it everywhere. You walk down a street and everyone that passes you can smell. I guess it's just another way of getting attention. People like attention here. You give them attention and they are eternally thrilled. You can see it in their faces.
Anyway, that was the end of Saturday. It was a fun day.
Sunday, the 27th, nothing much happened. It was quiet, as usual. I spent most of the time in my room reading the news on the BBC website. And I also spent part of it reading the two week old paper in the kitchen I bought... I need to get a new paper. Reading the personal/romance ads section was pretty entertaining, though. I like how almost all of the men described themselves as, "handsome" and described exactly what kind of woman they wanted to contact them... I thought to myself, "Keeeeeep wishin' there, fellas". Some of the ads were pretty genuine, actually. But a lot of them were just male ego call-outs. The youngest one advertising was 28 and the oldest was 78. The youngest woman advertising was 20 and I don't know the oldest, because I was getting bored by that point, and the maintenence person appeared and was fixing the window, so I stopped reading.
I sketched a picture, but it isn't very good. I was just mainly playing with shadows and light source. But Pavelsky's words kept floating back to me, "simplify your lines"... Although I got all the proportions right the first time. One step at a time, I suppose.
Apryl and I mosied down to the "Odeon" which is the cinema in city centre. There's one down by the Marina as well, but we wanted to see the movie Dorian Gray and it wasn't playing at the Marina. Anyway, the Odeon is closer, so it all works out. The movie was a little strange, as is the book, but it isn't much like the book. They tried to put something about Dorian's grandfather beating him, but the movie could have done entirely without it. It wasn't necessary. There was also Harry as a married man with a daughter... which was not in the book, I think. And here's a difference in culture for you: The movie had a lot of nudity in it, but it was rated for 15 years and up. It would be an R movie in America (17 and up). Although in recent years I have seen some PG-13 movies with nudity in it. So, I guess things like that change. But the movie was much more explicit than the book and with considerably less dialogue, which I wish they would have kept. They had most of Harry's awesome remarks about women and society, but left a lot of Dorian's dialogue out. I suppose to create him more mysterious. However, I think because of that, they sort of chopped the head off the debate Oscar Wilde was presenting about youth and pleasure, innocence, and happiness, and I think it ruined a lot of the psychological tension. Dorian needed more lines!
Benjamin Barnes played Dorian and Colin Firth was Harry, which was awesome! Colin Firth is great. He was the best part of the movie, for sure. Another famous actor whom I can not remember the name, but I remember his face, played Basil. It was more like a horror film... not very literary, and not very compelling, but it was alright. But I wouldn't want to see it again, probably.
After the movie, I went back to the flat with Lorin (who met us at the Odeon) and went for a run. Then I went to the King and Queen to listen to the Battle of the Bands, but once again, the bands weren't that great, so I didn't stick around. I talked to Sarah, which was nice because I had not talked to her but once since I've been here. Then I took the bus back home. I sang a couple songs to myself waiting for the bus trying to think of something interesting. But I couldn't. So I stopped singing after a while.
As was typical: Almost everyone was out on the town getting drunk. There are no real friends to find among drunk people. I've discovered that. You can have a friend and they get drunk and they are still your friend. But you can't really make friends if you are sober and the other person is drunk. And I mean sloppy, can't see straight, smell the booze ten yards away drunk. Walking back to the apartment, I could actually smell the alcohol standing in the air from all of the people's breath. Oh, and it's cold enough now to see your breath. Althought the skies are clear and sunny for the most part, there is a definite chill in the air.
Anyway, it is now Monday morning of the 28th. School does not start until next week. (!!!) and no one has contacted me about classes. So! Today I plan to register with the doctor, get some groceries, put in a bank letter form, take my payment to the American office for the trips I am going to partake in, and then maybe I will look at airline tickets to Scotland.
I can't decide whether I just want to travel around England for a while, and get used to it, then travel a lot next semester, or if I want to travel NOW... I think I will go somewhere this week and then just stick around in England. A lot of other kids are gone this week to Ireland and Spain and places like that. I just need to be patient and see.
All for now!
Cheers!
Hannah
You know, I'm getting rather used to the cigarette smell. Probably not such a good thing to get used to, but I am all the same. And I have never smelled so many people wearing perfume/cologne/au de toilet in my life. EVERYONE wears it. No one just smells like soap and deodorant. They either smell like a wonderful scent from a bottle, or they smell like terrible B.O. and wonderful scent from a bottle. Or, a terrible scent from a bottle (not all of them smell good). However, for the most part, it smells good, there's just so much of it everywhere. You walk down a street and everyone that passes you can smell. I guess it's just another way of getting attention. People like attention here. You give them attention and they are eternally thrilled. You can see it in their faces.
Anyway, that was the end of Saturday. It was a fun day.
Sunday, the 27th, nothing much happened. It was quiet, as usual. I spent most of the time in my room reading the news on the BBC website. And I also spent part of it reading the two week old paper in the kitchen I bought... I need to get a new paper. Reading the personal/romance ads section was pretty entertaining, though. I like how almost all of the men described themselves as, "handsome" and described exactly what kind of woman they wanted to contact them... I thought to myself, "Keeeeeep wishin' there, fellas". Some of the ads were pretty genuine, actually. But a lot of them were just male ego call-outs. The youngest one advertising was 28 and the oldest was 78. The youngest woman advertising was 20 and I don't know the oldest, because I was getting bored by that point, and the maintenence person appeared and was fixing the window, so I stopped reading.
I sketched a picture, but it isn't very good. I was just mainly playing with shadows and light source. But Pavelsky's words kept floating back to me, "simplify your lines"... Although I got all the proportions right the first time. One step at a time, I suppose.
Apryl and I mosied down to the "Odeon" which is the cinema in city centre. There's one down by the Marina as well, but we wanted to see the movie Dorian Gray and it wasn't playing at the Marina. Anyway, the Odeon is closer, so it all works out. The movie was a little strange, as is the book, but it isn't much like the book. They tried to put something about Dorian's grandfather beating him, but the movie could have done entirely without it. It wasn't necessary. There was also Harry as a married man with a daughter... which was not in the book, I think. And here's a difference in culture for you: The movie had a lot of nudity in it, but it was rated for 15 years and up. It would be an R movie in America (17 and up). Although in recent years I have seen some PG-13 movies with nudity in it. So, I guess things like that change. But the movie was much more explicit than the book and with considerably less dialogue, which I wish they would have kept. They had most of Harry's awesome remarks about women and society, but left a lot of Dorian's dialogue out. I suppose to create him more mysterious. However, I think because of that, they sort of chopped the head off the debate Oscar Wilde was presenting about youth and pleasure, innocence, and happiness, and I think it ruined a lot of the psychological tension. Dorian needed more lines!
Benjamin Barnes played Dorian and Colin Firth was Harry, which was awesome! Colin Firth is great. He was the best part of the movie, for sure. Another famous actor whom I can not remember the name, but I remember his face, played Basil. It was more like a horror film... not very literary, and not very compelling, but it was alright. But I wouldn't want to see it again, probably.
After the movie, I went back to the flat with Lorin (who met us at the Odeon) and went for a run. Then I went to the King and Queen to listen to the Battle of the Bands, but once again, the bands weren't that great, so I didn't stick around. I talked to Sarah, which was nice because I had not talked to her but once since I've been here. Then I took the bus back home. I sang a couple songs to myself waiting for the bus trying to think of something interesting. But I couldn't. So I stopped singing after a while.
As was typical: Almost everyone was out on the town getting drunk. There are no real friends to find among drunk people. I've discovered that. You can have a friend and they get drunk and they are still your friend. But you can't really make friends if you are sober and the other person is drunk. And I mean sloppy, can't see straight, smell the booze ten yards away drunk. Walking back to the apartment, I could actually smell the alcohol standing in the air from all of the people's breath. Oh, and it's cold enough now to see your breath. Althought the skies are clear and sunny for the most part, there is a definite chill in the air.
Anyway, it is now Monday morning of the 28th. School does not start until next week. (!!!) and no one has contacted me about classes. So! Today I plan to register with the doctor, get some groceries, put in a bank letter form, take my payment to the American office for the trips I am going to partake in, and then maybe I will look at airline tickets to Scotland.
I can't decide whether I just want to travel around England for a while, and get used to it, then travel a lot next semester, or if I want to travel NOW... I think I will go somewhere this week and then just stick around in England. A lot of other kids are gone this week to Ireland and Spain and places like that. I just need to be patient and see.
All for now!
Cheers!
Hannah
Saturday, September 26, 2009
London Town and Other Activities
London town.
On Wednesday the 23rd, Laura, Daye, Apryl and I caught the 9:05 train from Falmer (where we live at Paddock Fields on the South Downs) to Brighton Station, when we then caught the 9:30 or 9:45 to London. The trip to London took about 45 minutes including all of the stops at the surrounding villages. We arrived at Victoria station at about 10:15/20, I suppose and walked to Buckingham palace. I was expecting the main Victoria station terminal to be much larger than it actually is. I was imagining something on the scale of Grand Central station, but it was nowhere near as large. Which brings to the front of my mind an important fact: London is NOTHING like New York City. And Brighton is not, "the little London by the sea"... It is nothing like it at all. The comparisons are ridiculous. London is London, and that's all there is to it.
At Buckingham palace, I went and saw the Queen's gallery and the state rooms. Although the collection displayed at the Queen's gallery was not remarkably large, it was beautifully exquisite almost to an unbelievable degree. The craftsmanship of all the items was inexplicable. The detail in the tapestries, painting, Fabrege eggs, Savre porcelain, furniture, inlaid chests, metalwork, everything was breathtaking. Each piece took months, some of them took years to complete, and the effort they put into them really shows. It makes me want to learn that kind of patience so I can create such beautiful things. I discovered that my new favorite colors are a Savre blue called, "Petit Verde", which means a blue that's a "little green" and the blue, "bleu celeste" which is a beautiful turquoise blue. To make the porcelain, they first mix the paste, then shape it, fire it, and after all of the handles have been attached, they decorate them. They apply a "ground", which is a background colour, in layers until they get the desired depth of color, and then the paint scenes or designs on top of that, firing after each layer of colour, and finish with a gold enamel and gloss and a final firing. Savre is still in production today, actually. They used to only make "soft porcelain" which required more firings and was more temperamental with the kiln, but now they only create "hard porcelain" products because of it's superior look, firing properties, and pliability. The process to make hard porcelain was not used by Savre until the 1760's. Until that time, only the Chinese knew how to make it, using an ingredient missing in the soft porcelain. Eventually, soft porcelain was abandoned because of it's tricky nature.
There were some paintings from the 1600's, as well as "caskets" (used as packaging, not something to bury a dead person). There were several beautiful gifts and things from India and other nations. There are many Fabrege artifacts as well, not only the famous eggs, but stamps and little figurines all made from precious stones and semi-precious gems, carved, polished and decorated.
There was a lovely painting by a woman, but I can't remember her name. It was huge! She would have had to have a ladder to paint it, or turn it on it's side. The painting must have been nine feet long! Everything just had an air of pride and regal finery. But nothing in Buckingham palace is "overdone". Everything is perfectly placed and perfectly classical. There is nothing distasteful of any of it. Even though there is a lot of pride, it is not boastful or ugly.
"Where there is a real superiority of mind, pride will always be in good measure," said Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice.
A lot of the British people walking around became very excited as they walked through the rooms, realizing this is where other country's diplomats would be walking. They are very proud of their heritage. And why shouldn't they be? They are one of the oldest countries in the world.
There was a special exhibit of the Queen's dresses and her gifts when she visited the Common Wealths or Great Britain. I thought to myself, "America would have part of the common wealth." and that was a strange thought. There was nothing even remotely hinting at American culture, except for some Innuit carvings from Canada. I saw some familiar work from the Maori's and Australia, which was nice to see. I love Aboriginal and Maori works of art. The Maori's carvings are so beautiful and ornate with mother of pearl accents and the painting patterns of the Aboriginal people are so vibrant and colorful. Seeing the blunt style of the Australians was also refreshing from the entirely classical interior of the State rooms. Classical interiors are beautiful and lovely, but there was no funk anywhere. Everything was just perfect. And while it was beautiful, it was almost unbearably perfect. But it does command respect, and I mean no disrespect to the neo-classical taste. I am very fond of neo-classicism and classical styles. However, I would not want to live in those conditions... I would be too scared to touch anything! I hope the Queen does not live with that kind of stress.
Her dresses were beautiful, by the way. Of course. Perfectly tasteful, modest, cut, sewn, decorated, tailored, etc. Just perfect. I would be too scared to put on something that expensive. It would feel very strange. The most expensive thing I have ever worn was worth $200. To wear a dress worth thousands, maybe priceless, would be scary! I would be nervous just wearing the dress, maybe I wouldn't be nervous meeting the country's diplomats, but I would be nervous I would mess up the dress. It would make it hard for me to concentrate. But it makes me wonder how long it takes to make one of them... A LONG time. There must be a Royal Tailor's Assistant position I could apply for...
The Garden's were once again, as the rest of the palace, perfectly classical. The leaves are just starting to change the tiniest bit, so there was a nice gradient to the colours of the trees and plants. I met a very nice lady from Florida who had been touring the UK for a couple of weeks. She took my picture and we parted at the Garden gates. They only let you see a tiny portion of the palace and gardens, for security reasons, I'm sure. The security guards were all very nice, but looked terribly bored. Happy and cheerful, but bored.
I walked around the perimeter of the Palace waiting for Apryl to call me. She and Daye went to Westminster Abby while I was touring the state rooms. I walked past the Duke of Wales arch... at least I think it was the Duke of Wales... I'll have to verify that.
I also walked by St. James's Park which is a very nice park outside of the entrance of Buckingham palace. I also walked around the mall in front of the palace, and it was surprisingly not very crowded (the changing of the guard was not that day). I understand why they don't let anyone know when they are changing the guard, because then all of the tourist companies in London would probably try to book their time for it... it would get rather ugly, I would imagine. They don't tell anyone when they are changing the guard. You don't know unless you walk by and look at the gates. There was a sign that said, "No Changing of the Guard Today". It doesn't look like it does on TV. On TV it looks like there would be huge buildings behind the camera, and that you are on a narrow street, but it's actually a huge mall with a very large fountain and it is blocked off to traffic. The nearest building is very far away and there is St. James's park which is very large and full of large trees. There is still "VR" on everything in Buckingham palace for Queen Victoria. The Royal mail service has "E II R" for Elizabeth the Second, although there is one in Brighton that says, "GR" for King George. But I guess they keep the "VR" for historical reasons. She was one of England's greatest monarchs.
I was reading an article about a family who received an honor for their son whom died while in Iraq, and I was very surprised to read that one of the recipients accused the Queen of not responding quickly enough. It's tough being the queen. I am not under the illusion that she lives a life of luxury. Monetarily wise, yes. But her life is not easy, by any means.
I saw the lady from Florida again and she let me see her map which was a terrible one, by the way. Tourist maps are awful. They didn't have road names or anything. Just famous locations without any help or hint about how to get to them by the underground, or walking, or anything. I also had some people ask me if I was local and if I knew how to get to Westminster. I also had people ask me where Hyde Park was. At least it's good to know it looked as if I knew where I was going.
Apryl eventually called me saying they were through at Westminster Abbey and were waiting for me at Leicester Square (pronounced "Lester" square), which is where all of the movies premier in Europe. So, I started walking, in what I thought was, that direction. It wasn't until about half an hour later that I realized I had just walked all the way around Buckingham palace...twice. Finally, I made it to Victoria station, but couldn't find the Underground terminals... they were right behind me. So after feeling stupid about that, I got on the circle line going in the wrong direction. Luckily, I realized something wasn't right and got off at the next stop. I looked carefully at the map and determined I needed to take the District line East to the stop that changed to the Northern line, got out and determined I needed the Northern line North, but somehow, magically, ended up on the Southbound platform, but I learned from my mistake before, checked again, realized I was on the wrong platform, so I went back the other way. I had missed one little turn. It would be really easy to get lost in the underground if there weren't signs everywhere. It's still easy to get lost even though there are signs everywhere. I had some girls ask me where the exit was, and I pointed at the sign and said, "It says the 'Way Out' is that way", right in front of them. I felt their exasperation...
Anyway, I FINALLY made it to the Leicester/China town stop, and walked through China Town. Had to ask a guy at a news kiosk how to get to Leicester Square.. he just looked at me blankly for a second and said, "You just cross the street".
*sigh*
I got the total crash course in how to get around London.
I thought it was interesting... I asked a Londoner how to get to Westminster Abbey and he only knew how to get there by the tube. He had no idea how to get there by walking.
I was expecting it to be like New York where the Subway is located at predictable locations and the roads would have some sort of rhyme or reason to them, but I was wrong, and once again, LONDON IS NOTHING LIKE NEW YORK.
So, I had a sandwich in Leicester Square and watched a policeman interrogate some guys on the other end of the park. I think he arrested them. The guy acted really tough at first, but that police man was tougher. He interrogated three of them by himself and then called another policeman to talk to them. That was strange.
The pigeons scared Apryl. She was afraid they would run into her face. They did come awfully close, but none of them hit you. I was just afraid they would poop on me. I hate it when they do that. There are some gnarly, beat up pigeons in England. Some of them are so ugly. Pigeons aren't very pretty birds to begin with, but when they have red eyes and look like they haven't bathed in weeks, it's worse. The attraction is less. A lot of them have the mange, or the bird's equivalent because their feathers are all thin and falling out. I think it's because they eat human food and don't get the right bird nutrition. And people DO feed them! I could punch those people in the face! DON'T FEED THE BIRDS! There are signs all over saying this, but they do it anyway... I bet they are American... But I try to do the proper thing and pretend to try and kick them when they start circling round me like the pack of vicious possessed creatures they are.
So, after the sandwich, we walked through China town and down to Soho. We went into Hamley's Toy Store where it must be a policy to know where everyone is from. Everyone in that store asked where we were from. One guy tried to guess, "Let me guess, French?"
"No."
"Italy?"
"No."
"Spain? Germany? Denmark? Switzerland?"
Apryl piped and said, "It's not in Europe."
"Canada?"
"No."
"American?!"
"Yep."
"I knew that..." Although, poor guy, I was wearing the Canadian pin my parents got me when they went to Bamf, so the Canadian one was a good guess. But I thought he would have guessed that first... guess not. I thought that was hilarious, though.
And he had actually been to Idaho. He said it was his favorite country he had ever been to. He had gone on a road trip through 25 states and loved it. He asked Apryl where she was from and she said, "New Mexico."
"That's not part of the U.S.... is it?"
"Yes!!"
Ha ha ha!
Anyway, Hamley's was a lot of fun. Five levels of nothing but awesome toys. We were all very happy there. We spent two hours in there. We were waiting for about 6:45 to roll around so we could go back to the West End and get discounted student tickets to Les Miserables. It was drizzling, or misting more like it, off and on. We walked up and down some side streets in the Soho district and eventually made our way back to the West End. The buildings in New York City are so tall they almost completely block out the sky, but the buildings in London are very short. Only a few stories tall. One commonality London has with New York is it's inhabitants walk everywhere. Although there are a lot more residential drivers, but a lot of people still walk. Jaywalking is not illegal here, but you better be careful! Those hackeys won't slow down unless they absolutely must. They just honk their horn and they don't slow down, they just make sure you are running for your life. I didn't have to run for my life, but I saw quite a few of other people sprint to the curb.
After returning to the West End, we frantically looked for a cash machine so we could buy the Les Miserable tickets. Originally, if you are buying before 7:00pm, tickets are 59 pounds. But, if you are a student, and subject to availability you show up and pay in cash after 7:00pm, they sell you the tickets for 27.50 Pounds. Awesome! So, three of us got to see the show for less than two people would be able to see the show. That made us very happy. Les Miserables had terrific singers, the set revolved and was very intricate, but still really cool. I shed many tears during the course of the show. The show always makes me cry. Just the piercing words and story and music... it all combines to make me cry. But in a good way. They got a standing ovation at the end and three bows. They did a great job. Jean val Jean was REALLY good. As was the "Master of the House" and his wife. Eponine was very loveable, as was the little kid who gets shot. He was awesome. The acting was very good. The captain, Chaevin, (I can't spell his name) was a terrific singer as was Fontine... All of them were so good. There wasn't anyone who was short of the mark, except one guy who was fidgeting in the background when he was supposed to be a ghost during the song, "Empty Chairs and Empty Tables"... but it was still alright. I enjoyed it thoroughly, we all did. The stage was very small, compared to the large stages of NYC. The theatre wasn't even that large. I have a couple pictures of it... It was not very wide, but very deep. The actors wore their microphones on their foreheads.. it took me a little while to figure out what those dots on their heads were... and the band was amazing. They were wonderful.
At the end we exited into the very busy, crowded street, and crossed back through China Town and got on the train to Victoria station. We caught the 11:06 back to Brighton and then walked to the Bus stop by Churchill Square. We got back to the flat at almost 2:00am. I was so tired, but it was so much fun!!! I can't wait until I go to London again... I now have three top cities: NYC, Sydney, and London. I want to make it to the British Museum soon, they have a Moctezuma and Aztec exhibit going on until June that I would really like to see.
Thursday the 24th, I slept most of the day waking up at noon. I got a note from someone saying our advisers needed at least six people to go to a photo shoot at the Moulescoumbe campus for the American Office. So, I went and did that. They said they might send me some pictures, but I doubt I will see them any time soon. Based on the time frame everything else seems to happen. Mary and Zoe drove us there, but I didn't want to go back, so I rode the bus into town and saw some people I knew. I rode up to Churchill Square and went shopping at Primark, discovered a craft store (with lots of nice yarn!) and got some groceries at Marks & Spencer which is a clothing/grocery market. A lot clothing stores, or department stores have their own grocery sections, or restaurants, or cafes. It's very convenient and saves on building space and cost, I suppose.
I got back to the flat and cooked meself some chicken, potatoes, mushrooms, and parsnips. It was a very white meal. I didn't realize it until I was cooking all of it how uncolourful the food looked. But, I suppose that fits into English cuisine. I met Harman's friend Sumi and we went out on the town. We went to a pub and then to the dance club "Oceana" which is the first hip-hop club I have ever been to. It was pretty interesting. There were a lot of strange people there, obviously, I expected that. And it was really hard to dance because there were so many people. I always attract the weirdos, I swear. So, because of that, we left. Went home and went to sleep.
Friday, the 25th, I woke up kind of late because, obviously, I was really tired. Then I went to the office and got my classes figured out, I hope. I will be taking Visual Culture, Communication Ethics, Drama in Society (which I hope isn't like Theatre 101..I already took that class), and Literature, Criticism, and Theory. This is the equivalent of 18 credits. I have class Tues-Friday, but my Friday class ends at 11am, so I have all day Friday-Monday free. Hooray! Visual Culture is a five hour class. Classes run in lectures and seminars. There is one lecture and one seminar per class each week. Some classes are only three hours per week, or two hours. But that Visual Culture class should be fun. The syllabus seemed very exciting.
So Young and I took a long walk up on the South Downs. You can look and see Brighton from the top of the meadow. There are snails everywhere and in all the vegetation, so when you are walking in the grass, you can hear them crunching under your feet (a rather unnerving snapping sound). We saw some cows. And a couple of back packers, one of them with their son. You can also see the little village by Sussex University, which I think is Falmer Village, but I'm not sure. All of the houses are brick colored. So Young thought the little fringing wood was like a jungle and she kept saying, "Agh! A bug!" And jumped two feet off the ground when a butterfly flitted past her. It was really funny.
The only other thing that happened on Friday was laundry (so exciting!) I was running out of clean clothes and the end of my bed was starting to smell unpleasant. I bundled all of my clothes in my Sarong from the British Virgin Islands and hoofed it Santa style to the laundry room. It is so nice to have clean clothes and clean jeans, mainly. I only brought four pairs of jeans, so they were VERY well worn in, having been worn for two weeks straight among the four of them.
I also talked to my family for about two hours. Other than that, Friday was very quiet. I spent almost all of the day alone in my room, cleaning it and doing laundry.
Saturday the 26th, today, I wrote some postcards, and went with Apryl to Sainsbury's for cake mix for Minjung's birthday tonight, and some other necessities. I finally bought a little plant for my home. I hope I can keep it alive. It makes the room feel a little homier. It needs a bright room without direct light, which is my room to a 'T'. I don't get direct sunlight until about 4pm. And most of the room never sees direct sunlight, although it is a bright room. The plant is a Camillia. Being Saturday, there were a lot of little tykes football matches outside of my window. It was nice to listen to the little kids calling and shouting about. The rest of day has been spent writing about London and the rest of my week, which has taken me three hours. I hope you appreciate this. I've been listening to music a lot and talking to some friends and flat mates.
Apryl and I baked the cake and it smells delicious! It is the first thing we have really baked since we've lived here and it makes the flat seem so much more homey. We also blew up a lot of balloons, and got really light headed so with all the baking and lack of oxygen we were very giggly.
Today I got an e-mail about rehearsing with a cabaret band, which is exciting. It's nice to be in a culture mecca where art and creativity can bloom. As ridiculous as that sounds, I believe it. I'm supposed to have an interview for it later this week, I hope. They are supposed to call me tomorrow... We'll see how that goes.
The sun is setting now and turning the the orange walls in the kitchen into an unbelievably vibrant neon orange. The sunsets are always spectacular here. I'm getting more and more attached everyday. Which is a good thing, I suppose since I will be here for a while.
Although, right now I am listening to Michael Buble's "Lady in Red" which always makes me feel very wistful about romance and always makes me feel as if I need a hug...
I miss my hugs.
But! Enough of that, Michael Buble! I refuse to feel sad right now. Life is awesome.
Cheers!
Hannah
On Wednesday the 23rd, Laura, Daye, Apryl and I caught the 9:05 train from Falmer (where we live at Paddock Fields on the South Downs) to Brighton Station, when we then caught the 9:30 or 9:45 to London. The trip to London took about 45 minutes including all of the stops at the surrounding villages. We arrived at Victoria station at about 10:15/20, I suppose and walked to Buckingham palace. I was expecting the main Victoria station terminal to be much larger than it actually is. I was imagining something on the scale of Grand Central station, but it was nowhere near as large. Which brings to the front of my mind an important fact: London is NOTHING like New York City. And Brighton is not, "the little London by the sea"... It is nothing like it at all. The comparisons are ridiculous. London is London, and that's all there is to it.
At Buckingham palace, I went and saw the Queen's gallery and the state rooms. Although the collection displayed at the Queen's gallery was not remarkably large, it was beautifully exquisite almost to an unbelievable degree. The craftsmanship of all the items was inexplicable. The detail in the tapestries, painting, Fabrege eggs, Savre porcelain, furniture, inlaid chests, metalwork, everything was breathtaking. Each piece took months, some of them took years to complete, and the effort they put into them really shows. It makes me want to learn that kind of patience so I can create such beautiful things. I discovered that my new favorite colors are a Savre blue called, "Petit Verde", which means a blue that's a "little green" and the blue, "bleu celeste" which is a beautiful turquoise blue. To make the porcelain, they first mix the paste, then shape it, fire it, and after all of the handles have been attached, they decorate them. They apply a "ground", which is a background colour, in layers until they get the desired depth of color, and then the paint scenes or designs on top of that, firing after each layer of colour, and finish with a gold enamel and gloss and a final firing. Savre is still in production today, actually. They used to only make "soft porcelain" which required more firings and was more temperamental with the kiln, but now they only create "hard porcelain" products because of it's superior look, firing properties, and pliability. The process to make hard porcelain was not used by Savre until the 1760's. Until that time, only the Chinese knew how to make it, using an ingredient missing in the soft porcelain. Eventually, soft porcelain was abandoned because of it's tricky nature.
There were some paintings from the 1600's, as well as "caskets" (used as packaging, not something to bury a dead person). There were several beautiful gifts and things from India and other nations. There are many Fabrege artifacts as well, not only the famous eggs, but stamps and little figurines all made from precious stones and semi-precious gems, carved, polished and decorated.
There was a lovely painting by a woman, but I can't remember her name. It was huge! She would have had to have a ladder to paint it, or turn it on it's side. The painting must have been nine feet long! Everything just had an air of pride and regal finery. But nothing in Buckingham palace is "overdone". Everything is perfectly placed and perfectly classical. There is nothing distasteful of any of it. Even though there is a lot of pride, it is not boastful or ugly.
"Where there is a real superiority of mind, pride will always be in good measure," said Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice.
A lot of the British people walking around became very excited as they walked through the rooms, realizing this is where other country's diplomats would be walking. They are very proud of their heritage. And why shouldn't they be? They are one of the oldest countries in the world.
There was a special exhibit of the Queen's dresses and her gifts when she visited the Common Wealths or Great Britain. I thought to myself, "America would have part of the common wealth." and that was a strange thought. There was nothing even remotely hinting at American culture, except for some Innuit carvings from Canada. I saw some familiar work from the Maori's and Australia, which was nice to see. I love Aboriginal and Maori works of art. The Maori's carvings are so beautiful and ornate with mother of pearl accents and the painting patterns of the Aboriginal people are so vibrant and colorful. Seeing the blunt style of the Australians was also refreshing from the entirely classical interior of the State rooms. Classical interiors are beautiful and lovely, but there was no funk anywhere. Everything was just perfect. And while it was beautiful, it was almost unbearably perfect. But it does command respect, and I mean no disrespect to the neo-classical taste. I am very fond of neo-classicism and classical styles. However, I would not want to live in those conditions... I would be too scared to touch anything! I hope the Queen does not live with that kind of stress.
Her dresses were beautiful, by the way. Of course. Perfectly tasteful, modest, cut, sewn, decorated, tailored, etc. Just perfect. I would be too scared to put on something that expensive. It would feel very strange. The most expensive thing I have ever worn was worth $200. To wear a dress worth thousands, maybe priceless, would be scary! I would be nervous just wearing the dress, maybe I wouldn't be nervous meeting the country's diplomats, but I would be nervous I would mess up the dress. It would make it hard for me to concentrate. But it makes me wonder how long it takes to make one of them... A LONG time. There must be a Royal Tailor's Assistant position I could apply for...
The Garden's were once again, as the rest of the palace, perfectly classical. The leaves are just starting to change the tiniest bit, so there was a nice gradient to the colours of the trees and plants. I met a very nice lady from Florida who had been touring the UK for a couple of weeks. She took my picture and we parted at the Garden gates. They only let you see a tiny portion of the palace and gardens, for security reasons, I'm sure. The security guards were all very nice, but looked terribly bored. Happy and cheerful, but bored.
I walked around the perimeter of the Palace waiting for Apryl to call me. She and Daye went to Westminster Abby while I was touring the state rooms. I walked past the Duke of Wales arch... at least I think it was the Duke of Wales... I'll have to verify that.
I also walked by St. James's Park which is a very nice park outside of the entrance of Buckingham palace. I also walked around the mall in front of the palace, and it was surprisingly not very crowded (the changing of the guard was not that day). I understand why they don't let anyone know when they are changing the guard, because then all of the tourist companies in London would probably try to book their time for it... it would get rather ugly, I would imagine. They don't tell anyone when they are changing the guard. You don't know unless you walk by and look at the gates. There was a sign that said, "No Changing of the Guard Today". It doesn't look like it does on TV. On TV it looks like there would be huge buildings behind the camera, and that you are on a narrow street, but it's actually a huge mall with a very large fountain and it is blocked off to traffic. The nearest building is very far away and there is St. James's park which is very large and full of large trees. There is still "VR" on everything in Buckingham palace for Queen Victoria. The Royal mail service has "E II R" for Elizabeth the Second, although there is one in Brighton that says, "GR" for King George. But I guess they keep the "VR" for historical reasons. She was one of England's greatest monarchs.
I was reading an article about a family who received an honor for their son whom died while in Iraq, and I was very surprised to read that one of the recipients accused the Queen of not responding quickly enough. It's tough being the queen. I am not under the illusion that she lives a life of luxury. Monetarily wise, yes. But her life is not easy, by any means.
I saw the lady from Florida again and she let me see her map which was a terrible one, by the way. Tourist maps are awful. They didn't have road names or anything. Just famous locations without any help or hint about how to get to them by the underground, or walking, or anything. I also had some people ask me if I was local and if I knew how to get to Westminster. I also had people ask me where Hyde Park was. At least it's good to know it looked as if I knew where I was going.
Apryl eventually called me saying they were through at Westminster Abbey and were waiting for me at Leicester Square (pronounced "Lester" square), which is where all of the movies premier in Europe. So, I started walking, in what I thought was, that direction. It wasn't until about half an hour later that I realized I had just walked all the way around Buckingham palace...twice. Finally, I made it to Victoria station, but couldn't find the Underground terminals... they were right behind me. So after feeling stupid about that, I got on the circle line going in the wrong direction. Luckily, I realized something wasn't right and got off at the next stop. I looked carefully at the map and determined I needed to take the District line East to the stop that changed to the Northern line, got out and determined I needed the Northern line North, but somehow, magically, ended up on the Southbound platform, but I learned from my mistake before, checked again, realized I was on the wrong platform, so I went back the other way. I had missed one little turn. It would be really easy to get lost in the underground if there weren't signs everywhere. It's still easy to get lost even though there are signs everywhere. I had some girls ask me where the exit was, and I pointed at the sign and said, "It says the 'Way Out' is that way", right in front of them. I felt their exasperation...
Anyway, I FINALLY made it to the Leicester/China town stop, and walked through China Town. Had to ask a guy at a news kiosk how to get to Leicester Square.. he just looked at me blankly for a second and said, "You just cross the street".
*sigh*
I got the total crash course in how to get around London.
I thought it was interesting... I asked a Londoner how to get to Westminster Abbey and he only knew how to get there by the tube. He had no idea how to get there by walking.
I was expecting it to be like New York where the Subway is located at predictable locations and the roads would have some sort of rhyme or reason to them, but I was wrong, and once again, LONDON IS NOTHING LIKE NEW YORK.
So, I had a sandwich in Leicester Square and watched a policeman interrogate some guys on the other end of the park. I think he arrested them. The guy acted really tough at first, but that police man was tougher. He interrogated three of them by himself and then called another policeman to talk to them. That was strange.
The pigeons scared Apryl. She was afraid they would run into her face. They did come awfully close, but none of them hit you. I was just afraid they would poop on me. I hate it when they do that. There are some gnarly, beat up pigeons in England. Some of them are so ugly. Pigeons aren't very pretty birds to begin with, but when they have red eyes and look like they haven't bathed in weeks, it's worse. The attraction is less. A lot of them have the mange, or the bird's equivalent because their feathers are all thin and falling out. I think it's because they eat human food and don't get the right bird nutrition. And people DO feed them! I could punch those people in the face! DON'T FEED THE BIRDS! There are signs all over saying this, but they do it anyway... I bet they are American... But I try to do the proper thing and pretend to try and kick them when they start circling round me like the pack of vicious possessed creatures they are.
So, after the sandwich, we walked through China town and down to Soho. We went into Hamley's Toy Store where it must be a policy to know where everyone is from. Everyone in that store asked where we were from. One guy tried to guess, "Let me guess, French?"
"No."
"Italy?"
"No."
"Spain? Germany? Denmark? Switzerland?"
Apryl piped and said, "It's not in Europe."
"Canada?"
"No."
"American?!"
"Yep."
"I knew that..." Although, poor guy, I was wearing the Canadian pin my parents got me when they went to Bamf, so the Canadian one was a good guess. But I thought he would have guessed that first... guess not. I thought that was hilarious, though.
And he had actually been to Idaho. He said it was his favorite country he had ever been to. He had gone on a road trip through 25 states and loved it. He asked Apryl where she was from and she said, "New Mexico."
"That's not part of the U.S.... is it?"
"Yes!!"
Ha ha ha!
Anyway, Hamley's was a lot of fun. Five levels of nothing but awesome toys. We were all very happy there. We spent two hours in there. We were waiting for about 6:45 to roll around so we could go back to the West End and get discounted student tickets to Les Miserables. It was drizzling, or misting more like it, off and on. We walked up and down some side streets in the Soho district and eventually made our way back to the West End. The buildings in New York City are so tall they almost completely block out the sky, but the buildings in London are very short. Only a few stories tall. One commonality London has with New York is it's inhabitants walk everywhere. Although there are a lot more residential drivers, but a lot of people still walk. Jaywalking is not illegal here, but you better be careful! Those hackeys won't slow down unless they absolutely must. They just honk their horn and they don't slow down, they just make sure you are running for your life. I didn't have to run for my life, but I saw quite a few of other people sprint to the curb.
After returning to the West End, we frantically looked for a cash machine so we could buy the Les Miserable tickets. Originally, if you are buying before 7:00pm, tickets are 59 pounds. But, if you are a student, and subject to availability you show up and pay in cash after 7:00pm, they sell you the tickets for 27.50 Pounds. Awesome! So, three of us got to see the show for less than two people would be able to see the show. That made us very happy. Les Miserables had terrific singers, the set revolved and was very intricate, but still really cool. I shed many tears during the course of the show. The show always makes me cry. Just the piercing words and story and music... it all combines to make me cry. But in a good way. They got a standing ovation at the end and three bows. They did a great job. Jean val Jean was REALLY good. As was the "Master of the House" and his wife. Eponine was very loveable, as was the little kid who gets shot. He was awesome. The acting was very good. The captain, Chaevin, (I can't spell his name) was a terrific singer as was Fontine... All of them were so good. There wasn't anyone who was short of the mark, except one guy who was fidgeting in the background when he was supposed to be a ghost during the song, "Empty Chairs and Empty Tables"... but it was still alright. I enjoyed it thoroughly, we all did. The stage was very small, compared to the large stages of NYC. The theatre wasn't even that large. I have a couple pictures of it... It was not very wide, but very deep. The actors wore their microphones on their foreheads.. it took me a little while to figure out what those dots on their heads were... and the band was amazing. They were wonderful.
At the end we exited into the very busy, crowded street, and crossed back through China Town and got on the train to Victoria station. We caught the 11:06 back to Brighton and then walked to the Bus stop by Churchill Square. We got back to the flat at almost 2:00am. I was so tired, but it was so much fun!!! I can't wait until I go to London again... I now have three top cities: NYC, Sydney, and London. I want to make it to the British Museum soon, they have a Moctezuma and Aztec exhibit going on until June that I would really like to see.
Thursday the 24th, I slept most of the day waking up at noon. I got a note from someone saying our advisers needed at least six people to go to a photo shoot at the Moulescoumbe campus for the American Office. So, I went and did that. They said they might send me some pictures, but I doubt I will see them any time soon. Based on the time frame everything else seems to happen. Mary and Zoe drove us there, but I didn't want to go back, so I rode the bus into town and saw some people I knew. I rode up to Churchill Square and went shopping at Primark, discovered a craft store (with lots of nice yarn!) and got some groceries at Marks & Spencer which is a clothing/grocery market. A lot clothing stores, or department stores have their own grocery sections, or restaurants, or cafes. It's very convenient and saves on building space and cost, I suppose.
I got back to the flat and cooked meself some chicken, potatoes, mushrooms, and parsnips. It was a very white meal. I didn't realize it until I was cooking all of it how uncolourful the food looked. But, I suppose that fits into English cuisine. I met Harman's friend Sumi and we went out on the town. We went to a pub and then to the dance club "Oceana" which is the first hip-hop club I have ever been to. It was pretty interesting. There were a lot of strange people there, obviously, I expected that. And it was really hard to dance because there were so many people. I always attract the weirdos, I swear. So, because of that, we left. Went home and went to sleep.
Friday, the 25th, I woke up kind of late because, obviously, I was really tired. Then I went to the office and got my classes figured out, I hope. I will be taking Visual Culture, Communication Ethics, Drama in Society (which I hope isn't like Theatre 101..I already took that class), and Literature, Criticism, and Theory. This is the equivalent of 18 credits. I have class Tues-Friday, but my Friday class ends at 11am, so I have all day Friday-Monday free. Hooray! Visual Culture is a five hour class. Classes run in lectures and seminars. There is one lecture and one seminar per class each week. Some classes are only three hours per week, or two hours. But that Visual Culture class should be fun. The syllabus seemed very exciting.
So Young and I took a long walk up on the South Downs. You can look and see Brighton from the top of the meadow. There are snails everywhere and in all the vegetation, so when you are walking in the grass, you can hear them crunching under your feet (a rather unnerving snapping sound). We saw some cows. And a couple of back packers, one of them with their son. You can also see the little village by Sussex University, which I think is Falmer Village, but I'm not sure. All of the houses are brick colored. So Young thought the little fringing wood was like a jungle and she kept saying, "Agh! A bug!" And jumped two feet off the ground when a butterfly flitted past her. It was really funny.
The only other thing that happened on Friday was laundry (so exciting!) I was running out of clean clothes and the end of my bed was starting to smell unpleasant. I bundled all of my clothes in my Sarong from the British Virgin Islands and hoofed it Santa style to the laundry room. It is so nice to have clean clothes and clean jeans, mainly. I only brought four pairs of jeans, so they were VERY well worn in, having been worn for two weeks straight among the four of them.
I also talked to my family for about two hours. Other than that, Friday was very quiet. I spent almost all of the day alone in my room, cleaning it and doing laundry.
Saturday the 26th, today, I wrote some postcards, and went with Apryl to Sainsbury's for cake mix for Minjung's birthday tonight, and some other necessities. I finally bought a little plant for my home. I hope I can keep it alive. It makes the room feel a little homier. It needs a bright room without direct light, which is my room to a 'T'. I don't get direct sunlight until about 4pm. And most of the room never sees direct sunlight, although it is a bright room. The plant is a Camillia. Being Saturday, there were a lot of little tykes football matches outside of my window. It was nice to listen to the little kids calling and shouting about. The rest of day has been spent writing about London and the rest of my week, which has taken me three hours. I hope you appreciate this. I've been listening to music a lot and talking to some friends and flat mates.
Apryl and I baked the cake and it smells delicious! It is the first thing we have really baked since we've lived here and it makes the flat seem so much more homey. We also blew up a lot of balloons, and got really light headed so with all the baking and lack of oxygen we were very giggly.
Today I got an e-mail about rehearsing with a cabaret band, which is exciting. It's nice to be in a culture mecca where art and creativity can bloom. As ridiculous as that sounds, I believe it. I'm supposed to have an interview for it later this week, I hope. They are supposed to call me tomorrow... We'll see how that goes.
The sun is setting now and turning the the orange walls in the kitchen into an unbelievably vibrant neon orange. The sunsets are always spectacular here. I'm getting more and more attached everyday. Which is a good thing, I suppose since I will be here for a while.
Although, right now I am listening to Michael Buble's "Lady in Red" which always makes me feel very wistful about romance and always makes me feel as if I need a hug...
I miss my hugs.
But! Enough of that, Michael Buble! I refuse to feel sad right now. Life is awesome.
Cheers!
Hannah
Friday, September 25, 2009
Brighton: Week 2
Friday, the eighteenth of September found me restlessly wandering around Brighton thinking of where I was going to go. Friday, nothing much happened. I enjoyed some excellent authentic Italian food with Apryl, one of my excellent flat-mates. I had a delicious soup for the anti-pasta, pork sausage with lentils and mashed potatoes, and tiramisu for dessert. The tiramisu was so delicious, I could hardly contain my excitement. I think I started laughing a few times just for the sheer pleasure my mouth was experiencing. Everything was delicious, actually. I have discovered recently that I love food. I used to think I could take or leave any sustenance as long as it was somewhat nutritious and kept me going, but having all of this wonderful authentic cuisine brings out the food-lover in me. And I can't help myself but want to eat and eat and eat. But that was the highlight for that day. It was otherwise rather uneventful. Did some grocery shopping, and played at the beach. The water underground wells up in streams in the sand when the tide is out and because there are large pebbles under the fine sand, and it makes something like a quick-sand puddle, except your feet stop at larger pebbles. But you step into it and sink up to your knees in water and sand. It was a lovely day. Apryl and I enjoyed our day out. I tossed some rocks into the ocean and generally was exhilarated by the cold ocean water (I have not felt it in so long!).
Saturday was much more eventful. Apryl and I went to Churchill Square and was amazed by the droves of people. There were so many people shopping in Primark, I felt if there was to be a fire, a lot of people would get trampled by the stampede of the crowd. These are the lovely thoughts that run through my mind when I am in extremely crowded conditions. Needless to say, we didn't stay in Primark for long. Apryl and I walked to a little cafe across the street and I got a muffin and Coca-Cola. I wrote a whole research paper on Coca-Cola once. About how it was originally made with cocaine, fermented tea bags, and the kola nut. When the FDA got on their case about their brewing process, Coca-Cola had to change their product to fit within the guidelines set by the FDA.
Anyway, that's just a side note. It was the first UK Coke I had and it was different from American Coke. I think they actually still use some fermented product in the Cokes here. But they taste pretty good. Less chemicals, I think.
The entire organic/green/preservative free thing is HUGE here. In Moscow, Idaho it's a pretty big deal as well, but here they are about ten times as vigilant about it. They charge you for grocery bags (5p per bag), and encourage recycling on everything. This "earth friendly" approach is very prevalent in Brighton. There are recycling centers for shoes, bras, couches, eye-glasses, clothes, and more. But there's not just one center for this, they are spread out all over the city. You also see a lot of people with dreadlocks and the entire "hippie" look. The city is very "artsy" and bohemian. There are quite a few street performers, and every night, you see at least four people sitting in the door ways of closed shops asking for money or food. Just sitting there reading a book or smoking. Lounging about. People are very friendly with them and talk to them often.
Anyway, after we were in Primark and the cafe, Apryl and I walked around the mall in Churchill Square to see what there was to see. Lots of clothes, very nice clothes, and very nice shoes, perfume, anything and everything you can imagine. There was also a hair-removal booth where, apparently, they use this cotton string to grasp the hairs on your face, and then they just pull. I was going to see how it was done, but then I thought I wouldn't want someone watching me if I had it done, so Apryl and I made ourselves scarce and went elsewhere.
Parents are very patient with their children, and in general, children are very sweet little things. I have only seen two parents cross with their children in public since I've been here. Most of the parents are very lenient with their children, waiting until they go to last possible ring of obnoxiousness or safety before taking definitive action. They watch their kids very closely, though. They never take their eyes off of them, which is a good way to go. But for the most part, the children are lovely sweet things. But children, in general, are this way.
I bought a really nice sweater in a light mint green at the mall. I also got the new Muse CD: The Resistance, which I have listened to everyday since then. I am going to see Muse in November when they come to London and I am so pumped! They are one of my favorite bands of all time. So talented, all of them. My favorite track on the new album is called "Resistance", and it touches the heart strings. Such a haunting song, bittersweet and painful. For some reason, unbeknownst to me, I enjoy these kinds of songs. The sad ones. I like happy music as well, but something about a good blues song, or sad love song hits me home. I presume I am not the only one it effects this way, otherwise Muse would not be so popular. All of their songs have that haunting creepy, loving, passionate tone. They mix distortion with classical music, interweaving their own melodies into those of Chopin, Puccini, and other famous melodies. Their harmonies are pleasingly dissonant, their singing style is raw and refined in the same breath, and their entire works are a compilation of contradictions which blend to create a wonderful world full of different perspectives. Their lyrics are straightforward and poetic, getting their point across in one song, in a creative way. Needless to say, I am a huge fan.
Anyway, we spent all day at the mall on Saturday, basically, and after we returned to the flat, we prepared to go out with a group of other kids. We went to the King and Queen where I met a very funny Londoner. His name was Craig, and he was an adamant supporter of Barack Obama. He told me the English were very political people. And I would definitely agree. One thing about the English is they are DEFINITELY NOT passive. They state their opinions openly and decidedly. Which is rather refreshing from the American passive aggressive approach. Craig told me sarcasm was the property of the British and I could not use it, being American. We just gave each other a hard time. He asked me, "So, what do you think of us Londoners? Witty? Good-looking? Charming?"
"Ahh... fishing for compliments are we?"
"But we are very outgoing."
"Yes, I will give you that, the English are very outgoing and friendly."
Which is true.
I've had a lot of guys kiss my hand. And take my hand in both of theirs. They also do the kiss-on-the-cheek thing here, apparently. I'm glad Craig told me about that... We don't do that in America... which is kind of a bummer because it's a very sweet gesture, if done properly. Basically it means, "thank you so very much, I wish you the best". As does the hand-kissing. It's a formal good-bye. They kiss your hand and your cheek when they are leaving you. It's really cool...
Anyway, later that night, we were trying to find a club to go to that was not 5 pounds or more for entry fee (too much!). So, we ended up walking around for quite a while and ran into this place called "The Ocean Rooms", which could have been a pretty nice club except the lighting was terrible and the rooms were extremely dirty... And there wasn't music, it was noise. So we got out of there quickly.
Kirstyn and I went home and left Harman and Navjot to their own devices. Late night bus rides are always very interesting. Generally there aren't that many people about and the ones that are there are always interesting. Anyway, we made it home safely, and I slept soundly...
On Sunday, I met a graduate student from Niger in Africa. He told me there are very abrupt social classes in Niger. You are either very rich or very poor. He said that most people wanted to get into politics because there is a lot of money involved, and the government really does not care about the poor people. We talked about religion and Christianity and I tried to draw the pier, but soon lost patience. I really don't like drawing buildings. And so I drew him instead. It's the first African-American I have drawn from life... come to think of it, it's the second man I've drawn from life (the other is my dad) It didn't end up looking very much like him, because I haven't drawn a portrait in so long. Apryl and I wandered around on the beach and Apryl had Thai food for the first time. It was very delicious. I had Pad Khing, I think. And she had sweet and sour chicken. She liked it better than Chinese food! I am so happy. Another converted one. We also tried to go Sainsbury's, the big supermarket, but they close at 4pm, or 16:00, on Sundays so we went to the little gas station across the street, the Marks & Spencer "Simply Food" market. Petrol was 1.09/9 for unleaded and 1.08/9 for Diesel. Most of the cars here are manual drive.
Sunday night, the flat mates and I went to the King and Queen again to listen to the Battle of the Bands. The first guy sounded like a dirty Spongebob Squarepants song, the second guys didn't have a sound check, so all that was heard was the bass and drums, the third people were a pretty good eclectic group, but not that memorable, and I didn't listen the last band because I left with Apryl. I played some pool with Harman, Navjot, and Apryl, which was fun. Apryl made most of our balls, but Harman and Navjot ended up winning. The pool table was so small! And the pockets were tiny with really steep edges, so you couldn't bank a shot it, you had to shoot it almost straight into the pocket.
On Monday, Apryl and I went and got internet for our rooms (normality is restored!... wait), and I played soccer, WHOOPS! I mean "football" with Mickey, Harman, Katie, Laura, Cassie, and Navjot. We had a lot of fun. We also played American football, of a sort. We didn't have that many people, but it was still a lot of fun just playing a little scrimmage. Monday night, us footballists watched the movie "Superbad", and it was exactly as the title says.
Tuesday, we woke up early and went to orientation only to discover we really didn't need to be there. Story of the University of Brighton so far. You think you need to do something and turns out, it actually wasn't all that necessary. In other words, stress and anxiety about events in this place, is essentially, in a word, stupid. Things move so slowly, and people are so relaxed about everything, it's almost as if stress does not exist. But being Americans, we like our answers clear, concise, and on time. I keep realizing how rushed Americans are compared to these British here in Brighton. The American kids are all stressed about their classes and the British kids behave as if "uni" is just like a walk on the beach. The British do not allow themselves to get stressed, I believe. At least the ones here. Their attitude is very chill, friendly, and open. And they adamant about some things, but in an open way. They love to listen to you speak (maybe it's just the American accent they, "love"), and they really like good conversation and good speeches. A lot of them have mentioned they love Obama because he is really good at making speeches. Need I say I like these British people? Another thing I have noticed is Americans have VERY LOUD voices. They carry five times as far as the British and you can always tell when there are Americans on the bus because you can hear every word of their conversation. The British, in general, keep their voices pretty low. You can catch every other word, but you have to be listening. They are very talented in making their voices seem just part of the background noise.
So, since we had nothing more to do for orientation, I set out to the Marina to explore a part of Brighton I had not yet conquered. I took the 25C bus all the way to the end and hopped off at the Marina. I walked around a bit, but having not eaten that day, I could not keep my mind off of food. All I could think about was food. A common theme.
I lighted upon a pub and grille called, "The Harvester", which is, I gather, something of chain. The old man who was my waiter had a voice like nails on a chalkboard, but the mannerisms of a kindly man. However, he was a bit of a fright to look at. However, he sounded and looked as if he came from heaven as he asked me what I wanted... I was so happy to be getting food! I had an Elderberry "cordial" which is like a hand mixed soda type thing. It's syrup and carbonated water. It was so good! The Elderberry flavor is very distinct and I like it. I don't know what elderberry's smell like, but I gather they are unpleasant based up Monty Python's quote, "You mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberrys!"... oh the ways of education are wondrous.
I had fried mushrooms, and then BBQ chicken. I just sat there and smelled the BBQ sauce, drinking in the aroma of cooked meat; something, at the time, that seemed to be a distant legend in a forgotten land. I make it sound all romantic, but the food really was quite good. Although, English food has almost zero zest. They apparently do not like acrid tastes. Their "sour" candy is barely sour and they BBQ sauce is basically like Ketchup. However, the meat was good, so I do not complain about that. But English food, in general is much less spicy and flavorful than I am used to in the good old U.S. of A.
I rode by the "Brighton College" which is a prep school for girls and boys aged 3-13. I also went by the Royal Sussex Hospital which is housed in the same building it was founded in 1828. That is one old hospital. I don't know any more about it. That is all I saw from the bus. England has public health care, although you can have insurance if you want, but doctors keep "surgeries" not offices and on campus they are only in their "surgeries" three times a day for only two hours or so. August 1st is the day all of the medical students practice in the hospitals, and apparently, according to The Metro train paper, that day has a 6% higher death rate than other days. Yellow journalism, I say; how can you prove that? But, I still wouldn't want to be very ill in the hospital on that day. Anyway, all students are supposed to "register with the doctor", but of course being American, none of us know how, and the British forget that we don't. So, we have yet to discover how to register with the doctor. I will probably find out this coming week.
I like the area going towards the arena. It's very quiet and the little neighborhoods are very nice and tidy with their little "Argus" (which is the news store/candy shop/odds and ends/convenience store), and every block has a cafe or a little restaurant/pub. Pubs are very central part of the British community. Down at city centre, the pubs are a little noisy and rough with all of the college students, but in more residential areas, people are actually encouraged to bring their children to pubs and use them as friendly gathering places for the neighborhood.
I liked the Marina. It was a lot like America. Apryl said she got bored when she went there, but I liked looking around at the outlet stores and watching the people who looked so much more bored than I. I went to the ASDA supermarket (ASDA is actually a company in the Wal-Mart group) and I got some groceries for a decent price, which I was happy about because Sainsbury's is rather expensive.
As I was waiting at the bus stop, there were several deaf mutes waiting as well. They have the most expressive faces. Most deaf mutes I have seen have always looked so happy. And all of them I have seen are lovely people. Very nice and friendly. They were some elderly folk. There was a girl who "spoke" to them, so that was fun to watch. Tuesday, Laura and I also bought train tickets for the next day to London. Tuesday night is Karaoke night in Brighton, and although I love karaoke, I wanted to be well-rested for London, so I turned in early and told myself I would sing karaoke next week at the King and Queen.
London is a huge story in and of itself, so it will be posted tomorrow, but for now, I must go to sleep.
Cheers!
Han
Saturday was much more eventful. Apryl and I went to Churchill Square and was amazed by the droves of people. There were so many people shopping in Primark, I felt if there was to be a fire, a lot of people would get trampled by the stampede of the crowd. These are the lovely thoughts that run through my mind when I am in extremely crowded conditions. Needless to say, we didn't stay in Primark for long. Apryl and I walked to a little cafe across the street and I got a muffin and Coca-Cola. I wrote a whole research paper on Coca-Cola once. About how it was originally made with cocaine, fermented tea bags, and the kola nut. When the FDA got on their case about their brewing process, Coca-Cola had to change their product to fit within the guidelines set by the FDA.
Anyway, that's just a side note. It was the first UK Coke I had and it was different from American Coke. I think they actually still use some fermented product in the Cokes here. But they taste pretty good. Less chemicals, I think.
The entire organic/green/preservative free thing is HUGE here. In Moscow, Idaho it's a pretty big deal as well, but here they are about ten times as vigilant about it. They charge you for grocery bags (5p per bag), and encourage recycling on everything. This "earth friendly" approach is very prevalent in Brighton. There are recycling centers for shoes, bras, couches, eye-glasses, clothes, and more. But there's not just one center for this, they are spread out all over the city. You also see a lot of people with dreadlocks and the entire "hippie" look. The city is very "artsy" and bohemian. There are quite a few street performers, and every night, you see at least four people sitting in the door ways of closed shops asking for money or food. Just sitting there reading a book or smoking. Lounging about. People are very friendly with them and talk to them often.
Anyway, after we were in Primark and the cafe, Apryl and I walked around the mall in Churchill Square to see what there was to see. Lots of clothes, very nice clothes, and very nice shoes, perfume, anything and everything you can imagine. There was also a hair-removal booth where, apparently, they use this cotton string to grasp the hairs on your face, and then they just pull. I was going to see how it was done, but then I thought I wouldn't want someone watching me if I had it done, so Apryl and I made ourselves scarce and went elsewhere.
Parents are very patient with their children, and in general, children are very sweet little things. I have only seen two parents cross with their children in public since I've been here. Most of the parents are very lenient with their children, waiting until they go to last possible ring of obnoxiousness or safety before taking definitive action. They watch their kids very closely, though. They never take their eyes off of them, which is a good way to go. But for the most part, the children are lovely sweet things. But children, in general, are this way.
I bought a really nice sweater in a light mint green at the mall. I also got the new Muse CD: The Resistance, which I have listened to everyday since then. I am going to see Muse in November when they come to London and I am so pumped! They are one of my favorite bands of all time. So talented, all of them. My favorite track on the new album is called "Resistance", and it touches the heart strings. Such a haunting song, bittersweet and painful. For some reason, unbeknownst to me, I enjoy these kinds of songs. The sad ones. I like happy music as well, but something about a good blues song, or sad love song hits me home. I presume I am not the only one it effects this way, otherwise Muse would not be so popular. All of their songs have that haunting creepy, loving, passionate tone. They mix distortion with classical music, interweaving their own melodies into those of Chopin, Puccini, and other famous melodies. Their harmonies are pleasingly dissonant, their singing style is raw and refined in the same breath, and their entire works are a compilation of contradictions which blend to create a wonderful world full of different perspectives. Their lyrics are straightforward and poetic, getting their point across in one song, in a creative way. Needless to say, I am a huge fan.
Anyway, we spent all day at the mall on Saturday, basically, and after we returned to the flat, we prepared to go out with a group of other kids. We went to the King and Queen where I met a very funny Londoner. His name was Craig, and he was an adamant supporter of Barack Obama. He told me the English were very political people. And I would definitely agree. One thing about the English is they are DEFINITELY NOT passive. They state their opinions openly and decidedly. Which is rather refreshing from the American passive aggressive approach. Craig told me sarcasm was the property of the British and I could not use it, being American. We just gave each other a hard time. He asked me, "So, what do you think of us Londoners? Witty? Good-looking? Charming?"
"Ahh... fishing for compliments are we?"
"But we are very outgoing."
"Yes, I will give you that, the English are very outgoing and friendly."
Which is true.
I've had a lot of guys kiss my hand. And take my hand in both of theirs. They also do the kiss-on-the-cheek thing here, apparently. I'm glad Craig told me about that... We don't do that in America... which is kind of a bummer because it's a very sweet gesture, if done properly. Basically it means, "thank you so very much, I wish you the best". As does the hand-kissing. It's a formal good-bye. They kiss your hand and your cheek when they are leaving you. It's really cool...
Anyway, later that night, we were trying to find a club to go to that was not 5 pounds or more for entry fee (too much!). So, we ended up walking around for quite a while and ran into this place called "The Ocean Rooms", which could have been a pretty nice club except the lighting was terrible and the rooms were extremely dirty... And there wasn't music, it was noise. So we got out of there quickly.
Kirstyn and I went home and left Harman and Navjot to their own devices. Late night bus rides are always very interesting. Generally there aren't that many people about and the ones that are there are always interesting. Anyway, we made it home safely, and I slept soundly...
On Sunday, I met a graduate student from Niger in Africa. He told me there are very abrupt social classes in Niger. You are either very rich or very poor. He said that most people wanted to get into politics because there is a lot of money involved, and the government really does not care about the poor people. We talked about religion and Christianity and I tried to draw the pier, but soon lost patience. I really don't like drawing buildings. And so I drew him instead. It's the first African-American I have drawn from life... come to think of it, it's the second man I've drawn from life (the other is my dad) It didn't end up looking very much like him, because I haven't drawn a portrait in so long. Apryl and I wandered around on the beach and Apryl had Thai food for the first time. It was very delicious. I had Pad Khing, I think. And she had sweet and sour chicken. She liked it better than Chinese food! I am so happy. Another converted one. We also tried to go Sainsbury's, the big supermarket, but they close at 4pm, or 16:00, on Sundays so we went to the little gas station across the street, the Marks & Spencer "Simply Food" market. Petrol was 1.09/9 for unleaded and 1.08/9 for Diesel. Most of the cars here are manual drive.
Sunday night, the flat mates and I went to the King and Queen again to listen to the Battle of the Bands. The first guy sounded like a dirty Spongebob Squarepants song, the second guys didn't have a sound check, so all that was heard was the bass and drums, the third people were a pretty good eclectic group, but not that memorable, and I didn't listen the last band because I left with Apryl. I played some pool with Harman, Navjot, and Apryl, which was fun. Apryl made most of our balls, but Harman and Navjot ended up winning. The pool table was so small! And the pockets were tiny with really steep edges, so you couldn't bank a shot it, you had to shoot it almost straight into the pocket.
On Monday, Apryl and I went and got internet for our rooms (normality is restored!... wait), and I played soccer, WHOOPS! I mean "football" with Mickey, Harman, Katie, Laura, Cassie, and Navjot. We had a lot of fun. We also played American football, of a sort. We didn't have that many people, but it was still a lot of fun just playing a little scrimmage. Monday night, us footballists watched the movie "Superbad", and it was exactly as the title says.
Tuesday, we woke up early and went to orientation only to discover we really didn't need to be there. Story of the University of Brighton so far. You think you need to do something and turns out, it actually wasn't all that necessary. In other words, stress and anxiety about events in this place, is essentially, in a word, stupid. Things move so slowly, and people are so relaxed about everything, it's almost as if stress does not exist. But being Americans, we like our answers clear, concise, and on time. I keep realizing how rushed Americans are compared to these British here in Brighton. The American kids are all stressed about their classes and the British kids behave as if "uni" is just like a walk on the beach. The British do not allow themselves to get stressed, I believe. At least the ones here. Their attitude is very chill, friendly, and open. And they adamant about some things, but in an open way. They love to listen to you speak (maybe it's just the American accent they, "love"), and they really like good conversation and good speeches. A lot of them have mentioned they love Obama because he is really good at making speeches. Need I say I like these British people? Another thing I have noticed is Americans have VERY LOUD voices. They carry five times as far as the British and you can always tell when there are Americans on the bus because you can hear every word of their conversation. The British, in general, keep their voices pretty low. You can catch every other word, but you have to be listening. They are very talented in making their voices seem just part of the background noise.
So, since we had nothing more to do for orientation, I set out to the Marina to explore a part of Brighton I had not yet conquered. I took the 25C bus all the way to the end and hopped off at the Marina. I walked around a bit, but having not eaten that day, I could not keep my mind off of food. All I could think about was food. A common theme.
I lighted upon a pub and grille called, "The Harvester", which is, I gather, something of chain. The old man who was my waiter had a voice like nails on a chalkboard, but the mannerisms of a kindly man. However, he was a bit of a fright to look at. However, he sounded and looked as if he came from heaven as he asked me what I wanted... I was so happy to be getting food! I had an Elderberry "cordial" which is like a hand mixed soda type thing. It's syrup and carbonated water. It was so good! The Elderberry flavor is very distinct and I like it. I don't know what elderberry's smell like, but I gather they are unpleasant based up Monty Python's quote, "You mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberrys!"... oh the ways of education are wondrous.
I had fried mushrooms, and then BBQ chicken. I just sat there and smelled the BBQ sauce, drinking in the aroma of cooked meat; something, at the time, that seemed to be a distant legend in a forgotten land. I make it sound all romantic, but the food really was quite good. Although, English food has almost zero zest. They apparently do not like acrid tastes. Their "sour" candy is barely sour and they BBQ sauce is basically like Ketchup. However, the meat was good, so I do not complain about that. But English food, in general is much less spicy and flavorful than I am used to in the good old U.S. of A.
I rode by the "Brighton College" which is a prep school for girls and boys aged 3-13. I also went by the Royal Sussex Hospital which is housed in the same building it was founded in 1828. That is one old hospital. I don't know any more about it. That is all I saw from the bus. England has public health care, although you can have insurance if you want, but doctors keep "surgeries" not offices and on campus they are only in their "surgeries" three times a day for only two hours or so. August 1st is the day all of the medical students practice in the hospitals, and apparently, according to The Metro train paper, that day has a 6% higher death rate than other days. Yellow journalism, I say; how can you prove that? But, I still wouldn't want to be very ill in the hospital on that day. Anyway, all students are supposed to "register with the doctor", but of course being American, none of us know how, and the British forget that we don't. So, we have yet to discover how to register with the doctor. I will probably find out this coming week.
I like the area going towards the arena. It's very quiet and the little neighborhoods are very nice and tidy with their little "Argus" (which is the news store/candy shop/odds and ends/convenience store), and every block has a cafe or a little restaurant/pub. Pubs are very central part of the British community. Down at city centre, the pubs are a little noisy and rough with all of the college students, but in more residential areas, people are actually encouraged to bring their children to pubs and use them as friendly gathering places for the neighborhood.
I liked the Marina. It was a lot like America. Apryl said she got bored when she went there, but I liked looking around at the outlet stores and watching the people who looked so much more bored than I. I went to the ASDA supermarket (ASDA is actually a company in the Wal-Mart group) and I got some groceries for a decent price, which I was happy about because Sainsbury's is rather expensive.
As I was waiting at the bus stop, there were several deaf mutes waiting as well. They have the most expressive faces. Most deaf mutes I have seen have always looked so happy. And all of them I have seen are lovely people. Very nice and friendly. They were some elderly folk. There was a girl who "spoke" to them, so that was fun to watch. Tuesday, Laura and I also bought train tickets for the next day to London. Tuesday night is Karaoke night in Brighton, and although I love karaoke, I wanted to be well-rested for London, so I turned in early and told myself I would sing karaoke next week at the King and Queen.
London is a huge story in and of itself, so it will be posted tomorrow, but for now, I must go to sleep.
Cheers!
Han
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Brighton: Week 1
First week in Brighton:
On Thursday, the 10th of September, I left the United States for Brighton. My flight from Spokane to Seattle left around 2:30pm. I drove for the last time for many months to come. The drive from Lewiston to Spokane was rather uneventful. The main conversation was that of speculation about the English people. Everything went perfectly (I didn't even get double checked through security, which usually happens). I had a steak sandwich at a sports bar and grille in the airport, and soon discovered that all steak is not cooked, kept, or created equal, and promptly decided that was the last time I was getting steak without any previous recommendation. I have never had bad beef before, but now I know what it is, and I refuse to eat it again. Generally, I am not a picky eater. It has to be pretty bad before I say I will never eat it again. And it was pretty bad.Anyway, flying into Seattle was breathtaking. Every time I visit Seattle, the weather is perfect. I would never know Seattle is known for rainy weather if I did know people who have lived there and declared it as such. The sky was clear and the eye could penetrate as far as you can imagine. Some snow still remained on the peaks, and little snow pack streams glinted in the mountain crevices like veins of silver. The high mountain lakes winked in the sunlight and wind. The evergreen trees covered the mountains in a beautiful tapestry. It was breathtakingly beautiful.Seattle airport itself was nice. I have only ever been there when I was blowing through quickly, so it was nice to relax a bit before the great glass windows in the main entrance before taking the subway to the international flights terminal.The flight to London's Heathrow airport was mostly spent in silence next to an English couple from York who had just been to Seattle to see their new grandson. The flight lasted about 9 hours and we crossed the international date line, gained a day, and arrived at about 12:00 Greenwich time/4 am Pacific time. I had nothing to declare in customs, so I just breezed through Terminal 5, got some cash, phoned home, and waited for my bus. I took the National Express to City centre Brighton, and walked up the road to 33 Richmond Place where my Journey's Brighton Hostel was waiting for me. I checked in and got settled into my room, took a shower, and went out to explore the coastline. The weather was affable, as it usually is here this time of year. The beach was lovely, although not the kind of beach you would expect. Instead of sand, it is comprised of small terra cotta stones. Larger than pebbles, but still smooth as such and ankle deep. It is difficult to walk through, but very comfortable to sit on, which is what I did for about an hour. I watched a couple of swimmers in the inlet. They must be on some professional or Olympic team, because they swam for a full 45 minutes at least. I was rather worried for them, hoping they knew what they were doing, because they had been out there for so long, but they were okay. Nothing to fear. They were very good swimmers. Eventually other people came and sat near me and started chucking rocks at the, surprisingly shy, gulls. I thought the gulls were unnaturally unobtrusive, most seagulls being eager to discover whether you have any tasty bits to give up. But these gulls purveyed me with a wary eye, and took them almost thirty minutes to even venture within 10 feet of me. As soon as I saw those kids trying to pelt them with stones, however, it all made sense. There was another event which prompted me to leave the beach, but it is too vulgar and negative for me to record for the public eye.I returned to the hostel and bought some falafel and humus and a banana. The humus packaging almost had me in tears. I was so fatigued, I could not figure out how to open the container, and I was so hungry, all I could think about was how delicious the humus would be. I struggled with the opening tab for a while, tugging upwards before becoming aware of my pointless actions. Then I calmly collected my intellect and read the button that said "push"... I was too hungry to laugh at my own stupidity, I just did what was necessary to get that humus! And it was delicious.I went to bed early (around 8pm), and slept for several hours before being woken up by noisy party-goers in the street. It was Friday, so of course a vacation/leisure location such as Brighton is going to have lots of pubs, and a lot of drunks to populate them. However, soon I was fast asleep again and slept until 8am. The sleep restored some life into my jet-lagged body, and did much to lift my spirits.
On Saturday, I caught a taxi to Paddock Fields and arrive half an hour before the office opened, and was the first international student to arrive. I felt badly about not warning them I was coming, but I was so anxious to see my place of residence and become settled somewhere that was safe. I felt a little self-conscious and exposed traveling alone. And I got a little frightened, I will admit. But after I got into my room, I felt much better, although very lonely because there was no one else there. I took a walk on a path through the woods and discovered a neighboring village. The woods are lovely here. The downed trees have become 'nurery' logs and have many trees springing from the trunk. Ivy covers the ground and spider webs cling between the tree branches. The light through the leaves dapples the forest floor and illuminates the many small insects buzzing about. Snails are common and their empty shells litter the ground. The copse is apparently a pretty popular place, however, and sadly is littered with rubbish around the fire left over ashes in the fire pits. Saturday was spent alone in Brighton grocery shopping, exploring the city, and buying necessities.
Sunday saw the arrival of several new flat mates and company, which was sorely lacking before. I had hardly spoken in three days, so it was very nice to have people around to talk to. Sunday afternoon we went out grocery shopping where I bought some meat. Meat is very expensive here. It was £2.80 for a little half pound Irish rump steak. But it was delicious. Everything here tastes sweeter. The meat was sweet, the milk is sweet, the pizza is sweet, the fruit is very sweet. I wonder what it is...Sunday night, our flat went out to celebrate our arrival in Brighton. We first visited the Bear Inn, where I had some drinks, and then we moved onto other various pubs and dance clubs in City Centre. We went to one dance club where I met a Turkish person, whom lived in France for many years, but did not speak much English. We talked a bit, trying to understand one another.
One thing I noticed about the pubs that is different from the bars in the U.S. is the people in the pubs are only there to talk to their friends and look at other people in the pub. The U.S., or at least in Moscow, Idaho, the bars are generally used to watch sports, play drinking games or dance, and get "hammered". But perhaps that is just a college town. Although, I haven't really been in that many bars in the U.S., and when I did go, it was always someone's 21 run or something... so that probably has a lot to do with it. But people in England will just stare at you, and you can hear them talking about you as you're walking by. They do not lower their voices to discuss you or your appearance. They speak their opinions openly and decidedly, which is pretty cool, I think, however, it makes it difficult to respond. Should you acknowledge you heard them, or simply ignore their remarks? Thus far, I just ignore what I hear and carry on. I wouldn't really have anything to say to them anyway. The people are very friendly. They call you "sweetheart", "love", "treasure", "darling", etc. just for being polite to them. And they very much appreciate a kind gesture. "Cheers" is generally employed when you are thanking them for something, or if they are thanking you. Instead of saying, "buddy", the term "mate" is used, like in Australia. They say, "Good morning" or afternoon, or whatever time a day it is. They have good manners, for the most part. However, a lot of them are also rambunctious and do or say things to watch you react, or just to bother you. But this really doesn't bother me. Jerks make the world more interesting...
On Monday, the residential advisor, Lucy took us to Churchill Square, the main shopping centre of Brighton. The shopping mall is humongous and very nice. There are stores that range over every style and fashion imaginable. They call Brighton the "Little London by the sea" and I can see why. From the outside, the mall doesn't look that large. It is deceptively large. I purchased some very comfortable boots, a skirt, and a shirt at different department stores. But there are at least ten different shoe stores, clothes stores galore, Accessory stores, and everything in between. I spent a lot of time just looking at everything. I got very excited (I always do when I see new clothes), and just kept walking into stores and looking everything over. Heaven! Just to touch all the nice fabric and look at the designs (some of which aren't very pretty, but still interesting) made me very happy. My brain got pretty stimulated. I tried to open a bank account, but they were too busy. So I walked around the streets and ate a subway sandwich in a small bakery in Churchill Square. I had a "Coronation chicken" which was extremely delicious! And once again, sweet. I had heard English food was gross, by some friends who had visited here a few years ago, but I have yet to run across anything I have not liked.
Monday night me, Apryl, and the Korean girls from our flat went and chilled at the Bear Inn and the King and Queen (which was used as King Edwards? stables.. I can't remember which King. I'll have to look it up again). Then we headed home early because the buses stop running to the University at 12am. It was pretty fun. It was the first time I had just hung out with all of my flat mates.
On Tuesday, we met our international advisers and they informed us of our future stay, classes, etc. Just a regular orientation. They fed us pizza for lunch and we got our username and e-mails from the school. Tuesday night I went out with the Turkish guy I met on Sunday. He took me to a traditional Turkish deli/restaurant. I can not describe how delicious everything was. I have never had such delicious Mediterranean food in my entire life, and that is no joke. I don't remember what the food tasted like at the Jerusalem Cafe, which my mom apparently thinks is the apex of Mediterranean cuisine. But in my memory, Turkish food is one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted. I tried Ayra, a yogurt drink. Made of yogurt, water, and salt. I had traditional Turkish tea (drunk with a lot of sugar), dolmas, humus, bread, chicken wings (which Delgado loves, apparently), rice, a delicious cold olive/tomato/eggplant salad, cucumber sauce, and something crunchy and small (not sure what it was). Then for desert was a soo-eet with ice cream. I don't know how to spell all of the food, that's just what they sounded like. I learned how to say "thank you" in Turkish: tish-a coo. I have had an overflow of new words in different languages to master. French, Turkish, Korean, English... I can almost feel my brain getting bigger. Anyway, then we went to the arcade in the Brighton Pier, and then went to "The Beach", ironically (there was a popular dance club in Moscow, ID named the Beach, which is where I would always go dancing Country Swing with my ex-boyfriend), and Delgado taught me some salsa, samba, and this strange French dance which I could not get the hang of. He also bought me drinks, and in general spoiled the living daylights out of me. I have never been so lavishly treated by someone other than my father... However, I wanted to return to campus early because I had an advising session the next morning, and I was also wary of being out too late with someone I barely knew (not the best idea). I figured it was time to go, so I took the bus home. For some odd reason, the bus driver was very cross with me because I had said, "ten pounds" when I gave him a 'tenner'. That ticked him off. As he said, "You said ten pounds. I've been in the business long enough to know what a tenner is." Weird. Although when I got off at my stop, his voice was more kind. Who knows.
Wednesday I had an advising session, and once again just tried to get acclimated to my new life here. One interesting note: there are rabbits everywhere, the birds are very small, and poppies grow wild in the fields. Paddock fields is right behind the South Downs, which are protected lands, apparently. They are beautiful. I have a perfect view of them through my bedroom window, and my window faces a large field, with no other buildings, so I do not have to be concerned about eyes intruding into my room. It's a nice set up.
Another interesting thing: even though this is a popular vacation destination for England (or anywhere, really), the people dress very modestly. The women are all almost completely covered from their necks to their ankles. They show their arms, but not their legs or any other body part... at least 98% of the ones I have seen dress this way. They also dress in demure colors and patterns. None of them stick out too much, and makeup is very minimal here. It's a stark contrast from the bright, revealing trends of American fashion. The 'high fashion' magazines and advertisements are about the same, but the average woman is much more modest than the average American woman. I have yet to see an English woman in shorts (without tights underneath). They all wear long tights under anything short they wear.The men dress much more flamboyantly. They wear the bright colors and the short shorts. I was thinking they are like birds, the sexes here. The males are more 'attractive' and the females are more demure and unassuming. Just a note. I am probably wrong, but it’s all the information I have for now. I will update this as I go along. I have not gotten sick or nauseous, or had stomach problems with the food or water or anything like they said I would probably get. Knock-on-wood.
Today, (Thursday) which marks the first week since I have touched U.S. soil, I tuled around in Brighton, again. Got my Unicard (student I.D.) and my three month bus pass. Met a very nice man at an Argus store (which is like a News Kiosk in NYC), and had a nice sit on the Beach. I tried Fish and Chips and something called "Mushy Peas" which was, in my opinion, delicious. Mushy peas are a new favorite of mine. I always have liked peas, and these were just like that, except a little easier to eat because it didn't roll around all over the place, and it also tasted very nice with the fried fish. Next time, though, I'm going to use some vinegar for the fish. It needed a little more flavor. I was expecting it to be like American fish and chips, with all the salt, pepper, or other spices they have, but it was just plain fried with no salt or flavoring. It was alright, but I'll know better next time.
I am finally getting a hang of the Brighton and Hove bus company, and all the various stops the buses make. It's taken me long enough. But I think I'm doing alright considering no one has really told me in depth how it works.
The weather is lovely, but a little chilly, so I found a T.K. Maxx (instead of T.J. Maxx, like in the U.S. but it's still the same store) and got me a nice fleece and trench coat for pretty inexpensive. The shoulders in all the clothes are so narrow! I am probably a size U.K. 10 in the waist and hips, but I am a size U.K. 14 or 16 in the shoulders! So, I had to buy the coat too big for me, but at least I can move my arms, which is more important than anything.
Oh, and TV's have to be licensed here. There are only five channels: BBC Channels 1, 2, 3, 4, and sometimes 5. But since the BBC shows no commercials, they make up for it with TV linceses. There are TV license vans that go patroling around making sure there are no illegal TV's in use. Which, for some reason, I find kind of funny.
The TV in our common room is really tiny, and sometimes it works, but most of the time it sounds like a little Gremlin. The sound input is messed up or something. As one of the Korean girls said, "It sounds crazy!", which is true. It does. Sounds really funny, though.
All in all, so far, this week in Brighton has been very long, and very up-and-down. I am still getting used to everything (not without some funny looks from the natives), but I am having fun. The feeling of excitement comes and goes. Mostly I just feel like I am on another planet. But that's a good thing, I think.All for now.Cheers!Hannah
On Thursday, the 10th of September, I left the United States for Brighton. My flight from Spokane to Seattle left around 2:30pm. I drove for the last time for many months to come. The drive from Lewiston to Spokane was rather uneventful. The main conversation was that of speculation about the English people. Everything went perfectly (I didn't even get double checked through security, which usually happens). I had a steak sandwich at a sports bar and grille in the airport, and soon discovered that all steak is not cooked, kept, or created equal, and promptly decided that was the last time I was getting steak without any previous recommendation. I have never had bad beef before, but now I know what it is, and I refuse to eat it again. Generally, I am not a picky eater. It has to be pretty bad before I say I will never eat it again. And it was pretty bad.Anyway, flying into Seattle was breathtaking. Every time I visit Seattle, the weather is perfect. I would never know Seattle is known for rainy weather if I did know people who have lived there and declared it as such. The sky was clear and the eye could penetrate as far as you can imagine. Some snow still remained on the peaks, and little snow pack streams glinted in the mountain crevices like veins of silver. The high mountain lakes winked in the sunlight and wind. The evergreen trees covered the mountains in a beautiful tapestry. It was breathtakingly beautiful.Seattle airport itself was nice. I have only ever been there when I was blowing through quickly, so it was nice to relax a bit before the great glass windows in the main entrance before taking the subway to the international flights terminal.The flight to London's Heathrow airport was mostly spent in silence next to an English couple from York who had just been to Seattle to see their new grandson. The flight lasted about 9 hours and we crossed the international date line, gained a day, and arrived at about 12:00 Greenwich time/4 am Pacific time. I had nothing to declare in customs, so I just breezed through Terminal 5, got some cash, phoned home, and waited for my bus. I took the National Express to City centre Brighton, and walked up the road to 33 Richmond Place where my Journey's Brighton Hostel was waiting for me. I checked in and got settled into my room, took a shower, and went out to explore the coastline. The weather was affable, as it usually is here this time of year. The beach was lovely, although not the kind of beach you would expect. Instead of sand, it is comprised of small terra cotta stones. Larger than pebbles, but still smooth as such and ankle deep. It is difficult to walk through, but very comfortable to sit on, which is what I did for about an hour. I watched a couple of swimmers in the inlet. They must be on some professional or Olympic team, because they swam for a full 45 minutes at least. I was rather worried for them, hoping they knew what they were doing, because they had been out there for so long, but they were okay. Nothing to fear. They were very good swimmers. Eventually other people came and sat near me and started chucking rocks at the, surprisingly shy, gulls. I thought the gulls were unnaturally unobtrusive, most seagulls being eager to discover whether you have any tasty bits to give up. But these gulls purveyed me with a wary eye, and took them almost thirty minutes to even venture within 10 feet of me. As soon as I saw those kids trying to pelt them with stones, however, it all made sense. There was another event which prompted me to leave the beach, but it is too vulgar and negative for me to record for the public eye.I returned to the hostel and bought some falafel and humus and a banana. The humus packaging almost had me in tears. I was so fatigued, I could not figure out how to open the container, and I was so hungry, all I could think about was how delicious the humus would be. I struggled with the opening tab for a while, tugging upwards before becoming aware of my pointless actions. Then I calmly collected my intellect and read the button that said "push"... I was too hungry to laugh at my own stupidity, I just did what was necessary to get that humus! And it was delicious.I went to bed early (around 8pm), and slept for several hours before being woken up by noisy party-goers in the street. It was Friday, so of course a vacation/leisure location such as Brighton is going to have lots of pubs, and a lot of drunks to populate them. However, soon I was fast asleep again and slept until 8am. The sleep restored some life into my jet-lagged body, and did much to lift my spirits.
On Saturday, I caught a taxi to Paddock Fields and arrive half an hour before the office opened, and was the first international student to arrive. I felt badly about not warning them I was coming, but I was so anxious to see my place of residence and become settled somewhere that was safe. I felt a little self-conscious and exposed traveling alone. And I got a little frightened, I will admit. But after I got into my room, I felt much better, although very lonely because there was no one else there. I took a walk on a path through the woods and discovered a neighboring village. The woods are lovely here. The downed trees have become 'nurery' logs and have many trees springing from the trunk. Ivy covers the ground and spider webs cling between the tree branches. The light through the leaves dapples the forest floor and illuminates the many small insects buzzing about. Snails are common and their empty shells litter the ground. The copse is apparently a pretty popular place, however, and sadly is littered with rubbish around the fire left over ashes in the fire pits. Saturday was spent alone in Brighton grocery shopping, exploring the city, and buying necessities.
Sunday saw the arrival of several new flat mates and company, which was sorely lacking before. I had hardly spoken in three days, so it was very nice to have people around to talk to. Sunday afternoon we went out grocery shopping where I bought some meat. Meat is very expensive here. It was £2.80 for a little half pound Irish rump steak. But it was delicious. Everything here tastes sweeter. The meat was sweet, the milk is sweet, the pizza is sweet, the fruit is very sweet. I wonder what it is...Sunday night, our flat went out to celebrate our arrival in Brighton. We first visited the Bear Inn, where I had some drinks, and then we moved onto other various pubs and dance clubs in City Centre. We went to one dance club where I met a Turkish person, whom lived in France for many years, but did not speak much English. We talked a bit, trying to understand one another.
One thing I noticed about the pubs that is different from the bars in the U.S. is the people in the pubs are only there to talk to their friends and look at other people in the pub. The U.S., or at least in Moscow, Idaho, the bars are generally used to watch sports, play drinking games or dance, and get "hammered". But perhaps that is just a college town. Although, I haven't really been in that many bars in the U.S., and when I did go, it was always someone's 21 run or something... so that probably has a lot to do with it. But people in England will just stare at you, and you can hear them talking about you as you're walking by. They do not lower their voices to discuss you or your appearance. They speak their opinions openly and decidedly, which is pretty cool, I think, however, it makes it difficult to respond. Should you acknowledge you heard them, or simply ignore their remarks? Thus far, I just ignore what I hear and carry on. I wouldn't really have anything to say to them anyway. The people are very friendly. They call you "sweetheart", "love", "treasure", "darling", etc. just for being polite to them. And they very much appreciate a kind gesture. "Cheers" is generally employed when you are thanking them for something, or if they are thanking you. Instead of saying, "buddy", the term "mate" is used, like in Australia. They say, "Good morning" or afternoon, or whatever time a day it is. They have good manners, for the most part. However, a lot of them are also rambunctious and do or say things to watch you react, or just to bother you. But this really doesn't bother me. Jerks make the world more interesting...
On Monday, the residential advisor, Lucy took us to Churchill Square, the main shopping centre of Brighton. The shopping mall is humongous and very nice. There are stores that range over every style and fashion imaginable. They call Brighton the "Little London by the sea" and I can see why. From the outside, the mall doesn't look that large. It is deceptively large. I purchased some very comfortable boots, a skirt, and a shirt at different department stores. But there are at least ten different shoe stores, clothes stores galore, Accessory stores, and everything in between. I spent a lot of time just looking at everything. I got very excited (I always do when I see new clothes), and just kept walking into stores and looking everything over. Heaven! Just to touch all the nice fabric and look at the designs (some of which aren't very pretty, but still interesting) made me very happy. My brain got pretty stimulated. I tried to open a bank account, but they were too busy. So I walked around the streets and ate a subway sandwich in a small bakery in Churchill Square. I had a "Coronation chicken" which was extremely delicious! And once again, sweet. I had heard English food was gross, by some friends who had visited here a few years ago, but I have yet to run across anything I have not liked.
Monday night me, Apryl, and the Korean girls from our flat went and chilled at the Bear Inn and the King and Queen (which was used as King Edwards? stables.. I can't remember which King. I'll have to look it up again). Then we headed home early because the buses stop running to the University at 12am. It was pretty fun. It was the first time I had just hung out with all of my flat mates.
On Tuesday, we met our international advisers and they informed us of our future stay, classes, etc. Just a regular orientation. They fed us pizza for lunch and we got our username and e-mails from the school. Tuesday night I went out with the Turkish guy I met on Sunday. He took me to a traditional Turkish deli/restaurant. I can not describe how delicious everything was. I have never had such delicious Mediterranean food in my entire life, and that is no joke. I don't remember what the food tasted like at the Jerusalem Cafe, which my mom apparently thinks is the apex of Mediterranean cuisine. But in my memory, Turkish food is one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted. I tried Ayra, a yogurt drink. Made of yogurt, water, and salt. I had traditional Turkish tea (drunk with a lot of sugar), dolmas, humus, bread, chicken wings (which Delgado loves, apparently), rice, a delicious cold olive/tomato/eggplant salad, cucumber sauce, and something crunchy and small (not sure what it was). Then for desert was a soo-eet with ice cream. I don't know how to spell all of the food, that's just what they sounded like. I learned how to say "thank you" in Turkish: tish-a coo. I have had an overflow of new words in different languages to master. French, Turkish, Korean, English... I can almost feel my brain getting bigger. Anyway, then we went to the arcade in the Brighton Pier, and then went to "The Beach", ironically (there was a popular dance club in Moscow, ID named the Beach, which is where I would always go dancing Country Swing with my ex-boyfriend), and Delgado taught me some salsa, samba, and this strange French dance which I could not get the hang of. He also bought me drinks, and in general spoiled the living daylights out of me. I have never been so lavishly treated by someone other than my father... However, I wanted to return to campus early because I had an advising session the next morning, and I was also wary of being out too late with someone I barely knew (not the best idea). I figured it was time to go, so I took the bus home. For some odd reason, the bus driver was very cross with me because I had said, "ten pounds" when I gave him a 'tenner'. That ticked him off. As he said, "You said ten pounds. I've been in the business long enough to know what a tenner is." Weird. Although when I got off at my stop, his voice was more kind. Who knows.
Wednesday I had an advising session, and once again just tried to get acclimated to my new life here. One interesting note: there are rabbits everywhere, the birds are very small, and poppies grow wild in the fields. Paddock fields is right behind the South Downs, which are protected lands, apparently. They are beautiful. I have a perfect view of them through my bedroom window, and my window faces a large field, with no other buildings, so I do not have to be concerned about eyes intruding into my room. It's a nice set up.
Another interesting thing: even though this is a popular vacation destination for England (or anywhere, really), the people dress very modestly. The women are all almost completely covered from their necks to their ankles. They show their arms, but not their legs or any other body part... at least 98% of the ones I have seen dress this way. They also dress in demure colors and patterns. None of them stick out too much, and makeup is very minimal here. It's a stark contrast from the bright, revealing trends of American fashion. The 'high fashion' magazines and advertisements are about the same, but the average woman is much more modest than the average American woman. I have yet to see an English woman in shorts (without tights underneath). They all wear long tights under anything short they wear.The men dress much more flamboyantly. They wear the bright colors and the short shorts. I was thinking they are like birds, the sexes here. The males are more 'attractive' and the females are more demure and unassuming. Just a note. I am probably wrong, but it’s all the information I have for now. I will update this as I go along. I have not gotten sick or nauseous, or had stomach problems with the food or water or anything like they said I would probably get. Knock-on-wood.
Today, (Thursday) which marks the first week since I have touched U.S. soil, I tuled around in Brighton, again. Got my Unicard (student I.D.) and my three month bus pass. Met a very nice man at an Argus store (which is like a News Kiosk in NYC), and had a nice sit on the Beach. I tried Fish and Chips and something called "Mushy Peas" which was, in my opinion, delicious. Mushy peas are a new favorite of mine. I always have liked peas, and these were just like that, except a little easier to eat because it didn't roll around all over the place, and it also tasted very nice with the fried fish. Next time, though, I'm going to use some vinegar for the fish. It needed a little more flavor. I was expecting it to be like American fish and chips, with all the salt, pepper, or other spices they have, but it was just plain fried with no salt or flavoring. It was alright, but I'll know better next time.
I am finally getting a hang of the Brighton and Hove bus company, and all the various stops the buses make. It's taken me long enough. But I think I'm doing alright considering no one has really told me in depth how it works.
The weather is lovely, but a little chilly, so I found a T.K. Maxx (instead of T.J. Maxx, like in the U.S. but it's still the same store) and got me a nice fleece and trench coat for pretty inexpensive. The shoulders in all the clothes are so narrow! I am probably a size U.K. 10 in the waist and hips, but I am a size U.K. 14 or 16 in the shoulders! So, I had to buy the coat too big for me, but at least I can move my arms, which is more important than anything.
Oh, and TV's have to be licensed here. There are only five channels: BBC Channels 1, 2, 3, 4, and sometimes 5. But since the BBC shows no commercials, they make up for it with TV linceses. There are TV license vans that go patroling around making sure there are no illegal TV's in use. Which, for some reason, I find kind of funny.
The TV in our common room is really tiny, and sometimes it works, but most of the time it sounds like a little Gremlin. The sound input is messed up or something. As one of the Korean girls said, "It sounds crazy!", which is true. It does. Sounds really funny, though.
All in all, so far, this week in Brighton has been very long, and very up-and-down. I am still getting used to everything (not without some funny looks from the natives), but I am having fun. The feeling of excitement comes and goes. Mostly I just feel like I am on another planet. But that's a good thing, I think.All for now.Cheers!Hannah
Friday, September 4, 2009
Six days to go...
And I have just started packing. I actually started yesterday, but quickly ran out of steam.
Today I actually got most of it to fit into my suitcase, although tomorrow is going to be another overhaul... Pack, repack, and then repack again. I have my clothes and shoes all together, now I need to pack my more "non-essentials" like jewelry, toothbrushes, and various other miscellaneous items.
At the USAC meeting, one of the people said something useful. They said, put everything you want to take on your bed. Cut that in half. And then cut that half in half again. So a quarter of what you THINK you need is about right. She said people over packed all of the time and often kicked themselves later for it... so I need to go back through and do some fixin'!
I will tell you one little trick that REALLY saves on space:
Roll the clothes. Don't fold them, roll them into a nice little log, shove them into zip-lock bags, and squeeze all the air out. Your clothes might be a little more wrinkled, but they will take up MUCH less room. The only trouble then is packing things so tight so the suitcase gets very heavy.... like mine.
Oh well.
It took me all day today. Granted, I was going rather slow and took frequent breaks to sing Myspace Karaoke... Oh me, oh my, I am shameless. But do I care? No. Because I am shameless.
Being a week away from leaving is very stressful. I could give you all of the symptoms of my stress, but that is sort of disgusting, frankly, and is not necessary to give you idea of my stress. So, I will try to put it as politely as possible: I feel as if I were chewing hair and iron nails. Very weird, very disconcerting, very painful to the stomach.
I keep trying to get myself used to the idea that I will no longer be living here in a week. But I guess it's just like moving: You never really realize it until you do it. And then after you do it, it takes a while before you actually realize it. Phew. I am all sorts stressed out...
I try not to dwell too much on it.
Ah....
I finally recieved my Visa in the mail (victory dance). I can now enter and exit the United Kingdom as many times as I like between now and October 2010(victorious victory dance). Haha! I just realized something. My little sister will be 20 on 20/10/2010. Sweet!
Oh time... I think "Ten months..." and it holds no meaning. My mind can not comprehend the time lapse. My mind can not simply wrap itself around the fact that I will be living in another country for nearly a year. TEN MONTHS. Holy hell. I have lived in houses in different towns for less time than that. To spend that much time in one country! It's a dream come true, it really is. I just don't know exactly what to expect... obviously. I guess there's no real way to know what to expect. I mean, I know it will be good.
Wow. Six days.
Tomorrow I really need to definitely be finished packing my suitcase. The day afterwards, I need to have my backpack/carry on packed with all the essentials. Then, I need to read everything and get it all memorized the next day. Then, on Tuesday, I need to take care of my last little bit of official work at the U of I and get my dad's birthday present. On Wednesday, I have NO idea what I'm going to do! Go everything again... and Thursday, I leave.
Whew........
Ok, one day at a time. I'm freaking out (and so is my stomach) just thinking about it! I am so nervous! And that's the word... I am ALL nerves. And frayed nerves at that. Need to get some sleep!
Ciao yo!
Han
Today I actually got most of it to fit into my suitcase, although tomorrow is going to be another overhaul... Pack, repack, and then repack again. I have my clothes and shoes all together, now I need to pack my more "non-essentials" like jewelry, toothbrushes, and various other miscellaneous items.
At the USAC meeting, one of the people said something useful. They said, put everything you want to take on your bed. Cut that in half. And then cut that half in half again. So a quarter of what you THINK you need is about right. She said people over packed all of the time and often kicked themselves later for it... so I need to go back through and do some fixin'!
I will tell you one little trick that REALLY saves on space:
Roll the clothes. Don't fold them, roll them into a nice little log, shove them into zip-lock bags, and squeeze all the air out. Your clothes might be a little more wrinkled, but they will take up MUCH less room. The only trouble then is packing things so tight so the suitcase gets very heavy.... like mine.
Oh well.
It took me all day today. Granted, I was going rather slow and took frequent breaks to sing Myspace Karaoke... Oh me, oh my, I am shameless. But do I care? No. Because I am shameless.
Being a week away from leaving is very stressful. I could give you all of the symptoms of my stress, but that is sort of disgusting, frankly, and is not necessary to give you idea of my stress. So, I will try to put it as politely as possible: I feel as if I were chewing hair and iron nails. Very weird, very disconcerting, very painful to the stomach.
I keep trying to get myself used to the idea that I will no longer be living here in a week. But I guess it's just like moving: You never really realize it until you do it. And then after you do it, it takes a while before you actually realize it. Phew. I am all sorts stressed out...
I try not to dwell too much on it.
Ah....
I finally recieved my Visa in the mail (victory dance). I can now enter and exit the United Kingdom as many times as I like between now and October 2010(victorious victory dance). Haha! I just realized something. My little sister will be 20 on 20/10/2010. Sweet!
Oh time... I think "Ten months..." and it holds no meaning. My mind can not comprehend the time lapse. My mind can not simply wrap itself around the fact that I will be living in another country for nearly a year. TEN MONTHS. Holy hell. I have lived in houses in different towns for less time than that. To spend that much time in one country! It's a dream come true, it really is. I just don't know exactly what to expect... obviously. I guess there's no real way to know what to expect. I mean, I know it will be good.
Wow. Six days.
Tomorrow I really need to definitely be finished packing my suitcase. The day afterwards, I need to have my backpack/carry on packed with all the essentials. Then, I need to read everything and get it all memorized the next day. Then, on Tuesday, I need to take care of my last little bit of official work at the U of I and get my dad's birthday present. On Wednesday, I have NO idea what I'm going to do! Go everything again... and Thursday, I leave.
Whew........
Ok, one day at a time. I'm freaking out (and so is my stomach) just thinking about it! I am so nervous! And that's the word... I am ALL nerves. And frayed nerves at that. Need to get some sleep!
Ciao yo!
Han
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