I went to London today. I'm alive.. obviously.
There were two bombs found today in London. One was actually found last night outside of a club. It was a car bomb. If it went off, it was expected to harm hundreds of people. The nightclub it was infront of had 1,700 people inside. They diffused the bomb though. It was linked to a terrorist I think.. but I'm not sure. When we were there today we heard all these police cars and ambulances. They shut down the tube and all these streets. It was kind of scary. But I'm okay, so don't worry if you were.
We woke up early this morning and walked to the train station. When we made it into London, we decided to buy one of those open bus tours. It cost 19 pounds! Ah! The first little bit of the tour wasn't so good. We went on the open part. Right as we started going, it started raining. So rain is like hitting us in the face, wind blowing everywhere. So I tried to take pictures, then my camera died. We made it to Hyde Park, and wanted to get off. As I am walking down the stairs, I fell... Hard! I now have a huge purple bruise on my arm and my butt. It was sooo painful. I walked it off though. We first wanted to go to Harrods, but didn't know how to get there. So we asked these two girls how to get there.. and they sent us in the opposite direction. We ended up walking about two miles in Hyde Park on the Diana Memorial walk. It was pretty, but unnecessary.. However, I have seen most of Hyde Park. At this point, the weather got much better! We finally made it to Harrods. It was crazy big and crowded. Everything was sooo pretty and crowded. I want to go back when I am not with a group, so I have more time to just look around. It is like Sacks 5th Ave in NY times 100. It's so crazy. I got some key chains and stuff for people. They're really cute. After Harrods we walked to the bus stop. At that point, they told us that the bus was being sent on a different route because of the bomb scare. So we had to walk all the way back towards Harrods to get on the bus. From there we went a bunch of places. We went to the London Towers, London Bridge, saw the London Eye, Westminster Abby, The Parliament, Big Ben, and Buckingham palace. My favorite was probably Westminster Abby. It was so beautiful. Big Ben wasn't as impressive as I was hoping it would be. I want to go back to the London Towers because I didn't have time to go in and look around. It looks really neat though. Buckingham Palace was really cool. The guards are so funny. They don't move at all! We stared at them for like a long time. Finally, one moved. He switched his gun to the other side, but did it in a such a robotic manner. It was funny. I would hate to have that job. It seems so boring. Another downside about today was that I was hungry most of the day. The girls I was with did not want to eat. I felt bad making them stop, so I just grabbed a muffin. I was starving. ughhh. I don't understand people who don't eat. I need my food, even though it's not so tasty here.
When I got back I wanted to make soup..That didn't work out so well. The can openers here suck. It just poked holes in my can but wouldn't turn. It did not work at all. I ended up ruining the can, but being unable to eat the soup. So I ended up making pasta. It was okay, but probably the best thing I've eaten here so far. How sad. Our upstairs kitchen smells so gross right now. Someone cooked a chicken or something and stunk up the whole place. They were letting it air out and since my room is right next to it, my room is starting to smell gross too. I shut the door. Whoever opens it tomorrow is going to suffocate though. It is really really nasty. I don't know what to do about it.
Tomorrow I think I am going to do some homework and relaxing. I am also probably going to head into town to go to Asda. It's like a Walmart/Target type store. I need to get nail polish remover, bandaids, facewash, cold medicine (I think I'm getting sick), gloves, and maybe another blanket or something. We'll see what I find. I need to start working on my music project. I have to analyze how a band is viewed by the public and media. I think I am going to do Fall Out Boy. I'll let you know how it goes. I am also trying to figure out the details for a possible Ireland trip with Vanessa and Lis. I think that would be really fun, but I need to find out more.
I miss fruits and veggies. I never thought I would say that.. but I need some fresh food. England needs preservatives. I bought bread like 3 days ago, and it's bad already. Not fair! I'm eating dried apricots, but I want the ones from my tree at home. Maybe I'll break down and buy some and eat it all in one day.Then I might not miss fruit at as much. haha.
For now it's getting ready for bed and reading time. I hope you all enjoyed the pictures. Sorry I don't have any from London today, but I'm sure I'll be taking another trip back there.. so I'll have some eventually.
Friday, 29 June 2007
PICTURES!
So I finally did pictures.. but you have to wait until the end!
I woke up, showered, and went to class this morning. My professor is so cool. We talked about bands, images, and hype today. He told us that he did PR for Oasis! That's so awesome. He said that one of the things that that really helped to get them noticed was to say that they were going to be as big as the beatles. I thought that was really interesting and exciting. It's just cool to think I am learning from someone who made a band huge. He's cool. After class I went to the creapy cafe that I am afraid of.. I was lurking over some guy looking at the food when I realized it was my professor! Doh! haha. After that I went and bought some music magazines for my project. The exchange rate is killing me. I've already spend like 115 pounds (almost completely on books, bus and train fares, and food). It hurts. I'm going to be keeping track of how much I am spending because 1. I want to know 2. It helps me budget. It's scary to think about though. I can't wait until I am on the Euro or in Prague and wont have to worry so much.
After class I ate some food, took a nap, and went online. Then Samantha called me and asked if I wanted to go shopping. I'm not one to refuse shopping, so we got together and headed to the square. We went into H&M. They were having a 50% off sale which was awesome, so I got two tank tops/ going out shirts for under 8 pounds. Woo! Then we bought candy and looked at lots of stores. When we were in the mall, we wanted food. We went to the food court but it was closed. So then we spend about an half an hour searching for food. Most of the pubs stop serving food at 6 or 7. It stinks. We finally found a pizza buffet place. It wasn't very good. I don't think I'll be going back there. I could really go for some soup or veggies right now. I swear, all they eat here is carbs. It's nuts. So after that whole adventure, I just came home and sat around. It was nice.
I also made some slide shows! Wooo. There are three. One is of my room and bus pictures. The second is random things that I have seen. The Third are pictures from Brighton pier and Honey Club. Enjoy!
And keep sending me emails or leave comments or something. It makes me feel more at home to hear from everyone. =)
[EDIT] The slideshows were driving me nuts because they were all going at the same time. To view the pictures go here:
http://s180.photobucket.com/albums/x162/mshinto/
I woke up, showered, and went to class this morning. My professor is so cool. We talked about bands, images, and hype today. He told us that he did PR for Oasis! That's so awesome. He said that one of the things that that really helped to get them noticed was to say that they were going to be as big as the beatles. I thought that was really interesting and exciting. It's just cool to think I am learning from someone who made a band huge. He's cool. After class I went to the creapy cafe that I am afraid of.. I was lurking over some guy looking at the food when I realized it was my professor! Doh! haha. After that I went and bought some music magazines for my project. The exchange rate is killing me. I've already spend like 115 pounds (almost completely on books, bus and train fares, and food). It hurts. I'm going to be keeping track of how much I am spending because 1. I want to know 2. It helps me budget. It's scary to think about though. I can't wait until I am on the Euro or in Prague and wont have to worry so much.
After class I ate some food, took a nap, and went online. Then Samantha called me and asked if I wanted to go shopping. I'm not one to refuse shopping, so we got together and headed to the square. We went into H&M. They were having a 50% off sale which was awesome, so I got two tank tops/ going out shirts for under 8 pounds. Woo! Then we bought candy and looked at lots of stores. When we were in the mall, we wanted food. We went to the food court but it was closed. So then we spend about an half an hour searching for food. Most of the pubs stop serving food at 6 or 7. It stinks. We finally found a pizza buffet place. It wasn't very good. I don't think I'll be going back there. I could really go for some soup or veggies right now. I swear, all they eat here is carbs. It's nuts. So after that whole adventure, I just came home and sat around. It was nice.
I also made some slide shows! Wooo. There are three. One is of my room and bus pictures. The second is random things that I have seen. The Third are pictures from Brighton pier and Honey Club. Enjoy!
And keep sending me emails or leave comments or something. It makes me feel more at home to hear from everyone. =)
[EDIT] The slideshows were driving me nuts because they were all going at the same time. To view the pictures go here:
http://s180.photobucket.com/albums/x162/mshinto/
Thursday, 28 June 2007
sleeping in and staying up
This is going to be quick entry since it is about 3:20 in the morning.
I woke up really late today. I had a horrible dream when I woke up at 8. In order to get rid of it, it tried to sleep again. I ended up waking up at 1:30pm. Oops. Then I got ready, went online, and headed to class. We watched A Hard Days Night in class today. The Beatles are awesome, but the movie was not my favorite. After that I ran back to my room to get ready for the Pub Crawl!
We went to York House and made our way to the train. From there we went to two pubs and a club. The first pub was called The Hope. It was really chill and relaxed. I only stayed there for about 2 minutes before a couple of us went in search for food. We had fish and chips.. again! haha. After that we headed to this other pub. I don't remember the name. It was really crazy and busy though. Too much commotion for my liking. After a little while there, we went to The Honey Club. Apparently it is the best club in Brighton. We got in free too! At first it wasn't that cool because there weren't many people there. Then tons of people showed up and it was super duper fun. We met this really nice British boy named Ross. We talked about accents and stuff to do in Brighton, since he grew up and lives there. He was telling us that Honey Club is like the best club around town. Tiesto, Paul Oakenfold, and other really cool people djed there. On new years eve, Fat Boy Slim djed there too. Good stuff. I think we might go back on Saturday because we had so much fun.
I smell like smoke right now. You are allowed to smoke indoors in the UK. On the 1st, they are changing that rule. That will be good because I smell gross right now and I dont like it. haha.
Tomorrow I have class again and am going to read and do some homework. Friday is the London Tour! I'm excited.
Bed time!
I woke up really late today. I had a horrible dream when I woke up at 8. In order to get rid of it, it tried to sleep again. I ended up waking up at 1:30pm. Oops. Then I got ready, went online, and headed to class. We watched A Hard Days Night in class today. The Beatles are awesome, but the movie was not my favorite. After that I ran back to my room to get ready for the Pub Crawl!
We went to York House and made our way to the train. From there we went to two pubs and a club. The first pub was called The Hope. It was really chill and relaxed. I only stayed there for about 2 minutes before a couple of us went in search for food. We had fish and chips.. again! haha. After that we headed to this other pub. I don't remember the name. It was really crazy and busy though. Too much commotion for my liking. After a little while there, we went to The Honey Club. Apparently it is the best club in Brighton. We got in free too! At first it wasn't that cool because there weren't many people there. Then tons of people showed up and it was super duper fun. We met this really nice British boy named Ross. We talked about accents and stuff to do in Brighton, since he grew up and lives there. He was telling us that Honey Club is like the best club around town. Tiesto, Paul Oakenfold, and other really cool people djed there. On new years eve, Fat Boy Slim djed there too. Good stuff. I think we might go back on Saturday because we had so much fun.
I smell like smoke right now. You are allowed to smoke indoors in the UK. On the 1st, they are changing that rule. That will be good because I smell gross right now and I dont like it. haha.
Tomorrow I have class again and am going to read and do some homework. Friday is the London Tour! I'm excited.
Bed time!
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
Day 3
I stayed up way to late last night. I did not want to wake up this morning, despite how uncomfortable the beds are here. They are leaving me with horrible back aches. My fingers are also starting to hurt. I think its joint pain due to the cold.. I hope that's all it is.
I went to my first real class this morning. It was great! There were only about 8 of us in the class. It was all girls. My Professor (or Tutor is what they call them here) is really cool. He is the owner of a PR firm. I think it's called Triad. He does PR for Kasabian, Bjork, and other cool bands. He loves American food and how our portions are really big. And he wants to go on a roadtrip with all the 50 states. Its funny. The class is mostly him reading off notes and asking us if we understand, but he talks about really interesting stuff. He is very unclear about his expectations though. However, he said he is a "easy marker." The coolest part of the whole thing is that we're going to a show for class! We're going to see The Hold Steady in London! Oooo. I'm excited. He went an hour over the time he was supposed to, but I still want to go eat lunch with the guy. He just seems awesome.
I also got my internet working today. But when I did that I went on facebook and saw a note that my old TA, Liberty Jaswal died in a hit and run car accident. There are lots of articles about it online. From the articles, it didn't seem like much of an accident. I don't think it's really hit me yet. I've never really had someone I've considered my friend pass away. He used to go to all my shows and I spend hours and hours with him in office hours. He was a really awesome, passionate person and he'll be missed. It's really really sad.
After I heard about that, I went to the library to try and get my mind off of the situation. I searched for 15 books for my class. The library had one. That was sort of frustrating. I think the library at UCSD is much better. reading here is different. My teacher doesn't really expect us to read, but he just has the books there for us if we want to read them or get ahead. It's strange.
Then I ran into Lara. We went to Samantha's room and talked for a bit. Then went to the bus stop so we could go into town and get some food. We ran into James at the bus stop and all headed to Grubby's Burgers. I got a chicken burger because I am still afraid of the beef here. It was okay. Onion rings here are really different though. It's like they cut up the onions before they fry them. When you break open the fried shell, you can't take the onion out. Oh, and I had to pay 40p for katchup (or however you want to spell it). Then we went back to the grocery store. Then home. It was fine and put me in a better mood.
I was going to go to the club even tonight, but decided against it because I was tired and didn't have anything to wear. It was kind of nice to have some alone time. I caught up on Entourage and did a little chatting online. It makes me feel at home.
I wish my hand wasn't hurting and that I had some real food around here and that myspace would let me log in for once!
I hope that this blog is entertaining. I think tomorrow I'll post pictures since I don't have class until night time.. and no plans for the morning. I realized I can't upload the ones I took on my phone because I would have to email them to myself since I dont have the cord, and that would probably cost a lot. Those will just have to wait.
With the help of 5.5 pounds, I now have a hair dryer. Amazing.
It costs 54 pence to mail POSTCARDS to the US.. so you might not be getting post cards after all. haha. Oh well. I'm doing good on the emails. Now I just need to work on the pictures.
I went to my first real class this morning. It was great! There were only about 8 of us in the class. It was all girls. My Professor (or Tutor is what they call them here) is really cool. He is the owner of a PR firm. I think it's called Triad. He does PR for Kasabian, Bjork, and other cool bands. He loves American food and how our portions are really big. And he wants to go on a roadtrip with all the 50 states. Its funny. The class is mostly him reading off notes and asking us if we understand, but he talks about really interesting stuff. He is very unclear about his expectations though. However, he said he is a "easy marker." The coolest part of the whole thing is that we're going to a show for class! We're going to see The Hold Steady in London! Oooo. I'm excited. He went an hour over the time he was supposed to, but I still want to go eat lunch with the guy. He just seems awesome.
I also got my internet working today. But when I did that I went on facebook and saw a note that my old TA, Liberty Jaswal died in a hit and run car accident. There are lots of articles about it online. From the articles, it didn't seem like much of an accident. I don't think it's really hit me yet. I've never really had someone I've considered my friend pass away. He used to go to all my shows and I spend hours and hours with him in office hours. He was a really awesome, passionate person and he'll be missed. It's really really sad.
After I heard about that, I went to the library to try and get my mind off of the situation. I searched for 15 books for my class. The library had one. That was sort of frustrating. I think the library at UCSD is much better. reading here is different. My teacher doesn't really expect us to read, but he just has the books there for us if we want to read them or get ahead. It's strange.
Then I ran into Lara. We went to Samantha's room and talked for a bit. Then went to the bus stop so we could go into town and get some food. We ran into James at the bus stop and all headed to Grubby's Burgers. I got a chicken burger because I am still afraid of the beef here. It was okay. Onion rings here are really different though. It's like they cut up the onions before they fry them. When you break open the fried shell, you can't take the onion out. Oh, and I had to pay 40p for katchup (or however you want to spell it). Then we went back to the grocery store. Then home. It was fine and put me in a better mood.
I was going to go to the club even tonight, but decided against it because I was tired and didn't have anything to wear. It was kind of nice to have some alone time. I caught up on Entourage and did a little chatting online. It makes me feel at home.
I wish my hand wasn't hurting and that I had some real food around here and that myspace would let me log in for once!
I hope that this blog is entertaining. I think tomorrow I'll post pictures since I don't have class until night time.. and no plans for the morning. I realized I can't upload the ones I took on my phone because I would have to email them to myself since I dont have the cord, and that would probably cost a lot. Those will just have to wait.
With the help of 5.5 pounds, I now have a hair dryer. Amazing.
It costs 54 pence to mail POSTCARDS to the US.. so you might not be getting post cards after all. haha. Oh well. I'm doing good on the emails. Now I just need to work on the pictures.
Tuesday, 26 June 2007
Cheers
So I was having a pretty good day up until about a couple minutes ago. Stupid internet.
Anyways, I woke up this morning at 8am. I feel like I am on English time for sure now. The sun rises so early and sets so late! It's crazy. We took some pictures today at 10pm and it looks like noon. Crazy. The weather was horrible again. It rains horizontally. Gross
We had our orienation this morning. It was pretty quick and just went over some random things. Then I went to the book store. They use a4 size paper here. Random. And their hole punches are two in the middle of the page instead of three. The three books that I bought were about 30£, but they all look really interesting. I'm excited. After that I headed to the grocery store on a double decker bus! I bought this saver bus pass today. 3£ for all day..I ended up using it four times.. so that's pretty awesome. We went as a huge group to the store. It was called Sainsburry or something like that. It was so cute. Everything was packaged so nicely and it was so clean. They don't use preservatives here, so I tried not to buy too much stuff that I knew would go bad. I got some fruit, jams, peanut butter, crumpets, water, cookies, and then the expensive stuff was a loofa and body wash. Body was was like 4£ (which is about 8USD). Oh and I got this awesome laundry detergent. It is this little purple pillow like thing. I'll take a picture. Oh we got starbucks too. It was horrible. I got a white caffe mocha. It wasn't sweet at all. But they had amazing snacks there. i got this brownie and it was amazing. I saved part if because it was so good. It was super expensive though. Mine was like 4£ for my brownie and drink.
I would post picuters now but the internet is still not working in my room. I came here to the lab, and now myspace isn't working. This is why I'm frustrated. grrr
After the whole grocery store thing, I took a library tour with Liz and Vanessa. The library seems cool and I think I'll be spending a lot of time there. How nerdy.
At 6 I went to class. There were only about 13 people there. We just watched Almost Famous. Since it's my favorite movie, I was pretty excited. I took some notes just because our sections are going to be about 7 people.. That means I for sure need to talk. We will have an assignment due on Thursday already! Ah! So crazy. hahaha.
After class I was really hungry so Lauren, Magen (my flatmate) and I decided to head into the city of Brighton! We took the 25 bus and used our saver passes again! We got downtown and found a fish and chips place. The woman there didn't speak very good English and we felt like we were really dumb. She was just not from England though. haha. Then we ate it on the steps of another restaurant by the peir. We walked along the pebble beach which was fun. The pebbles are soooo huge! It was crazy. I'll post picutres from that some time too... Then we decided to go on the peir and walk around. There was an arcade and I really wanted to play, but all the games were so expensive. I played like 20p on those coin pushey games.. Obviously didn't win anything. haha. Then we took random pictures and walked some more. We tried to go to a pub beucase Lauren and Magen wanted a drink... or something. haha. I don't know. The first one we went to was KooKlub. The bouncers were all dressed up so we felt underdressed. They said we looked fine and could go in, but we deicded agaisnt it. Then we found this like ghetto bar.. haha. We thought we wouldn't feel underdressed there so we tried, but the bouncer wouldnt let Lauren in becuase she didnt have a passport or drivers license. It was awesome. hahaha. Then we decided to take the bus home. Public transportation here works really well. The bus comes as often as every 6 minutes. It's great.
When I got back I made some phone calls. Hearing peoples voices from home makes me smile. However, calling internationally is SO expensive. I bought a $20 phone card when I was in Oakland and it worked for about 16 minutes. Then I bought a 5£ card today. It said I was supposed to have 250 international minutes. It lied. I had like 20 again. ugh. I need to figure something out.
Plans for this week are packed. Tomorrow I have class, need to go to ITS, maybe the library, then we are going to clubbing (as a school? weird. haha). Wed I have class again and there is a pub crawl. Thursday I have a presentation for class. AH! Then I dont know. Friday I am heading to London for like a 7 hour walking tour! Then Sat and Sun I will probably study and head into town again. I want to play in the arcade and do fun stuff down there. Next weekend is Paris! Eep!
Random things I've noticed that are weird...
We don't have warm water. There are two temps. Freezing cold and boiling hot. The water comes out of two different things, so you have to get cold water in your hand then under hot and then splash it on your face. Its hard and doesn't work too well.
Everyone says cheers to everything. It's so cute. I want to start using it.
the @ sign is not located on the 2 on the keyboard here. Its a " instead. haha
Everything is sooo expensive. Ahh. I am keeping track of how much money I'm spending.. and it's a lot. Oops.
I still need a hairdryer.. even though it's been raining like crazy. My hair has gone insane.
Oh well. It's 12:30 in the morning now.. I should probably get going. Keep sending messages. Hoepfully myspace will let me in sometime soon.
Cheers!
Anyways, I woke up this morning at 8am. I feel like I am on English time for sure now. The sun rises so early and sets so late! It's crazy. We took some pictures today at 10pm and it looks like noon. Crazy. The weather was horrible again. It rains horizontally. Gross
We had our orienation this morning. It was pretty quick and just went over some random things. Then I went to the book store. They use a4 size paper here. Random. And their hole punches are two in the middle of the page instead of three. The three books that I bought were about 30£, but they all look really interesting. I'm excited. After that I headed to the grocery store on a double decker bus! I bought this saver bus pass today. 3£ for all day..I ended up using it four times.. so that's pretty awesome. We went as a huge group to the store. It was called Sainsburry or something like that. It was so cute. Everything was packaged so nicely and it was so clean. They don't use preservatives here, so I tried not to buy too much stuff that I knew would go bad. I got some fruit, jams, peanut butter, crumpets, water, cookies, and then the expensive stuff was a loofa and body wash. Body was was like 4£ (which is about 8USD). Oh and I got this awesome laundry detergent. It is this little purple pillow like thing. I'll take a picture. Oh we got starbucks too. It was horrible. I got a white caffe mocha. It wasn't sweet at all. But they had amazing snacks there. i got this brownie and it was amazing. I saved part if because it was so good. It was super expensive though. Mine was like 4£ for my brownie and drink.
I would post picuters now but the internet is still not working in my room. I came here to the lab, and now myspace isn't working. This is why I'm frustrated. grrr
After the whole grocery store thing, I took a library tour with Liz and Vanessa. The library seems cool and I think I'll be spending a lot of time there. How nerdy.
At 6 I went to class. There were only about 13 people there. We just watched Almost Famous. Since it's my favorite movie, I was pretty excited. I took some notes just because our sections are going to be about 7 people.. That means I for sure need to talk. We will have an assignment due on Thursday already! Ah! So crazy. hahaha.
After class I was really hungry so Lauren, Magen (my flatmate) and I decided to head into the city of Brighton! We took the 25 bus and used our saver passes again! We got downtown and found a fish and chips place. The woman there didn't speak very good English and we felt like we were really dumb. She was just not from England though. haha. Then we ate it on the steps of another restaurant by the peir. We walked along the pebble beach which was fun. The pebbles are soooo huge! It was crazy. I'll post picutres from that some time too... Then we decided to go on the peir and walk around. There was an arcade and I really wanted to play, but all the games were so expensive. I played like 20p on those coin pushey games.. Obviously didn't win anything. haha. Then we took random pictures and walked some more. We tried to go to a pub beucase Lauren and Magen wanted a drink... or something. haha. I don't know. The first one we went to was KooKlub. The bouncers were all dressed up so we felt underdressed. They said we looked fine and could go in, but we deicded agaisnt it. Then we found this like ghetto bar.. haha. We thought we wouldn't feel underdressed there so we tried, but the bouncer wouldnt let Lauren in becuase she didnt have a passport or drivers license. It was awesome. hahaha. Then we decided to take the bus home. Public transportation here works really well. The bus comes as often as every 6 minutes. It's great.
When I got back I made some phone calls. Hearing peoples voices from home makes me smile. However, calling internationally is SO expensive. I bought a $20 phone card when I was in Oakland and it worked for about 16 minutes. Then I bought a 5£ card today. It said I was supposed to have 250 international minutes. It lied. I had like 20 again. ugh. I need to figure something out.
Plans for this week are packed. Tomorrow I have class, need to go to ITS, maybe the library, then we are going to clubbing (as a school? weird. haha). Wed I have class again and there is a pub crawl. Thursday I have a presentation for class. AH! Then I dont know. Friday I am heading to London for like a 7 hour walking tour! Then Sat and Sun I will probably study and head into town again. I want to play in the arcade and do fun stuff down there. Next weekend is Paris! Eep!
Random things I've noticed that are weird...
We don't have warm water. There are two temps. Freezing cold and boiling hot. The water comes out of two different things, so you have to get cold water in your hand then under hot and then splash it on your face. Its hard and doesn't work too well.
Everyone says cheers to everything. It's so cute. I want to start using it.
the @ sign is not located on the 2 on the keyboard here. Its a " instead. haha
Everything is sooo expensive. Ahh. I am keeping track of how much money I'm spending.. and it's a lot. Oops.
I still need a hairdryer.. even though it's been raining like crazy. My hair has gone insane.
Oh well. It's 12:30 in the morning now.. I should probably get going. Keep sending messages. Hoepfully myspace will let me in sometime soon.
Cheers!
Sunday, 24 June 2007
I've arrived!
I've arrived in England! Yay! But only after a lot of stress and packing and errands.
On Friday I packed my life into one suitcase, a duffle, and my backpack. I was really afraid about being over the weight limit so I took some thigns out. Getting everything in those three bags was really difficult. Now that I am here and see what everyone else brought, I think I packed really light. That's good though because the bags were SO heavy. Moving them on and off trains and the plane was difficult. Ugh. I'm glad I'm done moving them for now.
I took two planes to get here. The first was from Oakland to Houston. There was a Raiders player on the flight, which was kind of cool. I sat by one of his homies. I slept most of the ride, but woke up feeling really warm. I was super afraid when I got off the flight because it was 6:18. My other flight to London was supposed to start boarding at 5:55. I dragged by 75lbs of crap up an escalator, onto a tram, and to my gate. When I got there, they had just started boarding. I met some friends that I've been sticking with. There was a pretty big group of us on the flight. The flight to London from Houston was supposed to be about 8 hours and 50 minutes. Too long! Luckily there was no one next to me, so I had a little more space. The entertainment system on the plane didn't really work, so that was frustrating. Also, the stewardess was really mean. However, we got 2 meals and offered lots of drinks. I tried to sleep which worked out okay, because now I feel like I am on English time. When the flight landed, I threw up. It was lovely. Great way to start my travels in England.
From there, our group of about 10 girls wen to buy train tickets. I found out I could use my railpass so I didn't buy a ticket. We then took a tram to the train station. All of us had at least one huuuge 50-ish lb bag. One of the girls, Elissa, had 3! We had to drag these bags down a huuuuge flight of stairs. It was pretty darn scary. Then a cute man with a wonderful accent told us to "shuffle over" to make more room for tons more people with bags. When we got on the train, We blocked the doors with all our luggage. I made a call to my mom and woke her up. It was my first really glipse at England. Everything was so green and wet. It was really pretty. All the buildings are brick and adorable. Then we got on another train and had no idea what we were doing. There were about 50 sussex kids trying to get on this train and the conductor told us we only had 20 seconds to get on and off. It was nuts.. But we made it!
After we got off the train, we met up with some Sussex reps. This one girl Rachel was so cute! We crammed our stuff in a minibus and drove to our check in location. We then got keys, and packets of stuff. After that we had to drag our huuuuge bags up these hills and stairs to our rooms.
Our rooms are alright. They're nothing really that special. I took pictures that I will post later. I have so much space in my closet, it's nuts. It makes me feel like I didn't bring anything. I'm sure it will fill up as soon as I get hangars and make my way to London. haha. I have a sink in my room too. That's kind of awesome.
After unpacking, I went to the lab (where I am now) and wrote emails with friends. Then I went to the little store and spent £10 on 2 converters, "frosties" (frosted flakes), some chips (or crisps as they call them), tissue, and water. I have a feeling this trip is going to be expensive.
I haven't really eatten a lunch or dinner yet. There was little party thing, but the food there was all fried and not very good. So far this bad food in England thing is true. There isn't really anywhere to buy food right now, so I think I'll munch on some frosties in a bit. The party thing was kind of lame because I feel like peopl ehav emade friends on their flight .thats what I did at least. I think classes will help.
The weather is rainy! In fact, I'm freezing cold right now beacuse my knees and below are soaked. Ugh. Rain is bad. I should have broughten a bigger jacket too because it is cold. Everyone keeps saying sorry about the weather.. I think thats funny.
Right now the phone and internet aren't working in our rooms. When it is, I will post pictures.
I have an orientation and class tomorrow. I'm really nervous and excited. It's really starting and that feels so weird. I still don't feel like it has completely hit me. It will soon.
I need to go shower and stuff.. so I will say goodbye now. I miss everyone. Send me emails and myspace messages. I'll try to keep this updated with blogs and pictures as often as possible.
On Friday I packed my life into one suitcase, a duffle, and my backpack. I was really afraid about being over the weight limit so I took some thigns out. Getting everything in those three bags was really difficult. Now that I am here and see what everyone else brought, I think I packed really light. That's good though because the bags were SO heavy. Moving them on and off trains and the plane was difficult. Ugh. I'm glad I'm done moving them for now.
I took two planes to get here. The first was from Oakland to Houston. There was a Raiders player on the flight, which was kind of cool. I sat by one of his homies. I slept most of the ride, but woke up feeling really warm. I was super afraid when I got off the flight because it was 6:18. My other flight to London was supposed to start boarding at 5:55. I dragged by 75lbs of crap up an escalator, onto a tram, and to my gate. When I got there, they had just started boarding. I met some friends that I've been sticking with. There was a pretty big group of us on the flight. The flight to London from Houston was supposed to be about 8 hours and 50 minutes. Too long! Luckily there was no one next to me, so I had a little more space. The entertainment system on the plane didn't really work, so that was frustrating. Also, the stewardess was really mean. However, we got 2 meals and offered lots of drinks. I tried to sleep which worked out okay, because now I feel like I am on English time. When the flight landed, I threw up. It was lovely. Great way to start my travels in England.
From there, our group of about 10 girls wen to buy train tickets. I found out I could use my railpass so I didn't buy a ticket. We then took a tram to the train station. All of us had at least one huuuge 50-ish lb bag. One of the girls, Elissa, had 3! We had to drag these bags down a huuuuge flight of stairs. It was pretty darn scary. Then a cute man with a wonderful accent told us to "shuffle over" to make more room for tons more people with bags. When we got on the train, We blocked the doors with all our luggage. I made a call to my mom and woke her up. It was my first really glipse at England. Everything was so green and wet. It was really pretty. All the buildings are brick and adorable. Then we got on another train and had no idea what we were doing. There were about 50 sussex kids trying to get on this train and the conductor told us we only had 20 seconds to get on and off. It was nuts.. But we made it!
After we got off the train, we met up with some Sussex reps. This one girl Rachel was so cute! We crammed our stuff in a minibus and drove to our check in location. We then got keys, and packets of stuff. After that we had to drag our huuuuge bags up these hills and stairs to our rooms.
Our rooms are alright. They're nothing really that special. I took pictures that I will post later. I have so much space in my closet, it's nuts. It makes me feel like I didn't bring anything. I'm sure it will fill up as soon as I get hangars and make my way to London. haha. I have a sink in my room too. That's kind of awesome.
After unpacking, I went to the lab (where I am now) and wrote emails with friends. Then I went to the little store and spent £10 on 2 converters, "frosties" (frosted flakes), some chips (or crisps as they call them), tissue, and water. I have a feeling this trip is going to be expensive.
I haven't really eatten a lunch or dinner yet. There was little party thing, but the food there was all fried and not very good. So far this bad food in England thing is true. There isn't really anywhere to buy food right now, so I think I'll munch on some frosties in a bit. The party thing was kind of lame because I feel like peopl ehav emade friends on their flight .thats what I did at least. I think classes will help.
The weather is rainy! In fact, I'm freezing cold right now beacuse my knees and below are soaked. Ugh. Rain is bad. I should have broughten a bigger jacket too because it is cold. Everyone keeps saying sorry about the weather.. I think thats funny.
Right now the phone and internet aren't working in our rooms. When it is, I will post pictures.
I have an orientation and class tomorrow. I'm really nervous and excited. It's really starting and that feels so weird. I still don't feel like it has completely hit me. It will soon.
I need to go shower and stuff.. so I will say goodbye now. I miss everyone. Send me emails and myspace messages. I'll try to keep this updated with blogs and pictures as often as possible.
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