Monday, May 23, 2011

Study, Study, Study, LONDON! Study, Study, Study...

Hello everyone!

I know it has been a while since I posted last, and that is because of two reasons: Firstly, I haven't been anywhere particularly exciting lately, and secondly, I have barely seen the light of day for three weeks because I have been writing essay after essay!

The school system here is so different. My classes have been going on all semester, but I haven't had a single assignment until recently, when all of my essays have been due. For two of my classes, my entire grade is the one essay that I turn in, and for the other two, the essay is half my grade, and an exam is the other half. This is an absolutely terrifying prospect for an American student who is used to multiple assignments, tests, projects, etc. making up the grade. So, I've been slaving away to make sure that I get good marks on these papers! I don't think I have ever started an essay three weeks before it was due, but I did for these ones! I turned in the first one on the 19th, another one today, and I have two due tomorrow. After that, I just have an exam review session on Thursday, and then two exams next week, and I am done with school!

I'm not sure how I feel about school coming to an end. On the one hand, it will be nice to have free time to hang out around Brighton, maybe hop up to London for the day, etc. On the other hand, school ending means that the semester is ending. I am definitely going to be sad to leave Brighton and the friends I have made here.

I did take a break from studying on Saturday. Some friends and I took a day trip to London. We were originally going to go see some of the Harry Potter sites, but that didn't exactly work out for us. We went to King's Cross station to go see platform 9 3/4, but when we got there, the lady said that it had been taken away because of construction. My inner 11 year old was BUMMED. But hopefully I'll be able to go back soon and see it. We went to see the alley that Diagon Alley was based off of, and were a little disappointed that it was nothing like we expected. After that, the 8 of us split up, and a couple of friends and I went wandering around London. My friend Alora and I rode the London Eye, a big ferris wheel sort of thing that is on the Thames River. Alora is afraid of heights, so it took a lot for her to go on it. When you get on it, you get in a big glass pod with about 15 other people. It takes around 25 minutes or so to get all the way around. We got some great pictures! It is so cool to be an hour train ride away from London! We're going again on Friday to go to the British Museum and the Tate Modern Museum. It should be fun!

Our King's Cross Station excited faces!

The closest thing I could get to pushing the trolley through the wall :(

Got Milk? Ron Weasley does!

The London Eye

Alora's London Eye excited face!

Our Pod

"Hey, Big Ben! How's It goin?"

Me in the Pod

The View from the top

My friend, Big Ben.

Double Decker bus on the bridge!

Far away view of the London Eye


Things I'm Loving: Study breaks, doing homework with friends, TEA WITH CAFFEINE!

Things I'm Not Loving So Much: Homework, the British Education System.

Things I'm Learning: Useless facts about British Social Policy, to appreciate my own school system.

I'll post again once finals are over!

Love, Jenn

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Stratford-Upon-Avon and Warwick Castle!

Hello, everyone! I know it's been over a week since I went on this trip, and I am WAAAY overdue for writing this blog. Life has been really busy around here. Finals are coming up, so my life is full of writing papers and worrying about tests. Buuuuuuuut, I did have a fantastic weekend in Stratford, so I want to tell you about that!

We left campus around 8 in the morning to head to Stratford-Upon-Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace, which is about 3 hours drive from here. While everyone else took the time to go back to sleep, my friend Alora and I spent most of the time listening to Dane Cook and laughing hysterically. I'm sure we were really annoying to the rest of the bus, but it was well worth it!

Anyway, we got to Stratford and checked into our little bed and breakfast. It was so cute! They gave us a cute little tea set in our room, and everything was floral printed and adorable! When we were all settled in, we walked to the main town area to go see Macbeth! They showed us where the theatre was, and we had an hour before the show started, so Alora, Valerie, Becca and I went to go get some lunch. We walked around the main town area, which is super cute! The River Avon runs right through the town centre, and there are all these little cute boats running up and down it! So adorable! Plus, it was Shakespeare's birthday that weekend, so there were people dressed up in costumes, etc. and just walking around town! It was so cool!

Pretty soon, our hour was up and we went to go see Macbeth at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. I practically peed myself with excitement. The show was AMAZING! It was very refreshing to see some well done Shakespeare! After the show was over, we walked around the gift shop where I geeked out over all of the Shakespeare stuff (such as the SHAKESPEARE BOARD GAME!!!!!) and then headed out to look around the town some more. We found a little shop that sold Harry Potter stuff (!) so we geeked out in there too! I basically just had a really geeky weekend. That evening, we went to see the Shakespeare Institute's Shakespeare scene night. It was nothing compared to the Royal Shakespeare Company, but it was nice to support the local college actors. After that, we were tired so we headed back to the bed and breakfast for the night.

The next morning, we got a traditional English breakfast  from the Bed and Breakfast. I didn't know what a traditional English breakfast was, I just knew it existed. But here's what it is: A sunny side up egg, half a tomato, some sauteed mushrooms, baked beans, a sausage, a strip of bacon that was definitely not crispy, and toast. Talk about an odd assortment of foods! But it was all good! After breakfast, we took a guided tour of Stratford and learned about the history of the town which was cool. When we got back from that, we hopped on the bus and headed to Warwick Castle, about 20 minutes down the road.

Warwick Castle is seriously the coolest place ever. I wish we had places like this in the States, because I would totally go there all the time! It's an old castle with live fencing/jousting shows, peacocks running around, people dressed in costume, haunted dungeons, a wax museum, archery, etc. SO COOL!!! Val, Alora, Becca, and I all ran around the castle like little kids for 4 hours and had a blast! The wax museum was really cool! It had wax figures of people who used to live in the castle. We had fun posing for pictures with all of the wax people! After that, it was time to go home, but it was a great weekend!
Coolest idea ever! Growing plants in your wellies!

The Royal Shakespeare Theatre

The Macbeth Poster!

Dress made out of gloves that was on display at the theatre!

We did some Kung-Fu with Kung-Fu Panda!

The River Avon

The River Avon again


Shakespeare's Birthplace

The Church where Shakespeare is buried

All of these boats are named after Shakespearean heroines

The River Avon... again!

Ice Cream BOAT!!!!!!

Warwick Castle

Showin' off our guns :)

Peacocks EVERYWHERE!

Trying to pull the sword from the stone.

More of the castle

Playing cards with some wax guys, and Jeehyun!

More of the castle!

And even more of the castle!

He was hiding from us.
Things I'm Loving: Castles (!), Shakespeare, Beds that you can't feel the springs through!

Things I'm Not Loving So Much: My looming exams, the fact that I'm going to have to leave this beautiful place.

Things I'm Learning: That peacocks MEOW, To take advantage of the time I have left.

I can't believe how quickly this semester is flying by! I only have 5 more weeks here! I'm trying to get as much of my work done as I can now so that I can enjoy my time to the fullest! I'll be writing again soon!

Love, Jenn