St. Patrick's Day, etc.

Hey All,

The past week has been pretty uneventful, except for St. Patrick's day, which was AMAZING! I've mostly been focusing on keeping myself involved in school work, only because I know that if I let myself slip away from it, I'll be having too much fun to bother to keep up. I'm absolutely LOVING my creative writing class, though. I have to write a short story every week, and it feels so good to be writing consistently. I used to write a lot in high school, but I sort of stopped doing it, so it's nice to have an excuse to write again. It's really nice to have people to get feedback from as well.

So this past Thursday was St, Patrick's day. I got dressed that morning with the holiday in mind, and put on my bright green sweatshirt before heading out the door. Little known fact about England: the people don't really wear green on St. Patrick's day. I kept fighting the urge to pinch everyone in sight for not wearing green! Class went by as usual, and that night, I went out with some friends. Madison (my friend from the theatre department in Chico), myself, and three of our English friends, Leanne, Tara, and Dani, went out to our favourite pub called King and Queen. The place was packed. I have never had to wait to get into King and Queen before, but we waited in the queue for about 10 minutes before finally getting inside. It would have been longer but Madison knows someone who works there, and he let us in. Inside, there was an Irish band that was playing a gig. They were phenomenal. We had so much fun dancing around to random Irish music! I tried my first Guinness there as well (wasn't a huge fan of it... a bit too bitter for me). We met up with some of the other American students there, too!

After the gig was over, Tara and Dani went home, and Madison, Leanne, myself, and two of our American friends, Laura and Shayna, went out to a club called Coalition to go dancing. The DJ was playing all 80's and 90's music, and we had such an amazing time! Unfortunately, we didn't get home until about 3:30 in the morning, and I had class at 10 the next morning, so I was a bit tired the next day. But it was totally worth it!

Other than St Patrick's day, nothing else to report. I'm off to Paris next weekend for three days, so you'll be getting a post about that!!! I'm SO EXCITED!!! Then the weekend after next starts my Spring Break Extravaganza!

Baby's First Guinness!

The Irish band that was playing! So fun!

(Left to Right) Leanne, Madison, Laura, and I outside King and Queen

Huge sign right outside the pub

They have the weirdest flavoured crisps ever. My favorite name I've found so far, though are the "Cheese Moments"

Yes, there is a store in Brighton called "Fat Face"

Things I'm Loving: The weather getting progressively nicer as the days go on, watching "A Very Potter Musical" with my friend Claire, meeting even more people, getting back into writing again, feeling totally at home here.

Things I'm Not Loving So Much: The temperature, the planning phase of my trips.

Things I'm Learning: That I need to balance the time I spend with people and the time I spend alone, or else I get worn out.

British to American Dictionary:

Bunk off = Ditch School
Nan = Grandma
Slag = Slut

I saw a funny sign on the side of the road the other day-

In America it would go something like this:
People who are caught talking on the phone while driving will be fined.

And here's the sign in England:
Think. Don't phone whilst driving.

Gotta love the way they phrase things. It sounded so hilariously Shakespearean that I had to post it.

Anyway, hope everyone is doing well! I miss you all, and I'll post when I get back from PARIS!!!

Au Revoir,
Jenn