i smell like garlic..

I swear I can't believe I'm here! It's absolutely incredible.. I'm LIVING in another country for a whole freaking year!! Scary to think about, but there is it. I'm here.. for the year. The weather has been nutty lately. I flew into London and was there for a three days and it was kind of cold. Needed a jacket. I had some great Indian food while I was there, compliments of the EAP office (which us students probably paid for anyway through out tuition and fees). Saw a play call the "daughter in law", it was weird and hard to understand considering they were speaking old english in english accents. I almost fell asleep. I also visited the Tate Modern, a museum of modern art, that was a lot of fun, really interesting. Let's see, I also wandered around London a lot, going to visit the stores and numerous "squares" of shops and stuff. I also went to Greenwich, where time begins and ends. You know that longitude line that starts off how time changes as you move around the globe! I was a big dork and took a picture of me standing over the line so one side of me is in one time zone and the other side is in another. haha. I'll upload it sometime maybe. I wonder if people there celebrate two new years.. when it starts and then when it ends.

After London I dragged my giant suitcase, duffel bag, travel backpack and laptop onto a taxi, off the taxi, into the train station, onto the train, off the train, onto a bus, off the bus, onto another bus and off the bus and then up some stairs and into my room. It was "great" fun. Brighton, the town I'm close too is 20 min away by bus, which isn't bad at all. I got lost the first time with my friend, so now I remember to bring the bus map. But over the last few days I've figured out how to get about. Their "beach" is not like California beaches for sure. Imagine our beaches.. covered in smooth rocks. Then you have Brighton Beach. It's like our sand blew up to the size of a large skipping stone. But it's still beautiful and sitting on the pier reminds me of home. The weather was beautiful when I go here, sunny and warm! And then two days later it rained and this morning everything was gray and wet and since I've been sitting at this computer the sun has come out again, so it's bright, but windy and cool outside. Yeah... no wonder weather's a topic of conversation here. The only topic I can really talk about sometimes with these people.

It's amazing to me how much knowledge the English and Europeans have!! They know so much and many of them have seen so much of the world by the time they're 18. Compared to us Americans they are so much more wordly. I know so many people who have never left the states and some of my flatmates have worked in other countries to make money as they traveled or taught English in third world countries. Absolutely incredible! And the information they know about other people's history and just general information is amazing. I need to start reading the newspaper more and more books so I can catch up with them.

I got my schedule finalized and I'm taking two classes, four hours a week total. I'm supposed to be receiving reading lists and then I have to pick books to go read on my own and do a lot of self-study. haha.. we'll see how that goes. I do need to pass though and graduate. These freshers.. all they have to do is pass the class.. so they're all about partying. I'm moderating myself, not to mention I'm tired and have gone through these "welcome week" acitivies three times before already. You know the whole been there done that type of thing. Maybe I'm getting old and lazy.. or just lazy. :) partying takes a lot out of you! Anyways, my flat mates are really cool and sweet. There are six girls and six guys, one of them is from France and another girl is part German, the rest are from around the UK. They're hilarious and very thoughtful people and we joke around a lot like I do with my friends back home. We all cooked dinner together last night and ate it together. We don't have a common room which sucks ass and our kitchens are tiny little things, but we managed. We fit 8 people into a kitchen where between the two counters on either side is only room enough for two of me to stand side by side. We cooked spaghetti bolonagease.. which is why I smell like garlic right now. It's still in my system. :) Well I guess that's all for now, I'm hungry and it's almost 1:30 here so I'm gonna head back to my tiny kitchen and make some food.

Bye for now!