ciao bella... ROMA!!!

I possibly just did the most sightseeing accompanied by the least amount of sleep i have ever done in my life, in the past 3 days. Last thursday, after my Psych exam, I said good bye to Bader hall and hello to Roma. After a 2 and a half hour drive and an equal length flight, we landed in rome. It was late by this point so we went and checked into our hostel (which was more like a hotel), and got our first pizza of the trip (and certainly not the last). It was ridiculously greasy, but so, so good!! It was definitely a great way to start off the trip. We woke up early the next morning, so we could catch the first bus (we bought tickets for the hop on hop off bus). We got to the Vatican at about 10, so we beat the line up luckily. We only had to wait about five minutes, and by the time we left the line snaked all around the circle. It was a bit of  an eyesore because they were in the midst of setting up a GIANT christmas tree in the centre, but it was still breathtaking. So we went into San Piedro's (St. Peters) basilica, and then climbed all 551 steps up to the top of the dome. It is my goal to conquer all of the stairs of Europe!! The view was amazing, we could see all around Rome. Then we went to the Sistine Chapel and Musei Vaticano , and after completing a long and snaking maze, we saw the amazing ceiling. Pictures definitely do not do it any justice. I could have stare at it for hours, however, my feet and neck hurt! 

All this time, it was pouring rain. So we had a quick bite of lunch (pizza of course), and headed to Trevi fountain, which was so breathtaking, especially since it was so dark out. We threw coins in, two in hopes of falling in love in the city. No dice on that unfortunately. After a bit of shopping, we caught the last bus, and headed back to our hostel to dry off. We tried to go for dinner, but at 7:00, NO restaurants were open. Finally we found a tiny place and we were the only people in there. I had delicious ravioli, and then we went for some gelato! Then we called it a night. 

The next day, we woke up early again and headed to the colosseum, again, pictures don't do it justice. We did a guided tour because it let is skip the line. It was such a beautiful day, we were so lucky. We learned about the history and the architecture which was all really interesting. Then we headed to the Forum and to look at Augusto's House. We got a little lost, and there is LOTS to see at the forum ,but it was all so beautiful. Augusto's house was really cool, we got to see some of the original frescos on the wall. Then we walked to the Pantheon, which was also really cool, a lot bigger than I expected. Then we walked down to the river, and came across Piazza Navona and there was a bunch of markets, selling candy and christmas ornaments and stuff, it was really cool. We also saw some guy accompanied by 4 bodyguards. I took a picture of him (its on facebook) because I was curious as to whether he was famous or just rich. Take a look and see if you know him. Then we walked down to the river and ate a late lunch, and I got a pizza that was HUGE (it was my dinner too!). Then we went to Piazza del Popolo, and then to the Spanish Steps. There were so many people it was ridiculous. We just sat on the steps and watched as taxis attempted to fight through the mobs. We also watched as millions of birds flew around in odd formations in the sunset lit sky. It was nice to finally relax. Then we walked to Piazza Barberini, and the Piazza della Repubblica. Then, we headed to termini to catch a bus to Ciampino. We stocked up on groceries before in preparation for the long night ahead of us. We got to the airport at 9:00pm, and our flight wasn't until 6:35 am. We figured we would save money and not stay at a hostel because we would have to get up at about 3:00 to get to the airport in time anyways. We tried last minute to get on the 11:00 pm flight, but apparently that cost 300 euros... So we spent the night in the airport. They closed Departures, so we had to go the Arrivals. Us, along with about 30 others spent the night, and we made friends with a romanian named Fabio. I stayed up to watch our stuff, because I wasn't that tired anyways. At 4:30, we went and checked in and by the time we got on the plane, we were all out. I didn't even notice the plane take off. Before I knew it, we were back in the cold, frosty england. After another 2 hour drive, I find myself back at bader, where I should be studying for my geo exam tomorrow!!

Anyways- Only 4 days til I'm home. I can't wait!

Til then,

<3 

eating, drinking, and much, MUCH MERRIMENT!

Since it is Sunday I believe it is time for me to update you on my weekend.

On Friday, I went on a field study with my World Religions class. First, we went to a synagogue which was interesting, but it was way too early in the morning for me to appreciate it. We did get to see some ancient Torah scrolls though which was really cool. From there we went into London to go to a mosque. We had some free time and so we went to the Sherlock Holmes museum, well actually only to the store but that's the best part anyways. So then we went to the Mosque which was really cool. All the girls had to wear headscarfs. We went into the prayer hall, and got to see the sunset prayer which was cool. And the room smelled delicious,  like incense. Then we got to go up to the library, which is one of the biggest in the world, up in the ranks of the Harvard Library. After the mosque, me and a few others went to the West End to see Spamalot. While we were waiting for the show we walked around Chinatown and ate delicious chinese food. Spamalot was amazing though, so hilarious. Afterwards, the next train home didn't leave for over an hour so we didn't get back to res until 2am. Saturday, I woke up early and took a minibus to Battle. There was a christmas festival, but the minibus planners didn't realize that the festival didn't start until 11am, and they dropped us off at 9am, so we had a really long time to kill. So we went out for tea and scones while we waited, and then walked around Battle which was really cool. The christmas festival wasn't exactly what we were expecting. We happened upon a small room where these two people were giving a presentation about Christmas traditions. Me and two other girls got called up as volunteers to act out the story of Saint Nick, and while I was sweeping, the broom broke and it went flying and hit the presenter in the knees. Unfortunately, after that we had to leave. It was very entertaining though.

Then saturday night we had another pub quiz, and luckily my team didn't lose this one,but we didn't win either. We got 10/10 on the Disney section, but only 3 on the sports section haha. After that it just continued to go downhill, especially when it came to identifying polish movie as.

Anyhoo, it will probably get pretty unexciting from here on, because next weekend I will probably just be studying for exams. 

See you soon.... 

Only in England...

Just a funny story. So I usually have world religions on mondays from 8:30 am until 11:30 am, definitely not a popular spot. This week however, the prof moved it to Thursday night (tonight) because of the field trip we have tomorrow. Thursday nights are also unpopular because it is basically a friday night here. So instead, today we had class from 7pm until 10pm, which was quite annoying. So, he decided that we deserved a reward for coming in at such an unpopular time (no other classes ever run at this time). And what did he reward us with? Not chocolate, as some profs do, or extra marks....

Wine. He gave our class wine to drink while presentations were going on. Needless to say he is now my favorite prof!

Anyways, I just thought this was a funny story, I mean how often does a teacher give you wine. What makes it especially funny is that student services is promoting and anti-drinking campaign right now!!! 

I am off to a mosque and synagogue tomorrow! And also to see Lion King!! YAY

less than a month left...

It is so surreal to think that in 3 and a half weeks I will be flying back to Richmond to see all of your again! It still feels like a I just got here, like I just moved into my dorm room, like I just met everyone here. I guess its true that as you get older, time goes faster. 

November is a relatively unexciting month for me. Last weekend, I stayed in res. Most people were away on a language trip or individual travels but I stayed back, mainly cause I'm not in french so I wasn't allowed to go to Paris, and also because traveling is expensive and I'm trying to save my money. So last weekend was quiet, I finally slept more than 6 hours in one night, and actually slept in until about 2:00 3 days in a row which was amazing. 

Last week we got out economics midterms back, and I somehow got 91%!!! Which I was extremely pleased about. Although, I owe much of it to the help of my friends who are commerce students. So yeah I was very happy about that. Finals are looming too, meaning I should start studying, but I probably won't for another week or so. I only have 2 assignments left for the rest of the term though and their both pretty easy so my path is clear for studying. However, I have discovered the shared hard drive on our network, which has about 100 movies that we can watch on our laptops, as well as games and TV shows. So needless to say, I have spent an inexcusable amount of time watching movies. This weekend I conquered Oceans 11-13. 

This Friday I had a field study for my psych class, which would've been a lot better had I not gone out the night before. We finally made it out to Eastbourne for the night which was awesome, but the 3 hours of sleep I got before my field trip were not. We went to East Sussex University where my prof works, and we listened to a bunch of presentations about research that grad students are doing, ranging from testing the language of dogs, to the relationship between memory, nicotine and genes, to synesthesia (which is crazy might i add) and also about using music to prevent depression. It was really cool to think that in a couple years these people (especially the one about nicotine and memory, which she is hoping to use the research to help find a cure for Alzheimer's) might make huge breakthroughs in the next few years. 

So I did that on Friday, and on Saturday I went to Stonehenge, and Salisbury. Stonehenge was really cool, not quite as impressive as I imagine but still pretty crazy. Its amazing to think that these stones (which weight as much as 7 elephants each) were carried across the country, and all the way from Wales in some cases, simply using man power. However, there is also a legend that the Devil placed the stones there and tricked some lady, but I think the first story is much more plausible. 

From there we went to Salisbury, a town near stonehenge which was also pretty cool. It was a pretty small town, with small streets and old buildings. We went to Salisbury cathedral which was beautiful, and cool because they still had some Remembrance Day wreaths up. After that we just wandered around, watched the swans frolick in the river, and got confused by the stores that had entrances in the front, and back, both which led out to very similar looking streets. 

So that was another long day, I spent a solid 7 hours on a bus, but it was definitely worth it. Now I am back at Bader, and potentially in the middle of a prank war. 

Me and a friend stole the clothing of three of our friends because they were silly enough to leave their doors open while they went for lunch. So we took everything , and hid it, and told them that we would not give it back until they did a few embarrassing things such as professing their love for someone in the cafeteria, dressing in drag one day, hitting on someone of the same sex at the pub, climb a tree in their boxers, and make us a romantic mixed CD. So we are awaiting these tasks to be completed, but also awaiting retaliation. I will keep you updated.

That is all for now, I am headed to London for the upcoming weekend for a field study and to do some shopping and maybe go see a show. 

Until next time..

remember, remember the 5th of November...

Well hello. Yesterday, I went into Lewes for Guy Fawkes Day. Every year they have this huge festival thingy and bonfires and fireworks and stuff in honor of Guy Fawkes. For those of you that don't know, this day celebrated the failure of the Gunpowder Plot, which was the plan of Guy Fawkes and others to burn the Houses of Parliament in London. So we took the train into Lewes, which was SO PACKED. It was very reminiscent of the Celebration of Lights, there were cops everywhere telling people where to go, the roads were shut down, and there was about 500,000 people all in this really small town. 

Of course, it was pouring rain, but it was kinda cool actually. It made it all that more dramatic. So we arrive in Lewes, and start walking around, we realy have no clue what to expect, or whats going on, and then all of a sudden we see a crowd of people walking towards us with burning torches. Oh and they were dressed like Pirates. Kinda weird. There was also a bunch of people dragging huge barrels of fire. Not only was there torches, but they were waving them around, I swear I almost caught on fire at least a couple times. 

So we followed the little parade, and we saw more torches, more people dressed up at weird things. And then we saw the burning crosses. Which was slightly odd, but apparently  no big deal here. It was definitely not something you could ever see in Canada. We also saw a couple effigies of Guy Fawkes and for some reason a huge Wall-E float. There was a bunch of other random float-type things of people and things that I didn't recognize. It was all very surreal.

So after the parade, we continued walking around until we saw in the distance a GIANT fire. So we followed the flame, and encountered a flame about the size of a large large house. Just a HUGE bonfire in the middle of the field. The atmosphere was very much what I imagine Woodstock would've been like, only less love. The field was SO muddy, and some people were just COVERED from head to toe and everyone was just kind of milling around, enjoying the warming and drying effect of the fire. It was pretty cool. From about 100 feet away from the fire, we could feel our faces burning! Luckily they had a fence around the perimeter otherwise I can imagine things would be bad.

After we left the bonfire, we witnessed a fireworks war, which was cool- but nothing compared to the Celebration of Lights. I guess I just have high standards though!  The experience was especially cool because this might be the last year that Lewes hosts this festival- I guess there is just too much danger potential, and it can barely support the amount of people that come anymore. 

So yeah, thats all thats really new- I'm staying around this weekend, might go on a daytrip to London or Brighton or something. I think me and couple people might plan a trip to Croatia for a couple weeks from now too!!! 

By the way, both my presentation and midterm went really well so I'm happy, and I just have a few more assignments for the rest of the semester. Other than that, nothing exciting on my horizon.

Miss and Love you all. 

The west coast is the best coast!

Hello all- I am glad to report that the Bader plague has now moved on to many of my neighbours. My bad... hahaha. Is it bad that I'm happy that I'm not longer sick but that many others are?! Oh well. 

This last weekend was halloween, which isn't traditionally celebrated here, but I guess they've sort of adopted it, just not to the extent that we are used to. We had a pub night and me and two other girls dressed up as beauty pageant contestants (it was the best we could come up with that didn't involve buying things!). So I was Miss BC, and there was a Miss Ontario and Miss Maine. We entered the competition but got beat out by a Nun and Priest Duo. I'm not bitter about it at all.... I mean we even had a little act when we walked out and we had a whole speech prepared. But no biggie....

It is starting to get really cold, and really dark here. Like, so dark that at 5:00 when i go to dinner i can't see where I'm stepping. I'm really glad I brought my long johns which a couple weeks ago I was angry that I wasted space bringing.. 

Tonight Dr Bader is giving a talk about Business and his life basically. He's the one who donated the school to Queen's and the Res building is named after him (so is the plague but I'm not sure he'd want to know that). So that talk is tonight and should be interesting. Also coming up is Guy Fawkes day, which is HUGE here. So were going into Lewes for a big festival on Wednesday which should be cool. 

Also in exciting news, I did an online order for some food and other necessities, this time from tesco (I'm practicing comparative shopping!) And let me tell you Tesco won! I ordered a bunch of food, and they called me and said they couldn't deliver it when i was scheduled because of a staff shortage, so they sent me a 10 pound coupon ($20!!!) and delivered my food  like 12 hours later than I asked. And then, about 3 days ago I get an email titled "Customer Refund" And they had refunded me for everything I bought, even though it's all already on my shelf. So basically, they paid me to take food from them. Nonetheless, I have turned many of my friends here into Tesco believers. And I can't wait to order from them again!!

I thought of a few more things that I miss from home!

-Goldfish crackers! 

-Gatorade (its weird here...)

-Peppermint tea

-peanut butter ( I cant remember if I mentioned this already..)

-Cheese!!!!!

-Clam chowder (again.. i may have mentioned this already!..).but im convinced they dont have it here

that is all for now. 

Such a drastic change in the last few days..

Wow. I hate being back at school. At first I was really excited to come back and see everyone again, and have all my meals prepared for me again, and sleep in "my" bed again. But that excitement was quickly squashed. 

I have a psych paper to do, a presentation and accompanying report to complete, and an economics midterm to do this week. While I was gone, I easily forgot about these things and now they are coming back to haunt me.

While I was at first happy to see everyone, I remembered quickly why I liked being in such a small group again. And I also quickly remembered how much i hate the caf food. And, while my bed was comfy, I maybe got 4 hours of sleep last night. 

I have what is currently called the "bader plague" (even though i got it in belfast). I am one of the last people here to get sick (..i thought i was in the clear, i came so close)so i currently feel not-so got (but im actually really hot, i think i have a fever)

So yeah- pretty much my life went from jet-setting across the UK to holing myself up in the library and doing WORK! woot woot. 

So wish me luck with my paper, presentation, and exam, im pretty much terrified. 

The day i almost died three times...

HEY! Today was like the best day EVER so i couldn't resist updating this right away. We woke up super early, and retrieved my camera! YAY! and then we checked out St. Georges Market that had like jewlerly and meat and baked goods and stuff. Then we caught a coach bus that was taking us around Anterim Coast and then up to Giants Causeway. Our bus driver, Tom, was SO CRAZY but so awesome. He told us the randomest stories, I even took a video. Check fbook for that one too. I'm going to be busy when i get back to Bader uploading the 300 pictures I took.

So our first stop was just at this little town on the coast with a harbour that was really pretty. But it was SOO windy. Tom told us the winders werew 80mph.. which apparently is no biggie here. I was actually worried for my safety (But that is not a death attempt!) So we drove for a really long time along the coast, and stopped at a few random places just to take pictures, and this is where my first near death experience occurs. Tom told us that there are two routes, one thats normal, and one thats steep and narrow and coaches can;t go on them. So he says 'Were not allowed to go right'. Then he turns right. He did this like four times. So needless to say the ride was extremely bumpy, extremely steep, extremely close to the clifff edge and extremely close to other cars. But tom drove no problem, whilst telling us random stories about dead puppies.

Our second stop was Carrick-a-rede suspension bridge, which is where death experience number two happens. It was soo beautiful here though, I really can't even describe it! Straight out of national geographic. Here there was this bridge, made of wood nad rope, and strengthened by steel piping, and we crossed it in the 80mph+ winds, while some americans were bouncing up and down on the other end. It was quite terrifying but pretty unreal. Tom told us that if we crossed it we would be heroes to all our family and friends. So consider me a hero.

Our last major stop was Giants Causeway which was SOO COOL. Again, straight out of national geographic. If you don't know what this is, Its an odd geographical formation, that looks kind of like hexagon pillars. There are two theories as to how they formed 1) Volacnoes millions of years ago (boring!) or 2) There was a giant named Finn McCool whi challenged a giant named Ben from Scotland to a fight, and even built him a causeway so that he could walk right over. So he did. And when Finn saw him he was way too big, so he got scared. So them his wife dressed him up like a baby and when Ben saw him he figured that if thats how big the baby was, e did not want to fight the father! So he ran away, and stomping on the causeway, and Finn woke up and threw the sword of the Earth at him, and won. I much prefer that story. But yeah seriously check out the pictures it was so breaktaking.

Now, death trap number 3. So you can walk out on the columns pretty much out to the ocean, and alison insisted on walking out as far as we can. So we walk out and these huge waves are crashing around us and it was so cool. So we keep going. Then all of a sudden this HUGE wave looms and I just froze. I swear it was tsunami level I was terrifed. So I turned and started running, which is hard on hexagon columns. Needless to say, I got soaked, and almost had a heart attack.

We also stopped at a distillery, infact the oldest distillery in the world! Which was pretty neat.

I head back home to Bader tomorrow, to face a mountain of laundry and work. Back to the 'regular' life i suppose.

Miss you all lots.

I swear Scottish and Irish are foreign languages...

So I remembered a few of the things i forgot to write yesterday/ I have more internet time now. But first, I would like to stress how difficult it is to understand Scottish and Irish people. Last night I met some of my friends cousins and his housemates, and I seriously couldn't understand them. We all went out later and pretty much everyone I met was un-understandable. They say things like 'wanker' and 'squire' all the time and theyre slang is just ridiculous but Im still having a really good time.

Today me and Alison took a city tours bus all around belfast which was pretty cool,and last night we went shopping!! We discovered the 50p rack at primark which was awesome. Tomorrow were heading up to Giants Causeway and the Anterim coast for the day, so im really hoping for good weather. It supposed to be really beautiful. I also think we might get up really early and go to St. Georges market which has like produce and arts and crafts and stuff. I figure we can handle getting up early since we slept til 11:30 today- thats the latest ive slept since ive been in the UK!

OH! AND... for all you tim hortons fans out there... they have it hgere in belfast!! I almost died when i first saw it. Its inside this other store, and they only have the coffee and the donuts but STILL I swear Im still in shock. I'm not gunna lie, Im a little disappointed.

Also, I left my camera at a cafe today, and by the time we got back it was closed so i really hope its there tomorrow... im not too worried about the camera cause its pretty old but I have so many amazing pictures on it from the last week I will be really devastated if its gone for good.

I started making a mental list of all the foods I miss from home, and i think ill share them with you so that when I get home you can have them ready for me!
- everything bagel with REAL cream cheese
- KD
-panago pizza
- sushi ten california rolls
- fried egg sandwich from the rinkside grill!
- chips and salsa and guacamole
-caesar salad
-clam chowder(new england)
- good pasta (spaghetti?)
-pizza pops
-raspberries/any fruit that isnt apples or bananas
-AVACADOES!!!


Things I dont want to eat
- fish and chips (sorry sam)
-fries in general
-tuna
-apples/bananas/apple juice

Anyhoo- thats all for now i suppose. I probably wont write for awhile because I have midterms and essays and such.

bye for nowww

Tryng to remember all that has happened in the last week is a lot harder than I imagined..

HELLO! I feel like i haven't been on a computer in forever. As you may well know, I headed off to Edinburgh last thursday. I took an overnight bus up with a few friends a few days before we were supposed to go up with the school, and I am sure glad we did. Our bus ride was 9 hours, and the school took 16 hours, because they have to stop every 3 hours or something since the driver is part of a union. So we arrived in Edinburgh at 9 am, and were so exhausted because it is quite hard to sleep comfortably on those buses (luckily my bus partner was nice and let me sleep on him!). So the first couple days we really just got to know the city, and walked around a LOT! We found this bar called Maggies that sold really cheap food for students and took full advantage of it. Our hostel was right across the street from Edinburgh castle which was pretty cool, and our room was Happy Days themed! My bed was named Big Al. There was also a Winnie the Pooh and Lord of the Rings room which was pretty sweet. Our second night there we met these sweet French guys in our hostel named, of all thins, Francois and Pierre. So we went out with them and met their friends Paul and Guillome (william) Which was really cool but I cant speak a word of french... Luckily some of my friends could and they spoke a bit of english too.

So then the rest of the school met up with us, and I got to stay in a HOTEL YAY. And I also got to do a tour of the Castle and see the Crown Jewels which was really cool. Then on our last day there, me and three others took a train up to Pitlochry, a small town up in the highlands. It was really cool and really really cheap. We took a nature trail to try and go to a distillery, and the wak was unreal. We took a few detours and it seriously looked right out of national geographic. Check my pictures on facebook- they should be up soon. When we got to the distillery it was closed, so we headed back and did some more exploring. Then the next day we took a bus with the school back to Liverpool, and stopped at Hadrians wall on the way which was really cool- also check for pictures on facebook. Of course, the first thing we did in liverpool was get lost. After that, we caught the tail end of a football match, and we tried to go to the Cavern Club, where the beatles used to play but there was private party so that kinda sucked. So we just went to the cavern pub instead but it was really packed so we just club/pub/place hopped all night. FINALLY that brings me to today- We woke up early, and got on a plane to get to Belfast. The plane was only about 20 minutes long which was pretty sweet, but it was raining when we got here and we couldn't find our hostel. We had to ask for directions at least 7 times. But finally, we found it and had an AMAZING nap. And that brings me to now.

Im sure there was plenty more to tell you, but its either too crazy to type or I forget.

Miss and love you all lots.

feeling good, despite my head wanting to combust...

I think this may have possibly been the longest weekend of my life. And I think I also got the least amount of sleep. And spent the most amount of time on a bus that I ever have before (12+ hours). But I suppose it was all worth it. Since I last wrote I have been working like crazy trying to get work done. My previous slogan of all play no work proved to be not very efficient.So I've been staying up pretty late every night trying to get some stuff done. Especially because i need to get work done thats due after midterm break because i don't get back until like 2 days before some of its due.

BUT ANYWAYS! this weekend- On friday, I went with my economics class (sans prof for some reason... ) to Barclays Capital where we basically got recruited to apply for their internships. Too bad there was only 3 commerce students there! And then we got a tour of the building, which was really cool because friday (now known at Black Friday) was the crash of the stock market. So pretty much i'm a part of history now... Sometime like 10million pounds was lost every second for 7 minutes. Where better to be a witness of this economic catastrophe than in the financial district of london? After that we had the rest of the day off so we wandered around london and went to camden market which was really sweet. They had tons of really cheap clothes and jewelry, and I bought a cute green dress and a necklace with a turtle on it but its really a clock.. its pretty nifty. 

Then saturday morning, we headed up to Canterbury, which was really cool. We wandered around the cobblestone streets for awhile and then we got a tour of the Cathedral which was really really cool. Afterwards we went to a pub for a bit, and did some more window-shopping (which was just depressing) and ate some really good fish and chips, and mostly just sat and enjoyed the street players playing the guitar. Everyone was so tired that no one was really up to do anything else. We did find a Winnie-the-Pooh shop though that was the highlight of my day. It was just the cutest thing ever and it made me really miss home for some reason :(

Then today, I went to London AGAIN for a philosophy field study. We went to the Design Museum, then the British Museum. The Design museum was really cool, the top floor was super trippy, whoever did it MUST have been on some sort of drug. Then the bottom floor was just like cool designs from different decades. It was cool, but it would've been better after a full nights rest. Then we went to the British museum, which Ive been to before but it was still really cool cause that place is SOOO BIG that i could go there a hundred more times and still find new things. My favourite thing I saw today was called the Tree of Life, which is a tree made out of old guns in Africa. Check my facebook for pictures! Then we wandered around the shops for a couple hours, and i finally bought some rainboots!! YAY. 

So, I am officially exhausted, and I have yet ANOTHER early day tomorrow (stupid 8:30 classes) so hopefully I can get more rest. We have an open mic night in the put tonight which I am being forced to attend however... Sorry if this entry seems less than coherent or detailed, I had to ask a friend what we even did on Friday because I can't remember. 

Funny story.. just to end this off, a bunch of students went out last night to Eastbourne (the closest town with clubs) and a bunch of the boys got stranded and couldnt catch a cab so they started walking back. So at 7:50 this morning, when were supposed to leave at 8:00 one of the guys runs into the dining hall, still wearing the clothes he had worn out the night before, and ate and hopped on the bus and slept. We found out that they had left at 2, and were walking ALL NIGHT until the one guy that was on the field study realized he was going to miss it so he sprinted the rest of the way. So he walked for 5 hours and with no sleep and then had to go to a bunch of museums. I no longer felt that I was able to complain about my day though...

Miss you all. 

Officially not on the wall of shame.. i mean wall of youth anymore!

Well, it's official. I am now legal in Europe. After my evening class I got to rip my picture off the wall of youth in the pub. It felt reaaaaal good. I don't really have any exciting news, except that my birthday was a success, and I miss home lots! I can't wait to come home and eat home cooked meals and other goodness. I never realized how much i took advantage of that food... 

so basically I'm writing this to avoid starting my psych essay or work on my geography field reports (both due next week...) and because I have watched all the available episodes of house.. so this is the only distraction I have left. 

After my last weekend of rest I now have a VERY full weekend. I am going to London on friday with my economics class along with the commerce students to Barclay's capital, then to Canterbury Cathedral with my religions class on saturday, and then to the London museum of Design on Sunday with my Philosophy class. So I will be sure to do another entry after that to fill you in! Then after that it is off to Edinburgh, Liverpool, and Belfast!!!

Until next time...

so this weekend i did.... nothing?

Well... i wish I had some really cool story to tell you about a really sweet country I went to this weekend but no dice. I went no where unfortunately.. and I decided to devote my weekend to getting all my current work done. Also no dice. I did succeed in getting up to date on episodes of House. I did get SOME work done I guess. And i also caught up on my sleep.. which I desperately needed. In fact I just might have a nap as soon as I finish this. (and by nap I mean try and read my economics textbook and thus fall asleep, it works every time). The only exciting news I have is the copious amounts of mail I have been receiving! Thank you all you don't know how awesome this is. Everyone thinks I'm so cool now (not that they didn't before obviously). OH and tomorrow is my birthday!! Which means I get to go to the pub and rip my picture down from the wall of youth! It's so crazy I think there's like 10 birthdays in the next two weeks or something ridiculous like that. 

Also in current news, the weather has officially gone nuts. I was woken up numerous times by the wind. I swear our building (which is U shaped, and I'm on the inside of the U) acts like a wind tunnel. And the rain is unreal. I hope it doesn't last long. I mean, I had to change out of he pj's i wore to lunch into a new pair because they were soaked through. And umbrellas are out of the question due to the hurricane level winds. I miss being surrounded by buildings to break the wind. Sheep aren't very good at that.. 

I got my first grade back! I got an A on my geography presentation yay! I also successfully completed my first online grocery order. It is honestly the best invention ever. I just click a few buttons and the next day there's crates of food for me! The food here is pretty risky business so it's nice to have backup. 

I think that's all I have to report.. OH I booked my bus ticket to Edinburgh and a flight to Belfast. 9 pounds! REDICULOUS RIGHT!?I was pretty proud of myself. So i'm going to be gone from the 16th of October until the 26th. And due to airline restrictions (and to save money) all I can bring is one carry on.. so pretty much i'm going to wear like one outfit for 10 days straight. 

I hope this finds you all in good health, I can imagine the fall cold is circulating there as much as it is here!? It's pretty brutal but I've found I seem to be immune to it luckily.

Miss you all

Love Mel

I don't even know...

Well, yet again I find myself writing after an extremely jam packed weekend. I can hardly even remember what happened during the week. Surely nothing exciting (just school work). But anyways, this weekend I jetted of to Wales for a few days with some friends. We left Thursday night, and headed to London by train, where we caught a coach bus to Wales. It was a three hour ride, but luckily the bus was pretty empty so we got to sprawl out. I'm pretty sure we were the loudest people on the bus, and i'm not sure the other passengers appreciated it but oh well. Now, you may be asking why we bussed, and didn't just catch another train. The answer is simple. To catch a train from London to Cardiff was 90 pounds (180 dollars), plus another 20 pounds to get from the castle to London. To take the bus, was 5 pounds each way (so 10 total).  So we figured that we would rather save 80 pounds, and stay in a decent hostel and eat good food (for once). So we didn't arrive to Cardiff until about 11pm, and just to make things interesting, I lost the piece of paper with directions to the hostel and our reservation number. Luckily, it was only a few minutes away from the bus stop (so right in the centre of the city) and the hostel people were so friendly so it didn't matter that I lost the reservation number. The hostel was so nice, and homey, but I felt bad because when we went to our room our random other roommates were already in bed and we weren't exactly quiet. 

Anyways, the next day we devoted to sightseeing. We bought tickets for a hop on hop off tour bus which was really cool. And i bought a flag to add to my room's collection! Our first stop was at the Museum of Natural Science, or something like that, which we only went to because it was free. But i'm really glad we did go because it was super cool. They had a bunch of life sized replicas of animals, and skeletons of a baby blue whale and turtle and other cool stuff. We spent a good two hours here and then hopped on the bus to our next stop, Mermaid Quay. IT was so beautiful, and reminded me so much of Steveston. It was right on the water, with wonderful restaurants (oh fish and chips, how i missed thee). So we just walked up and down the boardwalk and got ice cream, and then took a water taxi back to the other end of town, near our hostel. Then, that night we chilled on our hostel patio, and went out to a pub/club/place, i'm not too sure what to call it. But it was awesome they had a live cover band which was really good. We met some cool Welsh students but there was lots of cougars on the prowl... 

Anyways the next day, we split up. Me and a few others went to a cheese festival at Cardiff Castle. Seriously, i've never had/seen so much cheese in my life. It was SOOO GOOD. I didn't realize how bad the cheese here was until I ate this. My favourite was a cranberry cheese. So good. There was also fudge, clotted cream, and ice cream among other things. it was pretty cool. We also wandered around the castle a bit which was cool, but to be honest castles are getting to be pretty passe.. haha. After this, we met up and went to a cute hole-in-the-wall italian place which was also amazing. I forgot what REAL food tastes like. From here we just wandered around  and looked at some stores, while the boys had to leave to catch their bus (they were going to take an earlier one) but they missed it! So we met up with them, and went and relaxed in the park behind Cardiff Castle. Luckily, they got on our bus so it all kinda worked out for the best anyways. After sleep the whole bus ride, and then another train back, we arrived back at Bader Hall just in time for the party to begin.

Today, I had a field study for Geography again. We went to Ashdown Forest, also known as the 100 acre woods, also known at the home of Winnie the Pooh! It was pretty cool, but a lot of walking, and not a whole lot of learning (not that I minded). Again, I think I got a sunburn, it was so hot out! 

So now, I find myself trying to catch up as my weekend draws to a close. Theres a pub quiz tonight but I will probably have to skip out on that to finish my reading.

Hope this finds you all in good health (I know I'm one of the few people here thats not sick!)

Love and Miss you!

sunburn+ england... who would've thought?!

Well, as i mentioned in my last post I had quite an eventful weekend planned, and its still only saturday! Thursday night was the bartender of the campus pub, The HEadless Drummer, Ian's birthday so that was quite an event. I am currently on the "Wall of Youth" because Im still 17 though.. haha. Friday, me and Alison (my neighbour) woke up at 6 in the morning, to try and guarantee one of the extra spots on a field study to london- So we were the first people to breakfast, and no one showed up the entire time we were eating. We got worried that the buses has already arrived or something, so we left only to find about 25 starving students waiting outside. None of them had bothered to try the door, the just assumed it was locked! Anyways, we ended up getting seats on the bus thank goodness. When we arrived, we went to St. Paul's Cathedral, which is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. it was completely worth paying the entrance fee. Every inch of that building is covered with intricate and elaborate carving or mosaics or painting or sculpture. We went to the crypt and up the Whispering Gallery. You can stand across the balcony of the Dome and whisper, and people an hear you from across 32 m. We tested this out, it worked! So then we climbed up to the very top, so we were on top of the dome (523 spiral steps!) and the view was unreal. We could see all of london. After catching our breath, we trekked back down and found some lunch (it was so nice to eat REAL food for once!). From there we made our way to the British Museum. We were so proud that we didn't get lost on the tube, we didn't even have to ask for help, even though we had to stare at the tube map for probably about 15 minutes. But nevermind, we figured it out. Once we were in the British museum, which is also an amazingly beautiful building, we headed up to the Egyptian room and we also looked at the African and Japan and Money rooms. The latter was quite a task to find, we got lost numerous times. There was a really cool exhibit on the lifespan of a person in relation to the amount of pills they take. The average human takes 14,000 pills in a lifetime, pretty crazy. After walking for what seemed like forever, we found a bank machine(YAY!) and got on the bus to go home where i enjoyed a much needed nap. Today, I had a geography field study. We went to Hope Gap, and hiked down to the beach which looks across at the Seven Sisters chalk cliffs. It was soo cool. We had to look at specific areas and the differences in the life, which was slightly tedious but pretty cool. It was like a beach, but instead of sand, it was all jagged rock. Luckily, and I'm not sure how, no one fell. From Here we went to Cuckmere valley, a man-made river that has a built in dike separating it. Here we took more samples, and got to do a Pooh Stick test (For all you Winnie the Pooh fans you'll know this one!) We were so lucky to have such beautiful weather, but i guess the wind was deceiving because now I have a sunburn on not only my face, but a bit on my arms, even though i was wearing a long sleeve shirt- Who would've thought? 

Miss you all lots. I was reminded of home today when we walked past some Lily of the Valley and it smelled like home. 

You know you've settled in when you start to call a 15by15 room home...

Well hello. Much has happened since I last wrote. I am in the midst of my second week of school and already have lots of reading. And I have a presentation to do in Geography but I'm not too worried about it (yet). Geography and Economics are probably my favorite classes, mainly because of the teachers. Although I like Psych too because the teacher hands out the slides and regularly lets us out 30 minutes early. So last weekend all the students here went to London on Friday and went for a bus tour. It was really cool but frustrating because we couldnt really take pictures or get a good look at anything but we got to see a lot more things. Then we went to Globe Theatre and saw "The Merry Wives of Windsor". We had standing room tickets and I was in the very front, literally leaning on the stage. The play was so good though, I didnt even mind standing for an hour and a half. Then afterwards, we were supposed to go back to school with the bus but a bunch of us planned to stay overnight in a hostel. After getting lost a couple times and succeeding in looking like COMPLETE tourists. (think about 15 teenagers all huddled around a map pointing in different directions all wearing backpacks)  we finally found our hostel. Luckily, my skepticism was proved wrong. The hostel was great, the people working there were good. They helped us work out a deal for going out that night too which was good. I felt kinda bad for the one random lady that was sharing a room with us because there was 7 girls that got home really late (she was already sleeping) and we were just generally loud and noisy because we were always rushed. So our night in London was a success, although again we got lost numerous times, and my feet hurt so much by the end of the night im not sure how I was even able to walk. Collapsing on my bed that night was the best feeling. The next day we woke up relatively early and began our day. Some of the others that spent the night headed home, but we wanted to spend as much time as we could. So we went to Covent Garden and Harrods to do some shopping and eating, and then later to Hyde Park for a nap. It was so beautiful we were so lucky, the sun was shining it was almost tan-worthy weather. Then we went to Kensington Gardens and walked along the boardwalk, and then got lost again. I think we walked for about 8 hours straight that day. Finally we ended up at Victoria station, absolutely exhausted, and sweaty, and dirty and thoroughly enjoyed the chance to sit for a good hour. 

So that sums up my first London experience, I might be going again on Friday (tagging along on a field study) to hopefully go to the British Museum and maybe St. Paul's cathedral. My other future plans include a field study this Saturday to Beachy Head for a Geography Field study and then spending the say in Brighton on Sunday. The next weekend I have booked a bus ride to go to Cardiff in Wales for the weekend. So rather than weekends being a time to catch up on homework, we race to get everything done during the week so we can get out of this cowfield when we have the chance! 

Besides reading and travelling we try to find other ways to entertain ourselves around here. We did a floor scavenger hunt, and we have daily pilates and step classes run by an upper year and circuit training and aerobics run by one of the teachers. Also we play soccer just about every night in the miniscule gym. Also there is tons to explore here. In the courtyard of the res there is a toilet bench (yes , made of toilets) that i discovered while looking for a place to read. There is also a grass bed way back in the gardens. And I'm sure there are many other oddities to find around this place...

But, World Religions is calling me, so I must bid you adieu (my shakespeare finger puppet is influencing my speech apparently). Until next time.

The plot thickens...

Well.. I certainly have had a very interesting last few days. Friday and Saturday consisted of more getting to know people and organizing all my stuff. We had one beautiful day of sunshine in there and i got to explore the gardens. Check my pictures on facebook! This place is unbelievable. Then on Saturday we went on a tour of the local area. We went to pevensey castle, which is even older than this one and we got to walk around there. It was really cool, the grass was BRIGHT green, thanks to all the rain i suppose. From there we went to Birling Gap, one of the most popular places to commit suicide in the UK. The view was unreal. It was also incredibly windy here, but also beautiful. We walked up to the top, where theres a lighthouse and looked down at rolling hills scattered with sheep and brush. Stereotypical english landscape basically. Then we went to Brighton, and I rushed to go get a cell phone and it WORKED! YAY. Email me if you want to call me and I will give you my number. I also got a V-Shaped pillow and a blanket because I have been FREEZING every night thus far. Now I will finally be warm and comfy. Then we went to the University of Sussex to check out the library and that was the end of our tour. Later that evening we had Opening Ceremonies which gave us an opportunity to mingle more with fellow students but also to meet some of the teachers. I met my geography teacher, and he seems AMAZING. He has to be at least 70, but so passionate. I had quite a lengthy chat with him about how he came to be here and other things. I also met my philosophy teacher, and i am thinking of dropping that course. He was that bad. Just kidding, I just think I might take Art History instead. We`ll see. Then, a catastrophe. My laptop shutdown. And I mean like really shutdown. So after a lengthy panic attack and many phone calls. (Ive almost used all of my £20 credit) and a chat with the resident IT guy here, I had to make a trip to Hove. (which is just past brighton). So... I cancelled my trip to ASDA where I was planning on getting toiletries and whatnot, and hopped on a minibus (a bus system through the school that provides us with free transport to set locations) to Polegate train station with Nigel the very friendly driver. From there I bought a ticket to Hove, and asked where to go. But the tellers accent was so thick, I got on the wrong train. Luckily, it just took me in the wrong direction one stop, so I hopped on teh train going the other way and was on my way. After some transfers, and a guided walk (the man at RH computers is very kind) I was told I may lose all my data on my computer. Devastating. But, Ill wait and see how this cookie crumbles. I rushed back to the train station, realized Id lost my pass, so I had to buy a new one and JUST missed the train to Brighton so I had to wait for the next one. From polegate I took a taxi from a very very friendly driver (So far everyone here is very friendly) in a VERY nice Audi. It was probably the most comfortable ride ever in a taxi that Ive had. But anyways, I must get off to my first class, Geography! YAY.

Love and Miss you all
Mel

I figure me writing so often now makes up for how I probs wont write much when i have school work to do...

K so this might seem a bit ridiculous, three days of blogging in a row but i keep finding myself with spare time so yeah.. this is how i occupy that. Today, the heavens opened. It rained soooo hard, I have never seen so much water in my life! We had to do a lot more paperwork today which was kinda boring, but then me and some others skipped the optional tours and just wandered around the castle. It was so cool... The courtyard is beautiful, and the staircases are narrow and windy, and the doorframes are perfect sized.. for me. Then later I found myself at the resident pub, that seems to be that place to be at night (and the only place really) but it closes at 11 so we had a little dorm party in one of our common rooms. It was really good I'm meeting like 30 people every day, but i can never remember all of theyre names at once. But today I met a 16 year old girl from Lebanon, and a girl from South Africa, and theres TONS of people from the Vancouver area, its pretty sweet. I think tomorrow were going to head into Eastbourne for the night, this castle is extremely isolated so I really want to get out.

Anyhoo.. I need to sleep, i'm running on empty.

<3

And so it continues to begin...

Well.. it has been an extremely long day. It is.. 8:45 Vancouver time, 4:45 here. And I've slept maybe an hour, but somehow I don't feel too tired. The flight was okay, besides my luggage being overweight... But I was sitting with other people from my program which was good. Then from Heathrow ( where I almost ran over a baby with the lugagge carts, luckily i avoided that one) we took a 2 hour bus ride to the beautiful Herstmonceux castle, and seriously, no picture can do it justice. It literally took my breath away. I havent actually gone inside it yet, because I have been setting up my dorm in Bader Hall, possibly the most confusing building I've ever been in. Growing up in Richmond has seriously deprived me of basements, and now I have like....10 or something stupid like that. We had a tour btu that  just confused me more. I'm planning on just wandering around until I figure it out. I met my roommate too, she's very nice, and the room's are really nice too, roomier than I expected. 

So for the next couple days I just have orientation events, and clases start on Monday. 

Lotsa Love. 

Mel

And so it all begins..

Well, I find myself waiting... staring at my luggage. I swear it's staring back. My flight is in 5 hours.. scary right?! Just wanted to take this opportunity to say goodbye to everyone, and ask to keep in touch. 

PLEASE email me @ melaniemcphail@hotmail.com or on here if you'd like. 

Or you can mail me at 

Melanie McPhail

International Study Centre- Bader Hall Room D87

Herstmonceux Castle

Hailsham, East sussex

United Kingdon

BN27 1RN

As soon as I get settled in I will give you the low down on my living situation.. and my roommate :S

Adios...