Travel (?) Update: Brighton

Well, we took an official tour around Brighton today! We caught a tour bus at 2:00 PM (I woke up at 1:15, if you were wondering), and rode through some of the lovely little towns on the way. Apparently, Rudyard Kipling himself went to boarding school and vacationed in Rottingdean, a picturesque little town just a few miles outside of Brighton. A few of us decided we had to go back when it was sunnier (it was raining, of course), and I'll definitely pick up a souvenir or two for the Granny.

I learned that Brighton (originally Brighthelmston) was a fishing town that gained royal attention in the mid-late 1700's when a Dr. Richard Russell published his research on the healing properties of the salt water there. He held that the ocean around Brighton was restorative, and that by bathing in it daily and drinking a concoction made of seawater, milk, and bits of various crustaceans one could purify the body. It was this lore that attracted the son of the mad king George III, who decided that he quite liked Brighton and built the Royal Pavilion that still stands today.

We took a tour of that building, which was really quite pretty but didn't allow any photographs to be taken inside. I bought a couple of postcards, though, which I'll be sending around to various grandparents shortly! Here's a picture of the outside of it to whet your appetite for history and faux-Eastern style buildings.

Afterward a few of us struck off in search of coffee and a little entertainment. We found Brighton Pier, which was a nice taste of America in all the posh British-ness. It's basically an amusement park but out on a pier, complete with carousels and gambling. The only thing missing was a plate of funnel cake, or else I would have called the place home! It was nice to be surrounded by some good old fashioned hokeyness for a change.

Well, tomorrow is the first day of classes. Of course, I'm not exactly sure if I'll have class tomorrow, as I'm planning on switching out of the only class I would have on Mondays. When I actually do have a class, I promise I will let y'all know. Sarah, signing out!

Travel Update: Arrival in London

Before I even arrived in Brighton, Adam and I flew into London at about 7:00 A.M. on the morning of January the 2nd. After successfully passing through immigration, finding all our luggage intact, and an accidental meeting with the other student from UGA, it's no wonder that Adam had this crazed and somewhat confused smile on his face.

We managed to get on the right train to Victoria Station, which was luckily located about 5 minutes away from our hotel. Factoring in fact that we were each dragging 50 lbs of luggage down the city streets of London, however, made the time more like 20 mins. Once we got to the hotel, we discovered that our room was to be on the "third" floor (which in Britain means the fourth; the first floor is "ground floor" and the second is the "first," confusingly), so that meant a lot more dragging, except vertically this time. It was worth it, however, because our tiny attic room was really quite charming. That, and we could get out on the roof from the window! Don't worry, I took lots of pictures.

After resting in our room for a few hours, we decided to hit the town. Jet-lag was threatening to overtake both our consciousnesses, so on second thought maybe it wasn't such a good idea to go running around in front of London traffic. But we had both heard that one shouldn't sleep until nightfall if suffering jet-lag, so it seemed like the proper thing to do. That and we had to take sufficient pictures to satisfy our individual hungry family mobs.

Once out, we immediately got lost. Thankfully Sister-In-Law Meredith supplied me with a fairly discreet map (it comes inside a Moleskine!), so we were able to puzzle over it without seeming like complete tourists. We opted for the most famous, closest landmark: Buckingham Palace. It really was pretty neat to see it up close and in person.

We managed to catch a few other landmarks before we left, but the light was getting dark and we were eager to get into bed so we headed back. After some delirious conversation and a little British television, we both went to sleep around 9:00 PM. The next morning we split up at 8:00 AM, I toward Victoria Station and he toward the bus station. I haven't heard from him since... I really hope he made his bus!

(more photos of the landmarks and the room @ my flickr)

Mundane Day Update: Arrival at the Suss

I'm here at the University of Sussex! It's my second day at the university, and my crap is already sufficiently spread across my room. Like I own the place or something.

It turns out that the University is not located in Brighton, but that's what people like to say because Brighton is the most happening place around. It's actually located in Falmer, which is a couple miles to the east of Brighton. It's about a 20 minute bus ride into town (£3.20), or a 4 minute train ride (£17), and it's situated in a lovely British countryside that I hope to ramble around soon.

The weather hasn't been as bad as everyone feared, so far. At least I haven't had to break out the umbrella. But when I got off the train in Brighton, it was SNOWING! Apparently that's rare here too, because Brighton is a coastal town and the ocean keeps things pretty mild. But it's generally pretty cold and cloudy, but bearable with my sweet silk long-johns (Thanks, Mom!) Also the building I live in (pictured right) is kept at approximately 120˚F all the damn time, so, at least I'm toasty.

They keep me pretty busy here: yesterday I arrived at about 11 A.M., after which I unpacked my bags, bought cooking utensils and sheets, rode to Brighton to do a little grocery-shopping, wrestled with the internet and finally got it working in my room, ate fish and chips for free (on accident... I was supposed to pay but I forgot), then returned to Skype with Dad and talk with the boyfriend on AIM before collapsing into a residual jet-lag-induced coma. Today, it's been a parade of compulsory talks since 9:45 about academia, life at Sussex, how not to get mugged and why you shouldn't overstay the time stamped in your passport. I can safely say that the rigidity of the British academic system has scared the shit out of me (literally, kind of... the food here is giving me the runs!). I'm sure they're just talking it up, though, and I'll be able to handle it.

I have a free dinner thing to go to at 6:00 PM, and then I think a few of us are going to go pub-crawling in Brighton to see what there is to see. Since I got my internet set up yesterday, I am always on when I'm in my room (sn: oddrid) and I'm also always on Skype (sn: oddrid) in case you want to talk-talk, like phone talk. I miss everyone so much (especially the boyfriend... that one's got me pretty weepy already), and I look forward to talking with you soon. Much love!

-Sarah