traveling

I am trying to think of something exciting to say, and I really don't have much. I can tell you some weird things I've seen lately. I was going down the stairs into one of the tube stations last week and saw a girl wearing a vest made of bread. Yes, bread. Different kinds all strung up together to form a vest. Today, I saw a car literally covered in grass. It was real. Not lying. Probably electric. I should probably learn not to be surprised by anything these days.

I've done a bit of travelling the past 2 weekends in a row. I went to York on the 7th. I think it's my favourite place of all. It's such a quaint little town right on a river. It's got that old time charm, which I love. I wish I had gone overnight because I didn't get to see everything I wanted to- which could have been because I was stupid and decided to go on a Sunday which is when everything closes early (4:30-5). The train ride was 2 hours, but I sort of like long rides. They're very relaxing and the views of the English countryside are gorgeous. York had a lot to see. When I first got there, I had lunch- bangers and mash. I was actually quite surprised at how much I enjoyed English sausage. Went on a riverboat cruise after that which told a little bit of history on the areas surrounding the river. There were lots of people out rowing, probably for teams, I don't know why else people would be doing that in 35 degree weather. I walked along the river, went to the museum, saw the shambles. It's really just an all around amazing city. It was founded back in 71 AD by the Romans so it has a LOT of history.

Moving on, Saturday I went to Oxford. I wasn't really sure if I was going to enjoy this city, but I did quite a lot. There are SO many colleges that make up part of Oxford University, each and every one absolutely beautiful. It is hard to tell apart the colleges from the churches and some of the colleges are also churches. Oxford too is right along a river and punting is (so I hear) a common sight to see. Nobody was actually punting while I was there. I read it's easy to tip the boat over if you aren't experienced enough and really- who wants to fall in when it's 35 degrees out? The picture at the top is of the boats used to go punting. I think the old wooden ones are the most authentic. For lunch, I went to this great pub called The Turf Tavern and it was the BEST (ps- thank you Lori, if you're reading this). Good beer (who thought I'd ever say that!?), good food and very nice service. I went to Christ Church College which is where parts of the Harry Potter movies were filmed and also played a big role in Alice in Wonderland. That was neat. Right across from the college is the Alice in Wonderland Shop which is where the real Alice bought her candy from.

Sunday, Valentine's Day, I spent the day with myself in a little town on the very southernmost part of England called Brighton. Brighton is right on the shore and I'm sure it's lovely in the summer. Unfortunately, it was not on Sunday- way too foggy. Very pretty town though and very hilly. I didn't do much, just walked along the shore and went to the North & South Laines. Both were full of cafes, jewelery stores, clothes and shoe shops, candy shops and antique and secondhand shops. That's pretty much all I did. I guess I was tired. Brighton has this huge pier, called Brighton Pier, that has lots of junk food stores, an arcade, and lots of fair rides. I walked along that which was kind of nice.

So, kiddies, that's about all I have for now.

Until next time,

Britt

my address

Just in case anybody wants to write me, here's my address:

4 Essex Court

Hampstead High Street

London

Nw3 1RG

United Kingdom

slacker

So I've sort of been slacking off on blogging. Obviously. I definitely had maybe one too many drinks tonight. Seriously though, now I feel just plain tired. But I will try to recount the past couple days.

Apparently finding Italian sausage in this city is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. It just doesn't happen. Grocery stores don't sell it. At all. Instead, they sell nasty crap like haggis. If you don't know what that is, well you're in luck because I'm going to tell you. It's a mixture of sheep's heart, lungs, and liver minced together. If that doesn't sound appetizing, how about the fact that it's cooked in a sheep's stomach? Mmm yum. My mouth is watering. I complain about not being able to find any Italian sausage but I'm sure that if I could actually find an Italian market or delicatessen I'd be able to get some. But since google maps sucks and I can't navigate myself around this city worth crap I'll probably never be able to find any.

I'm sort of lonely here. It's insane to be in a completely different country without...well, anybody. I always thought I could be one of those people who would get along just fine even if they had no friends or maybe just very little, but apparently I was wrong. It helped that this weekend I was able to hang with my flatmates for a bit. Eleanor and I went to the cinema (don't call it the movie theatre!) on Friday and we saw Up in the Air. I'd actually recommend it. The movie was a twist from the usual happily ever after movies that are always in theatres. Saturday I went on a lovely 6 mile walk through the Capital Ring walk route of London. What a nice day it was! I was hoping maybe I'd meet some people my age, but no, I meet people like...3 times my age? Oh well, they were nice anyway. People are people, right? We went to the pub afterwards where I got my usual- a Bulmer's Pear which is my favorite cider here. I also tried lamb (ew) and goats milk cheese (not bad). I'm expanding my tastes! When I got home, Eleanor invited me to go out with her, my other flatmate Vera, and their mutual friend Heidi to a pub so that was nice to do. I had potato and leek soup at the pub (and another cider) and it was quite tasty. How exciting to say that English food tasted good! The cider was a different brand and it was...sweet. I couldn't even finish it. Sunday I did some shopping. Believe it or not, I'd been in London 3 weeks and hadn't done any shopping! Got some cute shirts, a scarf, and other lovely things for £23! Not bad.

It's been a little more than a week since the extreme stress of my internship started taking toll. My site supervisor had a chat with my adviser back at ECU so by the time I went to my weekly meeting last Wednesday, my site supervisor had a whole bunch of relevant projects for me to complete for my internship. Thanks, Dr. Burke! So I've got some pretty cool projects as well as some I'm not so interested in but I can see a point to this now and am happy. Tomorrow is the day of our next weekly meeting so I'm a bit nervous and a bit excited about that. I've been brainstorming and thinking up goals, objectives, and aims for each project as well as my internship as a whole. I'm on the ball!

I got to see my Uncle Bobby this morning! He got into London last night and for some god forsaken reason decided that 8am would be a great time to get together, meaning I'd have to wake up at 7. I said yes because he's my uncle and of course I'd want to see him, but I NEVER wake up at 7 let alone 8. Try 9! It was nice to get to talk to him though, especially since he knew all the problems and oddities of London since he's encountered them all numerous times! For example, I still forget which way to look when crossing the road! If the spot where the road meets the sidewalk didn't say "Look Right" or "Look Left" I'd be dead. Literally. Glad to know that he still has the same problem and he's been to London more times than even he probably knows. He travels here something like every couple months it seems. We also talked about great places to go around Europe and England. He talked about York being a great city to travel. Nothing like old city England he says. It was discovered by the Romans in 71 AD and many of the buildings still date back to the 14th century. Unfortunately we could only talk for an hour as he had a client to see soon thereafter.

After breakfast with Uncle B, I walked to the LSHTM and decided (instead of doing work; not like I had much to do anyways) to look up rates of travel. I can get tickets on the Eurostar from London to Amsterdam for £60! That was exciting. the Eurostar is supposed to be great, it supposed to be one of those things you have to do, no questions asked. So I've decided to travel to Amsterdam...one day. I also checked tickets for York, which surprisingly were the exact same price as the Eurostar even though I'm traveling within the same country. How does that make sense? Oh and the cheapest tickets were for Sunday. So guess what I'm doing Sunday? GOING TO YORK!! Not exactly sure what to do yet. Definitely going to look at some of the old buildings, York Minster, museums, river cruise, and who knows what else.

Okay well that pretty much sums up life for now!

Until next time,

Britt

ps. if anybody wants to leave any comments, they can! (if anybody actually reads this)