CLIFFS & CLASSES GALORE!

I went on a field trip to East Sussex! I was pretty excited because I finally got to see some cliffs and I had one photo goal for the cliff; it was to be on or close to the edge with my feet in the shot, but I will get back to that a little later.

Beachy Head -- East Sussex.

The drive to our first destination was filled with a bus full of tired twenty somethings, singing along to some Avril, laughter and much more. At one point my head was killing me so I put in my headphones so I could try and take a nap before we got to the cliffs. What was really awesome was in the middle of my nap, I wake up to something hitting my face AND IT WAS A FREAKIN' BEE!! I freaked out a little, but than before I knew it, I lost it and I had no idea where it went. Not my problem anymore. Before I could fall back asleep, we pull into a parking lot where the sign read, "Beachy Head". Let me tell you, the name does not give this place justice. It was so breathtaking and beautiful, I can't even put into words how much this place put me in awe. We walked along the cliffs on a little path and admired the bluest blue ocean and the whiter than white cliffs. We were all getting blown away by the cliffs (quite literally too by the wind)!! I could go on and on how beautiful this place is but I won't do that to you guys. I would say to definitely put it on your "places to visit in the UK" list.

Cliffs on Cliffs on Cliffs; Beachy Head.

As everyone snapped their photos, I went off to the side and was determined to take THE PHOTO that I was planning to do. I asked Tiana to help hold my shoulders so I could lean a little forward to get the right shot, of course I would have not done it, if I did not feel safe. Sitting there on the cliff, I took in my surroundings and felt the sand hit my face, it was amazing... I could seriously sit there forever. Sadly, our time was up on the cliffs and we headed back to the big yellow bus, but of course, we all made a small pit stop at the gift shop. I got myself a post card, so basic right? :)

The infamous photo that I wanted to create.

A room in one of the buildings I wandered in too.

We all hopped on the bus and we were off to next stop. Mary (the study abroad director) asked all of us it was alright to make a small pit stop and of course we said okay. So we got off the bus and ran across the road. We walked down a small path and BAM! Fields on fields on fields. Fieldception! It was soooo pretty!! Mary than began to tell us that this park was closed last year because they thought they found a bag of body remains, spooky. We got back on the bus and we were off once again. We visited a small town and wandered around there and went inside a beautiful small church. What I learned was that a lot of the churches in England is that you can't just get married in churches unless you have a family member that has been attending or if you attend there. Also, I learned that a lot of the older churches are surrounded by graves and if your family isn't buried there, than you are not allowed to be. It was quite interesting.

Local Pub Food = The Best Food

We than went to a local pub where everyone got their local beers and Shepard's Pie. Mary and Becca (study abroad advisor) were talking how great this pub was, and they were spot on! Lastly, we than went to this castle thing, where we can see where Battle Abbey happened. It was pretty neat exploring the castle and the are surrounding it. Walking through the buildings I realized I couldn't live in that time era because everyone was so short!! I hit my head almost every entrance that I went through, I could've gotten a concussion! If you know me, you know that I love to do some exploring; Every little door or entrance, you knew that I was so down. Doing this, I found a lot of hidden rooms and windows. After a few hours, we were off to head back to campus. It was a great day full of adventure and I really enjoyed it, especially with the people that I got to spend it with. I will miss them all so much when they all head back to the states at the end of this semester.

Katie and her nummy chai & muffin.

Since the field trip, I also started my first week of Sophomore year. My classes are still being sort of being finalized, but my schedule is very chill. On Mondays I have a Marketing Communications class (which I will probably drop) for three hours, Tuesdays I have a Marketing class with a 2 hour lecture and a 3 hour seminar, Wednesdays I have Journalism for a few hours and a British Culture Class (which is required, so all of the fellow Americans will be taking over that class); As for the rest week, I have Thursday and Friday off. YAY for 4 day weekends!!


On Sunday, Katie & I decided to go into town for some tea and we took a spontaneous trip to the art walk in the park! It was really cool seeing all the locals gather for some art and live music. There was also this tent with a whole bunch of clown activities, and Katie and I failed miserably at some of things. I think its safe to say that Katie and I would not make it as clowns. Yesterday aka Tuesday, a good handful of us decided to go to a concert that was in town. All of the openers (Will Joseph Cook and Black Rooster Black Shag) were really great and of course the headliners, Southern, were amazing. It was the perfect opening to the week since I have been missing the last few events due to the freshersflu. Besides all of what I told you, nothing huge has happened. I have been looking into some weekend trips to Lapland, Barcelona, Dublin, and lots more, so I will let you guys know if anything happens with those but that is all for now!

Walking on our first day of class!

Cheers. x

My song of the week is: Apartment by Young the Giant -- At the end of all my posts from my old blog, I used to do this with songs that caught my eye or current obsessions, etc. and I thought I would do it again.

To see More Photos from this trip, click HERE!

LIONS & BEARS & FRESHERSFLU, OH MY!!

Whats "freshersflu" you ask? Let me break it up for you: A "fresher" is what they call "freshman" over here, the "flu" part is pretty self-explanatory... Although it doesn't necessarily mean FLU but it can stand for any sickness basically. Sadly, I got am part of the crowd that got the "freshersflu" and I am actually coughing my brains out as I type this (don't worry, I am covering my mouth when I do it). So yes, the past couple of days, I skipped the events that our school is putting on because I thought that I needed to take a break form the nasty sickness that is killing my throat and head.

Me, Austin (Chico, CA), Naomi (Oxford), & Katie (Wales)

But for the events, University of Brighton is putting on two weeks of events and all together its called "freshtival" (fresher + festival put together, get it?). The events include pubcrawls, uv parties, rave, mini-concerts, freshersfair, and so on. Its pretty exciting. I even got a neat-o bracelet to go to all of these events. WHOOT.

Daniel (Netherlands), Jenn & Evan (Chico, CA) and Me.

One of the events I attended was a Foam Party. Can I just say that it was insane? A good handful of friends and I decided to venture out into town to attend this party. It was in a venue called Pryzm and little did I know what I had instore. When I think foam, for some reason I thought it was just going to be bubbles being blasted in the air... BUT NO I WAS WRONG. I was in a group of people that were pushing, almost as bad as a Sleeping with Sirens moshpit, I got so many bruises and this was before the foam even came on. As everyone was getting anxious about the foam, people started pushing more and more. Once the foam actually came on, my new friend from Liverpool, who's name is Kate, we both decided to go closer into the crowd to be more in the foam, I got drenched in bubbles. It was basically a bubble bath on steroids. I seriously thought I was going to suffocate from bubbles, could you imagine? It was a ton of fun, but I would probably not go to another one to be honest. We decided to leave early and head back to our flats, but before we reached the bus we stopped by a corner shop to get some chips (aka fries) and we sat right outside. I am so happy about the friends that I have made so far and school hasn't officially started yet. I will make a post in a few weeks introducing you guys to some of them, because they're just so amazing.

The other day, I actually made my first actual meal here! With the help of my fellow american, right-upstiars-flatmate (I'm being totally serious, she in the room right above me) Tiana! Whoot. We got this pre-made Chinese rice stuff, threw in some chicken and made some scrambled eggs. It was actually pretty tasty. I was quite surprised; I honestly thought it was going to taste like poop.

The delicious meal that Tiana and I put together.

H&M shenanigans with Chelsea (Carnation, WA) & Jenn

Being here, still hasn't fully hit me yet... is that weird? I wonder when that will hit me.

Anywho, I know this was a pretty short and random update, but I truly want to try and update you fellow readers as often as I can. I have video planned out for my youtube (not study abroad related), but I will have a montage ready at the end of this semester. I have been updating both of my instagrams (@avstw & @manduhwhat) and I have been tweeting as well (@TWEETAVSTW). I also have iMessage now, so if you have that we can text for free (message me on fb if you would like my number). I also have my address if anyone wants to be my penpal. :)


That is all for now. Cheers. x