Amanda VS The World: TEQUILA, NANDOS, & PINTS.

Hiya! I am still alive and I am well-ish (I still got a lovely cough). I haven’t posted for almost a month! I am seriously slacking. Tiana and I were talking about trying to post once a week so that we don’t bombard anyone with loooooooong posts (like I am today; I actually might split this post in two). Let’s get this blog post started! A few weeks ago, a few friends and I decided to go to one of our favourite pubs called the “Hobgoblin” (which I like to call the Hobbily Gobbily) and I attended my first “Tequila Tuesday” (don’t worry mom, dad & sister, I didn’t go crazy, just had one shot to be exact). Tequila…is…interesting. The whole salt, shot, than lime is a weird concept, but hey… YOLO.

The next day for my British Cultures class, we took a field trip to the city and took a tour of the Pavilion. What’s the Pavilion you ask? It’s official name is The Royal Pavilion. It is this extravagant palace that was built in three stages, starting in 1787. It was one of many homes of George, Prince of Wales. It looks really random on the seaside of Brighton, but it is truly beautiful inside and out. The history of the palace and Prince George is quite fascinating, so if you are ever bored or something, I insist on doing some research to know more about it all. The tour consisted visiting the many rooms that make the palace; I even got to hear some history through headphones while walking the floors of the Pavilion. It was awesome. Later that week, we decided to head to Kings & Queens for student night. Kings & Queens is this cute pub that resides in the city. They have £2 drinks, so of course I went with getting a pint of Cider. Later that night, I decided to FaceTime some friends back in Arizona. Oh gosh, I miss them a lot. Although it wasn’t long, I appreciated the few minutes I got to talk to Mo, Alie, and Brooke.

A few days later, Tiana and I decided to go into town to grab some dinner together. We came across an “American Diner” called “Ed’s Easy Diner”, in the shopping centre here and we decided, “what the hey”. It was quite delicious even if the American Cheese didn’t even taste close to American Cheese. Whatever! I can’t remember what the name of my burger but it had guacamole and bacon, so that is all that matters. I also got a nutella shake with my burger; Amanda getting a nutella shake?? WHAAAT? I was very pleased to have eaten good food and have a nice conversation with Tiana. I am very glad about the friendship that is growing between us. That day, everyone joined together in celebration for Micah’s 23^rd birthday. We all went up to Flat 30C, had a few drinks and ate some delicious cake made by Crystal. It ‘twas a good night.

The next few weeks were full of adventures. Which of course, if you know me, I am totally okay with! One of many was a night walk with my buddy Daniel from the Netherlands. We walked around Sussex, came across this pond and went to a cute little pub. I got a cider, he got a beer and we were just chattin away. We also were starving and went to go get some Kebabs in the city. But, I do have to say that England kebabs are basically Gyros. The next day Daniel’s bud, Roman, flew in and was here for his Holiday. I was lucky to be able to explore with them in the area, including a day trip to Lewes. It all started with us three trying to find a bus that would take us there, that took longer than it needed to be. Finally finding a bus, we were on our way to Lewes. We came across a bookstore full of first editions books. I found a book of The Grimm Fairy tales and Peter Pan. I would have so dropped money on them, but not £800 pounds.

From there we went into the Lewes Castle and spent a few hours there. Once we got to the look out, the view took my breath away! It was marvellous. You could pretty much see all of Lewes. I definitely want to take my family here when they come in June. After the castle, we decided to roam the streets of Lewes. We came across a small river, which had houses lined up and down it.

Starving, we were now on a hunt for some place to eat. I can honestly say that I couldn’t find this place by memory since we did go down so many alleys and took so many turns. We decided to go to a pub, what a surprise, that we walked by. The pub was ran by a French Lady named Elizabeth who was very welcoming. I would like to go back again some time. Daniel and Roman ordered a steak meal with a beer and I got a burger with a cider.

Later that day, we got to celebrate another birthday and this time it was for Evan and it was his 23^rd. Again we all gathered in 30C; had a few drinks and listened to some good music. It is always nice being together and having a great time.

Later that week, my British Cultures class took another field trip but this time to the Amex Stadium, which resides on our campus. After class, we walked over to the stadium and that is where we met with our tour guide (I can’t recall his name). He gave us a 2-hour tour of the stadium giving us the history and behind the scenes stories. We also got to take a visit to the V.I.P rooms, boxes, home and away locker rooms, and hidden hallways. It was pretty neat to see it all! What was also really cool is he took us into the seated area and went to the highest point giving us the view of the entire stadium. IT WAS SICK.

IPad selfie in the locker room!

The following Friday, I finally got to give the infamous Nandos a try and I was joined by Katie, Simi, and Naomi. It was sooooo good. I had a wrap with chicken (obvi – Tiana told me to say that) with Mango & Lime level of spice (delish) and a cup of British Fanta (it is different, trust me). I definitely will be planning to eat there multiple times when I am here.

Moving on, a rule of any adventure is ALWAYS chase sunsets (and fog, waterfalls, you get the picture). That is what Kate, Katie, Tiana, and I decided to do on our trip up to Lewes. We wandered down alleyways and ended up in an alley lined up with doors to people’s backyards (none of them were unlocked though, sadly). As we walked through the neighbourhoods, the sunset was setting and it was so simple but beautiful. We ended up at this park with ruins and it was pretty neat, yay history! Time passed and we sat on a bench (which are hard to find in Brighton) and we sat until Austin, Josh, and Joel met up with us. From there, we walked to a pub (surprise, surprise), but, it ended up that the pub was way to expensive for us Uni kids; We ended up walking back to the main road (and of course up this killer hill) and ended up going to a pub that the boys went to earlier that evening. Afterwards, we headed back to campus and I was out for the night.