Blogs Can't Keep Up With Real Life (Highlights from the past week and a half)

Through the volunteering office here at Sussex, I found an exciting opportunity called the Moulsecoomb Forest Garden and Wildlife Project. Its an established community garden type project that specifically reaches a hand out to young people of troubled or disadvantaged backgrounds, or those who don't do so well in school (here they say "vulnerable" people.) Working together in the garden, these kids have the opportunity to build positive relationships with each other and others, and inhabit an educational, supportive and fun social environment. The project itself has been around for over a decade. And the garden is a dream - dozens of raised beds, a greenhouse, fruit trees, bee hives for making honey, a handmade stone oven for baking and even a little house/treehouse with a wood-burning stove and couches! It is in this little house where the tea and biscuit breaks occur.

My first day at the garden there was a torrential downpour, so thank heavens for my sturdy raincoat! Everyone was so interested in the fact that I am from Seattle ("You came all the way from Seattle just to see us?" and "Which coast is that on again?") which I thought was pretty cute. So inquisitive! And apparently the director of the program was in Seattle for the WTO protests. It takes all kinds.

Here is a conversation I had with one boy, who was probably 14 years old or so, while we were walking to unload a shipment of manure:

"Your name is Rose? My social worker's name is Rose!"

"Really?! That's such a coincidence because I want to be a social worker too someday."

"Well, she's pretty annoying. Always talking about how sorry she is for me and blah blah blah"

"Yeah, that is annoying. Not very helpful, huh? I hope I'm not an annoying social worker."

"No, I think you'll make a good social worker."

I left the garden feeling elated and positive, despite being soaked to the bone and smeared with cow manure and mud. No wonder no one stood near me on the bus...

http://www.seedybusiness.org/index.shtml

Last Monday I went climbing for the first time in a few weeks, with the Sussex Mountaineering Club. The club has equipment, and the fee for the wall was only 6 pounds (for unlimited time - we were there for 4 hours.) There was a HUGE and extensive wall and a separate wall just for bouldering. This place was top notch, let me tell you. But its funny, I'm used to climbing with other girls and seeing lots of girls climb, but being at this gym I realized that in the real world, there aren't too many women climbers. I mean it makes sense, but being at Smith I didn't really think about it. There were some other girls in the club, though, who were really nice and helped me make sense of the grading system. Afterwards, we all went out for a drink at an adorable little English pub. As a welcome measure, someone bought me an ale - which was not bad! I also got tricked into eating "pork scratchings" which is a traditional pub snack apparently. All it is is fried pork fat!

After not climbing, this session made me sore for days afterwards... but I'm so excited to climb again and climb with cool people!

Yesterday (Saturday) was quite a day. I went on a day trip to Oxford - it was absolutely beautiful, but I felt like such a tourist! I met up with a friend from Smith, Emily, who lives in Morris with me and who is studying abroad at Oxford. We went to a teensy cafe (the sizes were teensy as well) and then to her house where we talked about traveling together for part of Easter Break. I love making travel plans! I then got really excited. I guess for most of my time here I've been really excited. A good sign!

Then night fell and I went to clubbing for the first time here. Although severely underdressed (I have some shopping to do) I had a great time until someone bought me a Jagerbomb (Redbull and Jagermeister.) Me + half a bottle or more of champagne + Jagerbomb = HOT MESS. I can't emphasize that enough! The night ended with me getting us kicked out of the club because I was puking, then getting kicked out of 2 taxis before we finally made it home at around 4 am. I lost a sweater, which is a bit of a bummer, but better than losing my wallet or something along those lines. I passed out on my bed still in my clothes, and woke up at around 10 feeling surprisingly un-hungover! Luckily the people I was with took good care of me and made me drink gallons of water, so I guess that's why. Hands down, this is the drunkest I have ever been in my life. Ah, youth. When I'm old, I'm going to look back on this and laugh so hard.

I am now properly initiated into the Brighton club scene.

Here are some photos:

Last Saturday we (international students) went on a trip to London! It was really grey and windy and cold. Remedied by a Nutella and banana crepe and Earl Grey tea. We were going to go inside the national gallery, but then we just walked around (and took pictures outside of it.)

I'm in the bus but I have to take a picture!

...I really like Big Ben.

And giant ships in bottles.

Windy hair!

Oxford

Cute litte door inside the Cathedral.

Discoveries

Sunday morning I decided to go running for the first time in a while (finals + winter break = fatty) and in doing so happened to stumble upon a beautiful nature preserve right next to campus. The sunlight was still pale, making the frosty dew shimmer against a light blue sky. The park used to be a manner, so there were big rolling fields of grass and lots of trees. There must still be some sort of farm operation going on, because all of a sudden, as I was walking along the path, I saw cows grazing ahead of me! Further in, I came across the most adorable little stone church complete with a little wrought iron fence and little graveyard! It was so quaint, I couldn't help but smile to myself.

I came back around mid-morning to take some photographs, and by this time the sky had turned a brilliant blue color, and there were all sorts of people out and about with their kids or doggies. I still wish I could've captured the park in the early morning sunlight, though.

Also, I picked up a free baby-sized-mince-meat-pie in the lobby of my house as I was leaving to take photos. I saved it for later, because it was too cute to eat right away.

Baby-mince-meat-pie, you were so tasty!

Settled, If Not Damp

Now that I've finally gotten the internet to work in my room (so that pink ethernet cord in my desk drawer WAS there for a reason), I figure its time to start a blog.

Traveling from Seattle to London was rather uneventful, which I suppose in the long-run is a good thing. For some reason, I can never be very productive when I'm traveling via plane or sitting in airports waiting for the next plane. The only activity that ever appeals to me is ipod listening and good ol' fashioned people watching. That being said, there were two people who definitely made my day: one tallish man with a shiny, shiny bald head, an itty-bitty soul patch and sideburns. But because he was bald, the sideburns had the appearance of just floating, disembodied on his face. On top of all that, he was wearing the brightest orange sweater I have ever seen in my entire life. You know, kind of like that bright orange hunting gear. The skin tight garment was basically glowing. It hurt my eyes to look anywhere near it. The woman standing next to him was just as good, for she was wearing a giant knee length cheetah-print peacoat, buttoned up to the throat. Her hair was like a rat's nest on her head, and she had on some granny pumps. I guess they were both pretty young, maybe early '30s.

They were obviously Satanists. (psst... go watch Rosemary's Baby.)

So after 16 hours of being completely sedentary, I stepped outside of Heathrow airport and was greeted by a light drizzle. In fact, it felt exactly like home. It lightened up a little bit today and yesterday, but it still feels pretty damp. Ah, rain. I was jet-lagged to the state of exhaustion when I got to campus (after an amusing taxi ride that involved a nice old English grandpa as driver and a soundtrack consisting of soft classical music, the can-can and the theme song to the Titanic, sung by a full-blown choir) and crashed on my bed with my coat as a blanket because I hadn't bought any bedding yet. Because I was so thrown off, all of my doubts and worries seemed to float up to the center of my consciousness. What I felt was an existential loneliness. (What am I doing here? I don't know anyone is this whole entire country. Its dark and gloomy out. What if I can't make friends? The water tastes gross. G-R-O-S-S. The shower is so tiny. The pound kills the dollar.) At the end of my third day here though, I've done a complete 180. I've met some great people (including a fellow American Studies major!) figured out when my classes meet and what reading I have to do for this week (thanks to that pink ethernet cable) and touched base with my family. I also bought some decent food and have become at least somewhat familiar with the layout of the campus. Classes start Monday, so most of the student body will be returning tomorrow. New faces to meet!

And what they say is true: English people are SO nice! All the people in bureaucratic positions that I've talked to so far have been so genuine and friendly (unlike in the US... for the most part.) And today! A bunch of us international students took a trip into downtown Brighton (double-decker bus) to pick up a few much-needed items. I went into the Apple store to get a power adapter, and when the girl helping me returned from the back room with power adapter in hand, she said I could have it FOR FREE!! Wow! I guess my status as an American study-abroad student is pretty clear... It was so nice I almost cried. Well, not really, but still. And then after waiting in line a while to buy some towels at another store, the cashier actually apologized for the wait!

Its so pretty here. I love being able to look up and see the green, rolling English countryside. I also love being this close to the sea, waking up to the sound of seagulls.