Hello Everyone! I yawn as I type. I’ve been up since 6:30 and I had a long day yesterday.
I’m usually up at ungodly hours in the morning anyway...(that cheeky English sun likes to rise before 5 a.m.) but today I had to get up and study for class --I am here for school, you know! But everyone reminds keeps saying that we are here to travel. People argue that we are here primarily to travel and secondly for school second. :::ClassyChiq shrugs::: Eitherway, it’s great when they both intersect, like yesterday. The second day of my class, we had a field trip to Oxford! It was very cool because it’s a trip the school paid for that I otherwise never would have taken. Oxford is an amazing place (I wish that I had bought a sweatshirt - but I bought and Oxford crest shot glass and a navy “England” zipper girl-hoodie I couldn’t resist). A classmate remarked that Berkeley is one of the few examples that may be close to a “historial” college/university in California...but Oxford is one of the oldest universities in thw world. This history of this one school is beyond the history of our country. It was a little cool yet creepy to walk the halls that people (such as Alice In Wonderland’s author Lewis Carroll) walked hundreds of years ago. When we were there, it was admittance day and all the kids were arriving to start their undergrad careers at Oxford. Wow.
All of the building are decorated with gargoyles sort of scowling down at you. It reminded me of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion: statues with distorted faces sort of watching you as you passed. We walked along the cobblestone streets that were littered with confetti and the little wire cages that hold the corks in champagne. We think it was from graduation...but it could have been something else. It was a long day of walking, which aggravated the blister on my right foot and spawned a sister blister on the same toe of my left foot (it’s the little piggy that had none). I had a great hummus sandwich before we left. It was really garlic-y. I’ve been craving hummus ever since, but can’t go out and buy food because I’m gone most of the weekend. (I learned from a bag o’ sugar that sugar has prevervative qualities and I wouldn’t doubt that the lack o’sugar, or the lowered amount of sugar in UK foods as compared to American foods, contributes to the short shelf life of food here). So, after 3-4 hour train rides to and from Oxford and hours of walking, I was beat...but still stayed up past midnight watching some Queer Eye For the Straight Guy episodes that I downloaded to my computer. Go figure. Believe it or not, when I landed in JFK I realized that the Fab Five could be near there, running around New York. Tsk tsk.
Darn it! It’s after midnight! I didn’t do any work and we have to get up early to catch the bus to London...Meera and I and some students. We shall see how it goes. I’ve already seen some touristy things and I wanna be nice to my blisters and limit what I visit. I’d really like to see the the Science Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum and the Natural History Museum. I would like to see the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. Meera would like to see Paris the following weekend, but I don’t know if I want to go then. I think I may visit Scotland. If I go next weekend, it’s £20 roundtrip. If I go the weekend of the 15th it’s about £10! If I book now for the weekend after my birthday, I can go for about £4!!! For less than $8, I can’t afford not to go! It will be a long 8hr ride which probably won’t be the most comfortable, but the money I save (instead of taking a plane or train) can be spent on accommodations. The decision to go will depend on available accommodations. I found a great place that’s off the beaten path in Edinburgh and it overlooks the sea. It seems beautiful and even though you are sharing the room, each bed has curtains and reading lights. It doens’t include breakfast or anything and it’s far away from the city and clubs and etc... but I could totally pull a relaxing weekend in Scotland for less than $150 including food, I’d imagine. What a birthday sandwich... OH! I didn’t tell you... and this is the reason why I am still in the computer lab... I’ve officially booked my birthday present - Rome!!! July 22nd until July 26th! I’m COMPLETELY booked. I booked the flight earlier this afternoon, when I got here around 8ish I booked my transportation from Brighton to the airport and just now I booked my hostel. Luckily I remembered that I had booked a hostel in Rome for next weekend on the hopes that I'd be able to book a flight. I was able to cancel without penalty. But the one I got offers free breakfast including eggs and sausage (in addition to the usual continental breakfast: bread, coffee, etc...) and between 6 - 7PM, there’s free pasta -my fave!!! So I’m set when it comes to food, except a snack here or there. The money I’ll save will be spent on bus and rail passes and entrance fees, but I’m sure a lot of my money could have been wasted -- well, I hate to use the words “wasted on food” when referring to Italian cuisine...but I don’t know how expensive it is there. I gotta pinch every which way I can -- so I can spend money on presents! It will be in the reasonable range of what I planned to spend, so I’m really excited about my deal though not as happy as I’ll be when I’m rested. I better take care of myself so I don’t get sick. That’s all I need, eh? Talk to you all later. Love!!! Happy Birthday, Donovan and Mama!!! Smooches!