Barcelona, while not a trip where I had the best of luck at times, was amazing! It was a 3 day trip consisting of delicious tapas and blazing sun. I was actually surprised it was not hotter though. But just because it wasn’t excessively hot doesn’t mean I didn’t get sunburnt! (And yes, I did use sunblock!)

The first full day was spent hiking Montjuic mountain, visiting the Sagrada Familia (cathedral), and going to Park Guell. All of these were places which we needed to buy a metro ticket for. That was adventure number one. First we were confused on the different metro zones which we needed to know to buy our ticket. Then we weren’t sure how to split one ticket between 2 people. So we actually ended up getting stuck in a small area that kept us from getting on the metro or exiting the station. But it was worth the short wait to visit the sites. The mountain was a nice morning hike overlooking the beautiful city, as well as the ports and beaches. The massive cathedral was stunning. Everything about the architecture mimicked nature in some way – from the columns built to look like a forest to a roof that mimics the way the wind affects a straight line such as a leaf. (It becomes wavy instead of straight). Then we discovered that Park Guell is free after 9:30, so we went there around 8:30 to walk the unrestricted areas (to be honest I would have been content just doing these during the day for free, they were worth the view).

The highlight of the following day was our night adventures. We did a walking tour, and ate delicious tapas before going to the magic fountain for a light show. We enjoyed a mixed plate of calamari, bread with tomato, potatoes, tortilla, peppers, and meat for only 15 euros. They were some of the best foods I have tasted. Each had it’s own flavor distinction. From there we raced to the magic fountain of Montjuic. My friend Anny asked why it was called magic and a few minutes later we discovered the answer. Just at sunset, the fountain turns on and there is a light show complete with music and different parts of the fountain turning on at different points. While we were sitting there, Disney music was the theme and I was not about to complain.

Our final day was spent on the beach! We awoke bright and early to secure enough time to get some color. It was a day of relaxation after walking about 20 miles back and forth through the city the previous 2 days (we got lost a few times…). The only non-relaxing part were the people trying to give us massages, mojitos, and corn rows in our hair. Other than that, perfect.

Our trip to Barcelona was brief, but it was full of adventure, new experiences, and a beach – as well as some unneeded drama (my backpack lock decided to break while still on my backpack preventing me from getting any of my stuff inside). But all in all, it was an amazing trip!

Location: United Kingdom

Being that it’s break, I have a lot of free time on my hands. What better way to spend it than exploring the attractions that Brighton has to offer! This small city has a very active lifestyle that I have come to absolutely love. On top of that, the weather has been amazing. In just the past week I have gone to Seven Sisters National Park (the cliffs) again, another soccer game, the pier, the beach, a carnival, and some horseraces. It’s been a blast.

I didn’t know what to expect when I decided to go to English horse races. Do I dress fancy and wear a hat like they do in the movies? Is everyone proper and they’ll know right away I’m not from here? How loud and supportive are the fans? How to I find the horse track? How does a horserace even work? But none of these questions mattered because it was a free event, and an experience I did not want to pass up. When I got there I was surprised to find that racetrack was not even an oval. The horse and jockeys started a distance away, ran a fairly straight track, and we were all waiting at the finish line. The view was amazing though. It was green fields of country land on one side, and the sunny coast on the other. The fans were pretty invested in the races, as I probably would have been if I had any history about the horses or had bet on them. Overall it was a fun event, something I’m really glad I went to. I can’t say it was like I’ve seen in movies, but it didn’t need to be.

As I describe the sunny day at the racetrack, I have to look back and laugh at my expectations of this city. My conclusion from some research prior to coming was that I was traveling to a place that would constantly be cold, gloomy, and rainy. But actually I can’t get enough of the gorgeous weather here this term! I won’t lie, I even broke a sweat a few days. All this great weather has made it so much more enjoyable to go to events downtown. Some of my favorite places are the pier and the beach. I’m loving living near a coast town! This weekend is a busy one in Brighton – there is a carnival (which is mainly just rides, not what I’m used to at home), a kid’s parade, and even a food and drink festival. Hopefully all this beautiful weather keeps up because I still have 7 weeks left here and I want to spend them doing as much as I possibly can! 

Location: United Kingdom

This past week began my first week of Easter break – a month long break! It was also my birthday week – the big 21! To top it off, it was a week full of traveling to other countries with my boyfriend who came to visit! We started by going to Italy, ventured to France, and ended the trip by visiting some English cities.

I absolutely loved Italy! I’m convinced if I spoke Italian I could live there, and I would also be extremely overweight. I literally had the best beef lasagna of my life in Pisa, where I also tasted my first real gelato. But enough about food, let’s talk travel. The adventures began in Florence. It was a beautiful city with a great street-long market and stunning works of art everywhere. It was there I had my first slice of real Italian pizza – YUM! By train we made our way to Pisa for the night because it was cheaper to stay there, and it was a great decision. We had a perfect view of the Leaning Tower from our hostel balcony! The following day was spent taking more than enough pictures with the Tower and basically just wandering around the small city. We saw a huge Palm Sunday parade which was awesome, and browsed through the colorful flowers being sold in the streets.

The final destination in Italy was Rome. Perhaps my favorite city thus far. It was full of brilliant architecture, ruins, and of course delicious food! We were fortunate enough to get tickets in the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel which skipped the line – a line that was potentially a 3 hour wait! We explored more of the city in about a day, visiting all the major attractions and massive buildings. I could not imagine what it would have taken to build such buildings!

We also got to go to the Colosseum for a relatively inexpensive price – I was expecting to pay much more. It was awesome! I tried to imagine what it looked like in its prime and I imagined it would have been breathtaking!

The next stop was Paris. While we had a rough start trying to find our hostel and navigate the city, we successfully made it and had a full day ahead of us, mostly spent at the Eiffel Tower. We went to the very top level, walking the stairs of the first two levels. It was incredible. The city extended for miles, and we realized that all the roads were in some way pointing to the Tower. It felt like you could see everything from the top. At night we sat in the grass in front of the Tower while it lit up – it did a sparkling show about every hour. It was really amazing and peaceful to sit there for a bit, despite the men who kept trying to sell us things because we were tourists.

Finally we flew back to London. It was Matt’s first time in London, and also my birthday so we did some sightseeing around the main spot before meeting with friends to celebrate. It was a nice day/night despite our sleep deprivation and exhaustion from traveling. The final stop was Cambridge. It was a really nice small town with so many different sights to see. To experience most at one time, we decided to punt down the river on a guided tour. It was a blast – a bit cold, but we learned some really interesting history. What we didn’t realize was that most things in the city close fairly early, and we had a late bus out. So we wandered around and made our way into some warm buildings being that it was freezing out! All in all, a nice day.

Despite all the amazing adventures and breath-taking sights, I was exhausted by the end of the week and in need of some serious sleep. I had such a wonderful time traveling. Someday when I am older I hope to be able to go back to Italy for a longer period of time. Our Italian, French, and English adventures were a fantastic start to the Easter break!

Location: United Kingdom

This past week my parents flew across the ocean to come visit. Because they only planned for 10 days, we had to be realistic with where we could go and what we could accomplish in such a short time. In just a few days of traveling, I’ve seen so much!

The traveling began in Salisbury to visit Stonehenge. While it was just a circle of rocks, it was an amazing sight. I felt like it was looking at a picture, like it wasn’t real life. It wouldn’t be a true family trip without missing a bus or two, but luckily the bus we missed comes every hour so we caught a later bus to go to Old Serum. It was the old grounds of a fort. You could see the Salisbury Cathedral from Old Serum, so that was our next stop. Massive does not even begin to describe the Cathedral! It was amazing, I just can’t imagine building it. We found a free tour in there and learned some really interesting things, like that it is built on an area that basically means it’s floating on water. 

The next stop was Bath. It is a really small area, but it was absolutely beautiful. We went into another abbey. We also visited the Roman Baths, which are basically natural hot tubs. But the catch is that these were a series of baths, about the size of 2 pools put together. There are multiple rooms to this grand building.

Finally we went to London. Although I have gone there a few times already, I got the full tourist experience this time. On Friday night we went to see a show. To preface this, I will say that I used to be OBSESSED with the movie ‘Matilda.’ I would watch it a few times a week and still not tire of it. So, it was only fitting to see the musical in London. While I was a bit skeptical about how they could turn it into a musical, the songs were fun and catchy, and the show overall was great.

Saturday consisted of walking 10 miles all over the city on free walking tours. We saw all the main attractions along with alleys, pubs, and houses that I would never have even known to look for. We also visited Kensington Gardens. I have concluded that someday I will live there. Ok so not really, but a girl can dream right? The only disappointment of the weekend was that Tower Bridge was not lit.

Finally on Sunday, we met up with family of my relatives (confusing but it makes sense). We got to hear their stories of living in London as well as many other hilarious stories. I got to ride in a car! We started with a little shopping in Covent Gardens and then it was off to The Tower of London. It was probably one of my favorite sports in London — like its own little village. The Crown Jewels were incredible! I can’t even begin to imagine being able to wear a diamond as big as a small cookie! There was such an interesting history to the tower, as with all the sights we got to see.

It’s been a great long weekend full of adventures, laughs, and quite a bit of running to make it to the public transportation on time! I think my parents really enjoy it here. Perhaps convincing them to take a family vacation back here in the future won’t be so difficult after all!

Location: United Kingdom

My travels to other European countries have begun, and unfortunately my camera decided to stop working right before leaving for Ireland. No worries, I’ll have the memories forever, and a camera in the future! Anyways, Ireland was an amazing country! My friend Anny has a friend in Galway so we decided to go across the water for a weekend. It was a great decision.

We arrived in Dublin on Friday night. Since we only had a few hours, we decided to grab some dinner at a pub. Ireland has had the best food that I have eaten in the last 2 months, but more about that later. After dinner, we grabbed our bus to Galway. I thought England was rainy and chilly, but it has nothing on Ireland!

Saturday we had an 8 hour tour of Galway and the Cliffs of Moher. The Cliffs were like nothing I have ever experienced. We got to hike for an hour and a half. They are some 700 feet about the water — so high you couldn’t even hear the waves crashing against the rocks below us. We tried to find the cave where a scene of Harry Potter was filmed, but we gave up on that and instead decided to be tourists, taking pictures for every 5 steps we walked.

The nightlife in Galway was a blast. People of all ages in Ireland know how to dance and have a good time at the pubs! We got an experience at all types of pubs. The first was a college pub which was really cheap and had a small dance floor with fantastic dance music. Everything from throwbacks of “Stacy’s Mom” to newer songs like “Trombones.” After that we figured it was time to go to one of the well-known pubs of Galway – the Quay’s. It was packed with people of all ages dancing. I had to laugh because one older gentleman was dancing on the balcony over the dance floor. He was enjoying life! Our final pub was a traditional Irish pub complete with a live band and some Irish step dancing. I have reached the conclusion I really enjoy Irish music.

Back to that delicious food I mentioned. My mouth is watering just thinking about different meals. Guinness Stew is a very traditional dish in Ireland, and I really liked it. It is a sweet, somewhat thick stew with meat in it. There was also a lovely vegetable lasagna that was so fantastic I came very close to licking the plate. To top it off, we had chocolate Bailey’s cheesecake with homemade cream. The cream was really interesting. I thought it was something like ice cream, but it was not as thick or sweet. I really don’t even have anything to compare it with.

Ireland was a blast! I would recommend it to anyone who comes to Europe, even if it is just for the weekend. There is so much to venture out and do, and so many great tunes to make you feel Irish for a day!

Location: United Kingdom

With school work starting to build up and trips under way, I have so much to write about and catch up on! First and foremost, I have finally gone to my first ‘football’ game in England. I can’t pretend that I am a follower of ‘football,’ but I will admit that the enthusiastic people in my section convinced me to become a fan for a night! One of my friends was able to find really good prices for 26 of us to go to a championship game just down the road at the Brighton and Hove Albion game.

I learned a new vocabulary of insults and chants from the locals at the game. Some of them are probably best not to mention. BUT, there were some great songs created about the coach and one of the players from Argentina. Interestingly enough they were sung to the tunes of children’s songs or songs I learned in Bible School growing up. For example:

“Carlos Garcia. He drinks Sangria. He came from Barce. To bring us joy!”

“Who’s that guy from Argentina? Who’s that guy we all adore?…

When the crowd started to sing it was an awesome atmosphere — although I could only make out the first 2 lines at the time so I wasn’t much of a singer.

Another adventure took place the following Sunday. My housemate, friend, and I discovered some cliffs about 10 miles away from Brighton. Although it is about 45 minutes by the commuter bus (this time includes 15 minutes that you have to transfer busses because the front panel falls off the first bus and it can’t continue to drive), it is free because I have a bus card. We decided to take a hike to the lookout so that we would be able to actually see the cliffs — rather than walking on the cliffs themselves. It was an awesome idea and the weather was perfect! 

We started on a pretty easy path surrounded by green fields. We saw some people coming out of a field gate, so we naturally assumed this was the way to go. Not the case — we ended up in a field of sheep! This turned out to not be so bad because there were the cutest little lambs running all over. When we made our way back to the real path, there was a fork in the road. We wanted to take the high road because the low road was flooded, yet somehow we ended up on the low road. It was a disaster: we were basically walking through a river of mud! So we turned around for the 2nd time to try to find the high road, which we finally did! Although there were some muddy spots, we made it to the lookout without much trouble. The cliffs were such an amazing sight! We took loads of pictures, although they can’t exactly do the scenery much justice. Overall, it was a great day!

In a sense, I’m glad I’m an exchange student here because I am taking the opportunity to go to places all around Brighton that some of my British housemates have never even heard of. Sometimes the best adventures come from going to places that aren’t really advertised much.

On a random side note….spring is on the way here in England. I’m so excited!

Location: United Kingdom

My time in the UK thus far has been fantastic, however I have had numerous moments that had made it blatantly obvious to myself, and anyone who lives here, that I am not from England. Whenever one of these moments occur, I think about the famous tagline “that awkward moment when” and I fill in the rest of the sentence with whatever situation I have just found myself in. To switch up my blog, I decided to share some of these moments from the 5 weeks I have been here. Without further ado:

That awkward moment when….

1. You get locked inside a Starbucks bathroom, and despite throwing your entire body weight against the door, it still refuses to open. Finally with phone in hand ready to call someone, you spot a button on the wall that you have to push to exit. Would have been nice to notice before causing a commotion in the restroom!…

2. You wait a half hour for the check at a restaurant (with numerous looks from the waitress) because you have to specifically ask for the bill, it is not implied….

3. Although it is clearly written on the road to look RIGHT to cross the street, you look left (since you would do that in the US) and end up just running across the road because cars are in fact coming from the right…

4.You don’t use the oven for the first two weeks here because you have no idea how it works…

5. You stand in the aisle of the grocery store trying to calculate how much you have spent in dollars…

6. You ask 3 different people for directions to a classroom and all 3 tell you different directions to go. (Seriously, Arts A is the most confusing building EVER!)…

7. You complain about the small portion sizes of all the food when you realize that the US just supersizes everything…

8. You have no idea how to pronounce the name of the town next to school. (but really is it Leuz, or Loo-iss, or Loo-eez?! because I have heard it pronounced all 3 ways!)…

9. You have random words scattered throughout your notes because you didn’t understand your professor’s accent (‘Um excuse me professor, but what is oxfursur?’)…

10. Your laundry gets locked in the launderette overnight because it is not 24 hours – in fact it closes at 10!…

11. You have no idea how to write the date, or the time after noon…

12. You have a dream you are back at home and driving recklessly because you have no idea how to drive on the correct side of the road anymore…

While all these moments may have made me blush at the time they occurred, I have to look back and laugh. I can’t expect to understand everything in a new country, and I wouldn’t trade any of these moments because they have all made my experience here in the UK all the better!

Location: United Kingdom

As much as I would love to be able to drive while being in the UK, public transportation has its advantages – the ability to travel cheaply. Since being here, I have been luck enough to take some great trips that are actually pretty close to Brighton.

     The first stop was London – somewhere I have always wanted to go. The international office organized a trip for us so I was able to freely explore and be a tourist with a group of study abroad friends. We saw Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, and Trafalgar Square, among others. I had to keep reminding myself that I was actually there – that it wasn’t just a dream. We learned that the street performers in London actually have to audition for a spot in the street, so all the performers were really good! We watched a humorous man lay between 2 sheets of nails as another guy stood on top. It was ridiculous. London is definitely a city I plan on visiting as much as possible while in the UK.

The next stop was good ol’ Brighton. My friend, Anny, and I took a tour of the Brighton Pavilion, or as I like to call it “the Taj Mahal.” It looks like it was built to mirror the style of the Taj Mahal. It only cost us 5 pounds because, as students, we are considered residents. The Pavilion is huge! Especially the dining room where the chandelier weighs 1 ton! There is also a tea room in the Pavilion so we couldn’t pass up some tea and scones. We got cast iron tea pots full of tea and I instantly fell in love with scones with cream and jam. It’s a good thing I haven’t found anywhere to buy scones in bulk or I would be gaining a lot of weight!

     The final stop of the week was Lewes Castle. It was an interesting tour because it is the remains of a castle that after paying you get a key to freely explore. It is a pretty small castle compared to some of the other places in England, but it was interesting to explore and make my way to the top. There was an excellent view that pictures cannot justify because it was a rather gloomy day. My friend and I stopped at a tea room in Lewes that is also a flower shop. Peppermint tea and scones were my choices, this time with blackberry jam. Although it was a tad expensive, it was worth it to warm up and enjoy some sweets.

     Although I can’t say public transportation is my favorite means of getting around, it does lead to many great adventures while abroad in this brilliant English country! Cheers for now!

Location: Europe

It’s been an eventful few days here in Sussex and it’s quite lovely (as they would say here). The trip to Newark airport proved to be hilarious as my dad drove around the airport 3 times passing the terminal! British Airways was a great airline, providing everything FREE – movies, music, food, drinks, blankets, etc. The flight attendant laughed a bit seeing my awestruck face as I proceeded to pick a British movie to watch. It was a bit hectic trying to get to campus from Heathrow Airport and getting settled in, but after asking quite a few locals, I figured it out!

              The first couple days were full of international meetings and events. Of course we had a famous fish and chips dinner! I have seen maybe 2 squirrels on my campus since coming here – quite a difference from Penn State’s 12,353 squirrel population! Instead the animal on this campus is sea gulls! I wouldn’t usually get excited about that except that it makes me realize how close to the beach I now live.

              I’ve made a great group of friends here. We’ve taken trips to Brighton for shopping, dinner, and exploring. One of my favorite parts was taking a trip to the Brighton Pier. It’s amazing – similar to a boardwalk in the US, except that it goes out into the water rather than running parallel. As we were there, two little boys decided to put chips (French fries) on their heads and the seagulls flocked! It was hilarious. The group had lunch at Harry Ramsden’s – a famous fish and chips restaurant, and while it cost a bit more, it was well worth the money.

              Another really amazing aspect of being here is the lookout spot just over the hill from my flat. It’s a scenic overlook of the entire campus and if you look to the other side, there is a manor. It was probably a residence in the past but now it has been turned into a restaurant. On the same lands lies a little church and pond, along with some hiking trails and areas of large green fields. It is quite the sight, and definitely a place I will be visiting frequently!

        Just some side notes (a sort of what I have learned thus far):

     The bedding pack was

           not worth buying

      You need to know your

     address for A LOT of

     things here so it is  

     definitely something to

     memorize

          Understand the outlets 

            and the difference between converters and adapters

          Shopping off campus is much cheaper than on campus and they even deliver

             groceries to your dorm if you order them online

         You have to specifically ask for the bill at restaurants, it is NOT implied! (sometimes you

              may be sitting there for a half hour waiting

         Everyone is really friendly and social

         The international events are really fun and a great way to make new friends

Well that’s all for now from Sussex. Cheers!

Bri

Location: Europe