Author Archives: tmm392

Back To the States!

I was so completely ridiculously excited to come here. And I must say I didn’t really like it :/ I really truly enjoyed my time in Paris and Rome! I loved them both. But England is definitely not my cup of tea :]

Now, not everything about England/Brighton is all bad. for example I am still very much in love with the accents of the people here, and the cool words they have for everything, and I really love Primark. But that’s about it.

I don’t like the weather (I am soooo looking forward to the heat wave back in the States), and their food is pretty bland (so I ate all the American fast food that I would typically avoid in the States). Maybe if I were actually IN London I would’ve enjoyed myself more. I didn’t think the distance from London would be an issue, but one thing that is conveniently left out is that although you are just a train ride from London the train to London is like 26 pounds, which is a little over 40 US dollars. And I’m nearly positive that’s one way. Everyone did tell me that it was going to be expensive here, but I didn’t really get it. EVERYTHING is expensive.

Despite all this I must say that I don’t regret coming here. I met a lot of great people (everyone is from California seriously)! I think I got an A in my class which is almost impossible lol So yea, I don’t regret it. I would definitely visit England again, but I don’t think I’d stay long. Maybe a week tops. If I were to study abroad again it would be somewhere like Paris or Rome :]
I’m gonna go plank on the Sussex sign now.

Tootles!


Location: Brighton, England

Paris!

I recently went to Paris and I am completely in love with it!! Originally the trip was scheduled to last 3 days but my teacher here changed the class days so I had to shorten it 🙁 but I was still able to do a lot!

In Paris they do a lot of free tours. So I signed up for one of them and it was a 3 hour walking tour and our guide took us to all these amazing places. We saw the louvre, the eiffel tower, the tuilleries, the champs elysses, pretty much everything! Getting around the city on my own was pretty easy too! I took a little french but I’m no where close to being fluent. But the metro system is really self explanatory once you get a map of it.

The people in Paris LOVE their dogs! I feel like everyone I passed had a cute little pooch with them! Lol but my favorite part of Paris was the night life. And no I didn’t go clubbing or anything. The first night I was there I was walking around (the center of Paris) and I was like “Where is everyone?!” Honestly the streets were deserted except for a few people walking their dogs. The following night my roommate and I decided to go to Monmartre to see the Sacre Coeur. As we got closer and closer to the top the crowd started thickening, and soon it felt like all of the city was on top of the mountain lolol. There were a CRAZY amount of people there! They had people drawing caricatures, tons of cute little restaurants that were completely filled, men selling toys for kids, and the most AMAZING view of the city. There were also a lot of night clubs there.

Pretty much as soon as you get on the metro on your way there you see all these girls in cute dresses and heels, and most of them get off at the monmartre stop. After that we explored the champs elysees. That’s also a good place to go at night. There were a lot of people there too and tons of night clubs. But we didn’t do night clubs we just took pictures in front of the Arc de Triumph.

Anyways heres a picture from the trip.
eiffel tower.jpg


Location: Brighton, England

Rome!

So I’ve done  A LOT since my last post!
A few days after reaching England I hopped on a plane and explored ROME!!
Going to Rome was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had! It was sooo much fun! So I stayed in a hostel while I was in Rome, it’s called Legends hostel. It was really clean, really nice, the people there spoke english and were really accommodating. I was fortunate enough to be able to book a all girls dorm. So everyone in the same room as me were females. I must say that living with those girls for 3 days was really cool! I had roomies from Australia, Paris, Spain, and China. I really bonded with the girl from Australia named Laura, she was very friendly and very kind.

So my roommate from Penn State (Anita) and I visited the sites. We saw the Trevi fountain, the Colosseum, the ruins, and we went to the spanish steps. We actually visited the spanish steps with our hostel mate Laura and when we got there, an opera concert was going on!! There were people lining the spanish steps and lined up in the streets, and everyone was just singing along to the opera. It was so cool!!

We ended up revisiting the spanish steps the next day to go shopping and we ran into this guy who’s also from Australia and he invited us to this Pub tour. So we took a leap of faith and met him at the spanish steps at around 8, and did this pub tour. It was CRAZYYY!! omg It was the most fun I’ve had in a long time!!! I met A BUNCH of new people! People who I am now friends with on facebook, and I’ve talked to them a few times since.The first pub we went to was open bar, and they brought up pizza. The next pub was filled with all these games. And the finale was an outdoor club. But it wasn’t just any outdoor club. It was outdoor next to the olympic stadium. We were dancing outside on this sick dance floor surrounded by these HUGE roman statues doing athletic poses, and I was just sooo happy!! I did not want to leave!! And we didn’t leave until 4 am!! My friends and I were walking back to our hostel as the sun was rising in Rome. You really can’t get much better than that. It was beautiful!

The one thing about Rome that really caught me off guard was the amount of homeless people. There were beggars everywhere and they were pretty aggressive. One woman came up to me while I was eating outside at McDonalds and she came with a picture of her and her kids and lifted her shirt to show me this huge scar that she had. It was very disturbing. And there was another woman with no fingers who kept reaching for me. That was very awkward as well. But once I was there for a while I learned not to give in to the beggars, because once you gave one something others would come.
Also the street vendors are the most aggressive and annoying people ever!! If you so much as glance in their direction they will be in your face hardcore with their things. And then if you say no they get so angry.

I think those were really the only negative experiences I had with Rome. But for the most part I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and I wish I could do it again. Rome is a beautiful city, with tons of history, and excitement around every corner.


Location: Rome, Italy

In England!

I arrived in England yesterday at around lunch time. The trip was a bit tiresome, and we had a little problem because the airline lost our luggage. But once we left the airport, I must say that I truly enjoyed my time. I’m here in England a little earlier than school, and I am staying with my roommate from Penn State at her aunt’s. We are about half an hour from London in a town called Orpington.

Yesterday evening one of Anita’s cousins took us on a walk around town. The town is so lovely and adorable! The homes are the cutest things in the world! And everyone seems to really like gardening lol I knew that England would definitely have a McDonald’s (bc honestly where doesn’t?), but i was very surprised to see a KFC, and a Burger King! haha While we were walking around we went into this store called Tresco’s, which is owned by Wal Mart. It was pretty nice, I saw a few things in there that isn’t sold in the States.

Today was spent mostly indoors. We had a small barbecue which I found interesting because the bacon and the burger was surprisingly different from any other that I’ve had. The burgers are small, like super small. lol and the bacon was circular, which actually worked out well because it fit the burger perfectly. Anita’s aunt has been to the United States quite a few times and noticed how surprised Anita and I was. She said when she visited she was surprised as to how big our burgers were, and she talked about how full it made her after eating just one.

We haven’t had the chance to visit London yet bc of our luggage situation. Fortunately we received our luggage a little earlier this evening and so we plan on visiting London tomorrow to get a few things, and go sightseeing of course. On Tuesday Anita and I are leaving Orpington and going to Rome for about 4 days. I am very excited because obviously i have never been to Rome! I am so excited to interact with the people, visit the sights, and of course eat the food!

Thankfully we chose this time to go to London. Anita’s aunt said that visiting London in the month of August sucks. Because for 1 month almost everyone in Rome (aside from politicians, and government workers) leave and go to their home villages. It’s like a city wide holiday, that literally lasts a month. So during that time the people there are mostly other tourists and those who HAD to stay to keep a store open or something.

Anyways that’s all for now. My next post should have pictures from Rome and London!


Location: Orpington, England, UK

The Days are Dwindling!!

11 days until I board the plane that takes me to London, England!!
I am so excited for this trip!! I haven’t started packing yet though (i’m a bit of a procrastinator), but I will be getting a few more things I need for the trip this week.

I’ve finally bought the tickets and booked the hostels for my trips to Rome and Paris! It’s going to be amazing! I can’t wait until I have pictures and videos of my travels to post on here!

Oh! and I got my class schedule, and I don’t have the best memory but I think I have classes Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11-1. which is absolutely LOVELY! I’m taking an English class on Jane Austen. So I ordered the books a while ago so I could get ahead of the game. So far I’ve read 1 and I’m half way through another. I anticipate that I’ll finish and start another during my flight to London :]

Anyways I’m very excited and the next time I post here I will be writing to you from London!!


Location: state college, PA

Brighton Sussex!

I’m Terry and I’m 21. I’m a broadcast journalism major, english minor. And in the fall I will be applying to law school! I was born in Kingston, Jamaica but I lived in Connecticut for most of my life. Because my family and I are not originally from the United States we traveled out of the country quite a bit. But this is going to be my first time leaving the country without my family!
I’ve set a few goals for myself during my time in England.

1. Create long lasting friendships. I want to make friends and really connect with them. I don’t want these friendships to end after I go home.
2. Travel lots and be a real life tourist! I plan on hitting up Paris and Rome. And I plan on doing all the touristy things like taking pictures under the Eiffel Tower lolol
3. Buy a new wardrobe. No explanation needed.

Haha anyways I am beyond excited to be going to Sussex! I honestly can’t believe that in 22 short days I will be boarding the plane!! Ahh!!  Can’t wait to to get this journey started!!


Location: U.S.