With a week off from classes, I found myself unsure of what to do. Most of my friends from my classes had gone home, and my housemates were slowly following suit. One of my international friends and I decided we couldn’t spend the week sitting at our houses doing nothing. So, on Monday morning, we hopped on a bus and bought a weeklong pass to explore the West Sussex coast.

On Monday, we stopped in the seaside town of Worthing. On the way there, I discovered that I’m still mentally 5 years old and love sitting in the front of the double decker bus. This theme would carry throughout the week, as my friend and I were constantly switching seats to slowly move closer to the front. Once we arrived at Worthing, my friend and I explored the beach and the pier. 

With hunger overtaking us, we headed to the city centre to find some food. After wondering around for what felt like hours, we settled on none other than…Pizza Hut. That ended up being the best option as all the other cheap places were overflowing with people and all the fancy restaurants were far too expensive. Plus, we got great desserts!

On Tuesday, we visited Portsmouth, which I think might be one of my favorite places now. There was a ton of stuff to visit there, both old and new. My friend and I started at Gunwharf Quays, which is a giant shopping center. After looking at all the shops and staring at the sea, we decided to grab some lunch. Most everything was crowded and/or expensive, so we settled on Burger King because we both wanted some French fries, erm…I mean, chips.

After that we went to the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. This was probably my favorite part of the trip. The ships were huge, and I still have no idea how they float. Before I visited, my friend told me they had shot some scenes for the new Les Mis�rables movie. So, naturally, I was singing that music the whole time.

After spending time posing with statues and perusing the gift shop, my friend and I meandered over to the city centre, but with hardly any money left in our pockets, we headed home soon after that.

Does my hair look like his?

Wednesday brought a visit to Brighton. The pier here was amazing. I think the full amusement park located at the end of the pier was most impressive. I particularly enjoyed the chicken fried rice I ordered and ate there; it was far too cold to even consider riding a roller coaster.

With no desire to play any arcade games and with cold fingers, my friend and I walked over to the Royal Pavilion, a castle built by King George IV. This place was very different from Windsor. It was incredibly extravagant and didn’t look like it belonged in England. Designed as an English interpretation of an Indian Castle with Chinese decorating (no one involved in the project ever actually visited India or China), this castle completely overwhelmed me.  The highlight was definitely the giant dragon chandelier weighing nearly a ton.

Inside the castle, there was actually a sign asking spectators to take off their stilettos before walking on one room’s carpet. Yes, because I often wear stilettos to tour a historical landmark (???????) That should clue you in on just how fancy this castle was.

After once again feeling completely underdressed, my friend and I made our way down to the beach. I have to admit, I’m still getting used to not seeing sand on the beach.

For the sake of space, I’ll save the rest of my trip for another entry (hopefully I’ll post that tomorrow).  My next post will probably also focus a lot on THON. Even as I’m writing this I’m watching the livesteam. Less than 4 more hours left!

FTK,

Emily .xx

Location: Bognor Regis, United Kingdom