Author Archives: lwl5186

OOPsie

I know I haven’t blogged practically anything yet because I keep forgetting but I am going to make it up on the day right before I go back to the states. So I was practically jetlagged for a week, I didn’t sleep until 4am and woke up early for class. Once I start to get used to this school, I have to leave already. One session is so short here, I wish I had more time to travel but it has been a good experience. Fun fact is that there are cows right behind my building, just hanging out in the field. This little campus makes me realize how much I love penn state. Nothing is comparable to that beautiful campus. I’m actually very sad that I missed arts fest and one of my best friends 21st birthday. Everybody seemed to have came back from abroad and reunited over the weekend. I am also grateful for PSU because all food places close here around 8pm and there’s nothing in walking distance, so somehow I’ve been surviving on groceries that I only bought the first week. I miss how easily it was to get food. How is it possible that I still have so much pasta left when I barely bought any?! So this whole summer session with the childhood social development class had me all stressed out for awhile. We have presentations and the final essay that’s worth 50% of my grade. I was just concerned because I haven’t had to do this kind of work for a non-science class for so long. So I’ve been frantically trying to start everything early and over worrying that I might be headed in the wrong direction. 

So let’s start with the first weekend I went out to London. It was amazing and everything I expected it to be. It’s a city that I would enjoy to live in, it reminds me so much of New York City. What was surprising was that it was actually more crowded than I thought it would be. It was a true struggle fighting through the crowd, I had to pull some New Yorker moments. We trekked around the city and the first place we went to was Buckingham Palace, I didn’t know what the whole fuss was about cause apparently the changing of guards happens everyday. It was super crowded and it was like fighting war just trying to see anything. Then it started to rain … (Who’s surprised, it’s England). Then we went off to see the London Eye and Big Ben. London is such a gorgeous city, this is how I know I am a city girl. Then, we went on a river boat cruise, and the architecture of the city was amazing. We went off to London’s chinatown and got a bite there, it’s so small compared to New York but I’ve been told it is the larger ones of Europe.


London Eye
Big Ben

Location: United Kingdom

It’s Monkeys Outside

I intentionally wanted to blog before I left the States but I had a draft saved and never finished it, oh well. It’s officially Monday, my third day here … let’s see, where do I start?

On Friday, I was sent off to the UK by my boyfriend, which kind of sucked because it was his birthday and I was leaving him. There were tons of traffic going to JFK and I was panicking because what if I missed my flight? The airport was chaotic but I said my sad good-byes to my boyfriend and went through security fairly quickly. The plane ride was only 7 hours, pretty short but it felt weird to be traveling without someone I knew. It was soon Saturday, 8AM in Heathrow Airport and I was exhausted. I was waiting for my friend’s flight to come in from Boston at 11AM because we booked a bus together to Brighton. Little did I know, her flight was very late so I never met up with her. My booked bus was also running 30 minutes late, but I met a lot of people going to Sussex, too. It dropped us off at Brighton after about 2 hours and from there we had to wait another 45 minutes for a shuttle that would take us to Sussex. The traveling was extremely tedious and exhausting but I finally saw my friend who ended up on the same shuttle as us to Sussex. All I wanted to do was wash the oil off of my face, but there were so many things we had to do. My room is decent, its clean and cozy but my bed gives me back pain with all those springs. Everyone I met so far is from a California school and is taking physics here, how absurd! 
Saturday night has approached, a bunch of us went bar/pub/club hopping in Brighton. The nightlife there is crazy! Everywhere was crowded and Europeans are just crazy! The city reminds me a bit of home but everything here is so expensive. After we got home around, I passed out until 230PM the next day, basically 11 hours of much-needed sleep. However, it was IMPOSSIBLE to find food on a Sunday afternoon so I basically had one meal the entire day. Sunday was basically to relax and talk to people back home. 
Today (Monday), I had orientation at 9AM, none helpful information though, I wish there was someone who would give us some guidance on how to travel to London on our own. Then, I came back to my dorm to order my Penn State Football Season Tickets!! I will soon go out to Brighton to do some grocery shopping (super essential). Last but not least, it’s been a crazy few days!

Location: Brighton, UK