I’m officially into my third week of classes, and I think the culture shock may have finally subsided. First of all, the city of Brighton is amazing. There’s great shopping. I don’t care how girly that sounded because it’s true.  I went to the mall yesterday and felt right at home.  Not only that, but the nightlife is definitely that of a college town (or city rather).  There’s so many students out at night, going to bars and clubs, and then catching the 4am bus home.  What’s different is the fact that a lot of that takes place on weeknights much more than at home.  Weekends are more for relaxing here (at least, that’s how it is at U. of Sussex.  My favorite part about Brighton is the pier, which I’ll attach a picture of.  It’s just like the pier in Santa Monica, CA.  I even got an ice cream cone yesterday just for kicks (at least the ice cream is the same). 

     Besides the sightseeing, I’ve made a good little group of friends.  My friend Nick from high school was already here, and now we’ve expanded.  We’re both on the Sussex basketball team, and needless to say, the lack of interest in the game in the UK has made us standouts.  We get a lot of crap for being Americans, but it’s all in good fun. We have even been watching the NFL playoffs whenever we can; they’re on much later due to the time difference, but pub owners will throw it on one of the tv’s for us anyway.  We’ve been called ”loud Americans” on more than one occasion. 

     The other night while we were out, one of the other basketball players spent some time teaching me some ”cockney rhyming slang”, e.g. bees means money, because bees and honey means money.  Apples means stairs, because apples and pairs corresponds to stairs.  So if I said that I was heading towards the apples, it means I am heading to the stairs.  It’s tough to follow, but interesting. Another note, don’t call anyone a wanker. It’s one of the worst words.  Other than that, a lot of the American stereotypes of England are pretty true.  I’ll explore more though and update you next blog.  Oh, and thank GOD for McDonald’s. 

Location: Brighton