Long Time, No Talk

So it's been 10 days since my last post- an eternity, I know. There hasn't been a whole lot of super interesting things going on, so I haven't had much to say. But I know you all are eagerly awaiting my deeply moving and intriguing thoughts so I will stop this heinous torture and write something.

In recent days:

I turned 21! That was fun, despite the fact that the biggest excitement of the 21st birthday (being able to legally buy alcohol) is redundant in a country where the drinking age is 18. On Wednesday night a bunch of kids from my floor and I went to this club called the Arc down on the waterfront that has an 80's night every Wednesday. No one was particularly dressed in 80's garb but they played fantastic 80's music and entry was only 80p (always a good thing) which makes for a good party any day. I had decided to wear heels for the first time since being in Britain and it was fun and I looked good (I had also bought a new little cotton dress that was super cute with the shoes) but god, my feet hurt. The heels are good for maybe a couple of hours but dancing around from about 11 to 3, and then walking to and from bus stops just wreaks havoc. It'll be a while before I wear those shoes for that extended period of time again. Then on Thursday my dinner group (the same 6 or 7 people I cook and eat dinner with every night) made a lovely, delicious meal for my birthday and I had baked our famous bread pudding for dessert so it was a nice little family meal. Definitely a good birthday even though I'm so far away from home.

Saturday was usual ASDA trip. ASDA is this chain store in England, owned by Wal-Mart, and it's kind of wonderful, just because they have so so so much stuff and it's all not that expensive (I mean it is owned by Wal-Mart). The store is kind of out of the way, so there's this free bus that the store runs that goes from Falmer station to ASDA, gives you 2 hours to shop and then leaves from ASDA to go back to Falmer station. Caitlin, Matt and I have made it somewhat of a Saturday morning tradition (sadly, the bus leaves at 9:30AM. A little early for my taste) to go to ASDA and it's quite fun. I like grocery shopping and you always can find new and exciting things there. The other downside, besides the 9:30 departure time, is that it can be difficult managing all your bags on the bus (especially with dozens of other people trying to manage all their bags). The backpack stuffed full of food is key. It's easier to carry than the plastic bags.

Sunday was another beautiful day. We've been having AMAZING weather lately, it hasn't rained since maybe last Monday or so. Or maybe even before that. It has been sunny and clear with blue skies and moderate temperatures. I haven't taken my wool coat with me anywhere, all I need is my light, white jacket. A bunch of us were originally going to try to take a day trip down to Dover or something, but we realized that they do engineering work on the rails on Sundays so what would normally take 2.5-3 hours to get to would take more like 4 and we decided it wasn't worth it. But because it was gorgeous, Caitlin, Matt and I decided to go into Brighton and wander around there instead. We got up early again (a theme for us, it would seem) and got into brighton around 10:30. Matt ended up going back to school around 1ish because he had work to do (silly) but Caitlin and I stayed in town until about 5 shopping around, having tea and enjoying the people and the weather. Brighton is really one of those places that you can just spend hours walking in, there's so much to see. Especially if you end up in North Laine or the Lanes because of all the little streets you can wander down. We got back to school in time for dinner (we're very serious about our dinner. In fact, if you asked almost any of us who eat together, it's probably one of the most important/fun times of the day. Which is why dinner usually lasts from about 5:30-9) and then we sat around watching American Psycho.

On a different thread- yesterday I actually booked things! And by things I mean travel plans! Travel is actually happening during the Easter break! Slowly but surely it is coming together. I have a flight for March 17th flying from London to Rome. I'm meeting up with Felicia in Rome (she has Holy Week off from school in Madrid) and we're staying there together for 4 nights. Those first flights and hostels are booked. The next thing I want to book is a train from Rome to Florence and then I think I'm going to meet up with Matt in Florence and stay there for a couple days, either leaving the day after or two days after Easter. Apparently Florence has this centuries old tradition called the Exploding Cart on Easter which should be really interesting. After Florence, I don't really know what I want to do. I was going to do Venice-Prague but if I'm going to travel with my sister in May or June, she wants to go to Prague and I don't want to double book. So I would rather go over to Nice and the French Riviera, but Venice is kind of in the opposite direction of that. Maybe I can find some random little Italian village to spend some time in instead. Decisions decisions. I'll meet up with my friend Laura from Washu in Amsterdam on April 1st, we're staying there for 3 nights, going down to Brussels on April 4th, staying there for a night, going to Paris on April 5th, staying there for 3 nights, going to Barcelona on April 8th, staying there for 3 nights, going to Marid on April 11th, staying there for 2 nights and then flying back to London. None of this has been actually physically booked yet, but that is our plan. Booking will happen this week. Exciting!