Lovely Jubbly!

I'm not sure how much more my brain can produce British phrases off the top of my head for titles, but hopefully I'll be able to think of at least one for every day. (That's probably not likely, though.) I'm finding that I talk in a more British manner everyday. I've always been inclined to speak in a more proper way, but when I hear other British speakers around do it naturally, it slips off my tongue more easily. Things like "Lovely to meet you!", "Oh dear!", and "Quite fascinating!" are all small things that I've found myself using. Stick me in the right environment and my inner British flies!

Yesterday was actually very interesting. I ended up feeling very discouraged and depressed from having not found any real friends that I could pal around with. I had gone on a supermarket run with a group of people, and all of them seemed to know each other. (Again, I wasn't surprised.) While grocery shopping, I got really lonely as I had no one to pair with so I was practically on the verge of tears. After buying some water, fruit, and few other small snacks, I made my way back to the bus stop where I talked to one of the Sussex staff members and about two other students. They all agreed that all the California people (mosty so-cal) were very clingy to each other and excluded other students, which didn't make me feel much better. The staff member told me to weasel my way in to those large crowds or just force myself onto them, but that just isn't my personality no matter how hard I try. I'm not good with forcing myself onto them. Normally, I end up introducing myself and chatting a little bit, then getting the shaft. I suppose I'm not as annoyingly persistent as other people are more experienced at doing.

Well, I went to class and finally met a girl who hadn't made any real friends to hang around with, too. She was really sweet and offered to go on the Brighton City tour with me. Things got a lot better from there. Anyway, I'll talk about my tour of the city now!

While in the city, I didn't realize how much I would love it. It's different from London and reminds me a little bit of Beauty and the Beast settings in the village (once you get past the hustle and bustle of the main centered city). It's a little similar in that all the shops are so close to each other. The buildings were so cute and quaint! I absolutely loved it. They were all placed in a way which made every little business in an intimate setting with all the other ones. Something I also absolutely loved was the alley ways! I didn't think one could enjoy walking down an alley way, but as we got farther into our tour of the city, there became more little alley ways with simple but elegant walls and trees or flowers peeking over them. There were doors within the walls and sometimes more alley ways where the doors would have been placed. The restaurants all have seating outside, it's relatively peaceful and quiet with amazingly lovely weather on the sidewalks. Even though people are seated on the sidewalk right next to roads, not many cars pass by and everything looks like it's all surreal. I mean, it looked like a romantic little village! I fell in love with everything so much! It made me want to go on a date so badly... It made me feel so happy. Unfortunately, there was one particular spot that is printed into my mind and I didn't get a picture of that place. :( One of the pictures above has one picture I took of an alley I loved.

We then took a walk down the pier and it was absolutely beautiful! The weather got cooler, we saw the ocean and the water was pristine, the mist farther out blended with the sky perfectly, and it captured my heart along with the Brighton pier board. It's another place I would love to go and do on my date-filled day! :) It was wonderfully breath-taking. All of this filled me with so much happiness and joy in my heart that I could burst.

We ended the tour with some traditional fish and chips (so all of you nagging me, I finally got it!) Then some headed to do some karaoke at one of the pubs in town and others headed back. I had originally planned to go to karaoke to get my head out of the sad little atmosphere it was in, and as I felt better I wanted to go. However, all the walking made me a little sleepy so I decided to retire. On my wait for the bus back to school, I met another girl from Davis and another girl from Germany who were so nice. I really enjoyed their company and I think we might start doing things together since we're all suffering the same problems with making friends. :) Once we got back to school, we went to the school pub and watched the end of the game. I know some of you were probably rooting for Spain, but man I saw some ridiculous things by that team that I had to root for Portugal. :P Anyway, that was my eventful day.

A few things I learned: they call jelly "jam" although I think some Americans say jam, anyway. They don't have toilet covers, which again makes me think of how spoiled we Americans are. Also, holding the the peace sign with your thumbs facing toward you is equivalent to the "f-off" middle finger. The UK has their own The Office and X Factor. University students have to pay to use their campus gym for membership, and Sussex students are a lot like Davis or Berkeley students in being "forward thinking" and participating in eco-friendly things as well as student activism.

That's all I can think of for now... my parents are leaving from London to go back to the US, today. For me, I think I'm going to finish some homework. :) Hope you enjoyed reading this long one.