Ending on a high note

Not too much has happened since I last wrote, but I thought that after the slightly depressing tone of my last entry you deserved something happier to top off what has been a mostly fantastic month.

First: Happy (belated) Pancake Day! My flatmates and I had friends over for a pancake party complete with homemade pancakes and LOTS of toppings (I think we had four different types of chocolate topping alone). Everyone seemed to have a good time, and the pancakes were delicious (no, I will not tell you how many I ate). I think I mentioned this before, but here pancakes are crepes. American-style pancakes are called Scottish pancakes, but the English don't seem to be big fans of them. I have to admit that nothing beats crepes, but I don't know if I can go six months without American pancakes.

Three Wash U students studying in Paris arrived yesterday or the day before to visit friends here at Sussex, so they left the land of crepes only to come to England on the one day a year when it, too, becomes a land of crepes. They didn't seem to mind. It was fun to see some familiar faces, though I don't know any of them that well, and it was a cool study abroad moment to realize that the last time we all saw each other was at Wash U and now we're traveling the world together.

Tomorrow I only have one class, so I'm hoping to get a decent night's sleep tonight and spend most of the day working. Yes, I will be the first to admit that I wanted to take a break from Wash U academics, but I think I've been taking too much of a break and will actually be happier if I can go back to my original goal of finding and living a balance between work and play. Plus I have a feeling that these big essays due during summer term will come back to bite me if I don't at least start them now.

I also need to work tomorrow because I will be in LONDON this weekend! You may be wondering, "Why are you going to London again, Olivia? Haven't you been there three times already?" Well, yes, I have. But London is huge and they were all structured trips, so as much as I loved the things I saw and did, I haven't had a chance yet to go on a trip that I planned myself (or with a friend, in this case)... until this weekend. In other words, this trip will be different in that it involves going to a choral service at Westminster Abbey and SPRING AWAKENING on Friday night (the music/choir/musical lover in me is already starting to hyperventilate), riding the London Eye at sunset on Saturday, and taking advantage of the photo opportunity at Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station on Sunday, among other things. SO. EXCITED.

Oh, and to top it all off, my parents are planning a trip here in May, including a visit to Stratford-upon-Avon (so I get to go after all!) and seeing a Shakespearean play at the Globe! My dad is already threatening to bombard me with Shakespearean trivia during the trip. I'm counting on it and can't wait, Pops.

Dealing with disappointment, UK-style

Well, I was supposed to be in Stratford-upon-Avon right now. That is, until I woke up at 9:30 this morning... after the bus left at 8:00. I have no idea if my alarm never went off or I just slept through it. Regardless, I'm upset. Shakespeare has played an interesting role in my life (including creating my namesake, Olivia from Twelfth Night) and there's a chance that I may not go there with my parents over spring break after all. It's been a teary morning.

In other news... I had a fun Valentine's Day. My flatmates and I went to Brighton and painted pottery (I did a cereal bowl with pastel stripes. I also managed to explode a black paint pen but not get it on my clothes or the outside of my bowl. skills, I know.), had an early dinner at Pompoko's, a delicious and cheap Japanese restaurant, and went to see He's Just Not That Into You, which we all really liked. Afterwards we walked to the ASDA (like Walmart with more groceries) and bought wine, crisps and chocolate to enjoy once we got home. After all, what Valentine's Day is complete without chocolate?

I had some good nights out this week. On Wednesday night I went to see Fame, the musical put on by SMuTS (Sussex Musical Theatre Society). It made me miss Wash U theatre. Not that it was bad, but if you go to Wash U and are involved in theatre in any way, PAD or student-run productions, please don't take for granted the talent, enthusiasm and dedication of the people you get to work with. We are lucky. On Thursday I went out for curry (I did have curry, but I've also found that British people tend to refer to Indian food in general as "curry"), which was delicious. Ooh, and that just reminded me that I have a leftover piece of paneer naan in the fridge. Mmm. On Friday Audrey and I went to see Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which really makes you want to go to Barcelona. I would really like to organize a weekend trip there during summer term.

Yesterday Wash U sent us to Greenwich for the day - thanks, Wash U! It was fun to also hang out with Wash U students who are at other schools in London. We started with a boat tour on the River Thames in order to get to Greenwich, which is just outside of London. It was a lovely day, cool but sunny and clear. At Greenwich we toured the Painted Room and the Chapel, beautiful rooms which were originally part of a king's home but now make up part of the University of Greenwich campus. The Painted Room had a ceiling reminiscent of the Sistine Chapel (in style, if not content) and the Chapel had all Grecian-inspired architecture and design.

After lunch my group got a little lost, but we eventually made it up the hill to the Royal Observatory, where we saw impressive panoramic views of London and stood in two hemispheres at once! Yes, Greenwich is the location of the Prime Meridian, which divides the world into time zones. I learned that 15 degrees of longitude equals an hour time difference, so if you know either between two locations, you can figure out the other. We had free time for the rest of the day, so I went with a few other Wash U girls to Greenwich Market, which was fantastic! A feast for the senses. There were booths with vendors selling everything from jewelry made out of silver spoons to puppets to paintings. Then there was an entire food section with vendors selling food from France, Italy, Turkey, Greece, and the U.S., to name a few. I bought some mini Turkish doughnuts, which were crispy on the outside but melted in your mouth on the inside and were completely soaked in honey; banana chips; and clotted cream fudge, which has a fudgelike consistency but tastes more like caramel. Delicious!

My food bliss experience for the week came from yogurt. Organic Greek-style yogurt with honey, to be exact. I don't think I've ever tasted anything creamier, and I will probably be buying a lot of this from now on. Scratch that, I WILL be buying a lot of this from now on.

Unfortunately I will not be doing anything exciting today after all, but I've been needing to do laundry anyway. Oh well. Goes to show that no study abroad experience is perfect, and hopefully I will be able to go to Stratford with my parents over break anyway. I'm upset, but there's nothing I can do. Time to move on.

The moment you've all been waiting for...

Before I write anything else, I have to announce that I had (veggie) bangers and mash for dinner on Tuesday and it was DELICIOUS. British comfort food at its best. For all the complaints I heard about British food before I got here, they know how to do some dishes (and drinks) pretty darn well. Admittedly, one of my American friends made the dish, but still, I credit the Brits with the original idea.

OK, back to chronological order. :o) I had a really wonderful time on the trip to Battle and Hastings, despite almost missing the bus in the morning (oops. now I'm sure that all of my clocks are coordinated!). Our first stop was at Battle Abbey, which was built next to the battlefield where the Battle of Hastings took place (I apologize in advance for the excessive use of the word "battle"). The Battle of Hastings ended Anglo-Saxon rule in England and also introduced castles and feudalism to the country. The abbey wasn't there when the battle actually took place but was built as a sort of memorial. We took a guided tour of the area and then had free time, during which a group of us explored a little museum in/about the abbey.

Then we were off to Hastings, a seaside town about a half-hour away. It reminded me of Brighton but not as modernized - no brand name stores or bus system. We had lunch at a pub with an odd music selection - all American, but everything from rap to Pearl Jam to Frank Sinatra. We all wanted to see the clifftop views of the ocean, so we split into two groups. Another girl and I went to find the funicular railroad to take us to the top, but discovered that it was closed for renovations. I was really disappointed until we talked to a friend who had already made it to the top and said that the climb wasn't bad. It really wasn't, and the views were worth it! I'm sure I've said this before, but England has this amazing combination of sea and green, green hills. It's just lovely. After admiring the view we walked to Hastings Castle, which is basically a small area of ruins at this point. Good thing it was small because we got there as it was closing, so we only had a few minutes to explore. The sun was just starting to go down and you could watch it glinting off the water and the stones in the castle ruins.

After walking back down we decided that we had just enough time for tea. I also tried crumpets, which were exactly as they had been described to me: like inside-out English muffins... except better, because the crumpet I had was probably soaked in butter. mmm.

(A side note about Hastings: the restaurant next to the pub where we had lunch had a sign in the window advertising bangers and mash. Did I take a picture with said sign? Of course I did.)

As the bus pulled away from Hastings and I watched the sun set over the ocean while listening to Spring Awakening on my iPod, I couldn't help but feel perfectly content. This is why I wanted to study abroad. The exploring, the views that take my breath away, trying new foods, weekends that I could never recreate at Wash U.

On Sunday I went on a hike through Devil's Dyke with a few other international students. The legend is that Devil's Dyke was literally formed by the Devil when he was disappointed by the decline of Paganism and wanted to destroy all the churches in the area. Because of all the rain and snow we've had lately, Devil's Dyke was also made almost exclusively of mud. I consider it a small miracle I didn't lose a crutch tip or fall more than I did. After walking for an hour and a half through the dyke and to a pub I was exhausted, so another guy and I called a taxi to take us back to the top. Unfortunately the taxi was late and we missed the bus, so we ended up waiting in another pub and meeting the rest of the group who had hiked back to take the next bus about an hour later. Then I had to take the train back to Brighton. Did I mention it was raining? Needless to say, it was an adventure and the first thing I did when I got back to my flat was take a long, hot shower. I don't think I'll be going on anymore major hikes, but I'm glad I tried, anyway.

My Easter break plans are starting to fall into place - four other girls and I will be going to Greece and Italy for the first nine days! We'll be in Athens for a day, Santorini for two days, Rome for three days, Florence for two days and Venice for a day. I booked my flights today. Greece and Italy were the two places I REALLY wanted to visit while I'm here, so I'm thrilled. Then Mom and Dad are planning to visit near the end and go to France, London, and Brighton with me. This just means that I have to figure out the middle two weeks or so. I have a couple of friends in Germany so I may go there for awhile, and I have e-mails/Facebook messages out to a few friends who are studying in other places as well. Cross your fingers for me! I don't want to waste a single day of this break.

I finally went to choir rehearsal on Monday night. It's a small group - only three tenors! - but people were pretty friendly. We're singing a version of the Magnificat and the Chichester Psalms, which are in Hebrew. I'm rusty because I haven't sung in a choir since freshman year and I haven't sung anything to test my range since last semester, but I think after a rehearsal or two I'll get back into the swing of things.

The Students' Union elections ended today, and I was struck by how different they were from SU elections. No one runs as part of a slate, so there were six candidates for president alone. Campaigning is also much more aggressive. When my friends and I were cooking bangers and mash we had no less than three candidates come to the flat to give their shpiel (I have no idea how to spell this word), and even more candidates came to my lectures to speak. There have been teams of people running around campus all week handing out fliers and wearing t-shirts emblazoned with the name and slogan of the candidate of their choice. When I voted today the guy manning the table suggested that I take a "I voted" sticker (it actually says "just voted... and not for you!") so that I wouldn't be harassed in Library Square, and though I thought he was kidding candidates and their teams were actually running around making sure people had voted.

Anyway, I hope you all survive Friday the 13th and have a lovely Valentine's Day. I have a hot date planned with my flatmates. ;-)

Marry, Merry, Mary

I discovered this week that Brits have distinct pronunciations for each of the words listed above, while most Americans, including myself, do not. This is Aoife's favorite game to play with American students, and I'm now practicing my pronunciation so I can tell my parents the "correct" way on Sunday night.

Last weekend Wash U sent us back to London for a football match (soccer game). A couple of the girls and I went early so that we could go to Camden Market beforehand, basically a punk flea market (lots of stalls with funky clothes, jewelry, shoes, scarves and posters). We had a quick lunch with gaufre for dessert. Gaufre is a French dessert consisting of waffles with all sorts of sweet things smeared on them - honey, jam, fruit, Nutella, whatever you want. I had mine with Nutella and experienced another moment of knee-buckling, heart-melting food bliss. Needless to say, I was happy to discover that this food had made it beyond France. The match was Portsmouth vs. Fulham (we rooted for Fulham, the home team, and they won by two goals) and it was fun at first but then FREEZING cold. The highlight was the fans, who never stopped cheering, especially a particularly boisterous group behind us.

Sussex, believe it or not, had a snow day on Monday. After being told about how mild the weather is here, we brought the crazy St. Louis weather with us. Six inches in Brighton was enough to shut down the city almost completely, including schools, and eight inches in London was the most snow England had seen in 18 years. This country is not at all equipped to handle snow - the news reports talked about how this one day was going to cost Britain millions of pounds because of all the people who couldn't come to work. Meanwhile back at Sussex, students were perfectly happy to replace classes with snowball fights and sledding (one definite plus of having a hilly campus). People got pretty creative with impromptu sleds, including signs stolen from the grocery store in Bramber House, ironing boards and a kayak (I'm not kidding). Campus reminded me a little of a ski resort in places, especially when I saw the whole thing from the top of a sledding hill, the buildings softly lit with warm yellow lights as the sun went down. Ami made pancakes (what they call crepes) for dinner, and I discovered that to celebrate Mardi Gras the Brits have Pancake Day, aka eat crepes all day. My brother asked, "So England is your personal paradise?" My response: "On Pancake Day it is."

On Wednesday night I went to an international food party, which meant that I had to prepare some food that represented America. Aoife had told me that one of the international students from last year had left some Kraft macaroni and cheese (aka "neon food") in the flat, so I made that. This resulted in an entertaining conversation among my flatmates about the differences between American and British food, especially brand names. Apparently we stole Starburst from the Brits. Sorry, guys.

Tomorrow I'm going on a day trip to Battle & Hastings (site of the Battle of Hastings, the most important battle in English history), and Sunday there is a walking tour of Devil's Dyke sponsored by the Walking Society. I've decided that the reason I don't mind all of the extra walking here is because the scenery is so beautifully distracting. ;-)