"Summer term" is a deceiving phrase.

I would first like to say that I am alive and well, and I apologize for taking a ridiculously long time to update. As you can see, I plan to write about my spring break trip... sometime. But rather than just keep waiting and try to write everything all at once, I thought I would keep up with writing about what has happened recently and then go back and write about my trip whenever I get a chance.

I'm halfway through the second week of "summer term," which is really not a phrase I think should exist. It's very deceiving. Personally, I got back from my trip feeling revived and really wanting to experience more of Brighton and life on campus in general, especially now that the weather is great (apart from the occasional rainy day - it wouldn't be Britain without them!). I realized that there were still a lot of things I hadn't gotten a chance to do - going to certain clubs and restaurants, singing karaoke at a pub and at an open mic night on campus - that I definitely wanted to do before I left. I knew that people would have work, but I figured that the phrase "work hard, play hard" would come in handy.

The problem is just that, however - everyone has work. A lot of it. Sussex somehow decided that it was a good idea to have 99% of assessments during summer term, and for the British students this includes assessments from courses they took in the fall. One of my flatmates has six exams in June. Making social plans is proving much more difficult because everyone has different assessments and different schedules, so it seems on any night of the week you'll encounter a friend saying, "I'VE BEEN IN THE LIBRARY ALL DAY BUT I STILL CAN'T GO OUT AAAHHH!" It's rather depressing. And people are going to start going home in May. I just really hope that I can cross off all of the things on my to-do list, and I don't want to do them alone. I don't want to feel like this experience passed me by in many ways. I think I'm going to make a list of all the clubs and restaurants I want to go to and other things I want to do and post it in the kitchen so that my flatmates and I can make plans together.

On a lighter note, I went to Isle of Wight on Saturday and it was lovely. Brighton is a popular vacation spot, but it really only feels beachy when you're at the beach itself. Isle of Wight felt like a beach resort on the entire island, with the quintessential fudge and postcard shops, outdoor cafes/tea rooms, and a relaxed, breezy feel in the air. The only unfortunate part was climbing up and across some hills to get the view of the whole island. It was pretty, but incredibly windy and a long walk, so I was exhausted and not really paying attention to the view by the end. It would be nice if panoramic views didn't always involve climbing. We also lucked out weather-wise - it was raining when I got up, which almost prevented me from going, but I'm glad I decided to risk it because it stopped raining as soon as we boarded the bus and didn't rain for the rest of the day.

As you probably guessed, I also have lots of work during summer term. I've been working on a 4,000-word essay (they only do word count here, so I've tried to wean myself from page numbers, but if you're wondering that's about 11-12 pages double-spaced) that's due on the 18th so that I can relax when my parents are here (and because I have a 3,000-word essay due three days after that which I haven't started writing... but I've been researching, at least! one at a time!). Before I started writing this I was up to 3500 words without a conclusion. yay!

Yes, as I mentioned, my parents are coming this weekend! Actually, their flight leaves the U.S. at 8:00 tonight, so they'll be in London tomorrow morning. ACCENT, the company that does programs for all of the Wash U students studying in and around London, is hosting a "farewell dinner" for all of us on Friday night, so I'll either go with my parents after that or on Saturday morning. We have tickets to see Romeo & Juliet at the Globe on Saturday night, and on Sunday we're going to Stratford-upon-Avon. Then they'll come back with me to Brighton for a few days. I CANNOT wait. This is the longest I've gone without going home or seeing my parents. As much as I love traveling and my independence, there's also something really comforting about familiarity, and nothing is more familiar than home.

All right, back to the grindstone. Friday, come quickly please!

The safest place in the world

Thank goodness I write in a regular journal, too, or else I would never remember all the details about my break.

On Friday, April 10th, I took an early train (the Eurostar) from Paris to London. There were no direct trains from St. Pancras (the train station where the Eurostar goes in London) to Brighton, so I had to take the tube to the London Bridge station instead. That was a little frustrating, but it was also good to be "home" where I understood the language, knew how the subway and train worked, and I saw several posters for Spring Awakening, which was exciting.

On Easter Sunday I decided to go to church, since Kara and I had found a Unitarian church in Brighton when she visited. The service was at 11:00 and I got there fairly early since I wasn't sure how long the bus ride would take. It's a very small and, unsurprisingly, old building - there is a stained glass window from 1888 and another to commemorate members' service in WWI. There weren't many people there, and only one person was even close to my age, but people were friendly and I liked the service. I hadn't been to church since I was home in December. I've been back a couple times since then and plan to go more in June once I don't have so much work to do.

When I got back Aoife made hot cross bun pudding, which is a traditional British Easter treat. You basically take hot cross buns, slice them, spread them with marmalade (which is what the Brits use as a general term for jam & jelly, so you can use any flavor you want), cover them with custard, and bake. Yum. I also ate some of the Sour Patch Kids my parents sent me. All in all, a good British Easter.

On Wednesday morning I had an early flight to Copenhagen to visit Kara. She met me at the airport and we took the train to drop my stuff off at her host family's house. Then we went to Christiania, Copenhagen's very own hippie commune. They've literally declared themselves independent from the EU (the sign at the entrance says "Christiana" on one side and "You are now leaving the EU" on the other), made their own "laws," etc. It's a funky place, with tons of very artistic graffiti, shops selling homemade clothing and antiques, and cafes. We had coffee at "the safest cafe in Copenhagen," which is actually called that because there have been 6,000 armed police raids there since 2004. haha

After Christiana we met the other students in one of Kara's classes at Tivoli Gardens, a really old amusement park. The layout was very classy for an amusement park, nicely landscaped with lots of pretty lights that lit up once it got dark. I rode the roller coaster, which was a short but fun ride since I hadn't been on one in a long time. Kara, one of her friends, and I ate dinner while waiting for the lights to come on and then Kara and I walked around taking pictures. At one point we asked a passer-by to take a picture of the two of us, and he happened to be British. When I explained that I was at Sussex, he said he had just been in Spain having drinks with some girls who said that they were also from Sussex. Turns out they were some other American students, friends of mine, who had planned a trip to Spain! Small world!

Thursday was the Queen's birthday, so we went to the celebration. On the way we stopped at Nyhavn, which is a picturesque harbor, and I got a Danish, for which I forget the real word in Danish. People had made a big circle around where the Queen was supposed to come out and wave to the crowd, and Kara and I snagged places near the front. A band played and then the Queen and her family came out three different times and waved to the crowd. The Queen of Copenhagen is really cool - she even designs opera sets! The country obviously loves her, too (or at least they do a really good job of pretending on her birthday). There were lots of people there waving Danish flags. It was a neat experience and I'm glad that the occasion happened to coincide with my trip.

Our next stop was Rosenborg, where the crown jewels are held. There were a lot of other fancy artifacts, too, like intricate ivory carvings and a Colt revolver given to the king by Abraham Lincoln. The jewels themselves were very impressive, though I can't imagine wearing something like that on my head. There was also a humongous purple diamond on display - I imagine it was a necklace, though your head would probably fall off if you wore it for too long.

We spent the night with Kara's host family, though her host mother was having a "clothes party" (like Tupperware but with clothes, so their house sort of looked like a shopping mall) so it was an atypical dinner. We sat downstairs with her host father and brother, watched TV and got the leftovers from the dinner party. Though I met them only briefly, her host family seemed really nice, and of course I was grateful that they let me stay with them.

On Friday we took the train to see Helsingor, aka Elsinore, aka Hamlet's castle. There was an exhibit about the history of Hamlet - I had no idea that it was originally a Danish story and that there was another version staged even before Shakespeare wrote his. We wandered around the castle and the chapel and saw the plaque of Shakespeare himself near the entrance. They still hold open-air performances of Hamlet on the grounds every summer, which would be really cool to see.

Then it was time for me to leave to catch my 8:00 PM flight back to London. It was odd because the last time that I had an 8 PM flight to Gatwick was when I came here in January, so it made me think about how much had changed and happened since then, which is a LOT. It was also hard to believe that my trip was over, after all the planning that it took, but I think I was ready to stay settled in one place for awhile again.

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I'm baaack!

Three weeks ago today I left on what would end up being the most adventurous, incredible, unbelievable trip of my life. Four countries later, I am back in Brighton for a few days before ending my break in Copenhagen.

There is no way I can possibly begin to tell you about my trip. Brief summaries would not do it justice, and trying to tell every detail would result in marathon entries that still probably wouldn't do it justice. So, I am going to attempt neither, and this is where you, dear readers, come in.

There must be a reason that you have been faithfully reading my blog, or at least skimming an entry or two, for the past three months. There must be specific things that you want to know about. Therefore, I am going to base my writing about my trip on your questions. Feel free to leave a comment, send me an e-mail, etc. with your questions about what I have experienced over the past three weeks. To get you started, here's a summary of my travels:

-I started with a trip to Greece and Italy with four other study abroad students at Sussex, Rachael, Deepa, Jill and Reva, three of whom also go to Wash U. We spent a day in Athens, about two and a half days in Santorini, four days in Rome, three days in Florence (with a brief trip to Pisa), and a soggy day in Venice.

-from Venice, I became my own travel buddy and went to Germany. There I stayed in Hamburg for four days with Marieke, German girl who was an exchange student at my high school for a year and her family. From Hamburg I went to Darmstadt, which is close to Frankfurt, to visit Jennifer, a friend from elementary/middle/high school who is studying there for the semester. She and I took a day trip with a few of her friends to Heidelberg.

-After Germany I flew to Paris, where I stayed with Maryse, a friend from Wash U and her host family. I took the Eurostar from Paris to London and another train from London to Brighton this morning/afternoon.

I took 542 pictures, which my dad will be amused to know actually does average out to a little more than 25 pictures a day. For those of you who have Facebook, the pictures will be up soon. Now it's your turn. Ask away about my adventures, and depending on how soon I hear from you/how many questions you ask, I'll start writing in the next few days.