Wait, is it Winter or Summer Time?

While in Brighton I finally hunkered down and tried some English specialties, including bangers and mash, as well as the full English breakfast. Maybe because I was anticipating the worst, or maybe because I was starving both times, it really wasn't too bad at all. I really enjoyed the breakfast, due to my lack of dinner, or maybe because I was expecting it to be so much worse. It was generally what you would get in the states as far as how it was cooked. The strange part was the combination if foods. It came with 2 fried eggs, cooked over-medium which was more done than I had anticipated. It also had a side of baked beans, that tasted ok, but really catsupy as well as 3 triangles of had browns, a grilled tomato, mushrooms, sausage, and toast.  All that and a cup of English tea for a whopping £3, I was more than satisfied and full.

The bangers and mash wasn't as good as the breakfast, it just seemed more bland, with less variety. It came with three massive sausage links, served over a huge pile of mashed potatoes, with peas and topped with gravy, that tasted like barbecue sauce. It was ok, it filled me up, and now I can say I've had bangers and mash. 

Going to the post office this morning I wasn't sure if I was even in a post office. The post offices I've seen haven't contained any post office boxes, and inside is more of a gas station convenience store with a window at the back where you can mail big packages. I saw one in Belfast that was exactly the same and I thought it was one of a kind. 

Last night I did homework to pass time, but I ended up meeting a really nice hair dresser from London. He has just gotten back from south east Asia, where he lived and cut hair for the past two years. He didn't want to go back to London, but wanted to move back to England to be closet to family, so he decided to open up a studio in Brighton. I was teasing him saying that to work in London he must be a great hairdresser, and he told me he charged about £200 for a haircut, and it only went up from there. It got us on the topic of hair, and he studied under one of the most well known hairdressers (I don't even know who it is) and he's been doing hair for about 9 years now, and he's only 27. I'm sure my hair looks like some kind of hot mess to him but I'm trying to grow it out, and I won't give into the temptation of cutting it, even though he's cutting someone else's hair latter on tonight for something to do. I also met an english chef that's moving to Brighton and he's staying at the hostel until he finds a flat, and he talked about how much he loves Mexican food, which makes me curious as to what his definition of Mexican food is. While talking to him, he also confirmed the fact that all Poms (a nickname like yank but the British version) think that the second they step into the U.S. they will be shot. They all seem so obsessed with our gun laws, and most of them think they are crazy. I have met a few that like our gun laws, but they were in the army so they are familiar with guns. 

Sitting out in front of the water on the hove side of Brighton there are very few people out, and it's so cold it makes me feel like it's winter, I'm curious what this place is like in the winter. It's the 2nd of July and its dead, and cold. 

It ended up raining on me today and I'm still suffering from a sickness, I ended up buying cold medicine so I'm staying in and trying to rest up and get better. The medicine here seems oddly cheap, only £2 for caught medicine and 30p for a pack of lozenges.

Hot eggs and long lasting milk, no thank you.

Last night was magical. I had the room to myself which also meant I had the bathroom to myself. The hostel is in a residential area meaning it was quiet outside except for sea gulls. I had a great nights sleep and a long hot shower this morning. 

This morning I went to a tesco I passed coming in, it was massive compared to all the others, more what a real grocery store would look like. I went in to pick up some tea and biscuits for the family and some lunch for me. I was in there for a good hour just looking through the isles, and trying to make sense of what I saw. Because it was such a bigger store, there were so many more options that it made it difficult to choose, especially because I'm not sure what I'm picking up in the first place. An example would be that I finally settled on Yorkshire tea, which was a hard enough decision considering they had about 1000 different brands of just breakfast tea. When I decided to go for that brand I was then faced with the dilemma of do I go with original, medium or dark tea, once I chose original do I choose hard water or the original. My mind just about exploded looking at the tea, much less everything else. Don't even get me started on the candy, the biscuits or the bread. 

I was shocked at the price of honey here, I found a massive jar of raw organic honey, the solid kind I can never find anywhere but the health food store for over $15 a small jar back home. It was only £2 and looks so tasty and creamy, it was the perfect honey, and they had tons of choices of it, they had multiple brands and jar sizes all not over £5. If anything I will move here for their honey. I couldn't justify buying any though, because it's big and heavy and I don't want to have to lug that around with me as well, and it would cost a ton to send it home because of how big it is. 

They also have their eggs on the baking isle, and I know they don't have to be refrigerated, but it's still strange to see eggs just sitting on shelves, next to long lasting milk, whatever that means.

I walked up Brighton the 45 minute walk today. It was a nice walk along the beach and it wasn't busy until I made it to Brighton pier around noon, when everyone was getting lunch. I actually like where I'm staying not directly in the middle of Brighton, it makes it less busy and much more quiet. The weather isn't as bad today as it was yesterday but there is still a chilly breeze and I don't know how people were actually in the water, I half expected them to get hypothermia.

I was talking to another American and it turns out they are just as confused as I am about the greeting "are you alright?" We both stutter and come up with yes after a few seconds never knowing how exactly to respond no matter how many times it's asked. We both also decided there are no public drinking laws what so ever. I saw beer for sale at the train station yesterday, they have pubs lining the beach all with outside seating, and today when buying a sandwich, you get chips and a drink with it for £3, and wine was an option. It's mind blowing to see that when your used to it being so slickly hidden. 

I've noticed that when I tell anyone I'm from New Mexico and I explain its by Texas, their next question is always about guns, whether I have one, or if I go shooting all the time.

I've also decided that foreigners, or Brits and Aussies in general are much more interested and fired up about American politics than Americans themselves. 

I don't have plans for the rest of the day but I decided I'm going to enjoy staying here though it's not my favorite place I've been. Hove is almost like a small sea town with a big brother just walking distance away, and I like being on the quieter edge of things. 

I Shall now be called Coka the Beast

Everyone says that it's inevitable that you get sick after about a month, between the lack of sleep, and the close shared quarters of other people. I know its only been 3 weeks but I think I'm hitting that point. I wasn't feeling the absolute best yesterday, and when I woke up this morning I had a nasty cough. It really isn't that bad, but I'm going to find some vitamin c to try to give me a boost.

I also feel like it's time that some lovely family members of mine receive a care package. I have some stuff I'm lugging around that is really just weighing me down, and I was going to send it home, but I figured if I do that I might as well add a few English treats in there.

I know I complain about the coffee here, since there doesn't seem to even be such a thing as fresh ground coffee, but the breakfast tea is amazing. It's nothin like what you can get in that states, so be expecting some real English tea, and maybe some biscuits to accompany them. Also I may or may not include some Vegemite in honor of all the Australians I've been meeting, I met another 4 last night. We played pool and talked and of course I was asked about Obama and my opinions of him, I've realized everyone thinks that he is amazing over here, and when i say otherwise they are shocked and don't understand and I have yet to quite understand it completely. 

I've learned a lot about the Aussies, and it's really interesting to hear about their nonsense. Apparently they call catsup either Dead Horse or tomato sauce. They also have a kids treat called ferry bread, which is white bread with butter and hundreds of thousands (also known as sprinkles). They never pronounce R's at the end of a word, so my name becomes Coka, and tartare sauce is pronounced tar tare.

The most confusing thing that has happened to me while being over here happened last night though. I walked into my room to go to bed and I thought my bed had disappeared. It turns out that my bed and all of my belongings had just been moved into a little cubby in the room, taking me about 30 minutes to find my bed and my pajamas. Of course the hardest part about staying in hostels is it feels like form life, everyone's on different schedules so you have those that go to bed early and you have to work in the dark and try not to disturb them. You also have those that sleep in, and you have to stay quite in the morning as well. It also works out that the ones that come in later than you always wake you, they just manage to do so no matter what, and the ones that wake up earlier than you also disturb you. It's just a constant trying to tiptoe, and wishing everyone else did they same when they don't. 

My train was delayed this morning so after waiting around the train station for well over an hour, all my connecting trains I had missed as well. I had to talk to multiple people and after a lot of switching trains and running around before I ended up in Brighton. I had to take a train to central London to connect with a train that took me to Brighton, it was huge with three seats on one side and two on the other, and it was the emptiest train I've ever been on. Going into London seemed scary but wasn't that bad, so I'm reconsidering the skip I did with London, but maybe I'll take a day trip from Brighton. I really do think i would enjoy London more if i was with someone and not by myself, but i also may be surprised. Once I was in Brighton, I realized my hostel is located in Hove, a good 45 minute walk (with a backpack) I decided to jump on one more train since it was only £2 for about a 3 minute train ride and find the hostel. The hostel is only a block off of the beach (pebble beaches, but not bad, I've never seen pebble beaches before). The food here still weirds me out. I had lasagna last night that wasn't anything very similar to what we consider lasagna, it felt like it was made with more of a gravy than tomato sauce. I figure Brighton might be better, being a coastal town, it might have some delicious sea food but I don't plan on getting my hopes up. Sticking with ham sandwiches, at least I know what I'm eating, and it's healthier than a lot of the pub food you'll find around here. I still haven't tried bangers and mash, but that is because I really don't care for sausage so much and I don't want a meal that consists of sausage and mashed potatoes with some gravy. I plan on getting some before I leave, but I might save it for a meal when I'm not starving. 

Even going into London by train, there is literally nothing between stops until you get to the main part of the city. You get a few houses and cows but mostly fields and trees. It's such a small country that I would think there wouldn't be so much country side, but even these big cities seem to be somewhat small, all walkable. Since it was a clear sunny day, it got up into the 70's and I couldn't help but laugh that all the signs kept reminding people to drink water and stay hydrated in the heat. The funny thing is, it was a gorgeous day, until i got to Brighton, then it suddenly turned cloudy and cold. I also feel like Sundays mean that they do not check the tickets. I hadn't had anyone check my tickets all day long, which made it easier to explain why I was on the wrong train. Just because of that delayed train, it made my day a lot more stressful with a lot of running, a lot of waiting and a lot of confusion. In in station I got off on platform 1 and had 1 minute before my train left on platform 13 I was running through the station, and I literally jumped on the train as the doors were closing, I sat down ten realized I had no idea if I was even on the right train. It didn't help that it was scrolling Wimbledon across the screen, but it was in fact for Brighton.

I know this blog is unorganized and all over the place, that's how my brain feels right now at the moment at least, but I plan on just getting some rest and checking Brighton out tomorrow. 

Awkward children

Last night my friend and I went out to find all the old English pubs that have been in Oxford for years. We found the pub eagle and child where c.s. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien used to meet to write and talk about the books they were working on. There was also a pub that had ties in cases plastered all over the walls and ceilings, with a picture of Bill clinton sotting at one of the tables. These pubs were quite and quint many of them with little fireplaces and a great atmosphere, so much better than any bar or club I've ever been to. 

After we decided to head back, we realized we were hungry, so we found a kebab truck. Josh ordered a chicken kebab (he said it was nothing like what he was used to) and I just order a regular amount of fries. The kebab was spicy and I ended up eating most of it enjoying the first real spicy food I have found since being here. When I ordered my fries though, it said £2 on the menu but the guy working the truck only charged me £1 and I'm still unsure if it was my charming looks or my lack of knowledge of the currency, and trying to pay in coins.

I'm sad I'm leaving on Sunday now because Josh, my new Aussie friend invited me to go to church with him here in Oxford. Since he's applying for his phd he's been checking out churches and bible studies in the area.
This morning Josh made me try Vegemite for the first time, and though it wasn't discussing, it wasn't good either, and I just ate a little bit of it. I would choose Nutella over Vegemite any day, but I can officially say I've tried it.

Today we went to the history museum and found shrunken heads which was interesting, and I'm still unsure about what I saw and how I feel about it. There was lots of interesting things in the museum but I'm not one for museums. 

I also tried punting for the first time, it was really fun, and our guide knew a lot about the history. The only awkward part was that there were tons of kids sitting in one of the parks we passed by chanting kiss, and when we didn't kiss, they started chanting friendzoned. It was a really neat experience all together and I'm glad I did it.

The architecture of the buildings here are just amazing. I enjoy just wondering around this city because there is so much to see and do, but it is small and compact and it has more of a small town feel. I love it here but I'm getting excited to move on to Brighton.

Shires are all Lies and Deceit

Oxford has been great, and just like with York, I find myself wanting to stay, and I am. I've met even more Aussies here, and run into the Aussies from York as well. I'm staying in a hostel right on the river Thames, and walking distance to the city center. I even found a huge park, just outside of the city center, with massive fields and horses. it was the most breath taking thing to find just by talking 10 minutes outside of the city center. there are rivers that twist and turn and split and flow all over the town, with more by the park and these fields. they even have punting, or what i think to be a gondola.

I went out and saw some of oxford college which in itself is breath taking and incredibly old and majestic. if i couldn't stay in York, Oxford would definitely do. There are plenty historic buildings with cobblestone streets and bookstores, museums and art galleries galore. 

I met a guy from England, Worcester, who was biking from England back to Worcester since had a week off from work. He explained to me what the shire on the end off all the English towns meant. Anything with a shire on it is a county, which includes multiple towns. The county town is the one that is in the name. So if someone says they are from oxfordshire, they are just saying a general area. If they say they are from Oxford, oxfordshire they are saying they are from the town Oxford in the county oxfordshire. If they just say they are from oxfordshire they could be from bisbon, it just depends.

I ran back into Nigel and Brad from York, and they introduced me to some amazing cookies, as well as meat pies. I've learned that Aussies don't mess around with meat pies, and it is a serious offense if it isn't done correctly. 

My new friend Josh who is an Aussies is here applying to do his PHD at Oxford, and he took me to try a deep fried mars bar (like a Milky Way) at a fish and chip shop. It was the most fattening awful but delicious thing I've ever eaten, and very similar to a deep fried snickers bar.

Nigel and I also tried out a gaming lounge, where we paired £3 to play portal together on the PC and it made me miss being home, playing games with Jonathan.

I also met a guy from Austria, finishing his PHD in Law, and about to become a judge in Austria. He's currently living in Cardiff, but come the end of the month, he goes back to Austria. I also met a guy from England that is a teacher, and is fluent in 7 languages, and he came to oxford to teach, he's just in the hostel while looking for a place to live. While being in Oxford,  I've met plenty of prestigious people, and its making me nervous about finishing my degree and deciding what the next step in my career is going to be for me. 

I can't even begin to tell you everything about Oxford, but it has been a great week of my life that I've spent here, and this is another place I would come back in a heartbeat. While being in Oxford I've also realized that English people don't eat cheese on their sandwiches unless its a cheese sandwich, count that as something else I'm starting to miss. When I get home, I want big enchilada, or a nice hearty blburrito with lots of chile. I miss my normal diet with delicious food.

I've got lots of homework I have to do this weekend, mostly for the english class, but it shouldn't be too bad now since I have found the most perfect park. I'm starting to hit that mark, where I'm homesick, and missing my bed, and washing machine. I'm having to do some laundry tonight, the hostel has a wash and drier, but its just not that same as having your own. I miss my dogs too, I love traveling, and I wouldn't cut this trip short for anything, but it gets hard, I'm about at my 3 week mark, and its starting to become a lifestyle and no longer a vacation. I don't know how people do it for a whole year. If I was given the opportunity, I would do it for a year as well, but I can't imagine how hard a few months might get. 

Stereotypical French people

So I really liked the hostel I was in, the common room was nice, and even though no one spoke English the Spanish people were nice and they tried talking to me and I tried talking to them. Turns out the Spanish people don't like the French either, they are to rude to them as well. It makes me afraid to go to France, because if they're all like this I'm not going to have a fun time. The people in my room though pretty much made my life suck. I got a total of 4 hours of sleep this weekend, and not to mention I feel like the French had something against me. I tried talking to them, in Spanish and English and they would either just stare at me or ignore me all together. Last night when I got in the shower they were also turning the light and water switch off and on to the bathroom I was using (the switches are on the outside of the door). I'm not really sure how they're still alive either, I thought I didn't get any sleep, but it was because they weren't sleeping either. They don't go to bed until 4am, every single night. I thought they had work at 7 this morning. But none of them got up and left. When I packed up and left at 10am this morning I was still the only one awake.

 When I left this morning it was raining once again. I originally planned on walking the entire way down to the train station and maybe stopping to get some coffee just to waste time and enjoy my morning since my train left at noon. That obviously didn't happen since I didn't want to get soaked, or soak everything I am carrying. So I decided to take the free bus that takes you from the north end of town to the south end where the train station is. When walking into the bus station right by the hostel I realized it was attached to Victoria shopping center, the huge mall with a tesco and some sort of market within in. After I realized this I shrugged and got on the bus that took me to broadsmarth bus station at the south end of town. When I got off since I had time I started wondering, and I realized it was also attached to the broadsmarth shopping center. Which is basically a more ghetto version of the Victoria shopping center. In between these two shopping centers is market square, where all the nice, high end shops are located and one of the biggest best preserved market squares in Europe exists.  What smaller town has two bus stations both attached to malls with a huge shopping/market area in between the two? The whole concept is crazy to me, but literally everything you need is right there.

Since it was still raining when i got to the train station, i figured it was no big deal, especially since the train station is covered. When I looked at the board to find my train, i decided to start looking for times and not destinations, since my destination was not the final one, its much easier. I found the time my train leaves, and I found the platform and i headed off in that direction. Of course, my luck my platform is the only one in the station that isn't covered. There is construction going on in this station, and yup, it was right by my platform. So sitting in the rain waiting for a train I still wasn't sure was mine wasn't the most fun thing I've ever done, but I had a latte so I was as happy as I could get. 

My hair here doesn't like to cooperate, I'm not sure if its the weather, since my hair is now always wet, or if it's because I'm using different shampoo, or if it's the awkward length. Im getting to the point where I'm looking for scissors to try and make it more bearable. I still feel like a hobo, just with cute accessories now. 

My feet are almost healed from Edinburgh, they don't hurt anymore and there are just scabs and loose skin from blisters. They are almost back to normal, and I can walk without a limp again. My problem now is my hip, and my leg, of course both on the left side. My hip has been hurting since the log plane ride, I think since I didn't get up the entire time, and I didn't move around much it hurt pretty badly. I thought it would stop hurting eventually, but with all the walking the pain is still there. My leg, only when I've been walking all day does it hurt, but where I had the surgery, it still makes it hard to walk after the excessive walking. I might as well be a war vet at this point. 

I'm really enjoying my English class too, I read beauty and the beast, which contained multiple stories, and the history of how the original story originated and transformed. It's a nice way to pass time with a purpose. 

People around here like to make a point to talk to me because of my accent as well. It's kind of nice, because weather I'm in a store or on a train, at least one person strokes up a conversation. Every single time this has happened though, it has been a young guy. Today while sitting on the train from derby to Birmingham, I was next to a young guy, once everyone got off in Birmingham the train had more seats available to I moved to the seat across from him and said "just to give you more room" and from there he started questioning me, where I'm from, what it's like, how I like England and everything else. He's from London but is traveling for business, and he told me, London is a must, and to try not to take the tube, but walk because there is so much to see. In Nottingham it happened with every server, or cashier I had. I bought some nail polish and ended up having a 30 minute conversation with a guy who had just gotten back from Miami, but loves America and wants to move there. It's really interesting and the people are quite nice, but I also feel that it only happens that way because I am different, because at home, I'm not as interesting to the people around there. 

Oxford is really nice, as well as the hostel I'm in. It has strict rules but that's a good thing. I think I'm going to like it here. Here is picture coming out of the train station.

Rain Rain Go Away

I'm looking and smelling better today. I woke up this morning after a very long night last night, just ready to get out and have some alone time with a latte and a book. There was very little sleep involved last night between the french going out, and alarms and phone calls this morning. I learned today that these french people are students here, I knew they were living here but it makes more sense why they never sleep. Ive also heard the french are rude, i though it was just a stereotype, but its proving to be more true than I ever thought it would be.

So for breakfast I went out looking for food,but I guess on a rainy Sunday morning not much is open. I went to this popular place called Greg's and asked for a breakfast sandwich, the guy asked me what kind and I said bacon, he then asked what sauces I wanted on it. I didn't know what he meant by sauces, you put sauces on breakfast sandwiches? And he said yeah ketchup is good, and while I declined, I secretly want to know who is eating their bacon sandwiches with ketchup. I got my breakfast sandwich and took a bite, and it didn't taste like what I was expecting so I looked at what I was eating. Turns out a bacon breakfast sandwich is ham on a roll with nothing else. It wasn't bad, just not what I though, also explained why it was only £2 for that and a medium latte. I have also gotten to the point where I don't drink my hot beverages with sugar. It's looked at as inferior here, and a lot of the time it's not even an option, so I'm learning to enjoy caramel lattes with no sugar, and its actually pretty good. 

After my breakfast and reading for school, I went out looking through stores, I got some toothpaste, some earrings, a scarf, a few more long sleeve t-shirts, and some perfume. I feel like I am looking and smelling better than I have since I got here, and I feel much better today. I also picked up my train tickets for tomorrow since I was on that side of town, and this is actually the first thing you see when you come out of the train station.

While browsing around I also thought I would share about the book stores, they all seem so small and strange, books lining the walls with toys and snacks in the middle, and I have yet to find a book store much bigger than this. It's so different that what I'm used to, if I was looking for something particular, I don't think I would find it.

For lunch I tried a chain restaurant called chopsticks, it's a noodle bar, according to their sign. I went in and what did I find? Curry, and lots of it. There was only one choice of noodles, and it was the base while you put the curry on top. Since I'm not a fan of curry, but I wanted the noodles (which turned out to not taste like I wanted) I ordered just noodles. I was a little disappointed, but I grabbed a baguette from the store, and stuck it in the fridge so I would have dinner tonight without having to go back out into the rain. 

I'm off to Oxford in the morning and I can't wait. Maybe I can get some sun and sleep while there.

-Kenzie xxoo