so today lindsey and i went to dover (my second time) and we went to the castle. first, however, i will describe the journey to dover. we got to the canterbury bus station and waited in line to board the bus to dover. however, the bus driver of the bus we wanted told us to get off his bus and get on the bus next to his. we do this, and the second bus driver practically yelled at all of us "just get on! keep going, come on! move it!" so we didn't even buy a ticket, we boarded, and we found a seat. except once the bus started up, it began to shake an insane amount and make a horrible racket. so lindsey and i decided to seek shelter on the second level, which wasn't much better. oh yea, and did i mention that we thought the bus was going to explode? not fun.

so then we got to dover, and went to the charlie chaplin restaurant where sandwiches are super cheap! yay!! but not really, since lindsey had to send back her first sandwich cause it was nasty chicken/raisin/mustard, and then they gave her a "toasted cheese sandwich on baguette" which turned out to be two pieces of plain white bread (not toasted) with shredded cheese and butter. that's it. my tuna sandwich wasn't too good either, but after lindsey's experience, i wasn't going to complain!

after that experience, we took a cab up to the castle and went on a tour through the war tunnels that housed soldiers and army, navy, and airforce personnel during wwii. interesting stuff! after trekking up to the castle in the freezing cold, we headed back down the hill and into town and caught the bus back to canterbury. what a day!

regarding my last post:

i talked to my sister and she told me that here pants are called trousers and underwear are called pants. that explains why the guy at tesco gave me such a funny look.

hahahhahahahahah!!!!

uhhhhhhhh. apparently i'm a super-idiot. today i went into town to check out the charity shops (their name for thrift stores) in downtown to see if they had any good stuff. well, i got downtown and went to the ATM just to get a bit of money out cause i'm running low on cash, and i realize that i left my wallet in my room. WHAT! okay... well if i see something i like i'll just remember where it is and come back. so then i get to the charity shops and they're full of very drab clothing. not like thrift stores in LA that are full of funky stuff that you're just dying to adopt. so then i head over to H&M knowing they won't let me down, and they didn't. found a pair of jeans for 14.99 GBP and put them on hold for a day so i can come back. well i went back to town later with lindsey and bought the jeans then went to tesco to get some groceries. while going through self-checkout i put my H&M bag on the floor and then proceeded to exit the store with my groceries! i figured out the bag was missing once we got off the bus at my dorm! aaaaaargh so we went back to town and my pants were safely behind the customer service counter at tesco.

i marched right in there and told the employee: "i left my pants here."




P.S. booked a flight to dublinnnnnnnnnn!

soooooooooooo,

it's lazy sunday, which means i spent the day mostly inside for three reasons:
1. i'm lazy
2. it's raining
3. homework.

yup, homework is part of my life again. i can't say that i missed it. nope, i would definitely not mind if it took a long vacation and never came back. but that won't happen, so i worked on some stuff today so that i can keep on top of things and not get overwhelmed.

my classes on the whole are pretty cool. i'm taking anthropology of religion, psychoanalysis post-freud, psychoanalytic thinking and the visual arts, and post-war european cinemas. my schedule could be better, though. as of now, i've got 2 hours of class monday, 1 hour tuesday, nothing wednesday, 3 hours straight thursday, and another 3 hours straight on friday. i'd really rather have two or three full days of classes in a row so that i could take extended trips. bummer!

oh well. i'm still looking forward to my trip to belgium. i'm thinking about doing a weekend trip to barcelona after, and then for our week break at the beginning of march, i might want to hit up dublin and edinburgh. but i'll plan that later. i've got to get back to homework.

monday went to a club downtown called "the works" on the first big night of the new year where all the students come. it was jam-packed and so much fun! i've never been to a club before so it was a very unique experience. the club consists of three floors playing three different types of music. i went up to the third floor to discover hip hop and promptly tried to go back down. however, i guess everyone else had the same idea at the same time so we all headed to the stairwell and got stuck. i've never been in a human traffic jam before, but it's very smelly, hot, and terrifying. i feared that i would be smothered to death in a sea of bodies, but i got out alive. i made it down to the first floor where the majority of my friends were, and danced to good old american music and was lost in the fog from a nearby smoke machine. yesterday i went to a pub across campus called woody's to celebrate obama's inauguration. this time i finished my first pint! woo! then i went back to lindsey's place since i didn't want to walk across campus alone at night, and sleepovers are fun anyway, and we watched top gun and started planning a trip. we booked our flight and hotel today! we're going to belgium on february 6th and i'm SO EXCITED! beer! chocolate! waffles! more beer!




oh jeez. someone is playing celine dion on the guitar rather loudly somewhere nearby. there are also girls singing "my heart will go on" at the top of their lungs. i think i may cut off my ears.

wow, what can i update you all on. it feels like i've done so much and yet i've only been in canterbury for a few days. yesterday i went to ASDA, the british version of wallmart, and stocked up on essentials. after ASDA, we had a great (free!) buffet lunch at one of the restaurants on campus and then had a library tour. the library on campus is awesome. it's four floors with tons of computer rooms and silent study areas. i'm hoping to make that my home base for studying if my dorm room happens to be a little to distracting. after the library tour, lindsey and i went to downtown canterbury and discovered that their shops close at 5 pm. what?? are they run by centenarians that need to get to bed early? anyway, we found an AWESOME cafe/restaurant with funky art, and an entire wall devoted to clocks. it's so cute, i know i'm going back. we then proceeded to get lost on our way to the ghost tour, but happened upon it right when it started. i guess the spirits were with us. the ghost tour was cool - the guide took us around town to different buildings and told us of the gruesome things that happened there. after the tour, a group of us went to a pub and i tried strongbow. it's good, but i prefer kronenbourg. i met some more girls from the US that are at uni of kent through a different program than mine, and they're super nice.

as of yet, none of my roommates have arrived. i wonder what they're like. i hope they take me out with them to show me the town! can't wait for classes to start monday. hope they're not too hard!

well, here i am in my room at the university of kent in canterbury, england! it's almost 10 o'clock pm here and i am so happy to finally be settled in my own room. i'm completely unpacked, and i am so impressed by the amount of free space i have left. they even forgot to put a chest of drawers in my room but i managed to fit my clothes into the other spaces they provided (though instead of books i have clothes in my desk drawers). tomorrow i plan on exploring the town of canterbury with my newfound friend, lindsey, a fellow education abroad student from uc santa cruz, who was also my roommate during our london orientation.

it is cold, but quite pleasant as long as you bundle up in layers. the worst part is going from the cold outside to the warm indoors. you have to get your coat off as soon as possible or you risk overheating. tomorrow and the next day are kent orientation, and then i have a weekend free to adventure. no plans yet, but for sure something exciting. classes start monday, and i hope they're good!

i'm missing my loved ones back in the states, but as the days go by, it is becoming easier for me to cope with it. i'm sending warm wishes to you all.

countdown commences: i leave in 6 days. holy snap! so much left to do and not enough time, but hey isn't that the story of all our lives? i am going to put off packing as much as possible as i hate packing. i need wool socks. i also need to practice writing blogs. ha!