Our Trip to Brighton

I am so exhausted! I'm really not used to all this walking. I got home around 7pm today and crashed around 7:30 and woke up about 10pm. I figured I'd post the pictures of today for you though.

We had a study abroad trip in to Brighton today. There was a lot of really cute shopping that we walked though and then went out and walked out on the pier. Of course, today it was freezing and the pier was intensely windy, as piers have a tendency to be. Pedro/Hunter was our free tour guide again. Did I mention this is his second time studying abroad at Kingston? So, basically he's a pro now and is helping us out. We keep teasing him about being the world's best free tour guide, haha.

Anyway, after the pier we had lunch in, get this, an actual restaurant! We got to just sit down and be served! At pubs you have to go up to the bar to order your food, so it was nice to just get to sit this time. The down side is we had to tip, which we haven't had to do in the pubs we've been eating in.

After that, we met up with the rest of the group to go on a tour of the Royal Pavilion. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but it was incredible (specifically the dining hall that had a 30 foot chandelier with a wooden dragon at the top, and dragons all around it that originally held the place to light the oil lamps in their mouths so it looked like they were breathing fire, plus over 1000 pieces of crystal). It's the only building in the country, I believe the guy said, that mixes genres like it does. The outside is Indian inspired as you can see from the pictures, but the inside is all Chinese inspired (thus the dragons).

After that we did a little more shopping and then headed for the bus where I promptly fell asleep for most of the ride home. We were all exhausted today. It's been quite a week!

Here's a slideshow of all of today's pictures for you:

Missing you all,
Kendyl

Classes, Spainards, London and Tube Dancers

Oh, goodness. I don't even know where to start so much has been going on!

Yesterday, we had orientation for all the study abroad students. I met a whole bunch of great, fun people and we are probably going to travel together over the holidays and such!

As for classes, my final picks are: British Life and Culture which is something that just about every study abroad student takes and they take you on 5 great trips throughout the semester. Tomorrow we are going to Brighton and on a tour of the Royal Pavilion! My other classes are Shakespeare: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (I get to go see a production of Othello!), The Nineteenth Century English Novel (we're reading one of my favorites, Wuthering Heights!) and Romantic Vision (which is poetry and other things like Sense and Sensibility and even Frankenstein). I'm really excited!

Anyway, after orientation, I went out to dinner with a bunch of people and then afterward, they were having a welcome reception for study abroad students at the Slug and Lettace, which is a pretty upscale pub in Kingston (which is why we ate dinner at a cheaper place first).

Here's a little slideshow of the night:

FYI: the drink in my hand was one that Shana didn't want and I was not drinking but carrying around because the older Spanish gentleman, Luis, was very drunk and insisting that he buy everyone drinks. By carrying Shana's I was able to avoid him buying me one. haha. But he was actually hilarious. Hunter aka. Pedro (what he told the guy his name was) was talking to him in Spanish and saying he was from Scotland and gave Laura, Katie and Shana fake names as well. I didn't get one though since I wasn't standing with them when introductions were made, sadly. Anyway, Luis sure made for one hilarious story!


On to today! First, I had planned on going to a Beatles Tribute concert on the site of their final concert (the rooftop of No. 3 Salvile Row) on the 40th anniversary (the original date was Jan. 30, 1969 at noon), however, the police canceled it for "health and safety" concerns... But, according to the article, people were still going to go to the site, so I figured I'd check it out. Unfortunately, I over-slept and didn't get there until 1:30, but there were still people milling around and I got some cool photos :) And then this guy came with a ukelali and was playing Strawberry Fields.

Then, I met up with the other Kingston study abroad-ers for a walking tour of London! Here's another slidehow of the journey:

After that we had dinner at a pub, checked out Covent Garden (where there's a lot of shopping and things), walked around a bit, went for coffee, saw Platform 9 3/4 and then finally headed home! More pics? Here you are!

Another funny story: On the train, there was a group of 30-somethings that had obviously been drinking and the one girl was swinging around on one of the poles, haha. So we clapped like an good audience and she was trying get one of us to do it (and we were trying to convince Hunter to hehe) and she was seriously like "I will give 10 pounds out of my pocket to anyone that can hang upside-down by their legs from this pole." None of us thought we could, but that's pretty good money, haha. We just meet interesting characters out on the town...

Well, I suppose that concludes this update on life in London! Hope everyone is having a fabulous time back home and that I get to talk to you soon!

All my love,
Kendyl

First Full Day!

And it was pretty awesome.

I met Casey and her friends in the city at Harrod's. We didn't stay long though. Then on to Camden park, where the shopping is insane. Here are some pics:






So, then Case's friends decide to go back to the hotel and she says that she has a surprise for me. As we come up the steps from the underground, slowly what should come into view but...

And we tried to get a pic of us in front of it, but we failed...

And then, you look in the opposite direction and....

Oh and did I mention...?

haha, yeah, I really liked my surprise. Now I know I'm in London!

Anyway, then we walked along the Thames...

And, yes, I couldn't stop taking pictures of Big Ben/the House of Parliament.

Anyway, then we kinda got lost looking for the Waterloo Underground station, but we found it eventually. I maintain that that area just likes to make you walk in circles... and Case took me out for a post-birthday dinner to a pub near her hotel, which was really great. My first British meal! I had a Aberdeen Angus cottage pie and it was delicious :)

Case and her group had tickets to see We Will Rock You so I hung out in their hotel until they had to leave and then headed back. All in all, a pretty awesome day, I think!

I'm heeerrrreee

So, it's my first day in the UK and it was a pretty lazy one. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The flight:
As it turned out, my brilliant packing skills were actually kind of horrible. I had to split my bag into two bags (good thing I packed a duffel!) because it was soooo heavy. Yes, that was an adventure, especially since I felt pretty crappy at this point (leave it to me to come down with a cold the day before I have to get on a plane for 8 hours). But I got through to the gate with barely any hiccups (other than forgetting to take my phone out of my pocket through security). My flight to JFK actually got in about a half an hour early, and then I had about 2 hours to kill before my 8 hour flight to London. A few phone calls, a search for an ATM and a Starbucks blueberry muffin did the trick. I popped a couple Benedryl an hour before my flight and passed out as soon as I got on the plane, I only vaguely remember the plane taking off, haha. Of course, I woke up about 6am London time (1am for you all) completely disoriented... Anyway, the plane got in an hour early and I was worried that I'd have to wait for whoever was meeting me, but she was there with a bright orange Kingston shirt on! We talked for a while and then she put me in a taxi (payed for by the university) to where I'm staying.

The arrival:
It's about 30 minutes from Heathrow to Surbiton where I'm staying, and the cabbie and I talked a little and he asked why I was coming to England to study when schools in America were at a higher level, haha. I told him for the experience of living here, but I just thought it was funny that he said that. He was middle eastern, but he went to school in Germany.

So anyway, he dropped me off where I'm staying a little after 10, but unfortunately, no one was home. I can't blame them since my plane wasn't supposed to be in until 9:30 and supposedly customs was going to take over an hour (according to the university) which made my planned arrival time around 11:30 at the earliest. But Jane got home about a half hour later. It's pretty warm here to me (40+ degrees) and so the wait wasn't bad. Plus, amazingly, the sun was shining!

My room is very nice, and it's actually kind of seperate from the rest of the house (a door blocks off the hallway that leads to my room and bathroom) which is pretty awesome. I unpacked, and amazingly, all my stuff fits in the closet and dresser provided.

As much as I planned to tough it out today and stay awake until nightime, I lost the battle using the excuse that since I have a cold, I would have taken a nap even had I not been jet lagged. Well, that nap lasted about 2 1/2 hours, with about an hour and a half of television watching in bed tacked on to the end (yes, I have a tv, but it only gets like 4 channels).

The town:
Around 4 I decided that I better accomplish something today, so I showered and then walked into the town of Surbiton, which only takes about 10 minutes. And the weather is so great that it's pretty enjoyable. I got a phone and attempted to get an Oyster card for the bus, but apparantly the server was down today and they couldn't sell any. I have to go back to town tomorrow for groceries anyway, so I'll try again. I could have gotten groceries tonight, but I was still feeling a bit lazy. I decided since I was already feeling a little over-welmed at the thought of 5 months here, I'd get some Subway to calm my nerves, haha. I know, not the best out-of-country first meal, but what are you gunna do.

So, that about concludes my first day in England! I don't ever expect future entries to be this long and detailed, but I don't really have much to do tonight, so I figured why not.

Shoot me an e-mail if you want my phone number (I got international calling for really cheap, but I'm not sure what it will cost you) or my mailing address.

Talk to you soon! I miss you all already!

-Kendyl

Blog Intro and Contact Info

Oh... my... gosh...

I am leaving in 4 days! I can't even believe it's finally happening...

Anyway, I wanted to post a little entry to start this off. I'll be updating this journal as often as possible to let you all know what I've been up to, and I'll post any pictures and videos that I take as well.

Also, I wanted to let everyone know the various ways that you can contact me while I'm gone. 

-I won't know about my mailing address or my phone number until I get there, but I'm not going to post it here, so that I will e-mail to everyone, but I'd like to leave the phone as a last resort means of communication as there are other, cheaper ways to talk to you all :)

-My e-mail addresses are bryanken@student.gvsu.edu and LttlAngel377@aol.com

-I can talk to you through a microphone, webcam or just text chat on Skype (download here). My username is Monkeyhouse10

-On AIM (download here), my user name is MonkeyHouse06

So, anyway, bookmark this page and check back often!