Well now that I've been here for almost two full months I feel like I am finally settled in enough to start my blog. Oops. I feel like I was supposed to start this two days in not two months. Oh well.
So how do I start almost halfway through? The beginning I guess. Well here goes nothing...
When I first decided to study abroad the world was my oyster and I had endless opportunities, I could go almost anywhere. I settled on beautiful Guildford, England. Wait what? Yeah I had never heard of it either. Well it is quite the happening place, just 40 minutes outside of London, the birthplace of Lewis Carroll and the home to one of the best Universities in the country: The University of Surrey. Who knew? Certainly not me. Anyways, it is really a nice place to live. The University is located about a 10 minute walk from Guildford Town Centre, where the majority of shops, restaurants and bars are located.
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| High Street shops in the town centre |
On campus there are a few restaurants and small grocery shops, but the major grocery store, Tesco, is about a 15 minute walk away, good thing that they deliver! I am living on campus in a shared house. My flat mates are fantastic! There are 10 of us in total and we share a kitchen which is always the hangout place. The two girls across the hall from me, Courtney and Anita, are also from UCF studying Hospitality Management. The rest of my flat mates are so nice and we are constantly hanging out. The girls even threw me a birthday tea party complete with scones and finger sandwiches. We are always comparing each others accents and tastes in food. This week are going to have a proper english roast dinner. My classes are really interesting, I am taking four classes this semester: Travel and Transport, Tourism and Society, Intercultural Management, and Destination Management. The way that school works here is very different than what I am used to. Instead of having weekly assignments and attendance and participation grades, we have one essay and one exam each worth 50% of our final grades. Thankfully 70% and above is equivalent to an A.
As for traveling, I have already been spending some of my days and weekends in London seeing all of the tourist icons as well as some of the local spots. I've visited Big Ben and Parliament, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, and so many more places that I can't even think of right now. I even made sure to stop at King's Cross Station to visit platform 9 & 3/4!
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| Me and Big Ben |
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| Off to Platform 9 & 3/4! |
Last week Anita, Courtney, and some of our other friends went to Ireland to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. We spent the holiday in Dublin to catch the parade and to check out some local pubs and have an authentic St. Patrick's day the Irish way! We even learned a few Irish songs and phrases!
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| Me, Anita, Courtney, and our friend Robert waiting for the Parade! |
The next day we went south to cork to check out Cork. We went to Cork City, Cobh, and Blarney. Cork City is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and home to some really cool sites. Cobh (pronounced Cove) is the home to the second deepest harbor in the world, and it is also the last port of call for the Titanic before it set sail for New York. After Cobh we visited Blarney Castle, the site of the world famous Blarney Stone, it's said if you kiss the stone you are granted the 'gift of the gab' for seven years. Apparently now I have the gift of eloquent speech... we'll see how that one turns out.
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| Me kissing the Blarney Stone |
After our trip to cork we went back to Dublin and spent the rest of our time there exploring the amazing city and seeing some of the famous sights like the Guinness Factory and St. Stephen's Green. We even had a guided bus tour of the city!
I'm really looking forward to traveling around Europe while I am here. This weekend I am going to Norway with Anita, Courtney and one of our flat mates Emma. After that I have one more week of class and then its Easter Holiday when I have over a month off of classes. I am currently planning a trip around Europe: 7 countries in 27 days!
Well that's a pretty brief account of what has been going on over here across the pond! I really should have started this sooner because I know that I am forgetting so much that has happened!
I promise the next post wont take another two months to write!
Cheerio,
Adam
P.S. no one actually says 'cheerio' here...
