Holy Moley, once again time has flown by.

So let me catch you up to speed as fast as I can.


Thursday, we hoped on a coach and drove on down to Dorset for a school visit/tour. We passed Stonehenge on the way so I can say that I saw it and man was it far out. The whole trip was about three hours down to the coast. Our first school visit was to a religiously based publicish school. The whole student body was under 200 students so it was cool that everyone seemed to know each other. They were super friendly and our tour girl was only eleven but man she was so mature and polite I would have sworn she was older. We were greeted with a vegetarian friendly lunch sourced from local farms and man it was so good. Literally the best quiche I've ever had in my life. I want to find the village lady and ask her how she did it. After eating and the tour the students gave us a presentation about their town history. It was the original place for the original small pox cure because of cow pox. Pretty neato. The students also put together a presentation video for a partner middle school in Lubbock which was a neat way to bring the cultures together.

Loved the school all around. Students seemed happy and they had soccer fields and a natural park area and a pond with a green house to learn about nature and the environment. It was awesome. Also all open concept classrooms so that was something new to me and different.

Anyway, it was basically a really cute experience and the students were friendly and asked us many funny questions about Texas life and such.

After the school visit we went to our hotel to unwind before hoppin on the bus for a beach visit. The area was very nice, right on the shore and the beach was pebbled as opposed to traditional sand so a lot cleaner. We got fish and chips and attacked by some seagulls but that was fun and memorable. fish and chips were really fresh and we got ice cream after from some cute boys in a purple shack. I got a vanilla cone with the chocolate flake in it so I lived my dream goal right there.

After spending the evening strolling the beach we headed back to the hotel and passed out from the long day.

On friday we went to a boarding school that Dr. Shine's niece had gone to, not as a boarder tho. School was no longer in session so no students were there but it was still impressive to see. The school was absolutely huge, a giant maze of hallways and stairs. We never went down the same path twice. The rooms were like our American dorms and girls could begin boarding as early as 7. As they got older they got more freedoms and common areas to hang out so I imagine theirs a huge sense of community among the girls, though most come to learn English or as kids of people in the forces. What I found impressive was the grounds and how open and green they were and the pool they had to support their penta-track sport thing. I could imagine living there, I think it would be fun.


After the school tour we went to this castle and walked the market with Dr. Shine's niece because she worked for them. IT was really pretty and the first day that we really had rain and even then it was just a misty day for the most part. Was a nice walk around the grounds and we got to talk to shine and mitzy one on one in a more personal out of class fashion that was nice. When we wrapped that up and headed home we got stuck in hella traffic, our 3 hours drive turned into 6 hours of torture. WE ended up stopping at the Stonehenge gift shop cafe for food and restrooms, so I basically got the full experience there.

We ended up having to cancel our pub craw because of the timing of getting home so that was upsetting but we went back to the Mossy Well up the road and ate and had a few drinks. When we tried to leave these older guys started talking to us but we had to go and then when we walked out these older older dudes chatted us up about extending our visas and hooking up. It was interesting and unflattering. Then a guy offered us a smoke and we were just trying to leave. We would have avoided all this if we hadn't been getting lost. We also got off on the wrong bus stop and this guy walk over from the bench to say hi and one girl skirted away like a mouse behind the shortest girl and the guy got offended and started walking away. I apologized and asked how he was doing all things considered and he said alright. Offered me more weed to which I kindly declined and he laughed, as he drove off on the bus he pretended to take a drag. It was quite an amusing experience.

Anyway, we finally got home and all was well with the world.

On Saturday we took a day trip to Brighton and it was really great. Our guide was a Swedish man who was in a band and this was his side gig type of thing. He was really chill and funny, I liked his accent. Anyway, he took us to all the historical parts of brighten and filled us in on the history of the town. Apparently it used to be a huge weed growing plantation type deal and later it developed into a party area for londoners and no one really knows why it developed into the gay capital of the UK. I loved the water, it was beautiful and almost aqua blue despite being part of the Atlantic. We also learned about a conspiracy for burning the pier for insurance money and what not. Pretty dope stuff. Lots of history and artsy stuff. After the tour we went and got the best fish and chips yet, they were absolutely amazing. Super fresh and flavorful, i poured that vinegar on baby. We did some walking around the shops after that and then we wrapped everything up at a pub with a mural of dead muscitions. I got a vegetarian burger made from beets and chickpeas and wow, it was amazing. I was so surprised by how good it was, they really got this vegetarian thing down here.

The train ride back was easy peasy and we went to bed shortly after despite the early hour. Our itallian boys came in drunk around midnight and that was funny to listen to them stumbling around.


On sunday we went to Spittlefeld market and I did my first real round of shopping. It was a nice almost indoor market. I got a cute little matching outfit that was handmade by a lady and a belt that was measured to fit me, it is by far one of the best things ive ever bought myself for sure. I absolutely love it. Real leather and it smells so good. I also got my brother a wallet with his initials on it for his birthday, I think he'll enjoy it. I also got a butterfly drawing for my apartment and a bracelet for my mom that was hand made. Its one of the layering ones so i think she'll really like it. I gotta figure something out for my dad, he's a tricky one.

After Spittlefield we went to Camden and that was a shit show. Terrible market, over crowded and everything was pretty much tacky tourist items. It was miserable, we walked through and left pretty quick. After that we went home and hung out before ordering pizza for dinner. Pizza was great, made by a real ialiian fam so it was authentic. We also got a free bottle of wine with it and then kinda sorta also bought three more for the night..... It ended up being a really great night tho as we watched Friends With Benefits, honestly one of my new favorite movies. I looove Justin and Jackie, they're beautiful people and it was a funny and emotional movie.

Night ended with us feeling pretty good but Abby and Victoria woke up feeling pretty queasy for class. I felt gucci, just needed some coffee tbh. But monday went pretty well, we had class and afterwords went and toured the Westminster Abbey.

It was a beautiful building with lots of rich history. Amazing how much detail was put into it. Absolutely mental. And, there are over 3,500 people buried inside the building itself. Insane. ITs been around for over 1,000 years tho so it kinda makes sense. Anyway, we took the audio tour so it was really informative and interesting. After that wrapped up we went to the Ice bar that some other girls recommended to us.

IT was alright, the drinks were pretty meh

..... will continue later in a new post, just so much to write with so few time