Brighton & best party yet!!

Monday and Tuesday in pictures :)

Svenja and I arrived in Brighton at about 6 pm. This is the beautiful railway station.

The clocktower - later we always met there when we had split up.

This ruin used to be a pier, but it burned down some years ago and now they neither have the money to remove it nor to rebuild it.

After that we checked in our hostel - more about that later.

Kate Nash... she's so lovely! I was a bit disappointed by the concert because except for two songs she only played songs from her new album that hasn't even come out yet. So nobody knew the songs, nobody was singing along and nobody was dancing. I love her anyway.

Kate rocks. We were so close to her!!

After that we went to a pub and had some cider. It was quite cool because that evening they had a special event called "Flip a Coin", so everytime you bought a drink the bartender would flip a coin, and if your tip was right, you got another drink for free.

The next morning. This is actually the view from our hostel room. It was pretty noisy at night, mainly because we didn't notice that the window was open all the time. But it was really cheap and quite clean, and we slept like stones.

I decided to be courageous and had a real English breakfast, consisting of buttered toast, beans, vegetarian sausages, egg, tomatoes and mushrooms. It was a bit strange (especially in combination with the cocoa), but it tasted good and we were soooo full!

After the others (Inkeri, Noora and Blandine) had arrived at about 11 am, we went to see the main tourist attraction, the Royal Pavilion.

While taking the tour inside, we had audio guides and it was really interesting. The prince who built it was a fan of Chinese culture, and so he had almost the whole interior designed in the Chinois style - by people who had never been to China. Still, it is very glamorous and impressive. In the dining hall was a chandelier that was 10 metres long and hung from a dragon that flew under a 3D leaf canopy. It was so impressive.

Me and Blandine in front of the Pavilion. 

Svenja, me, Inkeri and Blandine.

Brighton Pier with seagull. There were lots and lots of seagulls. In a candy shop they even sold chocolate raisins called "seagull bombs" or something like that.

Blandine and me again.

Brighton. The beach is too stony for my taste.

My Finnish girls are back in town :)! Noora was gone for a whole week and Inkeri spent the weekend in Edinburgh.

Hole in the sky.

Then we went to the Lanes, the remnant of the small fishing village that Brighton used to be some hundred years ago. There were lots of small shops, and most of them were very expensive. Among the cheaper was a huge second hand store (where I got a surprise for Michi) that was totally crammed with junk. I mean, you couldn't move in there. When we went upstairs, there was a bright, empty gallery of local photographers. The pictures were so beautiful. Later, I bought a mini skirt in the only shop worldwide that gives all its profits to an Alzheimer charity organisation. I'm looking so sad (yes, my face is supposed to look sad) because at this point I had run out of money.

Last picture - very picturesque.

In the evening, there was a party in the boys' flat downstairs. Övünc, Sebastian, Lhadi and Svenja.

Michaela and me making silly faces. Michaela is much more talented than me. My face is more subtle, but silly anyway.

Happy girls. On the right is "Next-Door-Noora", NDN.

Then we took the bus to town centre. It was freezing. We were trying to keep warm by huddling together like penguins. Notice my new skirt and handbag, each 3 pounds.

We went to the Piano Bar, and there was live music and we had so much fun, dancing like crazy and singing our hearts out. My voice was totally destroyed. When the bar closed at two, we continued to party on the street. 

This is about one third of our Erasmus group. It's so much fun to go out with so many people you know.

After the street-party some people went to our flat because we were just enjoying ourselves too much to stop. There we had some more drinks (inlcuding a strange Finnish drink made from vodka and candies) and I had a really good conversation with Övünc and Betrand. I went to bed at about 5, and got up again at 9 to go to Tesco's before my lecture. I'm tired.

Healthy Walk

There's a survey on the right as to whether I should go on with my blog in German. Please vote!!

Today I went to the Healthy Walk offered by the sports centre every Sunday to explore Guildford and its surroundings. This time, the theme of the walk was Lewis Carrol, who owned a house here. I had already seen most of the sights on our way, but it was good to get a breath of fresh air. And the weather was so beautiful. The only students there were Veera, Hellena, Blandine and me; all the other people were local pensioners. It was fun, though.

The view from my window. As you can see, my room remains dark even if the sun shines.

In Guildford, there are several companies that rent house boats, and then you can go on trips through the canals. Mom, interested?? :)

First stop: A statue of Alice and her sister seeing the white rabbit.

Hellena, Blandine and Veera.

Guildford Castle and a beautiful spring sky.

Statue of Through the Looking-Glass. It looks so scary!

Back on campus.

The lake and the Duke of Kent Building, called "The Ship."

Nice wolf, get the stick!

I think I'll take a nap now and then work on my presentation. In the evening, Svenja and Sebastian are coming to work on our Shakespeare project (= watch a Macbeth movie with the guy from Avatar).

London again

I'm too tired to write a lot, so there's just some pictures...

Blandine and Svenja, enjoying the Fajitas we prepared last night. Mmmmmmh.

Lhadi, me and Svenja at the party in Hazel Farm. Actually, their house was quite nice. A lot nicer than the place that Svenja calls her home. But it's really far away from the town centre and uni. (No, I'm not pregnant. And I haven't gained weight. It's just the dress.)

Today, I went to London with Svenja and Tatjana. This is the westward view from Waterloo Bridge.

This is the eastward view. Look at the sky... the weather has been so nice recently.

This is me and one of the sphinxes protecting Cleopatra's Needle, the obelisk that you can see on the right in the picture above.

One of the dragons marking the border between the City of Westminster and the City of London.

Svenja and Tatjana in front of a portrayal of Queen Victoria. She's the only royal I recognise (except the ones still living) because she's always wearing a veil.

Me on a tree in the Inns of Court, where lawyers are educated. Doesn't really look cosy. And it wasn't. And it was a lot harder to get down again than to get up.

Temple Church. You might know it from The Da Vinci Code. Unfortunately closed on Saturdays. We'll be back.

So beautiful. I just have to put it here so that I don't forget.

The white building is where you find the most amazing museum I've ever seen. It's the house of Sir John Soane, who lived in the 19th century, and it has remained just the way it was in his lifetime. He collected all sorts of things - paintings, ancient Greek carvings, statues, Egyptian sarcophagi and other curious artifacts. Really cool. And such a great atmosphere, because the guy really lived there. And he was a famous architect and designed his own house, it's awesome. He did that very cleverly and creatively and inventively. He was an expert on light.

After so much culture we ended the day by shopping in Oxford Street. There's an unbelievably cheap shop called Primark where I got a handbag, 7 pairs of socks, two shirts and hair grips for 10 pounds (!). I don't know how they can sell their stuff so cheaply. Maybe it's better I don't know. And I got a new guide to London and a guide to Scotland. I love them. I think I'm going to leaf through them before going to sleep.

Dead trousers in Guildford!

There hasn't been much going on these last days, mainly because Michi is gone, Noora was in London with her parents and Inkeri decided she has to start working now. So I decided to start working now, too, and I've already almost finished my first presentation (it's on the difficulties you encounter translating / dubbing Kate & Leopold).

Yesterday, I had a cup of coffee (or rather, Hot Chocolate) with Tatjana and Svenja on campus, and afterwards we went down to the lake.

They usually call themselves "grannies" because they are both about 27 years old and feel totally out of place here in the midst of all those 18-year-old English students. Tatjana (on the right) had the shock of her life last Sunday when she was surfing the internet in her hotel and the guy next to her collapsed. They called an ambulance, but he died right in front of her eyes. And he was no older than we are. God, when you're young you never think it might be over any second.

In the evening, Svenja, Michaela and I went to the Open Mic Night in Chancellors and the met the Finnish Girls at the Legion to have some teapots of cocktails. Here are some pics:

The bus service from Manor Park to uni / town centre sucks. This time, my bus was 20 minutes late.

The guy on stage always hosts the Open Mic Nights. Apparently, there were very few volunteers last night, so he was performing all the time. The poster in the back says "Open till late", which is a joke, since Chancellors usually closes at 11 pm.

Michaela and Svenja.

There is no better container for Cosmopolitan than a teapot.

We hate the tables at Legion because your feet just dangle in the air and there's nothing you can put them onto. Feels like being a child sitting in a high chair.

Noora (NDN) and Svenja.

Me and Inkeri. BTW, the scarf is a souvenir from Oxford.

Half of my friends here will be in Edinburgh on the weekend. I decided not to go, because if I go to Scotland, I want to see more than just Edinburgh. Tonight, we'll go to a party in Hazel Farm, which is rumoured to be the crappiest student village in all England. I'm really curious to see that. Tomorrow, we'll probably go to London and have a movie night afterwards. On Sunday, I want to participate in one of the free walks offered by the student union, and on Monday, I'm going to see KATE NASH in Brighton!! I'm so excited!! On Tuesday, the Finnish girls are coming to Brighton, too, and we'll do some sightseeing. On Wednesday, we'll see Alice in Wonderland 3D. I can't wait!!

Michi's ill now, too

Yesterday, Michi got ill, so we haven't been able to do a lot. We went to Tesco's and in the evening, we watched Kate & Leopold. Today, we went to the town centre to feed the ducks, but unfortunately, they weren't  hungry. Most of them didn't even bother to lift their heads from under their wings.

After my classes, Blandine, Svenja and me booked our flights to Scotland in April.. yeeey! We're going to Edinburgh and Glasgow for a few days, and then we'll take the train to Inverness,  explore the Highlands and search Nessie :)

Tonight, Judith will throw her birthday party in our kitchen (without asking us beforehand - what a scandal!), but we won't be there as we'll go to the movies to see Leap Year. Can't believe that Michi is already leaving tomorrow ;_;