On the first Monday evening after I arrived (last Monday) we (my summer school program) took a group trip into downtown Brighton. The university is located on the outskirts of Brighton so it takes about fifteen-twenty minutes by bus to get downtown. Due to my being both ridiculous and forgetful I didn't bring my camera, and I have yet to remember to take pictures while downtown so I will try and remedy this situation tomorrow. We saw the most famous parts of Brighton like the Royal Pavilion, the Pier, the West Pier, and the beach. We also went through an area called the North Laine that has a lot of cool art and vintage shops, and finished in another similar sort of area called The Lanes, that has a lot of cool shops and cafes. Stores here close really early compared to Toronto (and Thunder Bay). Pretty much everything except clubs, bars, restaurants, and movie theaters closes around 7:00 PM. Although I've been back to The Lanes since, I haven't properly explored it, so that and North Laine are my tentative plans for tomorrow.

On Tuesday I started class. I'm taking British Cinema. There are only eight people in the class which is pretty nice because I feel like it's easier to engage in the class, and we all participate a lot more. It's mainly analytical, although we are doing some screenwriting this week. I'm enjoying it and I feel like I've already learned a lot so it's been successful. Tuesday night my friends and I went to see Bridesmaids (the second time for me). In England you get the choice between sweet or salty popcorn. I opted for salty, but tried the sweet and it's like a less sweet kettlecorn. The more you know.

Wednesday was my second day of class, and we had Carol Cleveland from Monty Python give us a master class, which was pretty amazing. She gave a talk about Monty Python that provided a lot of insight into the group, and then we watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail (I don't think I'll ever get tired of it). That evening my friends and I cooked dinner together. It's odd because I live alone in Toronto, so I'm normally used to eating alone, but here I jump at every chance to eat in a group, and I find it so comforting. Maybe it's because I'm so far away from home.

Thursday my class went on a field trip to the Duke of York's Picture House. It's the oldest cinema in Britain, that was built as a cinema and has always run as a cinema, which is pretty neat. We got to go into the projection box. It's pretty crazy because most films just come on hard drives now, and the ads were on a usb key. We watched Beginners which I highly recommend. After that I got some super delicious take-out from a Jamaican restaurant across the street (which I can't remember the name of, but also highly recommend) and that was pretty much my day.

I had an incredibly busy weekend after that, but it really deserves it's on post or two, so I will leave you here.

I'm going to use this blog pretty much as a general life blog for the next four weeks (seeing as how I used it so extensively as a style blog before, cough, cough) to chronicle my adventures at the summer school program I'm doing at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England. I am going to try and make a habit out of it and update it frequently, so if I start lagging behind please harass me into posting.

On Saturday I took my first ever overseas, overnight flight from Pearson Airport in Toronto to Gatwick Airport in London. I am horrible at public sleeping, so I stayed awake the entire flight and occupied myself by attempting to finish reading On The Road (didn't happen) and watching movies (The Adjustment Bureau, J'ai Tué Ma Mère (!), and three-quarters of Whip It). They never got my special meal request, which I kind of suspected would happen but didn't prepare for, but they cobbled together a meal for me that consisted of two buns, two different types of salad, some fruit, a surprisingly vegan cookie, and tomato juice. After I landed in London, went through customs, and collected my luggage, I made my way to the train station which, thankfully, was attached to the airport. Anyone who had talked to me in the week prior to my leaving heard about my fear of not knowing where large luggage goes on the train. Conveniently enough there are racks for it near the doors and the other passengers were extremely helpful in lifting my heavy luggage to and from the rack.

Some people from the school were there to greet new students at the train station and take us to our residences. The residence I am staying in is a little bit far from the main campus, but basically right behind the train station. The room I am in is enormous. I think that it may actually be larger than my bedroom in the apartment I lived in in second year.

I spent most of the first two days getting settled in and adjusted to life in Brighton and at the University. So far I feel like it's simultaneously not that different from home and drastically different from home. For example, the architecture and general look and feel of the city is completely different from anywhere I've ever seen in Canada (or ever before anywhere I've gone), but the University is really similar to Canadian ones.

I will update about the more fun and interesting things I've done soon, but it's taken me long enough to write this, I should post it before I get too behind.