Home is Where the Heart is

So it has been a whirlwind this past three weeks, and have done a horrible job of updating this!

"So scared of getting older, I'm only good at being young..." I am currently listening to John Mayer, stop this train, and I truly do believe that this song describes where I am in life right now. As May 9th (GRADUATION DAY) continues to creep closer, it becomes more real that I am going to graduate and be DONE with school (for the time being). I am honestly not sure if I am ready for this thing they call the "real world". But what is comforting is the fact that right now I am enjoying myself in my last semester of undergrad although I am not with some of my best friends I am having a blast and learning so much about myself in a new country. I am so far away from home, but i am starting to feel at home here in Portsmouth. I have been here for over 6 weeks and I have new friends, a new schedule, and new experiences.I am loving it!

Nothing too out of the norm has happened these past two weeks! Just enjoying the night life! Its so nice being free from soccer and being able to go out WHENEVER I want haha, because the night life here is SO much better than in da whee! Although I do miss it, nothing compares to the rusty lizard or good olde johns on main! And the courseload is pretty light, so no stressing over tests! All I have to worry about are essays but most are not due until the end of the semester!

I played with the soccer (football) team here last week! I took a coach with them to some school that was about 2 hours away, it reminded me of our bus rides for away trips except on the way back they were allowed to drink haha! I was a bit hesistant about even going to play with them because the skill level of some of the girls was a bit shocking. Lets just say I had a flashback to recreational days when I was six. It could also be the fact that I played at the collegiate level with high competition, BUT STILL these girls are not too talented haha. So we ended up tying the game 2-2. I scored a PK and had an assist. But it was weird, it wasn't fun playing with these girls, it was FRUSTRATING. It was like boot ball, no connecting of passes, it was get the ball and kick it somewhere was their game plan. I wanted to help them, but there is only so much you can do when they lack the ability to pass you the ball haha! But it was a good experience, but I think for the rest of my time here I am going to stick to going to the gym, hip hop classes, aerobics and most recently yoga. It is so much fun taking all these classes! I am just so used to SOCCER SOCCER SOCCER so its a nice change!

Other than that Rachel, Mary and I have been hanging out with Lee (who is in a wheelchair) and his caretakers Charles and J! They are all so nice! Lee is hilarious, he does the funniest New York accent ever, but he still sounds British when he does it! Charles is from South Africa, and J is from (Czech Republic). We went to a pub with them last Wednesday, and after the pub closed down had an after party in our halls! We stayed up until 4 in the morning playing kemps, dancing in the lobby, and riding bikes in the basement! I had so much fun, and it was a very good night!

Earlier this week Charles cooked Brai, South African barbeque! It was really good, I have never eaten SO MUCH MEAT in one sitting! It was nice, we did it on the patio of Lee's room! It was Charles cooking then me, Lee, Rachel, J and Mary! Then on Thursday it was Kristina's birthday so some of us went to her place and had traditional Danish food, Kristina's dip that is sooo goood, then some rice, pasta salad, a pototoe dish and cupcakes! everything was so good and i was so full!!

Earlier today I had my first graded presentation since I have been out here! it was funny because our seminar class only consists of about 6 people, and no one showed up! So my partner and I had to do the presentation for just our professor, but he said we did a good job :)!

Otherwise, I wish I could play with our alumni this weekend in cullowhee for the 7v7 tournament! Its always a RIOT when the alumni come into town! The alumni are always so much fun, and since I am finally an "alumni" it would have been nice to be on the otherside playing with them! But i guess I will have to wait for next year! KKSB :)

This weekend I don't have anything too crazy in store! Rachel and Mary went to Scotland for the weekend and Fnaan's mom is in town so I am kinda riding solo haha! But it will be a lazy weekend, I need to start looking for jobs ahhhh, and do some of my coursework i have due! Tomorrow J talked about listening to some live music in the evening, so I will probably do that! Then on Sunday I am going to a Safari park and Longleat! I am really excited for that! I can't wait to see Lions! Hopefully I won't get eaten haha!

Well that is all across the pond! I hope all is well back in the states! See you all on skype or via facebook :)

Portsmouth Likes to Partayyy

I had an eventful week of going out! And I finally got drinks bought for me! I knew the British men had it in em lol! So on Monday I went out with some of the British girls in my hall (pictured to the right Michelle, Natalia and Clare ) it was so much fun…we got VIP and free entry to the club so that was a plus. Clare met two brothers and I started dancing with one of them. He was nice, and I thought he was cute. It was a bit funny because he is the milkman in the town that I am in! ha ha! I also went out on Thursday which was fun as well! This time Rachel (my fellow American) ventured out with me! Boy did we have a fun night dancing. At one point in the night we got swarmed by Indians and all I could smell was curry. I felt like I was in a BOLLYWOOD movie with all of them dancing around us but it was fun. But I must say Thursday was a butt smacking night because EVERY guy I danced with that night smacked my butt….not sure if it is an English thing, I was like what the hell haha, but it made me laugh. And finally the last of my clubbing escapades was last night, I went out with some of the international girls to jongleurs! It was another fun night of dancing, and the music was less house this time! At the end of the night Chamali and I met some Scotish lads ha ha who were entertaining. (I was able to video one of them below haha , he was pretty drunk)


Otherwise yesterday I went to Oxford for the day! It was a nice trip out of Portsmouth. The town is very historic, and had a lot of old but elegant buildings. We were able to see where Harry Potter was filmed and what not. I wanted to go to the dining hall, but a lot of things were closed off!

We took coaches to Oxford and the bus ride took about 1 hour and a half. On the way over I sat next to a guy from Iraq. I can say this is the first person from Iraq I have met and definately gave me a new perspective on the war. I still don't totally agree with the way the war in Iraq was done, but hearing first hand from someone living there that life is a lot better than it was before was pretty cool to hear. But he just told me about times when they had no power and had to use their gas stove for heat and how they warmed candles, and just other things about his experience in Iraq. But other than the war, things apparently in Iraq are so cheap. So take like a large pizza from pizza hut, he said that he could get a large over there for about $1.00 where as here it is like 11 dollars. Or take a burger, you can get a burger for a measly 20 CENTS! I couldn't believe it. This list goes on, you can get a BMW for probably around 5,000 dollars. I was like dang, I want to live there (not really) but you catch my drift it is just so CHEAP there. But he was telling me it is like that because all their supplies are from their own country Iraq. They don't get their fruit or other supplies like that from other countries its all in Iraq. But I also asked him why people don't take advantage of things being so cheap and buy a car from Iraq and ship it, and he says they don't allow exporting. One last fun fact about Iraq is that they do not have speed limits on the roads. He says he usually drives 115 miles per hour down the roads! Crazy!

Well I got even more cultured on the way back I sat next to someone from Czech Republic! It was nice talking to him, but didn't talk to him too much because I ended up putting my Ipod in and napping, but he told me how things in Czech are really cheap as well, and college in Czech is for free.

That is it on my end! Will update next week :). No plans yet perhaps salsa dancing, and MAYBE some homework haha.

New Country New Friends New Classes New Culture

This week if I was back in the states I would be on my way cruising to the Bahamas with some of my best friends. I must say that part of me wishes I was with them. But the other part of me couldn’t be happier that I am in the UK going through this once in a lifetime experience. It is awesome that I am meeting so many people from different parts of the world. Sorry but I am not exactly sure the same would be occurring if I was in good ole Cullowhee. Some days I do find myself being homesick, and I do find myself missing WCU, but I think its normal when you're away from things so familiar to you. Being out here on my own in a new country is only making me stronger, and I am learning more and more about myself.

So lets see if there is anything interesting worth sharing that happened this past week…hmm well last Sunday I finally met the other Americans, Mary (left) and Rachel (right) that are here at Portsmouth for the semester as well. They are from New York! Ask me where I met them? Subway! Ha ha I found it a bit ironic that we met somewhere so “American". The next day I ended up going out to a pub with them where I met some of the other British students they have met.

Otherwise it was a normal week, went to my lectures and seminars did some reading, took some fitness classes. Speaking of fitness classes so I try new classes each week, so this week Mary and I decided to go to boxercise. Lets just say for a second during the class I thought I was enduring one of Tammy Decesare’s intense practices. We started off with a warm up of jogging, changing direction, jumping, touching the ground. We then proceeded to do pushups (they call them pressups), jumping jacks (they call them star jumps), burpies, mountain climbers(laugh now, I know you all can picture me doing those since I was always made fun of ha ha) and movements of that nature. We did boxing and learned punches but boy was that class intense. Mary who went with me left the class after the warm up, but I totally don’t blame her! I really don’t know why I stayed either because these days I am trying to exercise for “fun”, but I guess it was the competitive nature that has been instilled in me to get a good “workout”. And I don’t know what is wrong with me, but I think I might actually go again next week!

Also later in the week Mary, Rachel, Andy (a British student that lives in our hall), and I went to the Registry (a popular pub for students) to meet up with Fnaan, Samira and her cousin to watch some football (soccer) on TV! That was fun, we ended up seeing Andrew (who was at WCU) last semester, and talked to some British girls! They asked if sororities in the states were really like the movie House Bunny! Haha!

This weekend nothing too eventful happened. Friday we went to a comedy show at Jongloers, which was ok. The guy introducing the act I found funnier than the actual acts. Two of the acts were guys from Ireland, and I had a hard time understanding them, so I didn’t really laugh too much. The middle act were two gay guys dressed in an interesting outfit (check out the pic to the left) and they were funny. Afterwards we went clubbing at jongloers because it turns into a club after the comedy show! It was fun, but I ended up leaving at MIDNIGHT with Fnaan! To be honest 1. I was tired, and just not in the “Sasha” party mode haha, and 2. House/techno music all the time makes my head hurt dancing to it lol! Although I have grown to like it, but with my divine love for JT they need to play him more out here (although 1 of his songs did come on that night)! So Fnaan and I are in dire need of a fun night out dancing (not to house/techno) haha

On Saturday I relaxed, hung out by the sea front, and went to Gunwharf! I didn't go out that night but instead I stayed in and talked to all my favorite people! First I was able to talk to the fam! Then I got to talk to Ms. Daino! It was so good to hear her voice and catch up! I miss just always chit chatting with her about boys, clothes, or anything! Then next I got to first talk to my partner in crime Arlan, they are on their way down to FL for the cruise in the Bahamas, so they played "hot potatoe" with the phone so I also got to talk to Lombie, Hami, Schmoker, Liz, and J briefly! It was wonderful hearing "familiar" voices!! I can't wait to hear crazy stories from the cruise, I am just hoping everyone makes it back to the states alive haha!

Otherwise, that’s about it! I am starting to adapt being here on my own, and I meet new people almost everyday! Today at lunch one of the British girls saw me eating alone and invited me to join them, and introduced me to some other people, but I don’t remember half their names (too many people). But I think I am going out with them tom so that should be a good time!

Below are some pictures of where I am living!