Written in Heathrow!
Given how crazily busy I’ve been for the past couple of weeks (hence the serious lacking in posting on this tumblr of mine…sorry!) I thought that after I’d take my 2 ½ hour National Express coach to Heathrow from Brighton and check in my bags (while still having plenty of time to spare because I’d be early), I would have the opportunity to sit peacefully amongst my fellow travelers braving the England snow and reflect upon these last 3 months that have made me grow so, so much.
Well, I am here waiting for my gate to be announced (15 minutes to go!) and then I will jet to that glorious location so I can depart for sunny Los Angeles in about 1 ½ hours. This means that I did not quite have the peaceful time I was looking forward to, because I have been stressed out my mind at these stupid airports. First it was in Rome. Just yesterday, Ryan Air, a discount airline, made me pay 35 Euro to “check in” my oversized carry on (and for the record, it may have looked a little big but it was definitely 2 kg under the maximum allowance!). Then today after spending so much time packing my stupid bags to come back home to LA, I was so ecstatic when my two suitcases were perfectly within the weight restrictions. I checked them in and was about to be on my way (content at the fact that I only had to pay for one extra bag just like when I left for school) when a representative from Virgin Atlantic practically attacked me for my carry on! Granted I had a backpack and a little rolly suitcase, I tried to explain that the weight was due to the fact that it was imperative I carry my school work and laptop because I cannot risk them getting lost otherwise these past 3 months will have been a complete loss for me. And the woman who just moments ago was soooo nice to the couple with the baby ahead of me in line said I had to pay another 40 POUNDS to check in another bag. 40 pounds. That is 40 USD x 1.6. Do you understand how painful the number 1.6 has been for me these past 3 months? Extremely.
Now, I know that I chose to come to England, and I very well knew how costly this dream of mine would be. But come on, airport fees just make me so mad! Cost of living, food, transportation/travel expenses…..I can deal with that. But mean airport people making you severely dent your savings account? That hurts. So I sucked it up and checked in the dumb bag. And then when I went to pay for it, another rep tells me it actually costs 90 pounds. Ok, so now that’s 90 x 1.6. My jaw literally drops and I ask the dreaded question, “Are you serious? 90 pounds?” And she looks at me with this expression of “Didn’t you know?” And then she asks a question that seriously baffles me in that state of shock. She says, “What’s wrong?” And then I have this little break down. And I explain to her with genuinely sad and teary eyes that I was told it was 40 pounds and even that is extremely hard to afford. I didn’t mean for this to happen and I’ve been here for the past 3 months on scholarships and loans. The last 3 months of my life are in those bags and to have to pay 90 pounds for a bag that literally weighs 10kg (when the max is 23kg) is a very distressing thing for me to have to come to terms with. I sadly hand over my credit card (which I do not want to use for a very long time). She looks so sad and asks me to wait a moment. She leaves and as I wait for her, I’m trying to calculate just how badly this will hurt. When she returns she tells me she’ll let me check in the bag for 40 pounds instead of 90. I was SO relieved and could not stop thanking her. But seriously, this was such a stressful and distressing way to leave =(
Now, as I write this I am sitting on my delayed flight…I was originally supposed to arrive at LAX at 6:45pm but now won’t get there until 9pm. I am exhausted beyond words right now (didn’t get to sleep too much on the night before because I had so much to do!) but am determined to win the coming battle I must face with jetlag. Sleep sounds so tempting, though. I watched Eat, Pray, Love (and let me say, it was quite the cool experience to see the locations in Italy and know that I was literally in those places a couple days ago) and had this vegetarian chili meal for dinner. Although plane food generally isn’t too amazing, it wasn’t bad…and honestly, I have no right to complain, considering I spent the last week eating to my heart and belly’s content in Italy…oh my =)
I know I won’t be able to properly reflect in my current frame of mind so I shall save that for a couple days from now. I’ll post this as soon as I get home (after I spend a good amount of time in my mum’s embrace, of course) and once I recover from all this traveling I will be able to sort out my thoughts and emotions in words =)
8 hours and 2 minutes of flight time remaining (slash 8 hours and 2 minutes until I’m oh so close to seeing my family again!!)…oh boy. Good thing there are tons of movies and Jay Sean to keep me busy!
Right Now…
It’s snowing! I was totally wishing that it would snow while I was still out here and the next thing I know, there’s white fluffy stuff falling from the sky =)
My flatmates and I all went out to play in the snow…football and snowball fights. It was soo cute! We live next to these family flats and I looked up at a window and saw these two adorable little (Pakistani?) kids watching us. I waved my hand and motioned them to come out and play and they looked back as if their mother was behind them, frowned and shook their heads. But it’s okay…I reassured them it was too cold anyway ;)
The joys of being abroad =)
Sooo after Halloween weekend in Scotland, I rested up a bit and did some work during the week. Friday, November 5th was Guy Fawkes day and the Brits commemorate his failed attempts at blowing up Parliament in 1605 by…lighting things on fire. Effigies of him, massive piles of wood, torches, and even crosses. It was a crazy thing to witness in the neighboring town of Lewes. And let me tell you, you haven’t seen a bonfire until you’ve gone to this Bonfire night in Lewes…
On Saturday night, a bunch of us California flew out to Dublin. Yeri and I had to catch a later flight which limited our time out there even more. We made it there around midnight and missed out on pubbing with the girls. The next day we headed over to the Guinness factory and then did a walking tour of the city. We diid some souvenir shopping and took in the site of Dublin. It was a nice day, but I must say…Dublin wasn’t super incredible. Ahh, I feel like a prick for saying that…haha. Truth be told, I probably wasn’t there long enough because I just didn’t get a full Irish experience. Plus, everything was ridiculously expensive! We got back early Monday morning and I went straight to class and spent the rest of my week fighting off a nasty cold while prepping for a presentation. Crazy busy and utterly exhausting. On the bright side, my dear friend from middle/high school visited me in Brighton on Friday! Lucy is also studying abroad in London and she and I explored a very rainy (yet very lovely) Brighton. I saw places I actually haven’t seen yet! We spent some time at some crazy antique shops and I definitely look forward to going back soon =) We did a tour of Windsor, Eton, and Oxford on Saturday which was really nice. It was quite inspiring to be in such an academic and prestigious environment. The Queen of England’s favorite residence is Windsor Castle. She was, in fact, in Windsor…just not at the castle when we were looking at it. At Oxford University we saw the Great Hall from the Harry Potter films….I seriously felt as if I was walking the halls of Hogwarts…so that was pretty damn cool =) It was sooo nice to get to spend some quality time with Lucy…very comforting and it just felt good to be with her =) She left on Sunday morning after many struggles (haha) and I headed back to my place to get some work done. This week is gonna be epic….oh my. I’m leaving for London in a couple of hours for the England vs. France football match at Wembley stadium and am sooo excited!! It’s gonna be super cold so I just spent 20 minutes sewing on a button on my coat for some added security. Haha…yes, it took me 20 minutes and for the record, I did a terrible job. Anyway, pictures are taking years and years to load so do check out my facebook albums if you’re interested =) Until next time!
Wow, do I suck at updating this…
My sincerest apologies for not keeping to my word about updating! Every time I want to, something keeps coming up!
Sooo let’s see. It’s November 11th and I do have some significant updates as to what I’ve been doing! Since I have a lot I want to say and I have another class to get to soon, I’m gonna have to spread a couple posts out a bit!
Halloween:
Not gonna lie, I was kinda sad about the fact that my last college Halloween would not be spent with my buddies in San Diego. It’s been quite hard not being able to participate in a lot of things my friends are doing back home. I’m missing/have missed close friends’ (and my nephew, Gavin’s!) birthdays, garba, Diwali, Halloween, Thanksgiving and countless other things. But I can’t let that stop me from living life to the fullest, right? So I decided, if I was gonna miss out on all these wonderful things back at home, I’d have to make up for it out here. Big. So I did. And I did it in Scotland.
We left on Thursday night, October 28. We took a train from Brighton to London where we had a couple of hours to kill before our overnight bus to Inverness. It was all planned out really well. I was excited to hang out in London and walked over to Buckhingham Palace to hang out for a bit. We got on our bus later that night and were supposed to be in Inverness around noon so that we had 2 hours before our Loch Ness tour. Well long story short, we end up in Aberdeen around noon which is 3 hours away from Inverness. Now our itinerary is changed because we can’t get refunded for our tour. There’s only 1 a day and so we have no other option but to move the tour to Saturday and cut our time short in Glasgow. This actually turned out to be for the best. There was more for us to see and do in Inverness. On our first night we went to what was apparently one of the best pubs in the UK: Hootenanny. There, we caught some awesome live Scottish music and got a little taste for the nightlife. Here’s a picture:
My oh my, were they fun to watch! So the next day we went on this boat tour of Loch Ness (after I spent the night at my first hostel!! Which was actually very cozy!).
Ahhh…what a peaceful boat ride…NOT. haha, those waters were freaking crazy! And just think, if the lake is so deep that it can hold over 3 times the world’s population, I would so not want to fall in. We next visited the ruins of Uruquhart Castle and my goodness, was the scenery incredible!
So the that night we headed out to Glasgow. We got there when around 7 or 8pm and proceeded to get ready to celebrate Halloween. (Btdubs, it’s 1:23…time to make a wish! So here’s a pic (courtesy of Tiffany Wang) of us Cali peeps in Glasgow:
I went as an Indian princess…I know, I know. I kinda cheated and didn’t really have to do much for it because I already AM an Indian princess, but it’s ok! haha =)
After a night of partying to random music at this rave-like crazy party and being chased after by oh-so-creepy fobs (just my luck — haha) we headed over to Edinburgh, which is now one of my favorite cities!
This Harry Potter-inspiring city of Scotland has to be one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever visited and I have made it one my goals to make it back here in this lifetime. Ask anyone I’ve been talking to…I cannot stop gushing about Edinburgh! I highly recommend visiting and just taking it all in as much as possible. We did a Scotch Whiskey tour and learned how it’s made. We even got to try some in this cute little glass we each got to keep.
Afterwards we went souvenir hunting (got some great deals!) and then went on a ghost tour followed by some dinner. Ghost tour…could have been better, but was still a fun thing to do on Halloween. We walked around Edinburgh hearing eerie tales of the townspeople and went through underground passages.
I was curious to see how Halloween was celebrated out in the UK. In Glasgow, all the girls were dressed very…. scandalously. Haha…your typical college Halloween experience. But in Edinburgh, they really took on the paganistic and spooky elements of the holiday. They even had a zombie march! We caught this awesome parade before half our group headed back to Brighton on another overnight bus.
We braved the rest of the night and took refuge in a club before our 6am flight back Monday morning - haha. Let me just say…it was an exhausting night (and we almost couldn’t get our luggage back from the bus station storage) but it was completely worth it =D
Alrighty, off to class….more later!
The Americans I miss most.
There are two people in this world that I just cannot stand to live without. I don’t know how I made it this far actually, without them in the UK with me… They are the cheese to my macaroni, the turkey burger to my buns.
Their names are A.kim and Poosaf Poosain.
My love goes out to them with this post. Upon my return, you two will receive the GREATEST GIFTS EVER. I promise you that*.
*if they are not, I will make you chai every day of your lives.
Happy 1 Month
Today marks my one month anniversary with my significant other: England. I feel as if this whole experience abroad is like a relationship; one that I nurture and cherish. Whatever I put into it, is what I get back and then some. Kind of an odd way to look at it, yes, but I pledge to try my best and give it my all (even if this will be a short-term kind of thing). Time is slipping away so I’ve got to make the absolute most of it while I can!
I spent today taking it easy and spending time with my flatmates…a nice way to celebrate the occasion, I’d say. Tonight? House party and maybe a trip out to Brighton. Right now? Back to work on this essay due next week!
What Have I Been Up To?
Honestly…time has been flying by waay too fast. In 2 days I will have been in England for 4 weeks and that just blows my mind.
So let’s backtrack a bit and see what I’ve been up to because I myself need a refresher =)
Week of October 4th: Asim visited London and we had loads of fun exlporing the city and England in general courtesy of his genius idea to roadtrip it through the countryside…definitely appreciated the beauty of this place even more =) Check out his Flickr…he took some stunning shots! (And I’m not just talking about the ones of me…haha…jk)
Week of October 11th: Classes galore! Started visiting what I know will soon become my stomping grounds: The Library. My inner UCSD student has hunted me down in England…haha. This ain’t no Geisel…but it’ll do! Started meeting and hanging out with some more interesting people. It’s all about making international friends apparently…I’m branching out to Canada, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Taiwan!
October 16: Day trip to Bath and Stonehenge! Stonehenge was pretty cool but Bath was simply gorgeous. I found a happy place there and for that entire day, I felt as if wherever I went, I was in some sort of a painting and that was definitely incredible =)
We saw this Roman Bath House that’s situated on the only hot spring in the UK…I can’t remember the last time I felt so in sync with history…definitely thought of the bestie back at home, Alex =)
So what’s coming up for me? Traveling! Should I tell you where I’m going? Naahhh….I’ll let it be a surprise. But if we skype, I’ll tell you. Hahaha…that’s your incentive. If your curiosity is strong enough, you’ll get your answers.
Btdubs, in case you ever wondered, when people say “Cheers” here it means “Thanks.” It took me some time to figure that one out…haha.
Hope you’re well! I’ll tumble with ya later =) Byee!
Once Upon A Time, I Dreamed…
Friendship is a truly amazing thing. I am a firm believer in the beauty and power that is embedded in the relationship between two friends.
I am a very blessed individual to have such wonderful people in my life who have helped me every step of the way. No matter where I’ve gone in my life and in this world, throughout this journey I have had the great fortune of meeting dynamic people along the way. People who show me the beauty and goodness in this world when I sometimes forget it’s right there and right in front of me. People who listen when I have trouble hearing myself. People who are passionate and captivating and thus inspiring. People who want to know about your journeys, support them, and are happy to join and be a part of them. People who care greatly and show it in their own unique ways. People who are genuine and leave me speechless.
So this is my thank you to the world, to all the genuine souls living in it, and all the beautiful and charming friendships born in it. Thank God that no matter how this world evolves and no matter how much each and every one of us grows and changes, it’s always possible to find a good friend and a good heart =)
This One’s for Poo <3
Let me just say…it’s only Wednesday and this week has been pretty damn cool and it’s only gonna get cooler =) Classes started up this week for the Autumn term at Sussex and my schedule is so whack. Haha…I’m enrolled in too many classes (5) but I only want to take 3 but that might be enough and then I need certain classes and blah blah blah…even I’M bored hearing this story…haha.
Buuut I’ve been to some of these lectures and seminars and I must say this quarter is going to be so different compared to UCSD. It’s sooo student-led and you absolutely HAVE to do the reading…oh, oh, oh and GET THIS: There usually isn’t a required reading list! There’s a fat list of books/articles that are recommended and you’re supposed to…pick? I don’t know..haha…I’m still figuring it out (or as they say here, sorting it out) myself!
Asim is visiting London this week and since I don’t have class on Wednesdays…that means we’re going on a little adventure…and so it continues! (I say that because we have internet access on his laptop on location!)
(Captured on a Canon T2i - NOT my Nikon…haha)
p.s.
Hi Poo =P
