SPRING BREAK!

Firstly I must apologise for my lack of updating. I've turned into a real student wherein I sleep, eat and begrudgingly go to classes.

But! This is a happy post, as this is the one where I talk about the infamous spring break that every film about American teenagers is about. I am one of those that prefers to do actual sightseeing when given the chance, so I booked 11 days to Seattle, San Francisco and Vancouver. Decided to go by myself because why not?? I'm young, I'm British, I'm "street smart" (thanks London). But of course, no travels are without their worries and homesickness. This holiday coincided with my 20th birthday - I always knew that (since my birthday doesn't change every year... For obvious reasons) but travelling alone was a big step for me, but to also celebrate quite a big birthday by myself was something even bigger.

I got a friend of mine to drive me to LAX (thank you Josh!) and got into the departure lounge without much difficulty. Note to self: contact lens solution is allowed into your carry on, it's just a big fuss when they ask you to take off the lid (like why can't the staff do it, if they're so fussy then they can do it. Gosh) and they squirt a bit of the liquid onto this piece of card and test the saline. Anyway, I'm in the lounge for an hour or so, so I skype the boyfriend and the mother and express my concerns that I'll get killed, raped, kidnapped or have my passport/new DS2019 stolen. (All legitimate worries when you're a cute English girl).

I arrived in San Francisco safely and managed to get onto the right train into Downtown. Not sure why but as soon as I got in I didn't feel amazed by the area. It was a bit run down, again, like LA it wasn't the cleanest place I've been to. Right outside the big Downtown station was basically homeless people central - not really the best first impression one should get when they go to a new place. I got to the hostel and decided to go out for dinner to this lovely hipster burger joint, a whole meal for $15! The milkshakes were also incredibly divine. However, afterwards this young woman I had met in the hostel and I decided to go to this swing dance class. Well let me just say, that was not what I was expecting. It was seriously just middle aged people who I had to touch and hold hands with and awkwardly sway from side to side. Ugh never again. Also, since we were late we couldn't actually dance and were told to go sit down. How rude is that. So again, my attitude towards this portion of my trip was not looking up.
When we left, I was basically abandoned in a rough part of the city, with no wifi and just an idea of what bus to get (or buses) back to the hostel. Fortunately, another lady noticed, asked about my incredibly English accent, said it was not the nicest thing for my 'friend' to just abandon me to go have drinks with her other friends. Therefore she offered to let me sit in her taxi/cab/whatever to her destination. Then the taxi driver took me all the way to my hostel for only $5. There are some lovely people in this world. I'm so thankful, even to this day that I was able to meet a few of them.

The next day I had met these two lovely girls from Portland who offered to keep me company and take me around the city for the day. So we went to Embarcadero Plaza and had crepes for breakfast (nom) and then went and had ice cream! I made the slight mistake in asking for a funfetti, Oreo and vanilla milkshake,way too sweet, sadly I couldn't finish it all! There was this market that we went to, unfortunately I couldn't buy anything because of my hand luggage but it was great to see all the mugs with crude messages on them! My wicked sense of humour thoroughly enjoyed the market. Afterwards we went to Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39 which was lovely. The restaurant that we went to allowed dogs outside and we had the greatest luck to sit next to this couple with their two dogs. Their owners taught them to do some wonderful tricks which I watched with wide eyes. Dogs are such wonderful creatures, why people would want to harm them I don't know.


Anyway, as it was nearing the afternoon we decided to go to the Palace of Fine Arts, and at this time it was past midnight at home, which meant my 20th birthday had begun! After waiting in a sweet shop and trying hard not to give in to the temptation to buy all the sweets, we left for the Palace and I found wifi. It's not fair when people (yes Jamie I'm talking about you) buy you your favourite film's soundtrack on vinyl. I want to go home and play it non stop (yes I will mum, just try to stop me!)
After meeting yet another dog in the park and failing to climb a tree we went to the Marina and the wave organ - allegedly the waves crash up on this piece of art and make sounds - that's San Francisco for you! We also got a beautiful view of the sun setting behind the Golden Gate Bridge! That was lovely.

The next day was my birthday, and so the girls and I made our way to the Golden Gate Bridge. Such a beautiful bridge! After taking about 50 selfies (or attempting to) and walking along the bridge we moved on and found lunch in a small restaurant back in town in little Italy. The wifi was so bad in the restaurant, it was the perfect time to talk to mum and Jamie but alas, the staff lied to me saying they didn't have wifi yet I was trying to connect to it. Gosh.

Afterwards, we went to a gelato and ice cream parlour and I managed to get a large milkshake for the price of a small one because it was my birthday. Result! With our creamy concoctions in hand we sat down in the local park, I finally connected to the public wifi and the girls chatted to this guy who has some lizards. I got to hold them but as I've had a frog pee on my hands before I was quite apprehensive about them. Fortunately Sienna took them back and I continued relaxing. This lovely man with this gorgeous voice then came over and proceeded to sing Happy Birthday to me, and of course you give some money to say thank you, how often do you get a jazz singer singing Happy Birthday just for you? The girls had to leave to go home after this unfortunately so I took myself off to go on a cable car! (unfortunately there was no cake this year). Then I had a great night in to myself, watched some Jessica Jones and packed my stuff ready for my second part of my trip.

This was my favourite part of my holiday, part one of my time in Seattle! When I landed I had this feeling of anticipation and pure excitement, not at all what I had when I landed in San Francisco. I met this lovely girl in the airport since I had no idea where I was going. She helped me get onto the right train heading into the city. Also, from a first glance, Seattle transit prices are incredibly cheap. Much cheaper than Swansea or even London! It took us about half an hour to get from SeaTac all the way into Downtown, and as soon as I stepped onto Seattle turf I was in love. Seattle immediately made me feel like I'd made the right decision. Dropping off my stuff in my hostel I decided to take a wander around the area. Immediately I was faced with a most spectacular sunset:

I also found myself wandering into the first Starbucks without even meaning to. Now that, my friends was coffee. I don't like it and should probably never drink it but I was awed by the beautiful, rich aroma. After a while it gets a bit overpowering so I left and continued walking. I'd previously gone and bought myself two new dresses which I put on in the hostel, so I walked around the city with a big smile. I had bumped into some police and asked them where the best place to eat was, trying to bring back my strong British accent that the Americans always seem to love. They gave me quite a few recommendations and told me where not to go (where I had already walked through on my way to my hostel but hey ho). I found myself going to a lovely grill that, unfortunately, did not have wifi. Ah well. I walked in and for some reason restaurants never seem to have a place for people dining by themselves. The waiter put me at a table for four. Four! Anywho, I had a luscious steak, probably in my top five steaks.

The next day I decidedly to spontaneously go to a waterfall site 30 miles outside the city. Or otherwise called Snoqualmie Falls. The group and I also did a short hike around the park site and saw some beautiful greenery – much like I see at home. I also finally saw some daffodils! I then went into a cute little vintage shop near one of the railway museums and bought some lovely creams (hint hint nudge nudge I bought the vanilla and willow & water one) and took some pictures of the trains at the railway museum which was really cool. I haven't seen many American trains so finally getting to look at the differences between British and American ones was awesome.

The next day I sadly had to sadly leave Seattle. I got the link train to the Greyhound bus station and caught my bus into Canada. I finally got wifi as I got into Canada, not sure why it wouldn't work for the majority of the bus ride but hey ho.

I walked from the Pacific Central Station all the way into Gastown, which is where my lovely hostel was. The best bed, the best wifi and the best currency. I found that the Canadian Dollar is double the British Pound so that made me very happy. (cue too much shopping) I got a double cocktail (wooo I'm of legal age in Canada, God bless the Commonwealth!) for basically £4 ($8.50) and a lovely dinner consisting of wings and pizza (so healthy). Then I went upstairs and fell asleep, ready for a long day.

That's me ascending the tower (or at least, me filming the ascent...)

So my first day in Vancouver mainly consisted of me strolling around, finding cute little gifts and going to the Vancouver Lookout. Was seriously one of the loveliest places I've been to and had the greatest staff. So accommodating and chatty and sometimes that's exactly what you need when you're travelling alone.
I’ve been around the world tasting steaks, from New Zealand to New York and now Vancouver! This was the best steak I’ve ever had. It was a beautiful 10 oz "New York Steak served with a gorgonzola peppercorn red wine sauce" bloody hell it was scrumptious. I remember being on the phone to mum and having her say to me ‘are you eating vegetables Bethan? Whatever you’re eating is awful crunchy’ and just saying back ‘you know me, why the heck would I touch vegetables when I can have steak??’ So yeah, I had ascended one of the most beautiful spots in Vancouver, had steak for breakfast and it wasn't even midday. (And it was by far the best steak I have ever had. For twenty quid too ($38 CAD)

Next I decided to rent a bike and cycle around Stanley Park. Anyone who knows me quite well knows that I love cycling. Cycling is the best thing to do when you've got a big park and don't have a lot of time to walk around it. I got the bike around 2 and gave it back around 6. I probably cycled approximately 7k that day. I went (the wrong way) around the park and managed to get some breathtaking views of the ocean and the city. Also, I love taking pictures of trees in spring, seeing all the flowers bloom is a wondrous thing and I love capturing that. I cycled all the way up to Prospect Point and got some lovely gifts for mum and Jamie and also a new purse/wallet for myself. I found out afterwards that the label was called Shag Wear. I'm not sure if Canadians know what shag means but okay, whatever floats your moose. (It said Canada on the label imprint. If you didn't get something with the insignia of the country, did you actually go?)

This was Beaver Lake, I think I did this lake justice by getting that crystal blue lake and sun in the shot. Well done to me. I found so many places by accident on my ride, going up and down the hidden but gravel paths in the park was a idea. 

 Springtime in Vancouver is lovely. I recommend Stanley Park to anyone going to Vancouver.

See?

Flowers

Spring

Sun

I really really liked Vancouver. 

And yes those are daffodils.

I like to think it was the small amount of Welshness in me that drew me to the daffodils. 

The next day was my last full day in Vancouver before I left to go back to Seattle, so after having curry for breakfast (screw normal/stereotypical breakfast foods) I decided to catch a bus to the Capilano Suspension Bridge Nature Park (for some reason my whole trip my theme has been either bustling city or nature parks). Absolutely beautiful. What was scary though was that the bridge kept swinging and I thought that some kid would bump into me and make me drop my phone over the edge of the bridge! Fortunately that didn't happen, otherwise there would not be a happy Bethan right now. 

Much tree, very nature

 I also managed to spend quite a lot of money in the gift shop. No regrets because again, nothing for me (this expensive trip was quite enough of money thank you!)

 God this place was beautiful, the sounds of the gushing river beneath me, aside from all the annoying kids I had a wonderful time!

After leaving I decided to take myself off for some shopping, as the Canadian Dollar is so much better than the US Dollar (and also various discounts on things) I decided to get myself a pair of new converse... In a size too small. We'll see if I continue to wear them. I'd much rather have had the size bigger bit alas, I can only stretch them out now. I also purchased a Pandora charm for my collection. I decided to then go to a Korean restaurant and finally have a dinner that was somewhat healthy. Getting the bus back, I proceeded to repack and attempt to fit everything inside two backpacks - not the easiest thing with tons of presents for the family!

The first time since January I had a McDonalds! Although I did get an Oreo ice cream and what feels like an XL milkshake that I couldn't finish :(

Boarding my bus, I got into Seattle safely and got myself another Pandora charm, this time with the Seattle skyline on it. One of my favourite charms so far! This time in Seattle was extra special, because I managed to book my trip at the same time as one of my friends from home! After having a lovely Italian meal for dinner downtown I went to bed and caught up on some sleep.

At this point, finishing my travels were at it's peak and the amount of money I'd spent had become very prominent as I was constantly dipping into my overdraft! I again went for steak for breakfast, although this one was not very good. Rubbery and not a very good cut either. Ah well.

I went to Columbia tower on the other side of town and waited for Andie to arrive. This building is twice the height of the Space Needle and half the price for entry. Glad to say I spent most of my morning looking down at the highways and all the people doing their own thing. I must have been in that tower for about 4 hours. Or longer. Not sure. Andie finally arrived and we spent a good hour chatting and catching up. Finally meeting someone from back home really helped with my homesickness, that soon I will be home and soon I will hear the beautiful British accents again. 

Andie and I decided to go get a meal near Kerry Park, a small bit of land in the nicer areas of Seattle overlooking the famous skyline and port. The meal I had was one of the weirdest meals I've ever had. Apparently it's a thing here where you mash up a lovely steak, cover it in breadcrumbs and fry it and that constitutes as a chicken fried steak? I'm so confused. Explain America, Explain!! 

As you can see below, we stayed at the park for quite some time, watching the sun set and the lights brighten in the city. Watching the sky lighten up is one of my favourite things to do and I hope to do that with a few more cities in my life. 

 Finally, on my last day (I cry) I met up with Andie again and we went and bought matching hoodies from a tourist shop (you just have to when travelling!), went to Chipotle and had a good old gossip. Sadly, I had to leave and said goodbye to my favourite place in America. I hope someday I will be fortunate to come back to Seattle for longer and do more of the interesting touristy stuff.

I never really realised how much growing one does when they travel to three new places all by themselves. I feel like I can do it all over again, and hopefully I will do some more traveling before I leave, since I will be going to work in a camp in Pennsylvania for nine weeks over the summer! Having all my flights booked and everything sorted makes me feel much better! Even so I actually have money to spend now that everything important is out of the way!

Okay, that's 11 days of travelling. I'm done.

I need sleep!

Goodbye!

Am I An American Yet?

So it's been just about 2 months and I think I've finally adjusted to American culture.... Just about.

I'm getting used to the fact that a lot of people my age and younger drive... And I don't (yet). How so many people have cars (and are guzzling all the oil and petrol that this planet has) just astounds me.... I come from a place where people depend on public transport to now living in an area that is dominated by cars and motorways (called freeways/highways here). Of course there's the bus transit system but not much else. Oh and flights. So many flights.

Whoever says that Western culture is all the same has not travelled. I can say with ever fiber of my being there is nothing that is the same between Britain and the US. Every system is different, every mile there is something new that I didn't know yesterday. It's still rather odd to have 3 separate time zones in this country and how there are out-of-state fees for college/university. (and how one university can be $60k a year and another in the same city sells for half that). Whenever there is something odd or out of the ordinary about this place, I'll embrace John Hannah from 'The Mummy' and sigh almost exasperatedly "Americans" (For those uncultured lot, see the video for my reference)

I went to Chinese New Year in Downtown LA which was a lot of fun. Finally had some Chinese food after all these years. Still felt queasy after it. Don't think I'm going to risk it anymore and just not have Chinese food. Oddly enough I adore Korean food.

I've been to my first quidditch sessions, with the Long Beach Funky Quaffles. It's really good to see what American quidditch is like, to train with a team that has been learning under the rules and tactics of the founders of muggle quidditch (that being America). I went to the US Quidditch West Regionals on the last weekend of February, Aside from being half asleep after 3 hours of sleep it was really interesting... They'd definitely give the British teams a run for their money.

I FINALLY went to see Deadpool... Probably one of my favourite films of the modern era (my number one film being Mary Poppins of course). I can understand why it's an R-rated film... So much swearing and sex and gore. Such a perfect film. I need to watch it many many many more times before I can get my fill of it.

Going to San Diego was a good experience, which I have to admit, a few hours there is not enough to see such a great city. And this time I wont be squished in the back. Being the tallest person in the car it is not right to put me in the back. I could swear I was feeling the same pains I had back when I had to have physio and heavy pain killers in winter last year. But aside from that, there is potential to have a wonderful day or two there.

Meeting the 1975 was a fun day (apart from my raging migraine and the screaming girls). Hopefully I'll have enough money to go see them in concert in April (repeat: if I have enough money, my money keeps disappearing, somehow. Can't be because I keep shopping or going out for dinners nope not at all, and especially not when I'm supposed to be saving for spring break. No not at all.)

I've also learnt what Freedom of Speech means, apart form the obvious "you can say what you want where and when you want to". I had the unfortunate displeasure of walking through a protest/couple of guys screaming about their views on my way to class. What made me want to throw a box at their face was the fact that one guy was preaching about "our Lord Jesus" and another was saying how "homosexuality is a sin and "you're all going to burn in hell you sodomising sinners". Now if I wasn't worried about being stabbed or shot I would have gone up to them and said some things to them. But I like my organs and I want to go home safely so I just gave them a dirty look and walked off in all my liberal British glory.

And with Freedom of Speech comes... The right to have a weapon? On a campus wide email a week ago came the news that a student had a small knife in his hands during a sociology class. It's a bit horrifying that a student will bring a knife to university with them. Coming from a country where weapons are kept to the armed forces and a few not so stable people, it's such a scary thought that some day because someone is having a bad day they want to go harm somebody else's life.

I've also met another student from Swansea living on my floor and it's great when people just bond instantly become really good friends. I've been relaxing with her more and eating out at restaurants and just having a marvelous time. It's getting easier being here, apart from the days when I get majorly homesick, like St David's Day (patron saint of Wales) and all the Welshies (or wannabe Welshies) start speaking Welsh and spreading the Welsh love). Having a Welsh friend here is very entertaining, especially when they skype their family and their accent comes back out in full Welsh pride.

I might be halfway through (This university term is 128 days and as I'm writing there are 69 days left till I move on from Long Beach) but the work is as heavy as ever. As much as it's highly stressful and the migraines are back with full force, high grades are much easier to get now I'm actively participating in class.

It was a good choice to come here methinks.

Tchau! (that's Portuguese apparently)

How Is It Only Week Three?

I must admit, this week was more fulfilling than the first week.

I've been to a the starting lectures, modules, classes. (I must remember what to call them which is the correct term here). They seem pretty cool. I enjoy actually being stimulated in my classes now which is a sweet relief from Swansea's way of teaching. (I do like it in Swansea, it's just a bit too slow for me, I'm not using this to be mean, just being honest!)

I'm also using this exchange to learn new things outside of my education, for example sports. I want to try out canoeing, racquetball, actual exercise, do more cycling and whatnot. I find myself easily spending 40 minutes - an hour cycling in the gym (managed to finally watch an episode of Family Feud... it's actually rather funny. Apparently here making out is called tonsil hockey. Well you learn something new everyday.

I have actually been asked by a young American boy: "Oh my gawd are you British?" With the typical Scream-hand-holding-face (eh) pose. Had to be one of the cutest things I've seen.

I've met some amazing people that have made the first few weeks here better than I thought it would be - I mean a Brit being thrown headfirst into a completely different culture is quite difficult. When I pay in cash I still put all my change into my hands and ask the cashier to pick the correct change, simply because all these different coins are much too weird and similar.

I have found myself becoming reacquainted with Friends and Netflix, simply because I am too lazy to go sightseeing yet and too much of a procrastinator to do my work so I can go out and sight see. I also don't like spending that much money on things I don't actually need so I don't do much. Silly me.

Downtown Long Beach has become a rather frequent hotspot to visit. I have been to see a mural which really highlighted the differences in public art in Long Beach and Britain. We get museums and galleries, and Here there's odd sculptures and paintings and murals dotted around the place.
I have also been shopping! I found a nerd fashion shop on my way to the marina last week, I pretty much screamed inside (and squeaked audibly) because of the beauty that was Hot Topic. That's probably going to be the biggest thing I miss from America. (Oh and the people of course).
I need to find a Pandora shop so I can add to my collection of charms. (Might as well just get them delivered there does not seem to be one Pandora shop within 20 miles, Nope.)

I have also been to the 7th Long Beach Mardi Gras parade. It was fun! Hot, very hot. But fun! (I say hot, it's still winter technically so over 20 degrees CELSIUS is hot) I really want to tan but alas, my poor English skin and my dislike of heat prevents me from staying out for too long. (Plus sun burns aren't cool).

This has been my face whenever I am presented with an opportunity to tan. 

^^ But I never do -_-

I must admit, I made a fuss about the level of work here and it being a good value for money... But Cor blimey it's a lot of work. I find myself sleeping more to hide the incoming load of work and 3000 word research papers. Please no.

Ah well. It's now midnight and I must do some work hahaha no.

Arrivederci!

So The Work Finally Starts.... Ish

So it's the first week of term... My first thoughts have mostly been this: 'blimey what have I got myself into?'

Constantly stressing about work from back home is one thing, add the impending doom that is my second term and a term abroad nonetheless, stress is the main emotion for the majority of the week.
I moved into my dorms last Sunday (the 17th) and found myself finding some new friends.. It took me quicker than my first year in uni to find some good friends. (Maybe it's because I know what to look for now? That and my accent I bet).

My first week was mostly me trying to figure out what classes I wanted to attend, which I'm still doing now. Currently I've settled on Sociology, Journalism, Film and Electronic Arts and Women's studies.

I also went to an open mic night with my building, it was quite fun... Until there were free tshirts given out to those who performed... And I can't resist a free tshirt. SO what did I do at an open mic night event? I made up a haiku and performed it. It goes like this (and yes I did count the syllables on my hand on stage):

Hi my name is Beth 
I'd like a large tshirt please
I am from England

I got my tshirt.

I've also been utilizing the free gym - I don't know why British universities (or Swansea) don't do this for their students. If I'm paying £9000 plus a year for tuition then I should expect some benefits! What do I get for the money? 9 hours a week of lectures that don't really stimulate me. I'm sure other students feel the same way too. Here I get assessments every week, constant reading and stimulating articles to annotate, even field trips! I haven't been on one in Swansea and I'm sure there's all sorts of things media students can do in England(/Wales).

But anyway, gym. I rather like having a gym that isn't half an hour away or over £200. Summer calls for a beach body and a beach body is what I'll get.

Occasionally I'll get a bit homesick but it's a once in a lifetime experience and I might not get to do this again, so I've learnt to be a bit stronger, hopefully when I come back I'll be able to do more without depending on my mum as much anymore.

From now I don't know how much I'll be uploading, simply because of the huge workload I have but I will try to!

(I still don't get half of the American sayings... But at some point I will and I will be so insufferable!)

Anyway, must dash!

Adieu!

Is It a Holiday Or Am I Here To Study?

So a week has passed in sunny California and I still can't believe I'm here. From the drivers on the wrong side of the road (who drive like maniacs) and the fact that the roads are so big that I can't actually jaywalk (that's running across the street like a headless chicken for those who don't get the lingo). There's also how surprisingly kind some Americans are... Like wow I was actually surprised. (I came here with the notion that they were all rather mean and scary. I think it's the gun laws. I've really got to not be so suspicious about that...)

It has taken me quite a while to acclimatise to the American way of life, that being a sleeping pattern, the size of the portions and cup sizes (legitimately, the small here is a medium-large back home. I mean what is up with that??) And I'm sorry but why would you add the sales tax at the end of a purchase? Just put it on the price tag and save every single person in this country the hassle!

Numbers are also quite weird here, the clothing conversions, currency differences, time zones, various new buses, the lot. When faced with this I do definitely prefer ye olde London.

Shopping is quite fun when you've got money... I have found this out when shopping at MAC and not having to say 'no' when the bill rises quite high. I have to admit, the quality is very good and I am very happy with my purchases. That's christmas money well spent!

Orientation and meeting people from CSULB (the reason I'm here - not just to shop) was probably my favourite bit of the week. Managing to meet people from back home in England here was good, finally people who understand the annoyances of American life (believe me, at the end of this week I have found a few). But studying here sounds rather exciting - when I've sorted out what modules I'm taking. Apparently I've taken some fourth year modules, which is much higher than what I'm supposed to be studying. I mean I'm a second year and I don't even get how I was accepted onto the modules... Ah well, nothing that can't be fixed.

Learning that more money needed to be spent on health insurance was rather irritating, seeing as this trip is already being the most expensive thing I've ever done. The universities and embassies and representatives don't really tell you how hard it is to part with all this money (and how much money you're going to end up spending). I can't imagine doing this for a year, 6-8 months is fine with me! (Parting from my family and boyfriend is probably one of the hardest things I've ever had to do and as much as I can't wait to do this experience there's a part of me that just needs to be in the arms of the boyfriend and the mother... At separate times of course).

As the week went on I started spending more time outside of my hotel than in. I have gone to various retail parks and enjoyed the sunshine (like wow sun. This is a foreign concept in January). It's been over 20 degrees which has been fab and oddly enough I've been enjoying it in the heat?

I have also found that my university gives me free gym membership for the entirety that I'm here. If that's not awesome then I don't know what is. Summer beach body here I come! (Then I leave to go home at the end of the summer for another drab and cold autumn... I might actually miss the sun!)

There was a rather good way that the university got us to learn the campus plan - and actually getting us pumped for it. Myself and a few friends (Courtney and Nour who are both also from England) did a selfie scavenger hunt which was fun... Till we came third. But we did have a lovely chat with some of the staff who made it all feel nicer and easier. Afterwards Courtney and I attempted to go to Afters, which apparently does a doughnut stuffed with ice cream. I must find this it sounds delicious (and rather fattening.) but we ended up getting the bus in the wrong direction and went to IHOP instead... Maybe if I was hungrier I'd enjoy it more. I got the bigger breakfast option (of course) and only managed to eat three pancakes.  I'm rather disappointed in myself. I can usually eat much more than that.

Sadly this week I suffered from a very bad headache that just so happened to coincide with the basketball match that I so wanted to attend. I did however go to the welcome party and meet some Welsh students... Also originating from London/the surrounding areas. It doesn't feel so lonely here as I thought! This university has a bowling alley in the union, a games room, full of wii's and PS3's and also about 10 pool tables. There's also a swimming pool, one of two (or three). This is so American I have to admit. There is even table tennis equipment! It's going to be so hard going back to Swansea where there are two pool tables and a swimming pool/gym that costs too much to use.

Signing up to the radio station here at Long Beach is going to be very beneficial to me, I feel it. Hopefully I'll get some experience working on it and return home and work for that one too!

I've also been to an aquarium where allegedly one could pet the fish. Did that happen? No. Of course it didn't. It's me - animals quake in fear of my boisterous London personality (and some humans but let's not get into that). I was being quite nice, not too loud, and I didn't swear that much (there were kiddies around and you never know how these kids are being brought up, regardless of location. I just do it at home [all the time] because us Brits are exposed to lots of scary stuff).

So after leaving the rather underwhelming fishie place we went to Chili's where I was so disappointed! My steak and "fries" (chips guys, they're called chips... or pommes frites) looked and sounded scrumptious - even without the not-so-healthy dosage of hot sauce I tip on my most of my food nowadays. Well slap my ass and call me a donkey that steak was cold by the time we managed to get our food. A cold steak! I asked for it rare not bloody tartare! My friend Eugene got his at least 5 minutes later... By which all of our plates were cold even with half the food still on our plates (yeah we didn't wait. Girls get hungry, especially those who have been traipsing around Long Beach all day). So I called the manager over and in true cockney fashion decided to complain about the horrendous quality of the food in which we were supposed to pay for, and the service which was pretty sub-par, I mean, it was a Friday night sure but it wasn't that busy. Anyway, I complained, got the food reheated and managed to score 2 free desserts (puddings). 2 desserts. For 5 people. You what mate. Do I look like I share food, especially when there is an Oreo cake on the menu (which was the most expensive one but hey ho #expensivetastes). But oh wait! the Oreo cake was seasonal and they didn't technically serve it. I bet it was because the company was too damn lazy (or "busy") to update the menu. Great impression on us Brits there. Fantastic. We managed to get her to give us teh original version with like four crumbled up Oreo buscuits and tipped them onto of the weird cake/ice cream/melted chocolate concoction. It was alright. (But I won't be going there again).

But anyway, the last thing I've done this week was go to Los Angeles. The City of Angels/city of smog, future hotspot for one of the world's worst earthquakes/and so on and so forth. We hiked half way up Runyon Canyon Park (mountain?)... Till we realised the view wasn't great and moved on to the next mountain range which was 12-14 miles across several mountains at the Griffith Park/Observatory, and attempted to get one of those hipster tourist shots of the Hollywood sign. We gave up when we were told it would be another 2 hour trek and we'd already done 2 hours. If we'd kept going we would have made it... But that's for another time when we all have more stamina and energy (and water). We have till June to go again and even though it gets hella hot during the summer months, we'll have adjusted to it by then (I hope).

Then we went to Hollywood Boulevard and oh my word where are the movies getting all these clean lovely shots of well established businesses and whatnot. At first all we saw was dirty sidewalks (pavements) and several closed down shops! Drivers are crazy in LA and decide to undercut, overcut and in general drive like deranged maniacs. I mean we had at one point gotten into the right lane and somebody come from the lane to our left, go in front and swerve over to he exit lane (Like in The Birdcage, for those of you who have taste in films. Just kidding, but seriously watch it it's fantastic.)

I'm just really shocked at the quality of everything in Hollywood. Maybe I'll just end up bypassing the city to go to Universal and Harry Potter (My birthday and April could not come quicker).

What is rather surprising though is the amount of McDonald's I've seen... Or the lack of them. I might not have been to much of SoCal but I've only seen two branches. I swear there were more of these - I've seen more Chipotle's (which is hella lush) than McD's!

Well anyway, tomorrow (or sunday, whatever time it is when you're reading this) is when I finally leave the abysmal excuse for wifi I have and upgrade to eduroam and the free gym! I have to repack. Which I have not done. Excuse me whilst I go and pack my life up again.

On to greener pastures!

Au reviour!

Leaving Home

Being a media/communication studies student, studying/working in America is a huge advantage to have as experience. Being able to travel at any age is also a amazingly great thing. I've done a bit of travelling I must say, but never for an extended time - so lets say, 6-8 months on the west coast of America.

A year or so ago, I was told by my home university - in Swansea, that I was eligible to study abroad for a semester (so January to June). I could choose between 5 different universities in America and some in China. Personally, I think that studying media in America would be better for me (mainly because I really didn't see myself learning Chinese in the space of a year). So I applied for California State University... in California. I could choose 4 options, and put Long Beach as one of them. Fortunately, after quite a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with my home university and CSU, I was accepted. Yay!

Now came the important bit(s). I had to pass my first year and find the money to actually go to the States... Thanks to the Bank of Mum and a good loan I managed to save enough to go. (Oh and I passed first year, that helped). 

Flash forward to January 9th 2016 and I'm finally ready to go. Mum's crying her head off in Heathrow Airport and I'm surprisingly calm. I'm quite an emotional person and yet the amount of times I've cried about going to the States is quite minimal. I wonder when the tears will come. 

I've already done an extremely long haul flight before, two 11-13 hour flights to New Zealand and back kinda sets the bar - so an 8 hour flight to Detroit, Michigan and a 4 hour flight to Salt Lake City then a 2 hour flight to Long Beach isn't too bad... Except when I got a bad pizza from a airport outlet and it made me almost sick in the plane... (and tipping a cup of water into my lap as I tried to sleep to distract me from that groaning in my stomach). I'm so smart! #IWonderWhyI'mInRavenclaw.

I met two lovely people on two seperate flights, really made me feel better about coming to the other side of the pond... Then the other side of that. People don't really say how daunting it is when you're travelling a quarter(?) or half(?) way around the world. I watched San Andreas which wasn't the best idea, considering this film is about the San Andreas fault line in California rupturing and releasing a century's worth of tension and effectively destroying the state. Woo! Good choice! (I must admit, coming from an area in this world where the worst we get are floods and storms, an earthquake feels a bit scarier.)

I got into Long Beach at about 9pm PST (That's California's time zone, which is 8 hours in front of Britain - or GMT/UTC [Universal co-ordinated time] I still don't understand time zones, makes my head spin).  My hotel is rather nice, although the wifi service could be improved. For those wondering why I'm not in halls yet - CSULB won't let me move in yet. Don't know why, but I guess it's America. 

My first day here and I met someone going to do their masters in the university. Waking up at 4am does have it's perks, considering I managed to go do some shopping and wandered around the roads a little bit. I have finally been re-united with the perfume I bought in CVS all those years ago, so I'll be smelling of a Japanese garden for a while! 

This week mostly entails me figuring out Long Beach and writing two essays that my university thought it would be a good idea to give me and expect me to write them over Christmas when I'm supposed to be planning a trip to America for 6 months. Smart. 

Anywho, that's enough for now.

I have to go write an essay on something to do with the media. 

Auf Wiedersehen!