How is September almost over!?

I can't believe that September almost over. Soon all of the British students will be moving in and instead of one class twice a week I start four. It seems so odd because even though I've had to a long presentation and essay, I haven't felt like I'm in school yet. It's like a vacation. Because only international students are here in September they have been going on special trips. We've been on a tour of London, including a boat ride on the Thames, visited Stonehenge and the Roman Baths, and even went to the Globe theater to see Henry IV part I. Every Tuesday we go to a pub called the King and Queen in Brighton for karaoke night and Thursdays is trivia.

The main city right here is Brighton and it's amazing. It's right on the beach and there are buses ever 5 mins from campus to get you there. The large Brighton pier has all different ride and arcade games that are open til late at night. The old roller coast was the scariest ride I've ever been on. A couple blocks from the pier are the lanes. The lanes are small back streets with out traffic that have cute and funky shops of all kinds. My two favorites so far are the customizing store where every piece is unique and almost 80's patchwork looking, and the crazy futuristic techno store where all the clothes react to black light.

I'll probably post again later this week but for now its last day of class end of the semester dinner and time to finish my term paper.

In American airports you wait on lines, but in the UK you wait on the queue.

I have never really had to blog before, but I'm going to give it my best shot. I have never left the country either yet here I am now at the University of Sussex in Brighton, UK. My name is Laura Ciaccio and I'm a junior at Stony Brook with a health science major and minor in music. I'm hoping to go to school to be a Physicians Assistant and I always thought because of all the sciences I would not be able to go abroad but sure enough it worked out.

This morning in out general orientation I was thinking of how I could describe the crazy past 48hrs with out writing a novel. I figure since I make lists for everything, a list of things I've found out so far would do.

-No matter how many times I've reminded my self cars and traffic patterns are different, I still almost got in on the drivers side of the car.

-Food courts do no exist on campus but there are a ton of grocery shops and kitchens.

-What the students here consider expensive for food seems cheap compared to the US.

-The sussex campus is actually in the shape of a cat.

-Most dorms here are singles which is a far cry from being doubled or tripled (people here have never even fathomed that)

-RA's here are graduate students or older unlike at Stony.

-Many words are spelled differently, said differently or have a new meaning.

Ex: -Color is spelled colour

- A line is a queue (you queue up instead of line up)

- You don't rent items you hire them

- Thanks is cheers

- Antisocial means destructive or disruptive.

-It's actually difficult to understand some people due to their accents.

-The trains and buses are very clean and the announcements are very polite.

-Every where you look everything seems so quant and proper.