A Trip to the Seven Sisters

Spring Break Holiday began this week, and while I have term paper deadlines looming over me, my flatmates and I decided to give Spring a proper start with a trip to Seven Sisters Country Park, 7 beautiful chalk cliffs that overlook the English Channel, situated about 45 minutes east of Brighton in the South Downs National Park.

We were so incredibly lucky with the weather, as you can tell in the shots below!

Repin CA

Some of the other Sisters

In the depths of term papers...

Today is the last day of Spring Term, my final 'taught term' as an MA student. All work going forward is independent research for my dissertation. My papers for this term are due in a few weeks, so I've entered serious mode and buried myself in books, articles, images, and caffeinated tea.

Here is a teaser of one of my term papers... more will follow soon, so stay tuned...

'The Real John Smith: establishing his own social hierarchy in Virginia'

Sorry Pocahontas, but it's time to give the spotlight over to the writings of Captain John Smith. The narratives of his travels and trials in the New World are often overshadowed by the story of Pocahontas (whom btw he never married, his compatriot did), and I am attacking these primary sources to delve further into the unique social hierarchy he uses to describe the natives against the ever-looming British social structure he cannot help but obsess over.

Spring Has Sprung!

I was walking through campus with a Canadian friend today, and stopped to take a picture of some of the gorgeous daffodils that have sprung up throughout the grounds. She commented that she also wanted to take pictures of these wildflowers to send to her friends back in Canada as a reminder that her weather was better, as she was experiencing spring while they still had snow on the ground. 


I informed her I've never known seasons before. Oh California...

(There is an extra dot on the ellipsis in the third paragraph. Other than that, this is fantastic.)

Following the Rainbow to the Land of the Leprecans

A few weeks ago, my friends Myles and Mehreen were hanging out in my kitchen and found a deal with RyanAir (an insanely cheap European airline) to fly to Ireland for next to nothing. They decided to book it that night. I walked in the kitchen, heard them telling my flatmates, and asked if I could come. We left on Thursday.

First of all, there are some AMAZING deals on flights within Europe, but they come at a cost that isn't money. Baggage allowance is next to nothing, there are insane hidden fees (i.e. if I didn't print out my own ticket, it would have been £60 at the airport to get it from the airline), and the plane ride is anything but relaxing with their stuffy cabins, jammed seating, and constant advertising for products over the intercom. Nevertheless, we made it to Dublin Thursday night irritated but in one piece. Our first day, we took a long walking tour of the city, visiting some of the key parts of Dublin, and made sure to spend a lot of time at the Guinness Storehouse. We joined a pub crawl in the evening, and I got up bright and early the next morning to make it over to Crossfit Dublin for a morning workout (the Crossfit Open clearly takes priority in my life). I then joined back up with Mehreen and Myles for a proper full Irish breakfast, washing it down with just a few pints of cider, and we headed to the old Jameson Distillery Factory (noticing a trend here?).

On our last day in Ireland, we took a bus to the other side of the country. It took two hours. That puts things into perspective, as I went to college two hours from my parents' house, and I thought it was a bit close. Our day was filled with a visit to a proper Irish farm, a hike through the rocky countryside, a stop at a Medieval castle, a cruise along the beautiful west coast, and finally a trek through the breathtaking Cliffs of Moher. While we certainly got our "Irish drink on" in Dublin, the touring of the landscape and coast outside of the city felt as though I was really seeing the country and its natural beauty.

It's trips like these, where we are pinching every penny but getting to see amazing parts of the world, that make me so grateful to be living in Europe at this time in my life. Cheers.