Welcome Back to Village Life

I am home. Back in England, back in Orston. When I arrived it was raining, unsurprisingly, but there was so much rain that my village actually flooded! I closed my eyes and tried to remember what the Californian sun felt like!

It is weird being back. I am so excited to see all my friends and family but trying to fit back into this life is going to take some time I think. There was a moment when I was standing in my bedroom, trying to unpack (a task that took me way longer than it should!) and I was just looking around unable to remember where my stuff went! Other habits came back straight away like having to yank the bathroom door really hard to get out as it has a tendency to lock you in. Driving has been also been interesting; definitely turned the wrong side of a bollard and continued to drive in the wrong lane for a while! Oh well, quiet village lanes mean this wasn't too dangerous!

My last few days in Seattle were great. I got to spend some time on my brother-in-law's parent's boat which they had moored up in the Puget Sound for 4th July. We played Bananagrams and ate cream teas randomly! Also ate gorgeous clam chowder in Pike Place Market! 

My year abroad was absolutely amazing. I am so happy that I got to experience life in another country, meet some great new friends, see such beautiful places, and try things that I never would have done otherwise! I have been all over the country from Seattle to LA to Nashville, and that barely even scratches the surface of America. Now that I am home, people are asking me what my favourite thing was, and it is so hard to narrow down. I would say that it is between the white water rafting, and  just the general lifestyle; the outdoors, relaxed, care-free, sunny! It sounds so cliche to say it but America does feel like the land of opportunity and freedom. The sky feels higher there which I know is not possible but somehow...it just does. I have said for a long time now that I want to live in America and this year was either going to make or break that idea. It definitely made it! I do now appreciate how hard it is to leave everyone and it was really hard for the first few months, and when you were feeling down, but you do create a new life for yourself. I am going to live there one day, I just have to make sure I am rich enough to come back often! 

Oh and during the year I was trying to see all the different license plates. Out of 50 states, I saw 44. But I mean, who is going to have driven from Delaware all the way to Santa Cruz? There is also only like 50 people in the entire state anyway.
Thanks for sticking with me and reading this blog for the past year! I have loved writing it and am now going to print it out and make it into a scrapbook (well, that is the plan anyway!). I also need to find something to do on Sundays now that this is done with!

Preparing For A Shock

Since my last post I have flown to Seattle, drove to Portland, drove to Skamania Lodge, back to Portland, and then finally back up to Seattle! At one point I had been in four states in a 48 hour period. Phew. I am enjoying pretty much doing nothing in Seattle with my sister and brother-in-law!

Last weekend I was at Skamania Lodge, which is a beautiful lodge on the Columbia River Gorge on the border of Washington and Oregon. My brother-in-law's family have a reunion there once a year and this was my first time going. Again, another beautiful place. Trees, the river, the lodge with all it's wooden features, sculptures and big stone fireplaces. It was a shame that the weather wasn't great. Rain, rain, a bit of sun, then some more rain. It didn't matter too much though. There was a lot to do inside like swimming, relaxing in the hot tub, going to the gym, and with 20 other people in your group, always someone to talk to or play board games with! We all spent a lot of time in the indoor pool; at one point we had pretty much taken it over with the majority of our party playing piggy in the middle and of course, having competitions like who can travel the furthest on a single breath. Why is it that when families get together, there is always some level of competition? Not that I mind of course! We all know how competitive I can get. We did introduce the newest member of the family to swimming. Now this cute 2 month old will surely be a great swimmer when she get's older. She was already kicking her little legs and blowing bubbles in her adorable pink swimsuit!

The first night we were there, after spending the afternoon in the pool, we all gorged ourselves at the dinner buffet. In fact, I am reluctant to use the word 'buffet'. It makes it sound like it was just one big table with cocktail sausages an potato salad. No, this does not describe it well enough. Perhaps the words 'culinary experience' would be more appropriate. There was everything you could possibly want from all kinds of hand carved meats, sushi, pastas, fresh fish, I could go on and on.  We won't even touch the dessert table. Buffet's are dangerous. Really, really dangerous. It is not often that you find yourself walking out thinking "I only had four plates worth, it could have been worse"! I'm glad we spent a lot of time in the pool and the gym! Oh my word the smoked salmon was to die for. Sunday brunch was the same type of thing, and my brother-in-law summed it up perfectly when, at the end of the meal, pushing his plate away, he said "You know you have overdone the buffet when you dunk your last piece of french toast into the creme brulee!" The following evening was thankfully just the average three course meal. This came after photo-shoot time outside with a whole array of different combinations of people; "Ok now the sisters, now the brother with mom, now grandma you jump in and mom you jump out, now just those with dark hair, smile! Now James Bond style". There was no professional photographer, just members of the family who had been coordinating this for the past ten years.

Another great activity that we took part in was the Bird's of Prey talk and exhibit. We saw the end of the show that took place just outside the lodge on the lawn, on the Friday evening, but when we came to watch it on the Saturday, it had been moved to inside the lobby which was a much more cozy setting. I have never been so close to a giant Bald Eagle who was happily decapitating a chick! The photos are of the same birds just on the Friday showing.

Came back to Seattle on the Sunday night and haven't done much since! Well, I got my nails done, something I have been wanting to do for ages after forcing myself to leave them alone. Now I feel all girly! The bro-in-law and I did check out the Experience Music Project which is this giant museum downtown where they have all these cool exhibits about Nirvana, the music in horror movies, and sound labs where you can play all these different instruments. You should have heard us rapping in the vocal booth! Actually, i'm glad you didn't. I'll stick to my piano. Speaking of which, that is one of the first things I am going to do when I get home on Thursday. I can't believe I only have a few days left. I love Seattle, and I love being with my family here, but now that I have left Santa Cruz and California, I feel like I am in a weird limbo. Everyone has been telling me how much of a shock it will be going back home and i'm not sure how to prepare for that. Coming back from a three week holiday to America get's me all confused with the cars on the other side of the road, and the money etc! It feels weird that I will be seeing my friends and family in just a few days, and this sounds strange, but I feel nervous about it! Oh of course I am excited too, I just know it will be strange to begin with. I think I am going to open with "LOOK AT MY TAN!" Or what is left of it...damn Seattle and the rain. It is starting to fade. Is it weird to take pictures of your own back as evidence? That may just get awkward.

I will leave you with both the notion that this is the last post that I will make while in America. I want to do another one when I am at home so I doubt this is the last! I am also mentally preparing myself for the epic journey from here to home, via Iceland of course.
 Finally, my bro-in-law and sus gafas de sol. Sadly he did not have them on while we were rapping.

Hello, Hola, Bonjour Finals.

That is it. Winter quarter over. Apart from final exams and stuff, all the classes have finished and all that stands in the way of me and Tennessee are 2 exams and an essay. Which is obviously why I am on here, writing this blog!

My friend from South Carolina/England went back to university on Monday which was sad. We had had a really great time, especially Sunday. It was a gorgeous day so we got up and went down to the Boardwalk by the beach to ride some rides (actually we only went on these sky-ride things as they are so expensive!), play mini-golf, and chill out on the beach, working on our tans. Or in my case, trying to cover up my burns from the day before! We then walked downtown to stock up on all different kinds of nuts from the best shop in the world; Nut Kreations. They deliver anywhere just in case you wanted to go and peruse their website! It is alike a shop of pic-n-mix nuts and dried fruit. I have been in there so many times that the owner knows me personally! We stopped and got some dinner at a diner type place (all organic and natural of course) that provides trivial pursuit cards on each table in case conversation runs dry...we immediately turned it into a competition! I don't want to reveal who won, or who won mini-golf...i'm still bitter. Not even the thought of a deep-fried Oreo would stop me being a sore loser. 

At about 9pm my roommate and the guys came and picked us up and went to Seabright beach to build a bonfire in one of the pits there. It was such a calm and mild night and we just hung round the fire, making smores, playing guitar, and relaxing before the final week began and studying for exams was going to have to take place! All in all, a great end to a lovely visit:)

All that happened during the week was studying, and more studying. Oh and rain, lots and lots of rain. It started on Monday and did not stop once until this morning. When it rains here, you know about it. It sucked because all you wanted to do was curl up on the sofa with a book or a movie but instead you had to bundle up, get out the rain gear and traipse around campus to class. Though I suppose it meant that the sun was not taunting us from the library windows. It also meant that I had to battle the rain to get to a bone specialist appointment in Capitola. I got my roommate to pick me up though, then get frozen yogurt;)

Yesterday I finally got my zipcar account approved! Zipcar is like a car rental service but the cars are already in certain spot on campus (well they have them all over the country) and you reserve a car for a length of time online then  use your card to unlock the car and the keys are already in there. It is pretty expensive, $8 an hour, but is great if you just need to drive to the store or something. It was so liberating driving by myself around Santa Cruz! I definitely felt more like I lived there. Though it was a bit scary. For starters the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car, and the cars are driving on the wrong side of the road! And the overtaking lanes are opposite, and you can turn right on a red light! What is with that? Surely red means STOP. Also, all these cars are automatic, they are go-carts essentially. I kept bashing my hand against the door as I went to use my left hand to change gears. Talk about negative reinforcement through pain. I felt like Pavlov's first attempt before he realised reward was a better way to go. Anyway, after that experience, one of my friends was house-sitting/ cat-sitting for her cousin in San Jose so me and the roommate got in her car and drove to go visit and have a 'study-session'. Yep, hardly any studying got done which is bad seeing as I have an exam tomorrow. Instead we passed the time rolling on the floor with the cats, names Aloha and Ahn-Nyeong (pronounce anyong) which mean hello in Hawaiian and Korean respectively, watching funny clips on youtube, and pretty much everything else. We got back at 3am. So guess what I have to do allll day... 

Oh well, Nashville, Tennessee on Wednesday! I am so unbelievably excited y'all.  

Raining cats, dogs and elephant seals

First things first: you see that little box labelled Study Abroad Blog Roll on the right? Well, exciting stuff, my blog is now featured on this website! It is a great site where you can get lots of information about a year abroad so if you are thinking of taking one, or have one coming up, then go check it out!

I think I jinxed the weather with my last post. I said that I felt I was suffering from seasonal jet-lag due to the sunny, warm weather in California compared to Seattle. The winter gods apparently read this and decided to show me that it does indeed rain in California from time to time. Or for days on end in fact.
It has not stopped raining. And not the pathetic drizzle kind but actual full on rain! It is sooo loud. It isn't just rain; it is cold. Not freezing but around 12 degrees which I still think is cold! It has been very amusing watching people's reaction to this weather:
You have the people who fully embrace the precipitation with rain coats, waterproof ponchos, wellies, even waterproof trousers. This may be going a bit too far...if you want to stay dry that badly, just stay inside!
Then you have the people who are completely in denial. It is like they cannot feel this liquid sunshine. The number of people I have seen sidestepping around gigantic puddles or trying to avoid the small rivers flowing down the paths wearing shorts and flip-flops is quite astounding!
I have been asked a number of times if this weather makes me feel more at home. What a strange question! That is like me asking them if they feel at home when the sun shines! I nod and smile and mutter something about the English weather system or how my wellies were one item that I did not pack.

This week hasn't been very exciting. Just more work, watching endless episodes of Castle (did you check it out?) and watching Disney movies in my Disney class! Thursday was a proper full on Disney day where we watched Snow White in a lecture, multiple Mickey Mouse cartoons in a seminar, and then me and 2 friends went to the cinema to see Beauty and the Beast in 3D! They did not stop singing all the way through! I  joined in on the classic "Tale as ooolldd as time.." and "be our guest" but they were proper going for it! I am obviously not well versed in the soundtrack and will have to brush up on my disney songs. It has been a week of watching a screen actually. We had to watch this really really sexually explicit movie for Spanish called 'Y tu mama tambien' which was like porn. We have to discuss it in class tomorrow which will be weird. I am not interested in knowing the spanish words for 'communally masturbating into a swimming pool on diving boards'. Yes. That did happen.

Today I went on a trip to Ano Nuevo State Reserve to hang out with the Elephant Seals. The trip was fun, don't get me wrong, but again, it was raining, and windy, and cold! There were hundreds and hundreds of seals though. Some weighing in at 5000lbs!! It is the middle of the birthing season so there were lots of newborns around, trying very hard not to get squished by the fighting males. Before a confrontation, the males lift up their heads and make a deep, loud sound, a bit like a foghorn. Then if the other does no back down then they slam their bodies into each other and try to bite each other's neck! It was quite awing to watch. Huge beasts of nature showing their full force. I definitely felt like a weak, tiny human next to them. We weren't very far away from them, about 25yards. You just had to make sure you didn't get in between two males as it could get messy...
So these photos show some of the Elephant Seals, one has been bitten by a Great White Shark and survived!  There is also a video of one section of a beach just littered with seals.

Going to make a shameless plug for my other blog which you can check out by going to my profile. It is about health and fitness but I am not sure quite what I am going to do with it yet!