Hello family, friends, and those who have accidentally stumbled upon my blog,
This first blog post marks the end of my first week at the University of Sussex, and oh what a week it has been. After a bunch of last minute packing and a little bit of scrambling, I landed in England ready for the adventure of a lifetime. Despite the eight hour time difference between England and Chicago I adjusted relatively well to jet lag. The only real struggle came when I had to sign up for fall classes at UCLA and my pass time was at 3:30 am England time. But other than a few small bumps, my transition has been quite smooth. I have already had so many experiences and learned more physics than I thought possible in such a sort amount of time.
Before I begin the telling of my many adventures a bit of background about where I am and what I am doing. I am at the University of Sussex participating in an eight week physics program split into two sessions. Right now in session one, I have class Monday through Thursday with lecture every day and lab and workshop alternating between days. In lecture, I learn about the the principles and ideas behind specific physics topics. This week we studied motion and energy. In workshop, I learn how to apply what I was taught in lecture to example problems, and in lab I learn how to apply these same ideas to real life situations. Because the program is only eight weeks long, things move pretty fast. We have biweekly tests and practical reports, and this upcoming week I have a midterm. It does sound a bit overwhelming (trust me when they first laid it all out I thought there was no way I was going to survive) but the University does a great job of providing lots of resources for us students. We have a whole team of professors and assistant tutors that offer their help whenever it is needed along with online resources to help us with understanding concepts.
The University is located about and hour and a half south of London near a town called Brighton. This past week I have spent much of my time exploring Brighton and the neighboring towns. Before classes started a couple of my classmates and I hiked 11 miles to a neighboring town called Lewes. This hike, although totally unplanned, lead to me seeing a lot of the surrounding area. The University has a beautiful campus surrounded by the English countryside. We hiked through the countryside and it gave me the chance to see a part of England most visitors do not see. The rolling hills and open fields provided a beautiful backdrop to our hike.
This first blog post marks the end of my first week at the University of Sussex, and oh what a week it has been. After a bunch of last minute packing and a little bit of scrambling, I landed in England ready for the adventure of a lifetime. Despite the eight hour time difference between England and Chicago I adjusted relatively well to jet lag. The only real struggle came when I had to sign up for fall classes at UCLA and my pass time was at 3:30 am England time. But other than a few small bumps, my transition has been quite smooth. I have already had so many experiences and learned more physics than I thought possible in such a sort amount of time.
Before I begin the telling of my many adventures a bit of background about where I am and what I am doing. I am at the University of Sussex participating in an eight week physics program split into two sessions. Right now in session one, I have class Monday through Thursday with lecture every day and lab and workshop alternating between days. In lecture, I learn about the the principles and ideas behind specific physics topics. This week we studied motion and energy. In workshop, I learn how to apply what I was taught in lecture to example problems, and in lab I learn how to apply these same ideas to real life situations. Because the program is only eight weeks long, things move pretty fast. We have biweekly tests and practical reports, and this upcoming week I have a midterm. It does sound a bit overwhelming (trust me when they first laid it all out I thought there was no way I was going to survive) but the University does a great job of providing lots of resources for us students. We have a whole team of professors and assistant tutors that offer their help whenever it is needed along with online resources to help us with understanding concepts.
The University is located about and hour and a half south of London near a town called Brighton. This past week I have spent much of my time exploring Brighton and the neighboring towns. Before classes started a couple of my classmates and I hiked 11 miles to a neighboring town called Lewes. This hike, although totally unplanned, lead to me seeing a lot of the surrounding area. The University has a beautiful campus surrounded by the English countryside. We hiked through the countryside and it gave me the chance to see a part of England most visitors do not see. The rolling hills and open fields provided a beautiful backdrop to our hike.
Along with the beautiful countryside, the university does have an urban setting in Brighton. To get to Brighton there is both a train and bus that takes you from campus right to the heart of the city. I ventured down there and was able to explore the Brighton Pier and an area of the city known as the North Lanes. These are small streets (no cars are allowed through them) lined with quaint cafes, coffee houses, and boutiques. Brighton is also home to one of the most well-known coffee houses, Small Batch Coffee. Apparently people from around the world travel to Brighton just to have a cup- of- joe from Small Batch Coffee. I stopped in one day after class and ordered some coffee while I did my homework. And I'll be honest, it lived up to its reputation.
In addition to exploring the University, I also went to London this weekend. It was a really interesting time to go because the day before England had voted to leave the European Union and the Prime Minister resigned.The headlines of the newspapers read " WE'RE OUT." I made sure to grab a copy to keep as a souvenir. I had never been to London so I filled my trip with as many tourist activities as I could. I took the train from Brighton to London and from there met up with a few friends who are studying at the London School of Economics. My first day in London I saw The Eye, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey.
The next day my friends and I bought tickets to visit the London Tower. Being a big fan of historic sites, I really enjoyed the Tower. We were able to walk through and see the torture chamber, the armory, and the royal jewels. After, we walked to St. Paul's Cathedral, but soon after our arrival it began raining, cutting our trip short. We made our way back to Trafalgar's Square (this is where we were staying) and were greeted by the site of thousands of people gathered for London Pride. I stayed and participated in some of the festivities and then walked to see Buckingham Palace. On my last day, I stopped at Harrod's because no trip to London would be complete without stopping to shop at the store the Queen herself shops. They were having a huge sale so it was complete chaos and the building itself was huge. For a while I walked around completely lost and confused as to how to get out.
With that my first week came to an end. Some things I learned in my first week at Sussex:
That is it from me for now. I will post again next Sunday about my second week. Hope you enjoyed my first post and I'll see you next time.
Cheers!
Veronica
- An 11 mile hike in Birkenstocks is not the most ideal situation, especially in areas where stinging nettle is prevalent
- It takes 4 pounds to get to Brighton by bus and 3.60 pounds to get there by train (round trip)
- Anne of Cleaves and King Henry VIII were really good friends which is why he divorced her instead of beheading her.
- Notes = bills (like dollar bills), queue= line, rocket= arugula
- Rain or shine bring a rain jacket
That is it from me for now. I will post again next Sunday about my second week. Hope you enjoyed my first post and I'll see you next time.
Cheers!
Veronica