Cows and Canoes!

What a busy last few days this has been! This past weekend (July 12th) was packed full of so many different activities it makes my head spin thinking about it! 

It all began with a trip into the south side of Sussex organized through the school with my fellow classmates. I think it was somewhere near where I went on the Seven Sisters hike (check it out below if you haven't already). We all got loaded up into this van and headed over to where the hike for the day was to start. The road there was so incredibly narrow and so full of trees that its a wonder that the van still has paint on it. The trees claw up all of the tall vehicles that go through there.

We finally got to the spot where we were to start our hike, the first step off the van and I was already avoiding cow pats (short for patties). We hiked through grasslands and thin forests, across rivers, and more cow pats than I have ever seen all at once. At the end of our short hike we all arrived at the base where we were to do the rest of the days adventures. 

 

There was so much to do and not nearly enough time so we all split into small groups and went through all of the different activities. My team started off with the canoes! About four of us in a canoes took a trip down the river.. trying to navigate at first wasn't so easy, and even towards the end we ran into some brush on the side of the water, which ended up being stinging nettle, which if you have ever touch you, you know that it is really really not pleasant.

This plant (which I don't have a picture of yet) when lightly brushed against your skin makes you feel like your hand is on fire while in a cactus.. yep definitely not fun. I had it on my hand and my arms which created welts and a burning sensation, but strangely enough after 30 minutes the pain and the welts were gone. There is a plant that grows next to it that allegedly when you rub it on the affected spot it heals you instantaneously, but most people aren't sure if this is actually a cure for the pain, or just a placebo effect.. still I wish I found some of those dock leaves!

After our canoe ride we took a lunch in the middle of the field, surrounded by cows, what do we eat? Hamburgers of course! homemade delicious hamburgers, the food they made on this trip was all specifically homemade to display the food culture, so even at lunch time I was learning about the things around me and more about England. The drink on the right is called Elderflower Cordial, it is made with these Elderflowers that only bloom in May. They pour hot water and sugar over them and add local berries as well as lemon. All of it is edible and very refreshing. I would compare it to the way you would drink a glass of lemonade on a hot day. It was the best thing to drink after that canoe ride. If you look closely at the plate of food on the let you will notice the orange flower next to the burger in the salad, I was really surprised how many flowers they actually consume.

 

 After lunch we went mountain biking! We ran through an obstacle course of forest, field, and of course more cow pats. Its harder than I expected it to be, mountain biking makes you focus so much on keeping balance because the ground is so uneven. One girl even flew over her handle bars!

 Then was story time! After all of that physical activity we were all ready for a nap, so we laid underneath a large tree and listened as this story teller told us of old myths and folktales from the area, we learned about ancient dragons, and lost lovers, when he wasn't telling us the stories he was playing the flute that only added to the deep relaxed feeling that comes from good story telling.

He even let me play the flute too!

 Finally our trip ended with some homemade chocolate cake and a local game of stool ball!

An English Fourth of July

Well I am finally catching my breath from all that school work I have been doing, and now I can write out how my past weekend went!

This past weekend was the Fourth of July, definitely one of the most non traditional Independence days that I have had, but very special and memorable nonetheless. I took the day to hike up the Seven Sisters cliffs in South Sussex with a large group of students also studying here. The cliffs are incredible to experience, its hard to fully express the awe you feel looking out and seeing something so iconic. When the world was shifting during the time the Sierras were formed the land around these cliffs was covered in water, and the land was pushed up into these cliffs. The white chalk you see is said to be from the bones of the animals that fell to the ocean floor when the water first took over the land. It is extremely delicate and erodes away all the time, so the cliffs are always kept white.

This ended up being about a 10 mile hike up and down each of the Seven Sisters cliffs. We had lunch on these beautiful pebble beaches (which really hurt to walk on barefoot) and then we all went back to school after the hike to celebrate Fourth of July. I have to say I really think we got a great celebration despite being away from home and celebrating in the county that we became independent from...

The rest of the weekend was still eventful because I decided to go and see London for the first time - I know, I have been here in England for 3 weeks and still hadn't seen it! But I got there and explored the worlds oldest museum, and I even met Cleopatra herself!

Mummies...

    And more mummies! 

... As you can see I really like Ancient Egypt :)

After checking out the Egyptian part I took many many photos of the rest of the museum, but like they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I will just post them below!

School in the UK!

So most of my posts so far haven't been about school, and that's because its just so much its hard to put down all of it into one post. But it here goes!

I am taking Introduction to Marketing for my first session here at the University of Sussex, in Brighton England. My class has about seven people in it, comprised of students from UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, Hamburg School of Business in Germany, Technologico De Monterrey in Mexico, and Ursinus College in Pennsylvania. Our class is diverse in where everyone is from so its interesting seeing how everyone's views and understandings differ.

For our class work we were all placed into groups and expected to make a marketing plan by the end of the module. During each class the professor goes over a new aspect of the marketing campaign, overnight or over the period of a day, our groups needed to change our marketing plan to reflect the new material that we had covered. Each day of class it begins with the professor going over new material, and it ends with each of us presenting our modified marketing proposal.

This way of learning has been extremely beneficial to my understanding of marketing and branding in the corporate world. Moreover it has taught me how to work with my classmates in an efficient way to come up with a proposal in a short amount of time.

I have spent a lot of my time here (when I am not exploring) in the computer room with my classmates going over marketing strategies, pricing, and product image. I have really been able to enjoy this type of studying.. it has kept me engaged in the class because I can directly apply what I learn, and then see immediately how well I have really learned it by presenting it.

It has been such a great opportunity to do my classes here with a diverse group of students. Not only do I learn about the material but I learn about my classmates countries' as well. Like something small.. in Germany when they write two thousand they use periods instead of commas (2.000) - which is a HUGE difference when you are writing a budget out and you are only getting 20 dollars instead of 20,000 dollars!  This is something that I would have only really noticed by working with someone from Germany.. or you know going to Germany too ;)

Finals are next week and its our final presentation! I am actually really excited about it instead of nervous, I am not sure if that's normal but I am happy with that!

Thanks for following my blog thus far!
I am headed off to London this weekend, then Paris the weekend after that, not to mention starting my next module as well, so keep checking back!

Differences

This has been a really interesting week for me. I took a lot of time to myself the beginning of this week and I explored a lot of the local shops here in Brighton. We have this lovely little town (okay so its not actually all that little) that is right on the coast. I spent a lot of time on my own at first, I was kind of homesick for awhile, but I've started to make good friendships here and it makes being away from home a bit easier. I became friends with a girl named Allie and she introduced me to her friend Jerry. Turns out she goes to UC Merced as well! Completely random that in a large room full of people I happened to talk to her, and out of everyone there what are the odds that shes a fellow bobcat?

Allie and I ended up playing pool.. but its not really pool here. I have listed out a few things below that are different here.. billiards being one of them.




Pool.. is called Snooker.. (Snookah if you say it with the English accent, the guy teaching me said I couldn't say it right). Its played with red and yellow balls instead of stripes and solids. Its similar to billiards in that the first one you hit is your ball that you have to try to make in the rest of the game... but its different because if I accidentally hit their ball or if you bounce off of theirs to hit yours then they get two extra shots. There is a whole bunch of other rules to it, but its hard to tell what is the local version and what is the real version of Snooker. But it was definitely a lot of fun, and Allie and I won!

 Bacon.. Bacon is different here too. The whole breakfast really. Its so much meat! - Okay I guess that's not really that different. The bacon is actually big slices of ham that are crispy like bacon, its really really delicious. And if you ask for a coffee they automatically give you an Americano (espresso and water) Their portions for drinks here are much smaller but really concentrated and their large is usually smaller than our medium drinks!

And then there are the beaches... The beautiful pebbly beaches of the UK. The way that people regard the beaches here is far different than at home. When in California I think of laying out on the sand, going swimming and playing in the waves. Here its a completely different atmosphere. People go hang out in large groups on the beach and sit and have barbecues.  There really aren't any waves at all either. And people don't really take off their shoes because its rocks. But its full of music and groups of people out until late just sitting and talking.

Okay, I know there are places in the US like this too.. but for me it was completely different, I grew up hanging out in SoCal beaches and it wasn't anything I had experienced before!

So thats it for my list of differences until I add more later. :)

There is this really beautiful and fun pier really close too. It is full of arcades and junk food and amusement park rides. So of course when tempted... 

                                                         
                                                       A waffle on a stick is a must!

It has definitely been a great week, and I made a couple of new friends. 

We went out to a restaurant the other night and on our way in the host grabbed me and started salsa dancing with me right in the entry way to the patio. He ended up hanging out at our table with us later and told us he was actually a part owner of the business. The people here are so friendly and they have a really witty sense of humor. The people I have met and befriended have made this trip such a great experience.

Preparing to leave

I will be spending the summer in the United Kingdom studying Marketing at the International Summer School - University of Sussex. During my stay there I will be traveling to surrounding areas and exploring their local businesses. Check out my blog daily to see what places I'll post!