Once more, unto the beach, dear friends, once more...
You know in Pride and Prejudice, how Lydia goes to holiday with the soldiers and Kitty is jealous but while at the beach Lydia elopes with Wickham? Well, she went to Brighton. And today, I went to Brighton- it's a real city, in the southeast of England, along the coast and with a little bit of fun history. So that's where that is.
We had to get up really stinkin' early in the morning in order to make it to St. Pancras station on time. When we got there, though, we had a lot of time to pick up our tickets and check out where all the trains in the station go to. Unfortunately, I found out there's a train that goes directly to Disneyland Paris. That would be fortunate news, but my wallet is crying and begging me to ignore this information. We'll see whether or not I listen...
Our total group included Olivia, Alexa, Brooke, Emily, Karli, Sarah, Alex, Nahome, Charlie, and I. Ten altogether, which is quite a lot. But our big group happily memorized Shakespeare the whole way there on the train, and once arriving, decided that the majority of the group was hungry. We made our way to a tea shop for breakfast. I had honestly hoped we would go there in the afternoon, but I won't complain, because at least we got to go at all! It's called the Blackbird Tea Rooms, and it's a very quaint, charming, old-timey place. The plates are beautiful and the food was fantastic. I'll have to go back for their proper afternoon tea sometime soon, if I can.
Then, we headed down to the shore and hung out on the beach for a while. Brighton's beach is very rocky, and the waves are small, but the water is fresh and cool- think Santa Cruz on it's best day water temperature. If you can get over your feet hurting sans shoes, it's great fun to skip rocks. We did just that for a jolly good while, also chatting and enjoying the sun as we went.
Pro tip- Don't go to Brighton if the weather isn't nice. A huge reason we enjoyed our time on the shore was the beautiful weather. It has to feel like beach weather, even if it's English beach weather (aka, colder than normal), you know?
We spent a nice amount of time hanging out in this way before putting our shoes on and heading up to the pier. The Pier is like a big amusement park- typical of most tourist piers. Brooke, Emily, Sarah, and Karli went on the roller coaster there, which was fun to watch. Alexa and I stood right in front of the one loop and watched them all go all the way around. The facial expressions were worth it.
When we left the pier, Olivia lost her hat, half of us were hungry again, and the other half wanted to go see the Royal Pavilion. So, we split. I went with the Royal Pavilion group, consisting of Olivia, Alexa, Karli, Alex, and Charlie.
A brief history of Brighton, from what I learned from Brooke today:
One of the kings of England, previous to Victoria, decided he wanted a vacation spot/summer home somewhere outside of London. So, he had people construct a highly extravagant, over-the-top pavilion in Brighton. The area belonged to the royal family and they could go and come as often as they pleased. Enter Victoria. She thought that there was too much extravagance and that she really didn't need all that space or much-to-do, so it was opened up to the public. Today, you can pay to tour the inside, where they've restored much of the original furniture.
Naturally, we are study abroad students who would rather not pay. I would've been willing, but alas, I was alone. Instead, we wandered up and down the Lanes of Brighton. The major streets are, for the most part, the type of European, mostly-cobblestone streets that make you nostalgic for the Charles Dickens days. Weaving in and around the street blocks, far too narrow for a car and almost too narrow for two people to walk side-by-side, are a variety of alleyways and byways and, well, lanes full of shops, food, and other fun things to explore. Surprisingly, there are a large number of jewelry exchangers or sellers in this area. Not sure why. It's thoroughly charming. While here, we finally decided we were hungry, and so went in for a Cream Tea at That Little Tea House in the Lanes. I had grabbed a scone near the pavilion, not thinking we would stop for food, so the second scone was a bit too much sugar for me (jam and clotted cream are sweet, believe it or not. Plus I had been sweetening my tea). Nevertheless, I liked it just as much as Blackbird, even though it was less posh.
Then, once more unto the beach we went. And this became our mantra. So you're fully educated, this is a play on the opening line of a speech from Shakespeare's Henry V. I don't think I've ever quoted Shakespeare as much in my life since I got to BADA. Goodness...
Back at the shore, I found a pretty piece of artwork that I decided to get, and for a long while we just chilled out by the water, throwing rocks and talking and playing a game and burying Alexa's feet in rocks. I found three perfect juggling rocks and spent a lot of our conversation practicing my juggling skills. When we decided to head back to the train and back to London, we picked up the other group at an ice cream shop, and marched back up to the train station.
Our original train got canceled, but that just meant we had to do an extra transfer on the Underground once we got back into London. I slept on the entire first train, so when we got to Victoria station and split off again by place of residency, I was what I'd call "tired drunk." It's fun times all around with tired drunk Rachel. She makes absurd conclusions and finds the smallest of details funny and can't quite think straight and has very little filter. Also, I was feeling the crummiest I have all day. Remember that cold? Yeah, I forgot about it until then too. Update on that- feeling better, but now my nose has decided to feel stuffed even though it isn't. Huzzah. Thanks, nose.
We made it successfully back to the Landward, where I had a nice, protein-filled, late dinner, and now I'm just chilling and contemplating getting ready for school tomorrow. If I have to do my monologue tomorrow I may cry. I'm prepared, sure, but I'm going to be so tired and I know it.
Despite the moments I've been feeling tired and sick, today was definitely worth it. I had a lot of fun, and it was nice to get out and explore. England is more than just London, you know.
Sorry for no pictures. Adding pictures requires a bit of effort, on my part, and I'm not sure I'm willing to go to that trouble tonight.
Fight on, friends.
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