Me - nil, Brighton - 3

A birthday trip to the beach in Brighton turned a little bit chaotic.

Obvious course of action when you visit the seaside is to get fish and chips. We got our food and decided to wander down to the beach to consume it. Unfortunately I didn't really think to close the box my food was in. Consequently, I got dive bombed by a seagull which stole my fish and caused me to drop a lot of chips. Dropping the chips then caused the whole flock of seagulls to head in my direction. It was rather traumatic. Luckily I managed to save enough of my chips and my friends kindly donated me some fish from their (untouchd by seagulls) meals.

Later on we decided to go for a swim. As the beach at Brighton is covered by pebbles, I wore my spare flip flops to get to the sea. Sadly, luck wasn't on my side. As I got into the sea, there was a particularly strong wave which stole one of my flip flops. In an attempt to retrieve it, another wave stole the other flip flops. Then I got hit by a succession of waves which took me to a slightly different bit of sea and caused me to lose track of my flip flops. When I had to get out of the sea I had to half crawl, half stagger back up the beach as the pebbles were particularly uncomfortable to walk on.

There are probably two morals to this story. The first being, don't walk into the sea wearing flip flops. The second being, always cover up food at the beach just in case you get dive bombed by a cheeky seagull.


The possible culprit (not the random people lying on the beach)...

finalities

Anyway, I have less than a week til I go back to England. How do I feel? To be honest, part of me is bloody scared but another part of me is sort of looking forward to it. On one hand, nothing will have changed and I'll be back at my parent's house going crazy. On the other hand, I see many of my friends for the first time in 10 or so months if not longer (in some cases over a year). Mixed feelings really. I want to come back and visit my friends here but money means that may not happen for a while and I'm worried they will forget all about me!! Did I mention that because of my own disorganisation, my journey is taking four more hours than it should? Yes, I have to fly BACK to Phoenix to get my flight to London. Essentially, I am flying west to go east. Yep, stupid but not much you can do when you plan things a week in advance of leaving Flagstaff!

Since being in Washington DC, I have done a lot of sleeping and gone to a few museums to be a geek. I am staying at a friend's really nice hotel type apartment so I haven't spent as much as feared. I think I may be going to Baltimore tomorrow then on sunday somewhere else. New York is looking unlikely sadly due to finances and the sheer time it takes to get there would make it not that worthwile for a day trip. On the upside, NYC will always be there and flights these days aren't that expensive.

Strangely enough, I am going to miss the US, especially Flagstaff and NAU. Despite the ups and downs of the year, I had an amazing time and really caught the travelling bug. I want to go so many places now but as ever, money will probably make some of that simply not possible. I need a job dammit!!

Mexico

I am still alive. Hooray! In Acapulco at the moment which is really cool. Spent a few days in Oaxaca before this and got to Acapulco at stupid o´clock in the morning today. Spent a lot of the day at the beach attempting to get a tan and generally chilling out. It´s really hot and humid here. Prices are a bit higher than they were in Oaxaca but still, everything is far cheaper than the US.

Been staying in hostels and travelling on buses to get around Mexico. The current hostel is actually really nice and lets us have free internet access - bonus! You meet a lot of random types along the way though. In the hostel in Oaxaca, I ended up sharing a room with six other people - was a bit interesting. Here we have a room to ourselves (luck of the draw) which is cool.

leaving

On friday I leave Flagstaff, who knows if I will come back. I am going to Mexico for a fortnight with four friends, we're planning to spend a week in Acapulco then a week somewhere else that I can't pronounce. After Mexico, I am going to DC for ten days, during that time I am thinking of taking a day trip to New York (on my own though) just cos I'd really like to see it while I'm here. I then fly back to Phoenix to get my flight back to London (yeah, complicated way to do it).

It's weird that things are coming to an end here. I have a small problem with my dissertation, in that I have a bad feeling that I will get bored rigid by it. If I'm gonna muck up my degree, at least let me enjoy the dissertation and have the huge disappointment rather than let me be bored rigid and still have the huge disappointment. The end of term has stressed me out, I'm not in the best of moods. I'll update soon.

Vegas and more

I went to Las Vegas last week. Maybe it was because I'm under 21 and can't drink legally but it wasn't quite up to the hype. I liked it, definately an interesting place and all the tacky hotels amazed me. There's something about seeing people glued to slot machines day and night that is a bit depressing though. Stayed on the 27th floor of Circus Circus so had a pretty good view of the neon. Spent most of the time exploring the strip of Las Vegas with my sister. It was definately good to get away from Flagstaff for a few days.

I also went up to the Grand Canyon (again - 4th visit!) with my parents and sister. It's still there, still a hole in the ground and has lost most of it's novelty value for me now. We did go on a helicopter ride over the canyon which was really cool! It looks really amazing from the sky. Though did have to wear huge earphones and I got a bit motion sick cos the helicopter went up and down really fast. Bid the 'rents and Megan goodbye yesterday cos they went off to Tucson to see some family friends today.


I'm so in up the creek without a paddle at the moment.... Why? I have a load of crap to sort out with very little time in which to do it in, here is the list:
1. I have 3 and a half weeks in which to sort out where to go after NAU finishes.
2. I have done absolutely NOTHING related to my dissertation.
3. I have to figure out how to get rid of all the junk I have acquired over the last few months that won't fit into my suitcase.
4. I have to figure out a job for the summer.
Ok, listing it makes it seem a bit better. Yay! Maybe my list isn't so bad although that is a lot to do all the same.

Other things I have learnt this week:
1. 9 shots of tequila with no chaser is a really really bad idea, especially when you haven't drunk anything alcoholic for ages (I STILL can't remember some stuff from that night).
2. I am actually starting to feel ready for the return to England.
3. That my friends from the UK do remember my existance (yay) - thanks for the postcards, emails etc that you've all sent over this year.

SPRING BREAK

Spring break was Ok in the end. The Grand Canyon was very cold and damp but was definately an interesting experience. Laguna Beach was ace! It was warm, sunny and very relaxing. We went over to L.A and tried to star spot which was fun even though we didn't see anyone famous. Got very lost in Beverley Hills and accidentally found a house that was allegedly occupied at one point by Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. We also found the Playboy mansion but that was less exciting. Got very sunburnt though and saw a few less hunky surfer guys than we would have liked. Also watched far too many crappy MTV dating shows in the evenings cos being under 21, there wasn't much to do as usual.

Have a lot of stuff to think about now though. The 'rents are coming over in less than two weeks, I have a load of crap work to do and I need to figure out what the hell to do with three and a half weeks between NAU finishing and heading back to the UK. Strange how the time has gone so fast, bloody scary if you ask me. Seems that it all happened without me paying enough attention. Such is life.

snow

I am breaking my usual habit of updating about once a week. Why? Well, I am very excited because there has been about 3 or 4 inches of snow which is more snow than I have ever seen before. It's much deeper than the snow shown in the picture (top left) but I needed something to demonstrate the presence of snow. I have gone camera crazy and taken loads of photos (as ever, email me/let me know if you want to see). I went sledding yesterday with a few friends and I think we are going again later. The downside of so much snow is I had no snow gear so had to buy snow boots and waterproof trousers, taking my spending money down further! Still, I love snow so it's all good!

Spring break is coming up. Escaping Flagstaff as well - hooray! The only thing is I need to buy new clothes (one pair of trousers is actually falling apart) but I really don't feel I can afford it with all this stuff to plan for. I can't assume employment over the summer so I need to hold money back to keep me going. Wimbledon always proves expensive with the train tickets and although I will get the money back, I need to allow for it.