"In another town" (actually the same one)

The rain refuses to leave! It seems that we only get a break from the rain for a few hours before it returns bigger and badder than ever! Luckily, I have gotten use to the cold weather and actually do not mind not seeing the sun for a couple of days, but being wet and sunless is a bit too much. Southern Californians are not used to this!

Since my last post, I ventured into downtown Brighton several times. There is always something new to discover and ISS is always leading tours around town. Gaby, Jennifer, and I decided to tackle the pier on our own the other day. Thankfully it was not raining at the beach, but there was a mighty wind. The following pictures are a witness to that:

Believe it or not, there is no sand at Brighton beach, but rather pebbles! It was difficult navigating our way through the beach. Halfway through, we decided to just walk on the boardwalk. After our pier excursion, we agreed to trek around our backyard. There is a small wood near our village and we quickly discovered trails in the wood and bravely followed one.

Rarely would you ever find natural greenery in Los Angeles, let alone as close to you as your own backyard. So you can imagine how thrilled yet surprised I was to find that the wood behind our house was so dense! The end of this trail spewed out into an open field where cows grazed (cows not pictured unfortunately).

Today a group of us went to visit Brighton Pavilion, a very exotic-looking palace building during the 19th century as the holiday home for King George IV. Unfortunately, I could not take flash photography of the interior and I completely forgot to capture the exterior with my camera. I'm sure if you google "Brighton Pavilion" you will witness for yourself exactly what I mean by "exotic-looking." It sure isn't a quaint little English cottage or massive, cold castle. After the tour of the Brighton Pavilion, we took a bus to the Brighton Marina, where I'm happy to report I did take pictures!

You'll notice that the sun decided to come today! It was glorious and such a treat to feel the warm sun on my face! I was even able to wear sunglasses! After walking around the marina a bit, we went bowling and ate afterwards. I finally had some fish and chips!

Then it was back to the bus stop with a quick bus change in downtown Brighton. You may recalled my mentioning the plan to visit Stonehenge, Bath, and London. Unfortunately, a few cars filled with bombs were found in London as well as Glasgow, Scotland resulting in the country being on a high terrorist alert system. We plan on taking the train into London next Sunday. The trip into Stonehenge did not fall through due to poor planning by ISS. Basically, there was not enough buses to take all the people that signed up for the trip. I was part of the unfortunate group that did not get on the bus that sadly left us in the dust. A few friends and I already planned for another trip to Stonehenge, Bath, as well as Salisbury Cathedral scheduled for Saturday. Well, I guess I should actually get some studying done because that's what I'm here for, right? ;) Cheers!