Tuesday again? The weeks seem to be flying by. Although, since I didn't blog until Friday last week, it actually hasn't been that long. Tomato, tomato... er, I forgot those were spelled the same, though said differently. My flatmates really want me to say things with British accents, partly to laugh and make fun of me I think. No trace of an accent yet, although I've slowly been working British words into my everyday language (for example rubbish instead of garbage). Mostly it's just interesting to hear the different ways that we say the same words. Pah-sta (British way of saying pasta), Paw-sta (American way of saying pasta). By the way, kudos if anyone just sat there and sounded out the different ways of saying pasta. Anyway, the fun debates continue over who says things correctly. Although, I did hear one girl say in response to an American commenting on how cute a British accent was "Our language, your accent". Harsh.

In other news, it is getting to be fall here. The trees have been changing for quite awhile, but it's definitely getting that chill in the air that signifies true fall. It's been so beautiful, but cooooold. We're supposed to get a rain/snow mix tonight, but thank goodness snow isn't in the forecast for at least the next 10 days. I'm not prepared for snow!

I also hope that with the new chill in the air that the spiders will die/find a new place to live. There has been a major spider infestation in my bedroom. And there are two spiders living in one of our bathrooms, and one in the other. I actually had two spiders crawling ON me at one point last week, so I have spared no mercy for any crawling creature I find.

I don't think that I have introduced my flatmates on here yet. I have been meaning to, but haven't gotten past calling them "my flatmates". I'll keep it simple, don't want to reveal too much about them on the internet. I live with two girls who are called Sarah and Hannah. Sarah is studying cognitive neuroscience while Hannah is studying French and English Literature. The two guys I live with are Ed who is studying Economics, and Jannick who is studying History and Politics (he is here from Luxembourg... he dad actually drove all the way over here to surprise him this weekend, it was really cute). I'm really lucky to have such amazing flatmates, Sarah even asked me the other day what they are supposed to do when I leave, I told her not to think about that dreaded day haha.

This weekend a couple of us actually went home with Sarah for the weekend. She lives on the Isle of Wight (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Wight ) which is a tiny island on the Southern coast of England (west of where Brighton is). Athena, Jason (American who lives above us from Kansas), myself and Sarah left Brighton on Friday afternoon. We took the train to Portsmouth where the train actually shares a station with the ferry and we caught the ferry over to the Isle of Wight. Sarah's daddy picked us up and took us to here house. There we enjoyed Friday night chicken curry (SO GOOD). We actually ate a ton of good food. It's the first time I've had true home-cooked food since I left the states. After dinner we walked with Sarah's brother into town (about half an hour) and went to the classic Isle of Wight bar where we met up with a couple of Sarah's friends and just hung out till they closed and we walked home. Saturday we all slept in and then Sarah's mommy was kind enough to drive us around all day to all the sights to see on the Island. I put up some pictures, the island is really beautiful. We went to the South Downs, then the Castle they have, then to the Needles at Alum bay, which is where the cliffs are receding and leaving big pieces that look like needles in the sea. When we got there we took a ski-lift down to the beach (not by my choice, it was a crazy death contraption if you ask me), but the beach was beautiful albeit windy and very cold. After that we drove around the rest of the island, took the ferry they have that connects one side of the island to the other. Then we came back and all took rests before dinner. Dinner was sausages, mashed potatoes and baked beans. After dinner we all hung around and watched tv with Sarah's parents (Top Gear is an AMAZING show by the way, so funny! And Strictly Come Dancing which is their version of Dancing with the Stars). We were deciding if we were going to go out, but decided against it. We watched Waiting for Guffman and Anchorman instead. Sarah had never seen Anchorman, her movie knowledge is very limited. Sunday we woke up early and her dad dropped us off at Osborne House (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_House) which was Queen Victoria's holiday home. It was absolutely beautiful; they keep it and the grounds in amazing shape. We explored that for a couple of hours, despite the driving rain. Then Sarah's dad came and picked us up and brought us home where waiting for us was the most spectacular meal I've eaten in months!! We had a proper, proper English Roast dinner, which is a meal had on Sunday afternoons. We had pork with applesauce, oven roasted potatoes, carrots, turnips, sweet potatoes, cheesy cauliflower, more veggies I can't name and other stuff... I can't even remember it all, but it was so so amazing! Then we had a trifle that Sarah's gran made, which has pudding, jello, strawberries, cream and all kinds of other delicious stuff. Ok, apparently I'm hungry because I've talked about food a little excessively. After dinner we relaxed and I finished the 7th Harry Potter (again) and then we packed up and left. It was a long and peaceful journey home, where I did get my homework done.

One thing that has really surprised me is how different the attitudes towards electronics are. I remember how when I was a freshman, every dorm room pretty much had a television, and the ones with living rooms were set up around the television. No dorm I've been in here has a tv at all. It is interesting because their tv and radio is all BBC basically, and you have to pay a license to have a tv in your house or dorm room (although not the living room, apparently that is taken care of by the University). Just some more of the differences I've been noticing. Someone told me that just because the English and Americans speak the same language, don't expect it to be the same... too true.

Cheers until next week!