Technology

Today we had our first tests, which went really well! Everyone seemed to do a good job on them. I have posted a picture of the classroom. You can see the ocean outside the doors! It has been cloudy all day though so we haven't spent much time outside. I decided to take advantage of the day by getting ahead on my homework for the week. We wont have class tomorrow and weather permitting, we are hoping to do something fun outside. 

I have learned this trip to love technology even more than I did before. It is so cool to listen to online lectures for my Genetics class and then just do homework during class.

I love being able to blog about my experiences here. On blog I can combine my stories with pictures and can simply send the link to everyone I want. It is fun to read other blogs as well. Two other girls from my class are blogging. I love to see how people interpret situations differently and what they chose to write about. 

It is also cool to talk to family and friends who are back home! FaceTime and Skype are genius inventions. Not only can we talk, but we also get to see each other. I have realized that I miss home more than I thought I would probably because I am doing school work here. I think it would be a little different if I was just traveling around looking at all of the beautiful sites. 

This is me Skyping with my family on Sunday! It was nice to talk to all of them at once! I tell them about all about England and they tell me all about Flagstaff! I miss them and can't wait to see them and go to Texas when I come back! 


 


I love to Skype with Darby. She is so precious. My mom put  the computer on the ground and she gets really excited to hear my voice but doesn't quite understand the screen. So then she goes running around the house looking for me! I just love those ears perked up. 

Of course I also love to FaceTime with Tanner! This is the longest we have been apart so it is nice to still be able to talk. The time difference makes it harder between his work schedule and my sleeping. But we make it work! :) 




As for this evening, we are planning on hanging out with some locals on the beach. We have met quite a few 18-20 year olds which is fun. This trip is going by faster than I expected! Already with 10 days down! 23 still to come! 

The Market and Dorchester

When I packed for England I was told to expect a lot of rain. I packed several pairs of jeans and long pants as well as long sleeves and a rain coat. We have been here for a week now and it has yet to rain! Luckily I remembered to pack some shorts and t-shirts as well! Today a local told us to enjoy the warm weather while it lasted. They said they were amazed it had been so nice and expected the rain to come at any time.

Now by warm weather I mean 60's. It has been cooler here then even Flagstaff. I never need more than a light jacket and the only reason I need that is because it gets colder when you are walking along the coast (Which is most of West Bay). 

So besides the weather, I also enjoyed a lovely day at the Market in Bridport and the town of Dorchester. Bridport is the town about 2 miles away and once a month on the second Saturday, they have a town market. The market is filled with fruits and vegetables from farms nearby, locally caught fish, and lots of miscellaneous things to buy! I bought some fruit, homemade wheat bread, and some vegetables. It was fun to walk around and see all of the different things people had laying out. I did not take very many pictures of the actual stands as I thought that might be inappropriate! 

This is a picture of a fire truck in Bridport! Behind it you can see the white tents which were set up all along the sidewalks on both sides of the street. One thing I have noticed here is that there are not any police or police stations. Interestingly enough there was a show that was recently filmed here called "Broadchurch" and so they have signs for a fake police station used in the show but West Bay is so small that there is not an actual one. Even more interesting is the fact that the show is based on a small village community after the death of an 11 year old found near the cliffs.Something that could actually happen here! Feel free to google it! 

One of my favorite things about traveling here besides the gorgeous views is the method of travel. Double decker buses are so cool. I sat on the top both ways (there and back). I am excited to try the ones in London as well as I think the roofs are open on those ones! I am amazed that these huge buses can drive on the small roads throughout England! I am even more amazed that all of the little cars that drive by them are not afraid to do so! 

After a short bus ride (30-40) minutes we arrived in Dorchester. The drive between the towns is mostly open with green hills and roaming animals. Dorchester is a very historic market town. It seems to be best known for being home to Thomas Hardy. He wrote a book titled, The Mayor of Casterbridge, about the town. Since then, several other authors have visited and chosen to write their books with settings in Dorchester as well. Dorchester is much larger then West Bay with a population of about 18,500. West Bay is between 1,000 and 2,000 people. So it was fun to see a "bigger" city. While there we walked around and explored the little shops, ate at a nice little café, and visited the Dorchester Museum. 

This is one of the "main" streets in Dorchester. There are not very many people driving along these streets, mostly just walkers. I took a picture because the third building in is a Subway.
I totally expect to see lots of "American" things in London because of the amount of tourists but I was not expect ing to see it in one of the country towns. There were lots of people inside eating.  

 One thing that I love about this part of England is that even when you are in the middle of a city,there are still lots of green trees and grass and beautiful parks! This one on the right was just off the main street. We walked through it and down to another street and it was so peaceful. I think that every town should just have nice little green parks randomly dispersed. There were not very many people walking on it. I suppose that most people were on the main streets doing their shopping or exploring other parts of the town. I am totally content just walking around everywhere because there are so many beautiful buildings and things to see! 

Eventually we stopped for lunch at a little café. I think it is so charming how many cafés England has! Tiffany ordered a "Dry" cappuccino. The waitress has not idea what a dry cappuccino was and eventually they decided that what she wanted was a cappuccino with less coffee and more froth! This was one very frothy cappuccino! And of course it is served with a little biscuit! 

 We decided to walk around after lunch and found the Dorset Museum. The Museum has artifacts from around Dorchester as well as individual exhibits for specific categories. As I mentioned before Thomas Hardy is important in Dorchester history. In the Museum there was an entire exhibit devoted to his life including a "mock" study room similar to the one at his home. 

This is a skull of the Weymouth Bay Pliosaur. According to the sign it is the most complete skull to ever have been found. If you can't tell from the picture, it has the most powerful jaws of any animal in the history of Earth. It measured 18 metres in length and 10 metres across. This was part of the Jurassic Coast exhibit in the Museum. For anyone who doesn't know, West Bay is one of the many towns along the Jurassic Coast. The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage

site. It is approximately 96 miles in length. It is also the fifth greatest Natural Wonder in Britain. 

This next picture is of a Ichthyosaur! The Ichthyosaur is a dolphin like reptile. It is about 192 million years old. It was found in Lyme Regis which is one of the other towns along the Jurassic Coast. 



Shortly after the Museum we caught the bus headed back to Bridport. From there I walked back home and studied for a while. We have our first exams coming up on Monday. The not so fun part of Study Abroad! Afterwards I went for a short hike to Eype. I have spent the rest of the evening studying and chatting with my parents. One week down! Just under a month left! 

Café Kind of Day

Today was absolutely wonderful. It was 65 degrees out which was perfect. We finished class about an hour early and came back to the cottage for lunch. I have a feeling that class will be done early everyday because her lectures are not taking as long as she was expecting them too! No complaints here! So I went for a nice run and then headed home to relax. 

Around 3 we left for Seatown which is about 2.5-3.0 miles from West Bay. It was so nice outside and there were lots of sheep everywhere. There was one particular sheep that really liked us and wanted us to give him some attention. I also saw this black lab along the way and it reminded me of Tanner's dog, Brook. So I had to take a picture! Her name is Hugo and she is 13 months old.  

It seems as though everyone here in West Bay has a dog. And everyone here takes their dog everywhere they go. I have definitely seen a lot more small dogs though. I had yet to see a Labrador or Retriever until I saw Hugo! I did however see a Dalmatian yesterday which was really cool! I have only ever seen pictures. I have heard that not many people have them because they can be pretty mean. Which, is surprising if all you know about Dalmatians comes from the Movie, 101 Dalmatians. Even while we were at dinner tonight people were sitting outside eating with their dogs. 




We hiked for a while and eventually found a very cute and cozy Café to have dinner at. The Café was hidden along the path and a little out of the way but was totally worth it in the end.A few of the other people in our group had gone earlier that day and recommended the Cream Tea. I was in the mood for something a little more filling but I plan on going back sometime to try it! I ended up ordering a tomato, mozzarella, pesto ciabatta. It was SO GOOD! My meal was huge and I felt like it should have been split between two people! I ate two of the slices and then Brooke had some of the third with her lunch. I think it is interesting that in England when you order water they ask you, "Still or sparkling." I am sure there are a lot of people who enjoy sparkling water but it sounds pretty awful to me! 

I know I have mentioned it a few times already but I just can't get over how Green and beautiful everything is here. There are so many cows and sheep everywhere! I think it is so cool that they have made these cliffs hiker friendly with trails and everything!  

On our way back we hiked about a mile on the cliffs and then hiked the rest of the way back to West Bay on the beach. The beaches here are mostly rock but I loved just silently walking and listening to the waves crash against them (Thought about you mom). I can't believe I get to spend the rest of the month hiking such cool places. 

Tomorrow will not be quite as fun as I plan to spend the afternoon studying for my exams on Monday! On Saturday though four of us are planning to take a trip to Weymouth and Dorchester and spend the day exploring. I am hoping to find some nice touristy shops! Then I will probably spend most of Sunday studying as well. I might just have to bring my books down to the water though and study on the beach. That sounds lovely! 

A Nice Run and Tasty Whippy

Today was mostly focussed on school! I woke up and made breakfast. I was really excited because I bought some Quaker "Oatmeal" from the grocery store. I love to eat oatmeal back at home and was excited for something good. Well, it turns out that even though the brand is Quaker, it is not Oatmeal. I instead bought porridge. Let me tell you, Goldi Locks probably didn't like any of the porridge she tried, too hot, too cold, or just right. The worst part of it all is that I bought two boxes! That is 20 packets of porridge. :( I plan on buying some honey or cinnamon spices and topping it with fresh fruit in the future. 

Luckily my day was not focussed on bad breakfast! Class began at 8. The summer classes that I am taking are very fast paced. These classes are usually offered during the regular semester at NAU. That means that we do about a week's worth of lectures and homework in one class period. So a week here is a month's worth of work back home! I am liking it so far and hopefully it makes exams easier. Not as much time to forget when you have an exam every Monday! Brooke and I came home from class today and hammered out all of our homework for the rest of the week. Tomorrow we plan on coming home from class, packing a lunch and going for a picnic up on the West Cliffs. My pictures so far have been taken from the East cliffs. Those are the cliffs to the left of us. So tomorrow we will explore the ones to the right of us! I will make sure to take lots of photos! 

Before dinner I went for a little run. I ran to Bridport which is only 1.5 miles from West Bay. I am hoping to find a trail or something that will allow me to run for a bit longer without being on all of the streets in the town. Tomorrow night I plan to go for a run along the beach! It's so easy 

to run when you are in such a cool place with new things all around to look at the entire time! I am hoping that the beach will be nice. A lot of the beach here is rock and the sand does not start until you are closer to the water. But hey, running to the sound of waves sounds pretty sweet. 

After dinner we went out for Whippy! Whippy is soft vanilla ice cream and is very popular here. I did some research and it turns out that is was actually developed in Britain. Researchers discovered a method of doubling the amount of air in the ice cream which allowed manufacturers to use less of the actual product, reducing costs! It quickly became well liked for its light texture. I thought it was pretty good! Here is a picture of it! The brown thing on top is a "flake" which is just a long pice of chocolate!

Now I am just catching up on my blog and hanging out before bed. I have been trying to go to bed on the early side because I have to get up early for class. It's funny because I am already in the routine of saying, "Yay! Tomorrow is Thursday. Which is almost Friday!" I love studying here but school is still school! :) 

<3 

First Day of School!

Here is a picture from dinner last night! We ate at the West Bay Hotel. I had a squash and sweet potato rice dish. I have noticed that the food here is a bit bland. Apparently they expect you to add the seasonings yourself! So once I added a little salt and pepper it wasn't bad!

Our first day of class was today. We are in the pent house apartment at the top of a building in WestBay facing the ocean. I have to listen to my professor talk while staring out at the beautiful green cliffs and the never ending ocean. I will make sure to take more pictures and post them later on this week. 

We have Microbiology first which is a lecture style class. Dr.Adams talks from about 8 until 10:15 and we are expected to go home and take a quiz. The second class is genetics from 10:45 until 1. Genetics is a bit different. We are expected to watch the online lecture and do the reading before class time. During class we work on problem sets and homework and ask any questions. 

I really like that we have two different style classes. It is much better than four hours of non-stop listening to your professor lecture! So each afternoon when we get back to our places we have a Microbiology quiz to take, reading for Genetics, a Genetics reading quiz and a practice set for Genetics. So homework will keep me busy! Luckily I will still have late afternoons/evenings to explore and hang out. 

I still can't get over the time change. I basically go through an entire day before my friends and family are even awake! By 3 p.m. here in England, it is only 7 a.m. in Flagstaff! It is fun to Skype because I say good morning and they say good afternoon! It has been different/difficult adjusting to the daytime here! The sun comes up between 3 and 4 in the morning and doesn't set until after 10 in the evening. We have very long days! If it weren't for school, I don't know if we would ever sleep! 

This evening Brooke and I went for a little hike up on the cliffs! (Although you cannot really tell that it is evening) It was so nice! We decided that one day after school we will have to go up and have a picnic. :) Now we are making pizza for dinner and hanging inside for the night! 

Typical day in West Bay

If any of you have googled West Bay or done any sort of research on it then you probably know that it is right on the coast with surrounding cliffs in both directions. It is incredible! So today I decided to go hiking up the cliffs and explore the surrounding towns. Here is what the cliff looks like from the bottom.

The climb wasn't bad! It only took a few minutes to get to the top. And it doesn't hurt to have a beautiful view the entire way up!

When I did get to the top I was amazed to find a golf course! Apparently at the top of the cliffs are other areas with houses and behind them are little towns. Which probably makes it easier to carry around all that gear! There were lots of people out on the golf course and I watched for a few minutes! Thought of you, grandparents!  

I took this picture along the way! I can't get over how green and gorgeous everything is here. There are just fields of yellow flowers. Along the way I saw lots of people! Hiking is very popular here. I am hoping to go back a few more times and explore some more! The weather has been great here! I think it was around 62 Fahrenheit today. Perfect weather in my opinion!

After my hike I walked to the super market in Bridport! Bridport is about a mile away so it wasn't a far walk at all! I bought some groceries for the week. The food in West Bay mostly consists of Fish and chips, and while fish and chips are very very good, they are also not very good for me! There is a market that comes every Wednesday and Saturday and I am hoping to buy some fruits and vegetables there!

Tonight we have class dinner at the West Bay Hotel! It is payed for by the program and I think it is meant to be the kick off to classes! We start classes tomorrow I believe. It wont be quite as fun to add homework into the equation but I am still looking forward to all of the wonderful things West Bay has to offer me while I am here!

-Taylor

Settled in!

We drove to Phoenix a little early on Saturday and went to Pei Wei to celebrate Mom's birthday! (Which is actually today)Happy birthday Mom! We enjoyed lunch and fortune cookies and then went to the airport. The first picture is of Gar, Mom, and I, checking in. The picture on the right is of Brooke and I, just before we went through security. The whole process was pretty easy! 

After a long day of flying, driving, and navigating, we are finally in West Bay! The flight was long but enjoyable! I do not understand how people sleep on International flights. They offer about 30 different movie choices so I watched four movies and just enjoyed the ride. We were given two fairly decent meals on the plane. One was dinner, I ordered a vegetarian meal, which was good. The other was breakfast, which included fruit, banana bread, and tea. I was feeling pretty jealous of everyone in first class that were relaxing on reclining chairs with lots of room. 

It was interesting flying in and having an 8 hour time difference. We left at 7:25 Friday evening and arrived at 1:40 p.m. local time. Although my body thought that it was closer to 5 a.m. We waited for a few minutes and then took a 2.5 hour bus ride to West Bay. I can't even begin to express how beautiful England is. There is so much GREEN. Everywhere! The buildings are all so old and beautiful and there are lots of animals grazing on the side of the road. I will admit, driving on the left side of the road is completely fascinating to me. I don't know how they make sense of it, but that's probably how they feel when they come to America :) 

West Bay is gorgeous. Our cottage is very nice, a little small but perfect for a months time. We are situated very close to everything. The Laundromat is about 5 seconds away (Seriously). Our classroom is a four minute walk and there are lots of pubs and hangout places around the area. Tomorrow I am hoping to explore some of the cliffs. They look incredible. Hopefully I will get to spend some time on the beach as well. 

We are the only group that actually has wifi in our living space, so I am excited about that! Hopefully the other groups can figure something out for their internet! I am planning on taking lots of pictures tomorrow. I also plan to buy groceries tomorrow, which I am sure will be an adventure! I will post again soon! 

-Taylor