The term ends this week at the University of Brighton and it feels bittersweet. Some of the other students in our program said goodbye this week too. Some flew home and others are traveling to different place to meet their families before the holidays.
On Tuesday I had a friend day with one of my flatmates who I have become good friends with over the course of our trip. We had been talking about going to a tea shop for a while, especially since it was the topic of two of my final papers. So, we went to Julien Plumart in Brighton to celebrate the end of the term. The shop served a classic afternoon tea with several herbal options and finger sandwiches. The shop was quiet, and it was nice to reflect on our trip as it comes to an end. I made sure to buy a box of delicious smelling macarons before leaving the tea shop since they had flavors I had never seen before like passionfruit and mojito.
After leaving the tea shop downtown, we walked over to the Royal Pavilion for more ice skating. While we were ice skating, I started to notice how much colder it's gotten in the past week. After about an hour or so, it started to rain, so we made our way back to campus.
We decided to get dinner at Nando's after our adventure on Tuesday afternoon, and invite another friend from our building. Back in the US, Nando's is one of my favorite restaurants, so it was interesting to see the differences, though there weren't many. The food tasted mostly the same, with the only difference being the smaller portion sizes, which I've already gotten used to. Nando's is popular in England and it was packed when we arrived, luckily the wait was short. Overall, the restaurant was busy and we ate quickly before walking over to an ice cream shop called Sprinkles.
Sprinkles had a similar menu to Creams Cafe, with unique flavors of ice cream and other pastries and desserts. I ordered a Belgian waffle with fresh strawberries, and even though I was still full from Nando's, the waffle definitely hit the spot.
On Wednesday and Thursday I had my final class sessions. It was sad to say goodbye to the friends I made in my classes, but it felt good to be at the end of the term and not have to worry about coursework.
I ran a ton of errands on Friday and made sure to get rid of all the things I don't need to take back with me. Our residential advisors left huge donation bags in everyone's kitchen so that we can donate extra clothing, blankets, and other housewares items that we may have accumulated over the past few months. Its gotten pretty quiet since most of the students have already left our building.
Saturday went by slowly. I had a few loads of laundry left to do, but not much else. My bags were packed, so I spent the day saying goodbye to friends and to Brighton one last time. I wandered around for most of the day and stopped to get dinner, since I don't have any more food left in my fridge, before sitting down on the beach to watch the sunset.
My bus to London left from downtown Brighton around noon on Sunday. After doing a final clean of my room and turning in my key, I took an Uber downtown to the bus stop. The ride to London was only about two hours long, but I found it more convenient to take a bus rather than trying to carry all my heavy bags from train to train.
After checking into the Ibis Styles London Heathrow Airport hotel for the weekend, I took an hour and a half tube ride to Vauxhall to meet one of my flatmates who was also staying in London this week.
We met up at a popular gay bar called the Royal Vauxhall Tavern for a drag show. The bar was packed and the drinks were a little overpriced, but the show was amazing. We left the bar and walked around to find somewhere to eat dinner, eventually stopping at a random pizza place. After dinner, we said our final, tearful goodbyes before I headed back to my hotel.
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