Y2-9: ISB, Brighton, Cardiff and Bath!

Intersemester Break is now nearly over. Last year I went to Brussels with Amélie (you can see the post here), but this year I’ve spent it in the UK, doing a couple of trips around and exploring Bath, since next year I will be abroad and I thought it was better to stay and explore England now that I have the opportunity. I think I’ve actually been pretty efficient also (not so much relating to coursework, it’s a holiday after all) and have enjoyed myself, so all for the win. As with all my posts involving travelling, sorry in advance for the length!

Wednesday the 20^th was my first official day of holidays after my Italian test the day before, as I’ve said, I had gone out the night before so I had a pretty chill day at home. I did some laundry, took a shower and updated the blog, and in the night I watched ‘The Danish Girl’. I really liked the film. At first, I thought it was a bit slow but it gained a better pace later on and Eddie Redmayne is superb in it. Worth a watch, all of ya.

On Thursday I decided to explore the city, because the weather forecast said it wouldn’t rain for once. So I got my camera (I’ve been feeling so guilty for not using it, it was high time I gave it a whirl around the city) and headed out the door. You know I love walking, so I headed up the hill to Alexandra Park because they had told me the views of the city from there are pretty amazing, and I wasn’t disappointed! You can see all of Bath: the Crescent, the Abbey, the city centre… all the way to the University on top of Bathwick Hill. I loved it, the climb up the steep hill was definitely worth the views. Then I walked back down and decided to visit St James Cemetery. Some people aren’t comfortable with visiting cemeteries just for the beauty of them and think it is quite a dark hobby, but I think old British cemeteries are beautiful in an old and rundown kind of way. Idk, I like visiting them. This one was created at the end of the 19^th century and had many old tombs; some even had grown into the foliage so they were quite pretty. After that, I had lunch back home and got cracking and headed into town. I first went to the Bath Fashion Museum, but they are in between exhibitions at the moment so the only open part of the museum is the Victorian room. I honestly found the permanent exhibition quite poor, but I really want to give it another chance when the rest of the museum is open… I also got to see the Assembly Rooms which were impressive. 

Then I went through town (with a stop at Poundland and Tiger, although no shopping this time, just a look around) and arrived at the Victoria Art Gallery. The permanent exhibition can be described as eclectic. Personally, it was alright but the best thing was that I also got into the Grayson Perry exhibition for free (perks of being under 21) and really enjoyed it. I had never heard about the artist, but the tapestries were amazingly detailed! Then I did some shopping and came back and chilled. Not a bad day at all.

Friday was very chill again. I didn’t do much. I cleaned the house, cooked and did the groceries. I also organized the week so I had an idea of what I’d be doing and not get to Sunday thinking I could’ve done more… After dinner I got ready to go out. We went to Vidushi’s place for pre-drinks before heading to Bridge for the Exam Blowout. It was packed! Luckily, we had bought tickets in advance and managed to get in (which didn’t mean we didn’t have to wait, because the queue for the cloakroom was insane). It was an ok night, we were champagne showered and alternated between the RnB booths and the main dance floor. Bego and I ended up staying in the main one because we liked the music there better. And after coming back home, a nice warm shower and some 3am Domino’s ordered on the bus, which arrived just in time!

On Saturday I sorted out some more things like what we can do together when Erin comes on Thursday, and planed a couple of day trips, not only what to do in Brighton but also Cardiff (I have given up Stonehenge for now until the weather gets better). I started to pack for Brighton and after dinner watched ‘The Dead Poet’s Society’. Yes, hadn’t watched it yet. Yes, ended up crying. It was a good film, a “quoty” film.

On Sunday I slept in and finished packing. After lunch, I went up to campus to print some work (already got stuff to work on for the new semester) and then into town. I tried out the Little Theatre in Bath, which is an independent cinema. Got my membership and watched ‘Joy’. From my point of view, it was an average film with great actors. I just didn’t find the plot interesting. But it was good to try out the other cinema in Bath, and I think it is cheaper than ODEON so say hello to more films. Then I had a quiet night in because the next day I was getting up early to go to Brighton!

Brighton in January, perhaps not the best idea, but definitely the best for student pockets. On Monday Amélie and I got up early and headed to the station. We grabbed some lunch for the train at Sainsbury’s, and then met V. She was coming too and, out of the blue, introduced us to a friend of hers and her mother who apparently were also coming. Totally unexpected. Anyway, the trip to Brighton was alright but quite long. We had one change at Southampton and arrived in Brighton at around half past one. Such a long train journey! The weather was alright, it was cloudy but at least it wasn’t raining… We walked straight down from the station to the seafront and then walked to our hotel, the Kings Hotel, just opposite the West Pier. We checked in and went up to our room to leave our things and rest for a bit before heading out again. To be fair, the room exceeded our expectations. It was clean, warm, quite big, well equipped (had a TV and the softest beds ever, oh, the student life) and the shower was amazing – hot and pressured (oh, the struggle). Definitely recommend. Once we were ready, we headed out for a walk. The wind was blowing, but the sun was setting and we managed to get a glimpse of the sun through the clouds. We walked down the beach – saw the Band Stand, the West Pier (which I loved, despite it being nearly destroyed, it just had a desolate nostalgia to it)… We stopped at a fish and chips to get some fries and continued our way down the beach until we got to the Brighton Pier. There we played a couple of games – dancing, Guitar Hero, hitting down the clowns… There was even a Zoltar machine! You know, the one from ‘Big’! It didn’t work the first day sadly, but it did the second so we each got our fortune card. 

By the time we were done, the Wheel had closed and so had the rides, but the views from the Pier were amazing. The sunset turned the water pink and deep blue and there was even an adventurous surfer trying to catch a few waves. Oh, and lots of birds. Not just gulls, also random flocks of birds flying around. They looked like a bank of fish soaring the sky. It was quite creepy to be fair. After it got dark, we headed into town and saw the Royal Pavilion lit up. It looked grandiose. And then walked around the streets of the centre, looking for a place to have dinner. We finally settled on Bella Italia, which is a brand of Italian restaurants. The food was good, I had gluten-free carbonara and the dessert was to-die-for. Chocolate volcano cookie with vanilla ice-cream. So worth the calories. We thought of going out for a drink but by the time we finished dinner we were all feeling quite tired so instead we just went back to the hotel, took a nice hot shower and chilled in the room before bed – they were showing ‘The Dark Knight’ on TV, how cool is that?

The next day, we woke up pretty late (is 8:30 late? Maybe whilst on holiday) and got ready, which took us quite a while… The weather was not that attractive on Tuesday though; the morning started sunny (but horribly windy) an after 1pm the rain came and it rained non-stop for the rest of the day. And the sea was pretty stormy, which meant that the rides were closed. Anyway, after checking out from our room and leaving our suitcases in the lobby, we went to the Regency café and had a tasty and filling English breakfast to keep us going for the day. The sun shone through the glass windows and it was lovely to see the sea while munching on some toast and tea. Once finished, we braced ourselves to go out into the wind, particularly strong that day, and walked to the Wheel, but it was closed until twelve so we then changed plans and decided to visit the Royal Pavilion. Luck was not on our side, because the Pavilion was closed for maintenance work until Thursday, so we were not able to go inside. The outside was impressive enough though, and I really loved it. Since it was closed, we roamed around the shops to kill some time until twelve. I got some postcards and we checked out some shops. Then we headed back to the Pier and played some more on the machines (Zoltar worked this time!). As the poor weather meant that the rides were closed, we didn’t have anything else to do but to go on the Wheel. 

The views were amazing! Particularly of the Pier stretching out into the sea. However, the wind was blowing so strongly that we were rocking like crazy which made me a bit uneasy… I couldn’t help but to think of my Dad, his face would have been white as a sheet if he had been in my shoes! After the Wheel and arrival of the rain, Vidushi’s friends decided to leave because they had an open return ticket and we stayed behind with the whole afternoon to kill off since our train left at 7pm. First, we walked to the Pavilion again (other side this time) to take a couple of pictures in the daylight from that angle, and then decided to take the bus up to the University and roam around. It was funny because the initials are the same as those of Bath (and many other Unis’ starting with B, of course!): UoB. It felt like we had entered a forbidden place, lurking into another University uninvited. After that, we returned to the city centre and rather stressfully made our way through the wind back to the hotel to collect our bags. Honestly, the wind was insane! Proper stormy January weather! 

As we walked towards the station, we found Primark and popped in. I ended up buying a black turtleneck dress which I had been after for forever…  We were in there for literally an hour so afterwards we just chose to have an early dinner before going to the station and went into Itsu, which is an Asian style ready-made meal place. I hadn’t been there before but the food was so yummy! I had a chicken and rice pot, some salmon and avocado sushi and a seed and fruit smoothie. So good. After that, we walked to the station under the rain. There was one of these pianos that anybody can make use of, and an Asian guy was playing it which was great! I love it when random things like this happen! Then, our luck seemed to turn when the train we had to take got delayed. Thing is, we had to take this train because we had 15 min to change in Fratton to another train in order to arrive in Bath at around half ten. Missing the connection would have meant having to change three times following a totally different route and arrive after 2am. Not great. Fortunately, it didn’t happen and the train, even though it was delayed, it caught up on time during the journey, so we made our change at Fratton and arrived in Bath as per schedule. So tired, but glad to be home.

In retrospect, I liked Brighton but didn’t love it. It is a nice summer destination, with a lovely beach and fabulous Pier, full of hotels. Obviously, we went in January which meant that good weather was not to be expected, but the city was very lively despite being out-of-season. The beach reminded me a lot of Portsmouth; they are both similar in my opinion, only Brighton is more touristy. However, this also meant that there were an incredible amount of homeless people. There are a few here in Bath but it never ceases to surprise me when I see them around. The world is unfair.  Also, the water was a weird muddy colour, which I assume is because of the stormy sea, but coming from the Canary Islands, Paradise cannot be exchanged for the British beaches, not even in summer...

On Wednesday I was a busy-bee again. I ran some errands in the morning and then headed up to campus to pick up some medicine and have lunch before the Careers Event on Translating and Interpreting. Quite a few and varied people attended, ranging from sixth formers to postgraduates and employers. There were some talks from different people and organizations and a Q&A session after the coffee break. My career goal for now is to become a staff interpreter for the EU Commission or Parliament and I know this will take ages and hard work, but I’m on my way. I will be meeting with one of the teachers of the Masters here in Bath to discuss a few things and hopefully I will clear some doubts. It was a useful event to attend and the two main things that I have gained from it are not to disregard my mother tongue and not to give up Arabic! In the night we headed over to Vidushi’s place where we met with David and her housemates because she invited us to an Indian dinner. It was really good, although she claimed there was no spice added, it was still pretty hot for a while girl like me. It was yummy none-the-less; we had curry lentil dahl with naan bread and some sort of potato paste. And for dessert, a carrot-based traditional dish and some chocolate cake. It was a lovely gathering and I truly enjoyed the evening.

On Thursday I decided to go to Cardiff. This time on my own as nobody joined in the end, but that was not going to keep me from going. I got up early and took the 9am train to Cardiff Central via Bristol Temple Meads. I arrived in sunny (but chilly) Cardiff at around half ten and headed for the Castle first. I spent a good few hours in there, exploring every corner of the place. My favourite things were the views from the top of the Keep, the interior of the House (the Arab room was incredible, reminded me of the Alcázar of Seville) and, honestly, the man giving out the audio guides, he was just so contagiously happy to do his job! 

After the Castle, it was still fairly early but I decided to go get lunch anyway as I was feeling a bit hungry. I actually had a pizza at Bella Italia, same place as in Brighton. It was a bit awkward to eat alone though, still haven’t got used to it. After that, I went to the National Museum Cardiff and got there just in time to avoid the rain. The Natural History part of the museum was incredible, very well laid out and rich. And the Art Galleries all the same, they had a good few pieces in there: Rodin, Bacon… particularly Impressionists like Cézanne or Monnet. There was also a temporary exhibition by Ivor Davies about destruction in art which was quite interesting. It was also nice to see the museum buzzing with activity, with many families with small children, school trips and art students sketching away. I really liked the atmosphere. 

By the time I had finished at the Museum, it had stopped raining and since it was still pretty early, I decided to walk down to the Bay. I got to see the Pierhead, Roald Dahl Plass and the views of the bay under the sunset. Once I was done exploring over there, I grabbed a hot chocolate from Starbucks to warm me up and made my way back to the station and back to Bath. I got home at a decent time and simply took a shower, had dinner and uploaded a few pictures of my adventures on Facebook, as many of you have probably already seen.

On Friday, the knowledge of the start of semester two slowly started to sink in… I was torn between not doing anything at all or trying to get stuff done so I would have less work during the semester. Oh, decisions, decisions. My interview with the postgraduate researcher for her study about loneliness was called off because she was feeling unwell, but I decided to get up all the same and be efficient. I went into town to fetch a couple of things and then came back and did the laundry and some cooking. I spent my evening and night alternating between writing this incredibly long blog post and watching YouTube videos (including the odd discovery of a thing called LARPing, the epitome of nerdiness, which is actually a thing, look it up).

On Saturday I slept in for once and then called my Dad to congratulate him for his birthday. After getting up and having breakfast, I cleaned my room and lazed around for a bit and, after lunch, I went up to campus to work in the Library (which was deserted by the way). One month without reviewing any Arabic has had disastrous repercussions and now I feel like I know nothing (Jon Snow reference here duh). I definitely needed to review before my Thursday class, so that’s what I did, plus reading for French history. The work of the second semester starts again… At night I decided to watch ‘The Book Thief’ and loved it. It was a beautiful story. I don’t usually watch book adaptations before reading the actual book, but this time I was tempted and went ahead, since I don’t have that much time for leisure reading atm. Ended up crying, what a surprise.

And today, Sunday, is sadly the last day of ISB. Tomorrow it’s back to reality. I’ve decided to take the day off - I’ll do some reading, listen to some music, watch a film or TV show. It’s raining outside, which puts me in the mood for not getting out of bed. Got to be ready for the start of semester two tomorrow!

Even though I haven’t really stopped this week, I think I have had a good balance of travel, work and laziness and am looking forward to finding out what the second semester has up its sleeve and to Erin coming over on Thursday, so the next few weeks will still be pretty intense!

Hope you enjoyed the post, until next time! x