After almost three weeks here at Sussex, I have started to settle into my new, alternate lifestyle. And there are some pretty huge, and enjoyable differences from WashU.
The drinking culture here is the most obvious and interesting (particularly to college students). There are a couple pubs on campus, and one is a three minute walk from my room. A pint of Guinness or Strongbow (really tasty cider) is never far away. People also just seem to drink more often and more openly here. Last night, a friend and I found little cans of gin and tonic at a supermarket being sold as if they were soda.
The picture to the left is an old advertisement for Guinness that says "You've had something more than a drink when you've had a Guinness." And the foam has a creepily smiling man in it. Luckily, he hasn't popped up in any of my drinks, yet.
Part of the change in the drinking culture is that students at the University of Sussex go out during the week because cover charges at clubs go up sharply (as much as 10-20 pounds) on the weekends. So far I've gone out on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. And then we tend to travel on the weekends, and still want to get a drink, so the entire week becomes acceptable drinking time. This could be problem for my pocket and liver.
Another huge difference is that I actually do have time to go out during the week. I live a leisurely life here at Sussex. Classes are enjoyable, but really seem to be background to my traveling adventures. I only have two classes (both English Lit) and I am only in class six hours per week.
As an example of my new lifestyle, yesterday, I woke up at noon and took a really long walk around the countryside (they call the hills which make up the country side "the downs"). I walked to a manor house which used to house the people who owned all the land on which the Uni is built. The manor house is in Stanmer Village which has what every English village seems to have: a church, village pond, tea room and pub. Then I went to an hour long lecture (funnily, it was about the cult of leisure in 18th century poetry) and after lecture, I jumped on a train to London and saw Lady Gaga at the O2 arena.
What I love about living here is that I have that enclosed campus feel, and then if you step off campus I'm in the countryside and its easy to forget that campus even exists. Then I can walk 10 minutes to either Stanmer or Falmer Village, and boom I'm in a picturesque English village with sheep, ponies and ducks running around. And then I can go into Brighton or London for fun clubs and cute shops. Brighton has a particularly cool area called the Lanes. They are, well, lanes. A system or small roads that wind around and are full of second hand or unique clothes shops and funky bars and restaurants. This picture is from some graffiti in the Lanes. Who knew James Brown was so popular with an English audience?
