this is the pillow that i cross-stitched and sewed for my mommy for christmas!!!

... unfortunately christmas break has come and gone.. and now.. i'm back in england and won't be back until the mid-end of June...

... as much as i love being there... i miss the freedom of going wherever i wanna go .. and not be worried about money and how expensive everything is...

... it's ok... can't wait till spring break till i go euro-tripping!

June will come very soon and before i know it... my experience will be gone.. so.. while i'm here.. i'm gonna make the best of it!

  ACK! it's already the end of october.. and I haven't written since the 3rd!!! ... boy does time go fast... but it's alright... nothing much has been going on.... the same old... class... grocery shopping... homeworking... stressing.. and the like! ... it's kinda powering to think that our grade consist of ONE ASSESSMENT... the one and only... and if u screw up, you're SCREWED! ...

ok... onto better things... b/c today is suppose to be a stressfree relaxing time... hence an impulsive/impromptu road/train trip out of Manchester, England into the rural areas of the Peak District which includes hiking towards three different villages of Edale, Castleton, and Hope. Time Starting: left from flat accommodation @ 8:10am... Train Departs: 8:47am... and arriving @ the Edale Train station: ~9:30am....

Leaving without an agenda or any idea of where we're going to or what we're going to do... the train left us here at Edale: ... LOTS of trees... and no real buildings in sight.. lol! WHAT HAD WE GOTTEN INTO?!

luckily.... we came upon a centre... where we were given information of where to go... ONWARD to Castleton to ACTUALLY find some LIVING SPECIES!... the downside to it... is requiring a approximate 3 mile hike through the footpath climbing up a hill and down to reach the village...

Still questioning our motives... ONWARD we trucked towards CASTLETON!!!

scanning the horizon... yah.. u see that hill in front of us... we were getting ready to travel across, up, and over it!

the adventure requires.... going UNDER the train tracks....

through stone gates.. which kept the livestocks (cows, sheep, etc.) in

... up MUDDY and MUCKY hills!....                            

   .... as well as stony, unstable rocks...

upon arriving to the top of the hill... located in the center is the VILLAGE we're heading...

... down the hill we go!....

going down the hill was a LOT trickier than going up.. b/c it was STEEP... WET... MUDDY hence SLIPPERY... and there was little areas for mistakes... or else... u'll go tumbling down the hill...

As a result.... hot many pictures were taken... b/c we were concentrating on your foot placement rather than pictures!

No.. we just didn't GO UP and DOWN the hill... we took breathers and silly shots:

me.. trying to climb a tree... haha.. wasn't too successful since the branch was a bit too big!

GROUP PICS:

OH!! and I FORGOT!! THE SCENERY!!! IT WAS AMAZING!!! the higher you went... the more breathtaking the view was...

We also met the locals:

Reaching Castleton about 2-2.5 hours later... we were welcomed by:

(yum... FUDGE!!!...for eyes only! )

Not knowing what to do after we explored Castleton, which was like 2 main little roads... we head off to Hope

Hope turned out to be WORST... it was only ONE street with NOTHING.. .LOL So... Here's our SHOES aftermath of the journey...

(my shoe)

  I tried to find somewhere else to go... but we were stuck... there was no city close by that we could wander off to... so... we headed back to Castleton, ate lunner (Lunch & Dinner)

< this sign made us laugh though!

At the end of the day.... we had a GREAT hike... and AWESOME journey... and an INCREDIBLE memory!

We took the ROAD LESS TRAVELED... and in the end... HAD AN AMAZING ADVENTURE!

... sorry for the long blog.. just wanted to capture and show u the sight's incredibleness....

Alright... as I am settling in... everything's becoming more smooth... and classes are just going...

So far, though the teaching methods are completely different from what I am use to, it hasn't been too hard to adjust to. Though, for most of the classes I only have it once a week, their class lasts for at least 2 hours, which is kinda hard on your derriere and being cramped into the squashed chairs and between rows of tables. Yah, I'm not use to learning within a lecture hall (the stereotypical university classes) versus the classrooms of 30 people in which Villanova consists of. But, it's a learning experience. So, I'll make the best of it!

I also LOVE the fact that a lot of the recommended supplementary reading books are found in the library. Therefore, I do not have to spend a gazillion dollars buying ALL the textbooks that we hardly read/take a look at! ... I'll probably buy one book, but that's still better than like WHAT?! ten?!

The weather here kinda sucks at the moment... it'd be sunny one moment and then all rainy the next... so unpredictable... half the sky would by clear skies with the sun shining out while the other has the dark cloudy thunderstormish atmosphere... i guess it's the stereoptypical Britian weather. I was just spoiled the first two weeks here where there was endless sun and fluffy, white, HAPPY clouds!

Well.. I guess that's most of the updating! ... OH! and this weekend.. I'm going to SCOTLAND!!! keke.. it'd be fun! ... but i'm going with a catholic church in which they're doing a pilgramage... haha! .. yah.. if u were a lil confused.. i'm not catholic, but decided to embark in their journey nonetheless!

... just finishing the second week of being here @ manchester, uk...

As I embark onto a new journey in a new country, new school, new people (well for the most part), and new culture, being by myself being thousands away from home and my parents, that I am independent, responsible and can, for the most part, take care of myself. Revisiting the past week, I truely have stuck to who I am, and my OWN personality, being of "legal" age and such, I am surprised that I haven't gone happy go lucky and partying all night. In a way, I think I have a guilty conscience which keeps me knowing the boundries of life and what I should or should not do. Yes, I have gone to bars and pubs to socialize, but I haven't actually done anything that I regret like drinking till I'm pissed drunk or making a fool out of myself. I am able to meet new people and carry on conversations and not be the quiet person who doesn't talk to anyone at all.

Though throughout this week, life has been difficult, frustrating, and  agitating, I believe it's a learning experience where I have to get away from the norm and experience the different culture and how the UK society functions. Going through registration, alone, has been a pain! ... being a HUGE school, we had to do academic and financial registration all by ourself. Therefore, this means getting in a massive long line at a hall and stand there waiting your turn for hours!... then there's also school registration... where we have a approximate time to register with the school you're going to attend... and then the CRB check... (especially for nursing) to check our background and such... and then health occupation such... where they have to make sure my health is alright and that they need all the immunization records and such... and INTERNET... we have to register and sign up for our school's email address and THEN register our computer to receive their internet... and then GP (aka Doctor) registration...

So, pretty much.. i feel like I was spoiled by Villanova where everything was done and provided for you BEFORE you arrive and once you arrive, everything's taken care of and done for you. At The University of Manchester, this is UNHEARD OF!!!!! Everything you do/get... you have to do it yourself... people may give directions, but they aren't actually crystal clear.. so you have to be the one on top of things and figure out.

Yah... and a lot of the stuff I found out that I needed to do, the nursing department neglected to tell us.. so we're left in the smoke not knowing what to do... and people will bark at you for not having it done and such.Hopefully after this week, everything will smooth itself out and this experience will go uphill from here. I want to come out of here knowing that this was a GREAT decision... and I wouldn't have traded this experience with anything...

Oh a higher note, today, my friends and I decided to go to this music store, "Music Zone," where a band called, okgo, played live. It was such a fun experience and getting to see this bad play. They were actually pretty good, considering up to a few days ago, I didn't know who they were! Here's so pics...

 <the lead singer... he's actually pretty cute in person...

<another person in the band

It was AWESOME!!! despite the fact that... since they were on chairs.. we all sat down so everyone else could see.. so all of us were pretty much sitting on top of each other! And the best part is... afterwards... we got to get their AUTOGRAPHS!!!! YUP! ... so.. i have a poster and a card of their autographs!!

Here's one of their videos...

...and finally.. next week.. i offically start my classes... so.. hopefully it'll all be great!