Becoming Train Experts (or the Trainsformation)

The first thing we did this morning was take an unnecessarily long and confusing walk to the train station on the other end of campus (but, hey, we got there). We took the train into the center of Brighton (a quick and cheap trip!) and went off to find what we needed.

The view from the foot bridge at the Falmer station

After some confusion, we ended up going to Argos to buy an alarm clock for Nicole, hangers, pillows, and towels (since the towels provided by the school shedded blue fuzz all over our bodies and we don't particularly like being covered in navy blue fuzz). The store has multiple stations with catalogues where you find the products that you want, write down their numbers, and go pay for them. Then, the workers bring your products up for you from a magical secret place. You can buy everything from nail polish to washers and dryers.

See for yourself!

With huge bags now in tow, we found a Pret A Manger for lunch! (Needless to say, Nicole freaked out.) The restaurant was so adorable and surprisingly large. We wanted to take a picture, but we thought it might be awkward...we'll definitely be going back, so maybe we'll snag a picture when it's less crowded.

We shared a delicious panini! 

Stefanie was happy to find a smoothie!

Then, we headed off to Tesco to try and find the Saigon Export beer. Miss Saigon was doing a promo where they would send you a poster if you tweeted them a selfie with the beer. However, we couldn't find it.

We tweeted this instead

We caught the train back to campus and walked around to find buildings before grabbing a quick dinner. Our evening activity was a walking tour of Brighton sponsored by the university. So, we headed BACK to the train station to get the train into Brighton. We saw a lot of cute stores, the Royal Pavilion, and the Pier. Our guide left us to explore a little more on our own, so after searching for a restaurant that was open for a while and finding nothing (apparently everything closes early on Sunday evenings, and we really do mean everything) we headed back to the train station.

#royalpavilionselfie  

The Royal Pavilion

The beach is pebbly instead of sandy

The Brighton Wheel

The pier is full of yummy and tempting food!

"What does that even MEAN?"

Now, Stefanie's headed off to the pub to find a TV to watch the World Cup game while Nicole goes to bed because she has orientation early in the morning. Tomorrow we start doing real things at the university (like orientation and class for Nicole)!