I've been busy.

A lot's happened since I last took the time to write one of these. On Friday, we went to The University of Chichester's main campus (which still doesn't compare to Penn State's University Park campus.) It is very nice--lots of shrubbery and the like with old buildings. The town of Chichester is your typical English town with old architecture, streets made with brick, etc. etc. The weather was absolutely wonderful all day! We stopped at a sandwich shop to pick up lunch and ate in a large park. I had bacon and brie. I wasn’t so sure about it when I ordered it, but it is definitely one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had the privilege of eating. It’s just bacon and a slab of brie cheese on a roll… but it’s good! On the way to Chichester, I had my first double-decker bus ride. It's a lot like a single-decker... just taller. (A big surprise, I'm sure.) On the way back, we traveled by train... it was quite nice... not much to say about it though.

Later in the day, I met my host family, Paul and Vanessa Smith. They're very nice and very laid back... just my style! The Smiths have three children age 21 and older who are all out of the house. Paul and Vanessa have hosted many international students in the past, but I am the first American. They provide a place to live, breakfast, and dinner. They provide lunch on the weekend, but we are on our own during the week since we'll be at school. I am about three houses away from one of the other PSU students, and several others are near by as well.

We've already taken advantage our our close proximity and have gathered to play cards, watch a movie, and just hang out. (The hosts are happy to have our fellow students over.)

Saturday, I met the group in town for the afternoon just to walk around and check things out. We laid on the beach for a while, shopped (not the highlight for me) and just had an overall good time. The worst part of the day was, by far, missing the Penn State game... they managed to win without me there though!

And, finally, I reckon we're at today. Erik, one of the students from Sweden, is staying with a lady who offered to take us to church. Brittany, Meghan and I went with them and were really glad we did! The people are VERY friendly, the worship is great, and the teaching is good. After approximately 30 minutes of worship, they take a break for tea! We'll still be trying out some different churches just to see what it's like in England, but we want to attend this church when possible. It's a part of the Vineyard group of churches and is called Bognor Vineyard Church.

After church, I ate lunch, watched a movie with Romeo (the dog) curled up on my lap, then had some of the girls in the program over to discuss where we'll be traveling. I met most of the hosts' family, and had a very good dinner of Chicken, broccolli, carrots, and potatoes. Now, I've been taking it easy and writing this!

Classes begin tomorrow, so I suppose that will consume most of my time. If not, I'm sure I'll have some reading to get started! I'll let you know how everything's going- have a lovely day!