Boats!

It has been another week here in England. For the most part, it was not very eventful. In an effort to stop gaining weight and fit in the clothes I brought here, I started running again. I ran almost every night this past week and even though I get lost sometimes, I am starting to understand Totton a little better. Harvey and I went down to one of his favorite pubs on Friday night called the farmhouse and had a few drinks and food. The farmhouse is a chain so it is not a unique pub but the food and drinks are cheap!

On Saturday, Harvey and I headed to Southampton. Our first stop was to walk the route from the train startion to Southampton Solent, the school I will be attending. This Wednesday the 21st, I have my international induction programme at Solent. It starts at 10:00 am and I will have to take the train from Totton to Southampton and then walk to the school. I did not have a chance to see the inside of Solent yet, but the outside is modern. Fortunately, the school is not especially large. I am extremely nervous about Wednesday and have no idea what to expect but I am also very excited!

Our next stop of the day was to look for apartments in Central Southampton. We want to be close to Harvey's work and my school so being in the center of town is our best location. We went to a rental agency and have a viewing this weekend so hopefully we can get into an apartment by October.

Around 1pm we headed to the boat show! Southampton is a port city as I have stated before and have an annual boat show each year. This is a HUGE boat show. Mostly its comprised of vendors, but once you get to the docks you can see at least a hundred boats on display. Obviously I am not extremely interested in boats but the best part of the show for me was walking out on the docks. The view was beautiful. It was a windy day so the ocean water was rushing pretty rapidly and would spill onto the docks. I just wanted to sit down and put my feet in the sea! Another highlight was seeing the cruise ships that port in Southampton. There was one you could get really close to and I decided that I was definitely going to book a cruise while I am here.

Harvey's brother in law James welcomed his parents to town on Sunday afternoon. They are from Cornwall which Grace jokes should be its own country. The only thing I know about Cornish people is that their accent is very difficult to understand and also they make a great pasty! Cornish pasties are DELICIOUS! I am hoping his mom makes some while she is here. :) On Sunday night we headed to a pub/restaurant that I had never been called "The Empress of Blanding." It was named after a pig. Absolutely none of this made sense to me. Why someone would name their pig and why name their pub after a pig, I did not ask. However, the pub was really cool. We all got starters, mains, and desserts. The bill was 174 between 7 of us. (Pretty reasonable for 3 courses) The pub was decorated beautifully and also had quotes written on parts of the walls. I posted my favorite below.