Abby in England: I see the sea; the sea sees me.

Today is Friday. I wrote this entry on Tuesday. I have big plans for a blog entry on a Tuesday, but I have to start it at 7:30am, and I keep forgetting! Regardless of the continent on which I am physically located, I still don't think before coffee. Coffee, coffee coffee. Today I thought, "I'll just brush my teeth and then go downstairs and make coffee." I walked into the bathroom, closed the cabinet door, stared at the washing machine, and walked out of the bathroom and downstairs to make coffee because I couldn't remember why I was there. Maybe you can get my cool blog idea next Tuesday.

My Turkish friend Ece and I decided we need to travel more — like as a new-term resolution. I've been on a small island for months and still haven't looked around! We also decided we need to study more, hang out with people more, job search more, cook more, and work out ever. Maybe when it's warm.

But we made our first improvement to our student-life traveling, and we organized a Saturday day trip to the coast last weekend! Clacton-on-Sea is only a 30 minute train ride from campus, so we gathered our grad school buddies and hit the road.

I haven't been to a sunny, warm European beach ever, so that definitely wasn't the expectation. It's an entirely different beach experience than the tan, sunscreen-mandating sand experiences of weekends gone past. But it's beautiful in a sad, winter way, and after all, I love rain. The people made the trip. We raced and climbed on sea walls and ate fish and chips and drank coffee and watched "football". It was an awesome day away from political theory and library shelves.

I LOVE THE SEA!

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