A long day, but one very well spent. I met with a good friend I hadn't yet met in person, and it was lovely that there was no awkward moment of' 'oh hello' between us.
We hung out at a cafe near the station for a while and I had a damn good panini while she cried over my birthmas (I missed sending both birthday and Christmas gifts so I just joined them) gifts, and I stared in awe at the autograph she got me from John Finnemore, a favourite comedian of ours who writes Cabin Pressure, John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme and sometimes turns up on BBC comedy series Miranda.
We had over two hours until the lecture I had to make it to, but decided to take a walk and find our bearings. There are so many nice shops in that town. We didn't let ourselves investigate due to lack of money but god, little antique shops with Spiderman tins and Trek figures...
We found a tourist information place that informed us Falmer Campus was in fact 25 minutes away by bus, and I had wildly underestimated just how far away it was. It's actually in the middle of nowhere, but there is a train that goes from Brighton station directly to the campus for both Sussex and Brighton Falmer campus. (This might be foreshadowing)
The journey was nice, allowed us to see more of the city and how green the place is, with loads of cool wooden playgrounds, a duck pond with a massive fountain that looked like the birds were having some sort of water party, and then suddenly it was just countryside and thin lanes.
We arrived and wandered into campus but something felt wrong. The photos on the website didn't match up and I began to fear that I had made a significant miscalculation.
We found a lovely camp guy in an otherwise empty student union building and with his computer we deduced that we were on the wrong campus, having stumbled into Sussex instead of Brighton.
It felt a bit like being on the wrong side of an important cause. Like I was in Romulan Sith Lord who was supposed to be with Starfleet Padawan Academy.
In the end, after much dithering and regret on our parts when we saw how many steps we had to climb, we made it just in time for the lecture.
I won't bore you with details, but the place looks magnificent. The cost of living is good, the grants (while probably applying more of less nationwide) are reasonable, and it seemed genuinely welcoming. Hell, our lecturer had a rainbow umbrella. In a town such as Brighton I can't help but interpret it as the gay symbol that I usually do.
We went on a guided tour that wasn't the most helpful for me but nice to see the place anyway, and were lead to another lecture about joint degrees, including the one I have in mind: English Language And Linguistics.
No lies, Literature and Media look like awesome subjects, but I am stuck on them for 3 years and Linguistics is where my heart is.
There was no point staying around to ask questions, as I felt I had everything in Moony knowing all the linguistic things and my mate already at a Uni I'm visiting next week, so we went back to the town.
The Pier is one of Brighton's main attractions, so we figured it was best to check it out. I spent a while A) wondering how the fuck this place seems so familiar despite being sure I've never been - I settled on the acceptance that as my mind is bonded with Moony's, I remembered it through her eyes - B) Crying on the inside with a mix of extreme comfort and longing because Moony has actually been there, seen that view, walked that path, maybe literally where my feet were.
The Pier itself reminds me of a fair that visits my town every yea, but in daylight and overlooking the sea, but the sentiment allowed me to feel a little more grounded, because that's always around Hallowe'en, and I love that time of year.
There was time to kill so we aimlessly searched for a sleazy cafe with cheap food to dine at.
We found nothing. Damnit Brighton you're too lovely.
However, we did eventually find a cute little cafe near the
It was joined by a bowl of nachos to share, and the thing had many different dips on top. God, I miss it so much.
The cutest thing was that the waiters kept coming and checking that we were alright. One of them offered us blankets and turned the heater on for us because we were in the shade. I think I'll try to get a job there some time.
I'm fairly sure that cafe, called Terrace by the way, actually had more of an impact that the University did, because it was so unexpected and I knew all the lecture stuff already.
My friend and I got a little lost on the way back to the station but made it with 10 minutes to spare, and there was none of the sadness that I'd expected, because we're seeing each other next week for my next open day, so that's pretty good.
And to round up my Brighton news, I'm going to try my best to get me and Moony there for a day when we're both in the country before we go to Sweden so we can see her old school, have a picnic on the beach, and experience the city together. Padfoot and Moony usually end up in Brighton in their summer holidays together, so it'll be nice to do the same.
