The First Leg of the Journey

Well we made it through Canadian security, US customs, and US airport security without any incident. In fact there was laughter. The US customs agent asked me why I was going to study over in the UK, (out of sheer curiosity since he’d already signed our card) and I gave him the legit answer which is, of course, because it’s easier to get in. I got a smile for that one!  Then we’re heading through Canadian security and I walked through and the guy wasn’t looking and he just laughs and says I didn’t even hear you coming! And then I asked him to scan my arm (haha) and to my surprise it didn’t go off.  Apparently the metal detectors at Ale house are more sensitive than at Pearson…  Drew then comes through and gets asked by the same guy to “take off his tie”, which is just an image on his shirt. Again there was some giggling by me and the agent. After this we get on this tiny airplane to JFK where we have to wait for sooooo long to finally get checked in, then wait in a long line to go visit the infamous TSA agents and I get called Bambi (who was on my shirt) and Drew once again gets asked to take off his tie. All around not a stressful experience. Phew!

Arriving in the UK

Even though we all came in on different flights we managed to meet up and get to our ride easily thanks to Papa Ray. Drew and I were the last to arrive and we got in at 12:30pm here, 7:30am back home. Needless to say we all crashed hard after that. When we all got ourselves out of bed we went “downtown” Buckingham which is so freaking cute and has like 4 pubs in a 2 block radius. Can’t complain about that! We went to three pubs that first night and got a pretty good buzz on. The last pub we went to is called the White Hart and definitely seems like where I’ll be frequenting as a student. It was pretty bumping on a Thursday and even had live music which Nicole will love! 

Yesterday we drove into Milton Keynes (MK) to pick up mom from work and meet some of her colleagues. We had some mimosas in the office (rebels we are…) and everyone was really nice. In fact they invited us out for drinks later which turned into the Payettes getting hammered (minus Mom cuz she’s the only one who can drive our car). We visited with some of the work people then decided to hit the bars. The second bar we went to is called Lloyd’s Number One and it was rocking. It was night club esk, but much more casual. Before we got to the bar Dad, Drew and I polished off a 40 of vodka and kept that pace up. We were hammered. Some MMA fighter tried to fight Dad which was bizarre and we met the local men’s hockey team called the MK Thunder. One of the players just walked up and started talking to mom, so awesome. So I’m definitely going to be watching some games when they start back up in Jan. They were hilarious annnnnd most of them were Leaf fans! Unfortunately they weren’t cute, but there were lots of cute boys at the bar, so there is definitely potential in that town! Hahah

Snow, snow, snow

We were all (except Mom) slow moving today and when we finally rose at about 2 there was about 4 inches of snow! We couldn’t drive anywhere because our car is rear wheel drive (damn Germans) and you can’t get snow tires so we walked into town (Buckingham). It was really lovely.  I get to live in this adorable little town for 2 years, it’s awesome.  There’s an ally that actually looks like Diagon Ally (for all you HP fans!). Even though we walked in the snow it’s a short walk from our house to town and we can go through parks to get there.  En route there may have been some snow balls thrown, and Dad and Drew helped pushed a car up a hill. J This snow is worrying us a bit since we’re supposed to go to Heathrow tomorrow and flight out early Monday morning to Bari, Italy to get on our cruise. So fingers crossed everyone!! Hope all is well back home, miss you all lots, and Merry Christmas! I’ll report back in the New Year!

Quote of the Day

No I still slept with other people, but I always told her about it. Monogamy. – Aldous Snow aka Russell Brand

Who and why

Hello all! Or very few, lets be serious... For any people that stumble upon my blog and don't know me, my name is Ashley and I'm doing this because I'm soon moving from my small hometown of Brighton, Ontario to the UK for 2 years (maybe more) in order to attend law school! Why go abroad for law school one might ask? Two main reasons: I've always dreamed of getting out of this tiny, excruciatingly boring town to travel Europe, annnnnnd honestly my marks in university probably weren't going to cut it for an Ontario law school. I spent a lot of my 5 years at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario in bars, at parties, napping... you get the point. Albeit I did manage to pick up two degrees whilst thoroughly enjoying myself. I have a Bachelor of Science Honours (maj. Bio) as well as a Bachelor of Arts (min. Psyc). How does a biology major end up going to law school? Honestly, I'm not 100% sure but basically it's just a useful degree. We'll see what happens! My dream job would be a sports agent, but more realistically I'm hoping to end up in corporate law.

Anyway that seems like a good enough introduction. I don't actually depart until December 15th and start school January 13th. But in between that my family is going to spend the holidays on a cruise of the Mediterranean and in Rome. I'm just so excited that I've decided to organize my blog ahead of time! I will likely report in next when I get over there. Hopefully my friends you find this somewhat entertaining and will enjoy being informed about my adventures. I'm aiming this blog at my girlfriends (and people I don't know!) so expect details not only about my travel adventures, but about others as well... May not be appropriate for the parentals, or small children. I'm going abroad single, expect me to mingle.

Also, I forgot to mention, because I am somewhat self-centered, I'm not going on this adventure alone. My Mom is going to be there with me, she has a job teaching high school science. Hopefully she won't slow me down, if ya know what I mean. And my dear, dear friend Nicole is also coming. She was feeling trapped, not finding a job in her field, so is just coming over for shits and giggles and to gtfo of here! Ok, that's enough for now since I'm sure I've tested everyone's attention spans.

Love you all

Ashley (oh that's me in the pic)