Hello!

Just one week left of school until a FOUR week Spring Break! How awesome is that? Four whole weeks! In America I had a week, maybe two off for spring break and now I have an entire month 🙂

The past couple weeks have been crazy busy. Over the weekend, I took a day trip down to Plymouth to visit my Grandparents. Along the waterfront is called the Barbican which has store fronts, the Plymouth Gin distillery that has a nice restaurant, sail boats, and the Mayflower steps. I have never been to the east coast of America, and Washington is too far west to have a lot of history relating to the founding of America. The Mayflower steps are the first bit of history about America’s discovery and foundation that I have ever seen. I have had to travel to a completely different country to see my first glimpse at American history! Just imagining the pilgrims setting off in the Mayflower from the very steps before my eyes to settle in America was very humbling. Beyond the steps I went to go see Smeaton’s Tower. The tower is a lighthouse and one of the most stereotypical lighthouses you can find! It has red and white stripes and stands over the Plymouth port. You can walk up to the top which has some really nice views for only £1.80.

 

If you were going to visit the city, which I highly suggest, I would go for at least a weekend. It is about a 4 hour train journey from Guildford, but the city is really pretty. I decided to drive down because I wanted to drive along the Atlantic coast. I left around 6:30am because the drive also takes about 4 hours and I wanted to arrive by midday. I had the most amazing drive through countryside as the sun rose. The frost on the fields was glistening as the sun poked above the trees.

I found the most beautiful rolling hills, cliff sides, and endless ocean views. I stopped in a beautiful place called Dorset. I went down to Lulworth Cove, a very circular cove with high chalk cliff sides and the most adorable village surrounding it.

Beyond that, a few miles down the road, was a place called Durdle Door. It is a rock formation on the side of a cliff that points out into the ocean. It was a bit of a trek down to the water, but very feasible. The wind was blowing and the water was a stunning aqua color. In Washington the water of the Pacific Ocean is rather dark; I was surprised to see how clear the Atlantic Ocean water is! It was a really nice walk down and I just sat appreciating the view for a few minutes. There was hardly anyone there which made the surroundings so peaceful. On the other side of Durdle Door is another little cove called Man of War with some rocks leading into the water.

This past Wednesday was Varsity. It is a big competition where Kingston University, our rivals, bring all their sports teams to Surrey and we compete against all their teams all in one day. It is really cool to see a big one on one competition. There is pre gaming in the Sports Park, photo booths, face paint, and even a sports bar in the Sports Park where you can grab a drink and watch the games on the TV screen. The finale was the basketball game. The first half was played by the girl’s team and the second half was played by the boy’s team. During the halftime dance performed 🙂 It was really nice to get back on stage and perform in front of the school. The game was live streamed and is on YouTube. The live streaming meant that my family could see me perform and my sister even got a shout out on the radio because she tweeted in! It is important to note that Surrey dominates during Varisty. We have won the past 6 years now! With all the hype and excitement from winning varsity, there is a really good night at Rubix to attend to finish the day off.

Tomorrow I am attending dance’s final competition at Loughborough. It is a two day competition because there are so many universities attending. I am equating it to a state competition. To give some perspective, in the other competitions there are about 4-5 ballet teams, but in this one there are 16! It should be really competitive, but a great time. After this competition is over all that is left is Tour in CROATIA! I am so excited to go to Croatia. I have never been and to go with a team is the ultimate Spring Break experience. Tour is where a bunch of sports teams from universities all over go to the same place to vacation and compete against each other. I have bought a ticket to go on a boat party and there are massive nights out every night. During the day the sports teams compete and enjoy the beach and town. It should be an amazing trip!

Tour is during the second week of spring break, so I will be staying in England the first week. I plan on going to Bath finally and down to Brighton again. Hopefully I will get to see some other places as well. No excuses to not go exploring 🙂

Until next time,

Holly