Touchdown in Brighton

The front entrance to my residence on 13 Victoria Road.
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The flight touched down in Heathrow Airport and I had no problem going through customs, picking up my luggage and hopping onto a Brighton-bound bus. From the Brighton Pier station, I took a cab directly to the housing office, picked up my key and continued to 13 Victoria Road where I’ll be living.

I have a room with a view of the sea in a three-story house located in a residential neighborhood on top a hill and it is the envy of off-campus student residences.

Our house reflects the exceptionally diverse international student body at University of Sussex. Of the nine of us living here, six countries are represented—Pakistan, Rwanda, Venezuela, Japan, Italy and someplace called Iowa? We are all postgraduates studying different themes in development—gender, migration, anthropology, governance and rural development—and naturally, our classroom discussions overflow into our household conversations.

Catching up with fellow scholars Izumi, Aram and Sara along Brighton's beach.
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On my second night in Brighton, I caught up with three other Rotary scholars (another American, an Italian and a Japanese student) also studying at the University of Sussex and over a few pints at a bar along the Brighton Pier, we talked about our first encounters and impressions of Rotary, our interactions with our hosts and made plans to travel together to Cardiff for the LINK weekend orientation. Of course, it was nice to have something in common with a group of students when entering a new school and city.