today our group left the thistle hotel, which is about a half of a block off of kensington high street, and drove for 3 hours to portland. here is a bit of information given to us about the area:

"the isle of portland extends southwards from teh resort of weymouth and is approached by a causewawy running from teh mainland, parallel to the world famous chesil beach...portland, itself, is a large wedge of limestone rising to a height of 500 feet, which has, for centuries, been quarried for its superb stone...the bill has 3 lighthouses (which i visited today, one of which is now a bird observatory."

the homestay program that arcadia goes through it called experiment in international living (EIL) eil.uk.org . our representative here is an elderly man who has half his teeth and chain smokes. hes pretty funny

its really beautiful here - i wish my computer was able to be online so i could put up pictures (luckily the family im staying with has a computer set up in the room im staying in). so anyways, i am staying with the rudds who are an awesome family. the mom joanne has been showing emily (my fellow american friend who is in the same program and is staying here also through sunday with me) and i around all day along with brogan their 12 year old daughter. brogan is hilarious. she is like one of those campers that you get occasionally who has a mature sense of humor and who goes on and on about everything. she speaks her mind (to the point of being terribly blunt) and if she were at camp she would have all of the counselors wrapped around her finger. the fathers name is lesley and the son, who is 17, is named lewis. lewis, being a teenage boy, is very quiet when he is with his family although he has his moments when he comes out of his shell.

so yes, today jo drove emily, brogan and i around to various places (brogan was bored out of her mind since she lives on the small island of 12,000 people, "we're going there, i haaaaaaaate it." then naturally she would show us around) where we took too many pictures of the amazing surroundings. then this evening the 15 arcadia students who are here had a meeting at the punchbowl, a pub which is across the street where our old EIL representative hangs out. jo and lesley couldnt say enough things about the place (oh we never go there, its so dodgy, there are nicer places in town, why does graham take you there??)

and now im back at my family's home (an 18th century cottage which they recently rennovated - its beautiful) and going to bed. i am tired.

peace out