Denbies Wine Estate/ Brighton/ Goodbye Banquet

This is the last time I'm going to be posting on my blog, hopefully some people will have a chance to read it before I get home.  This week has been very busy with preparing to move out of my apartment and getting things settled with classes etc.  

We had the chance to take a tour and do a wine tasting at Denbies Wine Estate with my International Business class.  The winery was beautiful and it was really interesting to see how they make the wine.  The tasting was great too; they make a couple of great, and award winning wines.  The success of the winery is due to the similar soil and climate conditions as found in Champagne France.

This is the outside of the estate.  Inside they produce the wines and have a sales floor, restaurants and even a hotel.

These are the barrels that the wine ferments and ages in.

Barrels like the last ones, except decorative and with taps.

Wine cabinet down in the bar we had our tasting at.

The "bar".

My International Business class went to Brighton after the wine tasting.  Brighton is an artist community/city on the ocean and is often called the "London on the sea" by the British.  It was a popular destination for the Monarch in the 17th and 18th century as well.  We were lucky enough to be there on a beautiful day and it was great to be at the ocean.

The Brighton Pier

The beach, which was covered in rocks, oddly enough.

Brighton from the pier.

Thursday night, Kingston University held a going away banquet and dinner for us.  Tonight, Friday, I'm saying goodbye to my roommates.  Although I'm not leaving until Monday, they all leave on Saturday morning.  It was really hard to say goodbye to them.  We're all so isolated from our families and being in this situation with them brought us together really quickly. Although we are all looking forward to seeing our family (and friends) at home, we will miss the one that we made here. I think that I've made some life-long friends here and it's hard to leave them.

Amber, Amanda, and I.  We had one other male roommate, but he was usually with his girlfriend so we didn't see him around a whole lot.

Kirsten, Amber, Me, Amanda, and Jenna.  The rest of the flat.

I've never done a blog like this, but I hope that it was an interesting and effective way for you all to stay up to date on what I'm doing.  I miss everyone a lot and it will be nice to be home Monday night.  See you all soon!