thanksgiving in the united kingdom.

{traditional Thanksgiving picture, but this year, in Hyde park!}

This Thanksgiving was the first {and hopefully last!} that Christine and I spent away from home.

I love Thanksgiving. I feel bad that the poor little holiday is often overlooked by the anticipation of the Christmas season. We all have so much to be thankful for. Plus, who doesn't love a day spent with loved ones, eating the best food until your tummy is stuffed beyond comfort?

That being said, I would have been very upset this Thanksgiving, but I am beyond blessed because I had visitors! Christine came to London for the week, along with our wonderful friends, Mary Carol and Josephine.

When they found out Christine was visiting me, they asked if they could join. We are so glad they did, because we had so much fun with them! Just like I did with my parents, I played extreme tour-guide and showed them all of London! I really don't think we missed anything. 

Spending my Thanksgiving in London with my sister and some of our closest family-friends is something I will never forget! Although it was a little sad for all of us to be away from home, we had a blast being in London! As for Thanksgiving meals? We had cookie for lunch. That's it. Just cookies. {Ben's cookies in South Kensington has the buy 3, get 1 free deal. 

How could we resist? We'll take 8, please!}

As for dinner, I brought Christine with me to the ISA Thanksgiving dinner. We went to a restaurant in Notting Hill and although it was not as good as home, they did a great job! {Considering they never make this type of food!}

Highlights of the week included: being photographed by a random man next to Buckingham Palace who did not speak English, Stonehenge and Bath, ear candling, Phantom of the Opera {ummmm AMAZING. The musical exceeded my expectations in every way!}, eating at Byron four times, and some serious people-watching. 

I don't want to bore you with the usual tourist stuff, so here are a few photos that highlight what we did all week! 

I hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving filled with family, friends, delicious food, and of course loads of gratitude!

Now on with the Christmas celebrations!

a whole lot of crazy.

Insanity. Crazy. Unbelievable.

The themes of my week.

Why? A lot of reasons. 

1. Christine and the Henderson's have already come and gone. It was so much fun! How is that visit possibly over? 

2. Homework. I have a ton of homework to do this week. Actually, two weeks. I am calling the next two weeks "homework week" because I am finishing everything before my last week here. {Who wants to spend their last 7 days in London doing homework? Not this girl!}

3. My last week? I have caught myself using that sentence far too much already. Why are we already speaking of my last week abroad? Oh, that's right. Because time flies. Unbelievable.

My head is spinning. One minute, I cannot wait to get home. The next, I find myself longing for more time in my city. {Yes, London is my city.}

I am currently sitting in Starbucks in one of my favorite 

areas of London—Covent Garden. 

I should be doing homework, but all I can think about is my blog. Weird? Maybe because there is so much I want to share and so little time to do so!

That being said, keep an eye out for the following posts in the next couple weeks:

Update on Christine's visit plus the Henderson family, and Thanksgiving in London

Brussels and Germany {which is this coming weekend!}

The difference between Christmas season in the U.K. and in the U.S.

Hope your week is a little less chaotic than mine!

to-do.

image

One month from today, I will be flying home.

So bittersweet.

Okay, lets stop talking about it. It makes me sad.

There is still so much I want to do in London—things I will do because I live here, and I have no excuse not to.

Except this thing called a budget. That is something that would, and definitely has, stood in my way of doing things. 

Things like: buying out Harrods, going to a musical every week, traveling even more {I still have a mile-long list of places in Europe I want to explore}, buying box seats for Chelsea games, ditching my Shoreditch dorm renting a flat in Mayfair for the semester,  and eating Ben's Cookies multiple times a day. 

Yeah, money is definitely an excuse.

But on a more serious note, I still have places to go and things to see!

Imperial War Museum

Hampton Court Palace

Stonehenge & Bath

Natural History Museum

Try  a few   multiple   tons of sandwiches, pastries, and goodies at Borough Market. {This could happen if only I can pull myself away from the pasty lady, chorizo sandwiches, and "the best brownies on the planet!"}

Experience the Christmas Markets in London

See Harrods lit up with Christmas lights 

Try mulled wine

I am ecstatic to say that Christine, Mary Carol, and Josephine are visiting London for a week and they land on Saturday! I get to play my favorite game once again—tour guide! Plus, I will have the chance to cross some items off of my London "to-do" list with them!

It's obvious that a person can never run out of things to do in London—one of the many reasons it is the best city in the world! 

{Don't worry San Francisco...you two are tied}

Nothing is more fun than showing your favorite city off to some of your favorite people, and after being blessed to show my parents the London I adore, I get the opportunity to show my sister and some of our closest friends!

oh scotland.

Scotland.

What do I say about this trip?

Do you want me to be honest?

It was not my favorite place.

Okay...I promised to be honest.

It was my least favorite trip.

I feel horrible saying that, because I am truly blessed to be able to travel and see the world. And I am so happy I went to Scotland, but I did not love it. I had reallyyyyyy high expectations for this trip, and they just were not met. 

People have been asking me "How was Scotland?!"

 and I don't know what to say.

"Well um...it was...okay. I don't know, I didn't love it. There are lots of kilts."

And that's all I have to say about that.

Have you ever seen a kilt-making shop? :)

No but really, it was a long weekend of more traveling than sightseeing.

Friday: 4 hours to Edinburgh on a train

Saturday: 4 hours on a bus to Loch Ness

Saturday: 4 hours on a bus back to Edinburgh

Sunday: 4 hours back to Scotland on a train

You get the picture.

But lets not focus on the negatives! There are a few great things about Scotland that I love... 

1. The accents. They're a "wee" bit different than British accents. Plus, they sound like they are from "Pirates of the Caribbean" Specifically, the pirates who narrate the ride at Disneyland. I am talking mostly about our bus driver on Saturday. Every time he opened his mouth, I was a little confused as to whether I was in Scotland or on that classic ride in the Happiest Place on Earth. And I loved listening to him! {Sidenote: my sister and I have this uncanny ability to relate anything to Disneyland...}

2. The kilts. It's not just a stereotype, they are really all over. 

3. The shortbread. It is simply delicious. {My new plan is to make some for Christmas this year as soon as I get home!}

4. The cobblestone streets and old buildings in the Old part of Edinburgh, where we stayed. 

5. While on the bus for 8 hours Saturday, our driver played Scottish music and I personally loved it! Driving through the Scottish highlands with Scottish music made it feel so authentic!

6. He also pulled over at a viewing point with a beautiful backdrop for photos. But the best part of this pit stop was the man playing bagpipes. Let me illustrate: pouring rain, Scottish highlands, only a couple people stopped {besides our bus} and otherwise a quiet setting, and a man playing bagpipes in the middle of it all. It was so cool!

 It was definitely one of the highlights of the weekend!

7. This trip was fun because it was planned by ISA, so there were about 25 people from my program traveling together, making it different than any other trip in that aspect! 

Tom and Maria: two of the four wonderful ISA London staff members, and my favorite Londoners!

I think one of the problems is that California is just amazing. Seriously. I was hoping to go to Scotland and be in awe of the beauty. I saw the beauty. It was gorgeous. But it wasn't anything new. Do I sound stuck-up yet? I mean come on, I come from a place where Yosemite is a day-trip. I have seen arguably the most amazing waterfalls and mountains in the world. With that, I take this experience as one to  recognize my abundance of blessings. I live in a beautiful place, and honestly, it is normally taken for granted. Californians, when you say your prayers tonight, thank God for living in such a beautiful place!

So there you have it! How I feel about Scotland. I don't really know what to say, because I don't want it to seem like I am unappreciative for the experience. 

But on that note: here's to loving and appreciating London even more!

The ISA group in front of Edinburgh castle!

My crazy friends :)

Loving life during the creepy ghost tour...

Scottish Highlands

Loch Ness

A beautiful rainbow over Loch Ness

Like our new album cover?

Chelsea <3

California girls <3

P.S. Has anyone heard of the All Blacks rugby team? Supposedly the best and most famous rugby team in the world? Well, they were playing in Scotland this weekend. And as I was walking around Edinburgh with Chelsea, Sarah, and Jess, we saw them on their bus! The bus was surrounded with close to 100 fans snapping photos and waving. We had no idea what was going on, so we stopped to catch a glimpse of the excitement. Once we saw the matching Adidas jackets and recalled the big game yesterday, we knew it was them! I mean I personally know nothing about rugby, but I was still a little starstruck! 

warrior of wales.

He is stubborn, but obedient. 

He is sweet and non-confrontational...except when it comes to leading the way.

Then he turns competitive, and will push others out of his way, 

or run ahead to be in the front.

He has black hair, except for his white nose. 

His mane has streaks of brown and red. 

He likes to eat...grass, that is. 

His name is Warrior and he was my horse this weekend 

when I went riding in Wales!

The instructor asked me my experience. I told her 

"I have never been on a horse in my whole life!"

She replied, "Great, you can take Warrior."

Warrior: noun. One who is engaged aggressively or 

energetically in an activity, cause, or conflict.

Did she hear me? I said I have never been on a horse.

 And I get the one named Warrior?

It turns out, Warrior was everything but that. He was a sweet horse and by the end of the ride, we were great friends. I found myself constantly talking to him and petting his neck saying, "Good boy, Warrior. You're such a good horse. We are doing so well" mostly to make myself feel better. I wanted to do everything in my power to make Warrior like me enough to not throw me off of his back. 

Before the ride, becoming acquainted with Warrior.

The least of our worries were the cars passing us, turning around the bends of the narrow streets which we rode on. I, personally was more concerned with the steep, muddy walk up a mountain. You know when you see cows standing on mountains {at least in California} and think "how do they not fall?" Yeah, Warrior and I were testing that out on the side of this mountain. I will remind you once more, it was muddy. Thus, it was also slippery.  Oh,  one more slight concern: the barbed wire fence to the right of us that we could have easily fallen into if our horse slipped. Which Warrior did. But thankfully, he was an excellent navigator and I hung on tight to his saddle, so we were fine! By then, I did not know if I was shivering from the extreme cold, or from nervousness. "Warrior, you're doing great, buddy"

But let me tell you: the views from that mountain were amazing!

The ride was a little advanced for beginners, and we were all surprised with some of the trails they led us through. However, at the end of the ride...when I was off of Warrior...safely...I was SO happy I experienced this. I mean, I went horseback riding in Wales! How cool it that?

The ride went in four stages, as established by me, Sarah, Chloe/Claud, Megan, Ciara, Lauren, and Kateri.

1. This is scaryyyy

2. This is so cool/amazing/awesome/perfect/picturesque

3. Why the heck are we going on this trail? This is way too advanced

4. Done. Over it. I want to go back. {the ride was 3 hours long, we were scared, it's understandable that we were over it at this point.}

Before and after. Sarah and I were totally exaggerating our misery in the "after" photo. But we were cold, scared, dirty, and had major helmet hair.

But like I said, we are all so happy we went! It was such a fun adventure, and an amazing experience!

Other than that, our 2-day tour of Wales included seeing Tintern Abbey, which was more amazing than I had imagined! That was one of the highlights of the trip {besides the horses, of course} and I honestly was not expecting much. It was so beautiful—like nothing I have ever seen before! We also saw the small town Hay-on-Wye, which is a town with a population of 3,000 and 30 bookstores! Fun fact: the Kindle is banned in Hay-on-Wye. Also, I stood in two countries at once. That was pretty dang awesome. 

Standing with one foot in Wales and one in England!

It was so nice to be back in small towns for a little while—a quick 48-hour break from the craziness of a city {but it was still a great feeling to get back to London last night!}