my home away from home during the holidays...

I'm sitting here on Sunday the 29th of November, just 21 days away from my departing flight from Heathrow airport back home to Miami. I have Pandora internet radio playing in the background my favorite holiday station. Reflecting back on this past week, the holiday season is really starting to set in here in London.

Last weekend, Brian, Rebs, and myself went to the Oxford Street Christmas market to see what it was about. Our program recommended that we go to see it so we did! It was smaller than I thought, but very festive nonetheless. We got german brats and walked around to see all the crafters and holidays things. There was one booth that had ties and bow-ties made of wood. I know its really hard to picture it, but they were actually wearable. I never saw anything like it before so I got a bow-tie. On Wednesday, I wore it to work and I got no less than 4 compliments on it so I'd say it was a pretty cool souvenir.
On Thursday evening, most of the Americans in my program went out to a small Italian restaurant at the end of our block, got ourselves a table for 20 and had a "Thanksgiving meal" consisting of garlic bread and pasta. It obviously wasn't the same, but it was something. It was really nice to be alone together with everyone else. Mel's boyfriend Will had just arrived from the States to visit so he was able to join us for our meal. It was really nice to see a familiar face from home and I think Mel really appreciated it.

The two following pictures are from Thanksgiving. As you can see, I wore my festive sweater and plum-colored blazer to represent the lack of actual pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce at the table that night.

Yesterday I went to Mailboxes, Etc. and got two huge boxes to mail home. I've accumulated a lot of souvenirs, holiday gifts, and clothes while abroad so there is no way I would have been allowed on the plane with my threepossiblyfour suitcases so my dad suggested I just ship boxes home. One box went to the Savona Winds house in Florida and the other went to Wisconsin Place back in DC. After both boxes were packed, it felt amazing!! I looked in my closet and a lot is now gone and I can manage for the last three weeks with less than usual. It will be nice to not even be able to fill both suitcases now coming home: a huge burden that I have literally been losing sleep over.

Last night I watched the DVD version of 'Up' that Kelly sent me in the mail. What an amazing film with so many powerful messages to boot. I went to bed last night in a great mood.

We go to Roma in SIX days! I can't wait to see Italy!! I think it will be so unbelievable, possibly the most amazing city that I'll get to visit while here in Europe. Even though we are only there for a few days, I think we will manage to fit in a lot.

Also, a bunch of us are going to see one last West End show before we leave London: we got tickets to see Cat on a Hot Tin Roof starring Felicia Rashad and James Earl Jones. I'm looking forward to seeing those two amazing actors on the stage in front of me. It should be a nice treat following work that day! Getting back to reality on this rainy Sunday, most likely going to start some of my work today. Or not. We shall see.

Can't wait until the 20th!!!!
Cheers!

Familiar Faces in Familiar Places

Last night was epic! After a long stressful week ending with three days of work, it was finally time for Jeff to unwind. I met Lauren's best friend Molly from back in Chicago (who was also here studying in London) so needless to say, we had aLOT to talk about!! She said that she had not had good mexican food yet so I took her to Chiquito, our fav tex mex place right here in London. It was about my 5th time there, but they make really really good margaritas so not going was not an option. Molly and I got there, waited a bit for a table at the bar and then finally sat down in the window on the second floor overlooking Leicester Sq. It was really interesting to see at night with impromptu street performances and things of that nature going on all over the square. We split a pitcher, ordered our food, and laughed our way through a HIGHlarious dinner. I love that girl haha! After Chiquito, we met up with my friends at O'neills and thankfully didn't have to pay the cover charge. It pays to be a regular. We walked up to the bar, met my friends and Molly orders a pint of Guinness. (If you read my post about my trip to Dublin, you know how I feel about Guinness). So this girl gets her pint, turns the glass upside down, the drink disappears down her throat and she turns to me and goes "What? I'm Irish". I think I died a little at that point. At one point, Molly left to go change and get her flat-mates to bring them back to the bar, but they eventually came back. Rebs and Woods were there at that point so it was a party. We all migrated up to the top floor where the live band was playing and so we enjoyed their music for a while. Around 1am I decided to head back to Kensington, so while exiting the bar, I run into Jill Horn standing outside. She hadn't even gone in yet and she was ready to leave so the two of us rode the bus back to Queen's Gate. Awesome night, let's do it again.

I woke up this morning to a video message from my Little saying that AKPsi's Honor Court was happening last night so by the time I got it, they were all being initiated. I can't believe how fast this semester went by not being there. I remember when I was pledging, it felt like forever and here they were last night becoming Brothers. Weird!

Today I am going to the Oxford Street Christmas Market which the city set up for the holiday season in the center of Oxford Street with just rows and rows of vendors and food, and crafts. A Laura Mindell dream.

Cheers!

Last-Minute Trip to Dublin!

In an attempt to squeeze one more trip into my abroad repertoire, we booked a weekend trip to Dublin, Ireland for this past week. There was a fear of "one of the biggest storms to hit the UK this year" but that theory fizzled into sun and a cool breeze so I'm happy that we didn't have to fly though that. Since Rebs went to Tel Aviv for the weekend, Mel, myself, and a few other AU kids descended upon the capital of Ireland this past Saturday morning. It worked out perfectly, our flight was at 8am out of Heathrow, we landed by 9am and were checked into our hostel and on our free walking tour by 11am!! Perfect timing. This walking tour was with NewEurope, the same company that we used in Paris, and it was aalllright, but it was free so whatever! On the tour, we saw the Dublin castle, a site of Viking remains, and Trinity College. The school was very beautiful and very old. They said it was ranked #4 in the entire world in terms of academics. On the tour, I stopped in a local Costa coffee and got a creme brulee latte which was genius!! That night we did a pub crawl with that same company again and ended up watching a "football" match between Ireland and France on the big screen in the first pub. Standing amongst actual hooligans was an experience. I felt very Irish at that moment. We walked around the section of the city called Temple Bar for a few hours that night and just had a great time laughing and wandering and I woke up the next morning having lost my voice.

The second day in Ireland, it was another beautiful forecast. I didn't bring my sunglasses because I was told it was gloomy all the time. Boy was I wrong. Anyway on that second day, we all met in the morning after grabbing breakfast and took a bus to the Guinness factory at the famous St. James Gate in Dublin. The whole factory (the part they let us see) was 7 stories high and you started at the bottom and worked your way up to the top. At the top was a glass ceiling and a bar/restaurant that provided 360 degree views of Dublin all the way around. It reminded me of Top of the Rock, only not as high obviously. The cool thing about the structure of the factory was that the whole thing was shaped like a giant pint glass. The glass walls at the bottom were narrower as in the center atrium as you worked your way up the 7 stories, the walls belled out and then back in to form the glass's shape. Very very cool looking. Included in the entry ticket price was a free pint of Guinness so naturally, I traded my ticket in for a nice 7Up because let's be real, Guinness tastes like tar with a splash of soy sauce.

After the factory, it was time to get back to the hostel, pick up our stuff, and head to the airport. Again, the flight was insanely short. I literally listened to 14 songs and we were back in London on the ground. A whirlwind of a trip, but I can now say that I have been to Ireland. Next trip: ROME in 3 weeks! Soooo excited for the sights and the amazing food in Italia.

I didn't take many pictures in Dublin so here are a few that I stole from friends.

J'ai aimé Paris y Adoré Barcelona

PARIS: The city lived up to everything that I had heard about it and more. It was quaint, romantic, manageable, extremely picturesque, and best of all--sunny. The food was superb (I had duck, rabbit, and escargot no less than 3 times). The patisseries were straight out of a book with amazing baked breads and sweets to wake us up each morning that we were there. There is a company based in many of the major European cities that does free tours to all the major sights around the city. You basically meet in an agreed upon location and tourists just show up and are taken around the city by an extremely enthusiastic tour guide who does it solely for the satisfaction of talking about the sights (and the tips). Our tour in Paris lasted for 4.5 hours and was well worth it. We walked by the Louvre, the Musee D'Orsay, the Arch, Champs Elysees, Notre Dame, saw the Eiffel Tower, and learned about the history of the city along the way. Our tour guide's name was Chris and she opened her "about me" chat with the fact that she was 100% Armenian so naturally, we had something to talk about while walking to the next site. That same company also does organized pub crawls and night tours of Montemarte (the neighborhood that houses the Moulin Rouge and where my grandmother lived in her childhood). We had such a great experience with the day tour that we also did the other two over the next two days. At the end of the Montemarte tour, they take you to one of the highest points in Paris and you look down to see all of the city and the Eiffel Tower lit up in the skyline. Below are a few of my favorite pictures that I took while in France. Go past the pics to read (a very abbreviated version) about my time in Barcelona, Spain!






BARCELONA: By far my favorite of the two cities. From Paris, we flew to España and landed at night. Getting off the plane, it honestly felt like flying Newark to West Palm because the first thing you notice is the drastic change in temperature. It was actually WARM outside, and this was at 8pm so I was looking forward to the following day. Spain did not let me down. We were there for 2.5 days of sun, sand, and the most unbelievable food I could have asked for. I had paella at 4 different restaurants, that's twice a day. I couldn't get enough of it. The seafood was so fresh and the food itself was so cheap!! We stayed at the Hotel Roma Reial in Plaça Reial right off of Las Ramblas. It was a beautiful little plaza with a fountain in the middle with our hotel, a bunch of other ones and restaurants as well. In Barcelona, there was no free walking tour, but there was an open-air bus tour with a total of 44 different stops at various sights around the city that you could hop on and off all day for one low price. We did that bus tour for 7 full hours on the second day there and basically saw the entire city. While on the bus, you put in headphones and hear about all the history of the places you are passing. It was so much fun! For lunch that day, we got off at La Sagrada Familia and dined at a cervesaria that was literally in the shadow of the large Gaudí church. Speaking of Gaudí, his architecture was brilliant in real life. We saw the buildings he did in and around the city and went to Parc Güell one night! The second day there was about 75 degrees and we spent it on the water. In the morning, we had breakfast at the mall that the city build literally on the dock jutting out into the Mediterranean. After that, we took a rickshaw to the beach and played in the sand and surf for a bit before heading back to the docks by Colum. We then went on a cigarette boat ride up and down the coast of the city for a while where we met a nice couple from Oceanside, NY (Mel's hometown) so that was really fun for her. From the water, we had amazing views of the city and at that point, I decided that I didn't want to go back to London. Spain was just too tropical and beautiful to want to fly back to Kensington. On the final night before we left, I took some time to seek out my mom's family in the northern part of the city. Getting there was super easy, but they were unfortunately not home when I arrived. I went to a store and bought a postcard that I left for them in their mailbox basically saying that I had stopped by and my mom sends her love. I hope it made their day. Included below is a few more pictures to give you a taste of our amazing time in Spain!!!

coming SOON!!

still settling in after getting back from Paris and Barcelona. Update soon!!