Any ways. Thanksgiving break with my family was great. It was a breath of fresh air. I got an amazing wreath to put up in my windowsill:
I had so much fun in London with them, at the Christmas market in Hyde Park, completing my Photography project portfolio by taking pictures of my aunt's feet, walking all around the city, at the London Eye gift shop knocking over tons of Paddington Bears and not being able to put them back without another bear falling off, feeding the annoying seagull birds in Burton-on-the-Water, eating "spotted dick", sleeping in a nice bed with a semi-nice shower, delicious homemade breakfasts from our B&B, and not having to worry about money while they were here!!It's been two weeks since. School has gone by so fast, I've written so many papers, have stayed up late so many nights (though, never because of studying, thank goodness), and I've been sick. I've been to 4 Christmas markets, watched loads of movies at the Ainsworths', eaten tons of curry at their house, started to read the LOTR series after watching all the movies last week, developed a weird sleeping disorder where I'm literally sleepy all the time, no matter what, and my chronic migranes have come back despite my abstention from caffeine. I haven't traveled anywhere, and it's starting to piss me off, because that was one of the main reasons I came here. I wish I had come with someone, traveling would have been so much easier. I have no one to travel with here. Oh well, at least it means I will get to come back someday. The loads of free time have resulted in multiple London trips though.
Last Tuesday we went on a "double-date" (I use the term very loosely, simply because it was two guys and two girls) in to London. It was ok, but I really wish my Americanism wasn't so easily spotted. We walked around the Christmas Market on the Thames. My favorite part was when Jonathan and I looked back to find Tara and Eric, only to see them at some booth with Eric sampling a head massager while Tara looked over the products. We stood watching for about a whole 30 seconds, as Eric leisurely massaged his own head, oblivious to anything else that was going on, lol. By then, though, we were laughing too hard and had to go back and stop him from looking weird. When we got there, we noticed these decorative hanging things (I don't know what they're called, they're like windchimes, but they don't chime, they just spin in the wind). It was a long spiraled peice of metal, with a large glass ball in the center of the spiral. As it turned it looked like the ball was climbing up the spiral, when, in fact, it was an illusion. I didn't notice it at first and commented on how the ball was moving. Tara and Jonathan laughed and pointed out the optical illusion, but apparently the shopkeeper still felt need to comment. He looked at Tara and I and said "Ah, yes, it's always the Americans that think it's moving. Takes a British guy to let them in on it." We politely snickered then left. Tara was mad since she had never thought the ball in the spiral was moving, and still the shopkeeper included her in the stupid batch of Americans. Kind of unnerving, but we let it go, and went on to get dinner.
We ended up at Pret, a sandwhich cafe (my favorite!). We walked in and all the seats were taken, but as we were decided on sandwhiches, four barstools opened up by the window: perfect. Tara and Eric had purchased their meals and sat down, but I hadn't decided yet, and so I threw my jacket on the remaining two chairs to save them while we were buying our meals. We grabbed our food and proceeded to the cashier, and as Jonathan handed the man our food to purchase it, a woman next to him looked at me and said, "Are you reserving those seats over there?" I told her that I was. She paused for a split second, and then plowed right through, "That's a bit selfish, isn't it." It wasn't a question, no. It wasn't even an angry tone at all, and I was taken aback by the matter-of-factness of the statement. I replied, "Well, no, those are our friends over there, you see, we are going to go sit with them." She stared back at me blankly, clearly not accepting what I had said as a valid excuse, blinked slowly once, pursed her lips together, and turned her gaze back towards the seats. She stood there, eating her meal, glaring at me the whole time. It made no sense, since cafes in London are always crowded, and reserving your seat as soon as it opens is no crime, but mere common practice--especially if you want to sit at all while you're there. She must have known this. I was not being selfish at all, yet I think my identity as an American must be very apparent, and so she chose to pick on me because of this. Otherwise she would have scolded Jonathan, who was closer to her. We were obviously on a date, he was paying, why would you scrutinize the girl instead of the guy? Anyway, this ruffled my feathers a bit, but I got over it.
Then, after we had purchased pastries from Paul bakers and Tara and Eric had gone to their play, Jonathan and I stopped at a Caffe Nero to get some hot chocolate (it was FREEZING outside) and to sit and eat our pastries. As we entered, we were greeted and told that the store was closing in 20 minutes. No problem. We'll drink our hot chocolate and go. We brought our hot chocolate to the table and pulled out the cheesecake. After one bite, the same worker from before came over and pointed to the box and said "That is from Paul, you eat that in Paul. This is Nero, you eat from Nero here, we have the same things to eat here. You cannot eat this here, only Nero products here." Yikes. Ok, sorry for assuming that purchasing a drink makes you a valid customer. I wonder if they had a set amount of time you must spend in the store before you use their restrooms as well? Anyhow, we put the pastries away, then noticed that on the table across from us a group of women had bananas and apples that they were munching away at, and big bottles of Sainsbury's water. Definitely not products from Caffe Nero. So how come they could eat them there? Again, it must have just been me. My feathers had just been re-ruffled. After that the night was kind of blah. We watched A Christmas Carol and took pictures in Trafalgar Square, then went home. It was an adventure, but I'm really tired of being singled out and scolded because I'm American.
It's finally freezing here, and I can hardly ever go outside without wearing a scarf, my huge jacket, and gloves. Surprisingly, though, it still doesn't feel like Christmas, even though the big day is only 12 days away. This is why I've been pumping the festive music, and wanting to go to as many Christmas markets as possible; I'm trying to force myself into the mood, but I don't think it's possible this far away from home. The fact of the matter is that even though its colder here, and even though the holiday is far bigger of an event here--one which they've been prepping for since I got here--it won't feel like Christmas until I'm home, watching The Muppets' A Christmas Carol, eating my mommy's homemade apple turnovers, decorating the huge Christmas tree with the Star Trek ornament, and sitting in front of our fireplace drinking hot cocoa while wrapped in my blanket watching the pouring rain outside. I know I wanted snow for Christmas, but I'll be happy to forego that for Christmas with my family.
However, I'm still torn, because I've found such genuine people here. I don't want to go back to a place where people play games, stab backs, and put on a show. I've said it once and I'll say it again, I've never felt so cared for by people who don't want to date me, or even they do, it's been so much more genuine and abundant than anyone--even those I have dated. Here I feel loved and wanted, and I don't get that back home, save from my family. What's a girl to do? I wish I could go home for Christmas, and then come back here for the next semester of school, but alas, it's far too expensive, and there aren't many classes I can take. C'est la vie, I guess...
So right now I'm being completely anti-social. Everyone went to coffee, as usual, and I don't feel like doing anything but reading and listening to Christmas music. EMO!!
Anyway, here's some pictures..
