This Thanksgiving was my first Thanksgiving away from my family. However, my school here in London did a great job with giving all of us our own British Thanksgiving.
On Thanksgiving night, we all gathered at the fabulous Holiday Inn for some lovely mingling, apple cider, and of course, a turkey dinner. The tables were well decorated and even included some British holiday traditional decorations like crackers, which you rip open to collect your celebratory paper crown.
On Thanksgiving night, we all gathered at the fabulous Holiday Inn for some lovely mingling, apple cider, and of course, a turkey dinner. The tables were well decorated and even included some British holiday traditional decorations like crackers, which you rip open to collect your celebratory paper crown.
The first course was a pumpkin soup in way too small of a bowl. It was GOOD! In between courses, our school’s staff hosted a pub quiz about London. Our table won 3rd place and a Starbucks gift card, which is great because now I can buy holiday drinks for the rest of my time here and not feel horrible about paying the outrageous amount of money Starbucks charges in London (when converted to dollars)!
The second course was a traditional turkey dinner. Not Mom’s home cooking, but it was better than nothing. And the stuffing couldn’t hold a candle to yours Dad!
Dessert was apple pie and only apple pie. We were all a bit bitter about the fact that there was no pumpkin pie. It’s not Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie! No matter, I ended up being able to take home a leftover pumpkin pie from an event at school the next day anyway so now we have a whole pumpkin pie to ourselves and a can of whipped cream.
All in all, a solid Thanksgiving.
Another fun thing we did this week was take a trip to the Tower of London. It was free, courtesy of our school. A fun attraction to visit, but no pictures are allowed in the crown jewels room so the main attraction of it is not as fun to share with others with no pictures. However, still very fun to see and the crown jewels were gorgeous of course. There was a moving sidewalk along the side of the display so that people wouldn’t stop and hold the line up. Clever! More pictures in the November Gallery.
Another fun thing we did this week was take a trip to the Tower of London. It was free, courtesy of our school. A fun attraction to visit, but no pictures are allowed in the crown jewels room so the main attraction of it is not as fun to share with others with no pictures. However, still very fun to see and the crown jewels were gorgeous of course. There was a moving sidewalk along the side of the display so that people wouldn’t stop and hold the line up. Clever! More pictures in the November Gallery.
A short blog this week, but things are wrapping up here and homework is keeping a lot of us busy. I’m looking forward to coming back but I will miss the fun adventures I’ve had and the people I’ve met.
Only one British Oddity this week:
Since I don’t have many facts this week, I’ll share some of my top things I;m going to miss when I leave London:
Only one British Oddity this week:
- Communicating what time it is is slightly odd here. At home I hear people say its “eleven thirty” (11:30) or “half past eleven”, but here I often hear people say 11:30 as “half eleven”. It makes sense after you get used to it, but when you think about it, just “half eleven” could mean 10:30 too couldn’t it?
Since I don’t have many facts this week, I’ll share some of my top things I;m going to miss when I leave London:
- The view from the Embankment bridge when walking to the Southbank theatre district at night
- The brand of Ramen available at the Sainsbury’s grocery store, seriously the best ramen from a grocery store ever!
- People calling me love, my dear, and my love in everyday interactions.
- The grocery store being within a one-minute walking distance from my flat.
- The crazy amount of different kinds of restaurants of all different ethnicities.
- Seeing two-three West End performances a week.
- Admiring all the old London-y flats squished between modern buildings.
- Calling my apartment a “flat”.
- The huge amount of gorgeous parks!
- The recorded voice in the tube stations commanding us to “MIND THE GAP” between the train and the platform.