Blogging Location: My flat, Leeds, while defrosting my room (only joking, but not really)
First of all, lemme give a well-deserved and very tardy shout out to the Big Man Upstairs. For about half of the semester I was a nervous wreck about traveling over winter break and traveling in general (to be honest, I still sorta am), but despite it all, I maintained my sanity and got through it all with a good amount of prayer and so far, it's all worked out better than I could have imagined. PTL. It was November- no, the beginning of December-- and I still didn't have my plans set: I didn't know where I was going, I didn't know when I was going. None of my plane/train/automobile tickets were booked, and worst of all: nowhere to go for Christmas. All I knew was that I was going to be in Europe and I wasn't going home. Luckily everything fell into place, forming this itinerary:
Dec 14-17: London
Dec 17-22: Madrid
Dec 23-27: Liverpool with my bible study group leader Elaine and her family :)
Once again, please choose and pick what you want to read, don't feel obligated to read it all! If I've done my job, my writing will be somewhat engaging enough for you to enthusiastically plow through all of it without blinking an eye. Let the blogging begin!
London
14th
Sherlock Holmes Premiere. Yeah, glam and glitz, we pulled a Hollywood. The fans were kind of insane especially for one particular lady at the front. She had a ski mask on for some reason and was raging like a parrot trying to get a ship out of a bottle whenever she wanted an autograph. That might be why none of the celebrities really wanted to approach our section. :P Nonetheless, we caught glimpses of Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Guy Ritchie, Gwen Stefani, Ian Somerhalder and some other celebs. Apparently one of the Princes was there, but he arrived late to avoid the attention. Cheeky. Nonetheless, fun being in the freezing weather with two of my pals in busy Leicester Square.
15th
David Bowie´s birthplace in Brixton is the first place I visited on Tuesday morning. Loads of you know how inspiring I find David Bowie-- probably not in the ways he intended to inspire, but the man is a piece of art. Next I hit Brick Lane in East London, thinking that there was a cool museum there. I clearly got my notes mixed up because it was the curry district. Not such a bad mistake after all. I didn´t eat there, but I know where to go now! Next up, I met up with my friend at a Starbucks (Gingerbread latte, if you care to know) in Notting Hill. I know, I'm quite posh, aren't I? Then we hit the famous Portobello Road!
16th
"It´s... supposed... to... snow... tomorrow!... So... excited!..." I wrote the last touches on my postcard to my family, stuck the international stamp on and dropped it into the red postbox. Just as I had walked about 20m from the cyllindrical transport device sponsored by Royal Mail, a white powder started to fall. Having never seen snow falling before, I assumed it was the super-delayed ashy remains of the great Industrial Revolution. Speculating the debris on my mittens, the "ash" was a bit more crystalline than I expected. SNOW!
The only way I could relay my absolute joy is if I tell you to reach down through your aorta, about 500 feet down into your heart, and pull out your inner child. Anyways, my next stop was Madrid to meet up with one of my best friends who has been studying in Cordoba, Spain. To get there, I had to catch a 3am shuttle to the airport to catch an 8am flight. Sleeping is not a priority here.
Madrid, Spain
Spent loads of time in Spain! During my first two days, I wandered about the big city solo, except for when my wonderful Spanish flat mate who lives in Madrid showed me around. My first day, I settled myself down in the hostel (it was delightful and I highly recommend it-- Hostel One Centro) and putzed off to the city! Armed with a map, a water bottle and my camera I ran around paranoid after psyching myself up about pick-pockets (not to spoil the suspense, but I came out of Madrid unpicked). Kiddy Karate never taught us much about pickpockets. I strolled off the various veins and arteries of the center Puerta del Sol and couldn't help but take in the most beautiful buildings, including the palace, Palacio Real! That night I met up with my flat mate Laura who showed me around the various pockets of town and down one of the main streets Gran Via. She also treated me to dinner at a bocadillo (sandwich) restaurant with some of the best little sandwiches ever!
Armed with my local knowledge, a french bread stick and some chorizo slices, and I wandered around the next day. Finding the Reina Sofia museum, I got in with my handy dandy student ID and spent a good 5 hours amongst the Picasso and Dali pieces. I also found a new favourite: Liubov Popova. Cool propaganda-style art. I can tell you that after that stint, I was all museum'd out for the next few weeks.
That evening I met my friend Jessica at the hostel. We were having issues calling each other, so thank goodness we were at the same hostel. We went out after catching up a bit to try to get some tapas for dinner. Success! Mussels and potatoes for dinner! We chatted for quite some time and got back at around late o' clock and met up with Ryan, another pal of mine. To cut to the chase, the next few days were filled with gardens, parks, site-seeing, a Real Madrid game, persimmon-picking, food, more museums and a trip to the Haribo sweet shop! Transportation is always interesting, so this time it proved no different. Jessica and her fam split off for more sight-seeing of Spain, but it was time for Ryan and I to head home to Leeds. We camped out in the airport overnight to catch an early morning flight and the lack of sleep in addition to the insane amount of sugar consumed resulted in mild delirium, to say the least. But it was a good time and we got back to Leeds with everything and most of our sanity.
Liverpool
My friend Elaine was kind enough to invite me to her home (nicknamed the 'Mad House'; watch the film While You Were Sleeping for a good American translation of 'Mad House' and visuals of my experience) and to celebrate Christmas (and Boxing Day) with her family. She was truly a Godsend. Loads of you will be pleased to know that she lives in the Beatles-y part of Liverpool! As her folks drove me to and from the coach station, they would point down roads and say "That's where John lived! Paul lived down there! John met Paul right here!" They even go to the church where Eleanor Rigby is buried!
It's also a bonus that I LOVE the Scouse accent, so I got 5 days packed with it!
Pre-Christmas, Elaine took me to the Cavern Pub on Mathews St. (where the Beatles often played gigs) to see Kappa, a fantastic local cover band. It was a great night out. :)
On Christmas Eve, Elaine and I basically vegged all day and watched Friends, Top Gear (my first episode of Top Gear just happens to be the one where they go to America and try to piss off as many hicks as possible, go figure. But it was hilarious.), and a bit of Barefoot Contessa upon my request. It should be illegal to go through the holidays without watching Ina Garten's cooking show. Her voice is warmer and homier than a pair of socks right out of the dryer. Seriously. If that woman ever gets angry, it may just be the end of the world as we know it.
Nothing gets you more in the Christmas mood than a watching of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (the new one) and that's exactly what came on on Christmas eve. The snow. The lamp post. Father Christmas. The Lion. Perfect.
Christmases in Britain aren't exactly the same as American ones, and that's why I was wishing for an English Christmas this year. For one, Christmas "dinner" (a bit like American Thanksgiving, actually) is served around noon time while "tea" (basically a full dinner) is served at 6-ish. Plus, you don't hear "Santa" as much as you hear "Father Christmas." The English also have crackers! Let me show you:
In addition, they have fantastic desserts! Trifle, Christmas pudding and mincemeat pies (which strangely have no meat in them whatsoever). For those of you that know me, I can eat enough food for about three full-grown cows, but I never went even slightly hungry in the Siddall home!
Christmas morning, we got up at about 6 to be at the church at half-seven (that's 7:30am for you Americans) for a lesson in campanology (that's bell-ringing). Coming from churches that don't even have bell towers, let alone bells, this was a very new and slightly intimidating experience because even I had a go at it. In Elaine's village (yes, they call their part of Liverpool a village) just about everyone rings bells or has rung a bell, so I was quite a greenie. I rang bells 1 and 2 to Noel and a version of It Came Upon a Midnight Clear that was not the pop version (so no, I had no clue how it was supposed to go). Luckily, the chart they had for us to read had symbols for where the eighth notes went even though it wasn't in note form.
After getting back to the house, a good cup of tea was needed (cold temperatures come with having a white Christmas). The Siddall family was incredibly generous: not only did they let me stay in their home, but they also gave me gifts! I'm set for all my chocolate needs for a long time (unless I eat it all this week, which very well could happen :P). Next up was Christmas dinner, and like I said, it was held at noontime. At about 3:00 was the annual speech by the Queen which grandma was waiting to see. It lasted for about 15 minutes, but for some reason, that 15 minutes made me feel like my English Christmas was legitimized by the little old lady on the telly. We wore paper crowns that day, but that little old lady's was still better. Elaine's sister and sister's boyfriend had come over for the day and brought their Wii fit which covered all entertainment needs for the rest of the day. It was a good time. :)
Boxing Day was almost just like Christmas Day except with the kids; Elaine's niece and nephew came to make the 'Mad House' even madder, but in a fantastic way. They were adorable, so that was a bonus. Basically, the day was spent opening more presents and playing with the toys in them (to be honest, I think the adults had more fun with the toys than the kids did). More Wii Fit was played, working off the damage done by a second Christmas dinner and then at about 9 in the evening, Elaine and I joined some of her friends at a pub to celebrate a birthday. Despite my lack of drink, I had enough moxie to sing Proud Mary with Elaine's friends at the top of my lungs. Gettin' souuullllfullll! Yeah!
Sadly, my English Christmas had to come to an end as all things do, but it was one of the best times I've had since I've been here. I really did feel at home in the Siddall house. I'm now back in Leeds sitting in a fairly lifeless building, but with more than enough stuff to do to keep me busy. The only words I can use to truly describe it are these: post-apocalyptic. Whenever I'm going in or out of the building (the lift is broken so that's 12 flights of stairs to the 6th floor, baby!) I feel like I need my nine iron with me in case I run into a gaggle of zombies.
Hoping my brain doesn't get eaten,
Raechel
P.S. Thanks for the encouraging emails and prayers! I really do appreciate every bit of it!
P.P.S. For more photos of any/all of this stuff, hit up my Facebook!
