The Year of the Dragon

This month we enter the year of the Dragon. Apparently a year that brings prosperity and luck to all, not just those born under its sign. We rose early and left the campus at 9 to be in Trafalgar square in time for the parade. We lined up on the street just as the parade was starting. It started, of course, with a large golden dragon that gracefully floated over the street, twirling and swirling and delighting all of the children in the crowd. Then came some dancing lions, dancers in traditional Chinese clothing, ninjas, and acrobats. It was quite a show, even though it only lasted about 10 minutes.

After the parade we walked down the steps of the National Gallery to the fountains at Trafalgar Square. We were very near the front of the barriers, happily anticipating the lion dance and firecrackers. It wasn't long before we discovered that the ceremony wouldn't start until 12, with the lion dance not starting until 12:45. This is when we lost the majority of the group to food and other attractions. Ulfie, Patrick, and I decided that our position within the crowd was too good to give up, and so we waited it out.  At 12 the firecrackers went off. Followed by speeches from various Chinese diplomats and important people wanting to wish us a very happy, prosperous, and healthy new year. Then some important British folk helped with the dotting of the dragon eyes, which brings the dragons to life. The presenters then taught us how to say "Happy New Year" in cantonese. Finally, the much anticipated lion dance. Quite impressive. Take a look.

Then there was another dragon dance. This one lasted for quite a while. The dragon chased a ball on a stick all around in giant loops, tying itself in knots along the way. It was interesting and impressive but I was freezing and holding my camera up high, so I apologise for the shakiness of the video.

Frozen to the core, the three of us decided we could take no more so we headed out of the square towards home. We picked up two more of our group in a coffee shop before marching towards the nearest tube station and warmth. Patrick and I stopped at Wagamama on the way home. It just didn't seem right to eat anything but asian. It definitely hit the spot and slowly, as I started to thaw, the feeling returned to my fingers, legs, feet, and toes. It was a very fun new year's celebration. Despite the temperature being only 2 degrees Celsius, I still enjoyed myself. Here's to a prosperous, healthy year of the dragon!

RAG Bop

This past week was RAG week. During RAG week, the university raises money for various charities and in the process has a lot of really fun things for students to do. Unfortunately, the only event I attended was the RAG week Bop. This week's bop featured something so much better than really loud club music and over-priced drinks. A mechanical bull and "jelly shots" (by this, of course, the Brits mean Jell-O shots). A go on the mechanical bull was £1, and jelly shots were 50p. After a cider to loosen ourselves up, Terry and I decided we should try our skills on the mechanical bull...for charity, of course. Terry went first and, although she was wearing slippery tights and screamed like a little girl, she lasted much longer than I did. After 27 seconds, the bull had thrown her. After squishing a jelly into my mouth, I manned up and stepped into the queue. I borrowed the operator's cowboy hat to try to add to my mojo. After only 19 seconds, I was flying off the bull. I guess the hat didn't bring me luck like I had hoped. No matter, it was a fun 19 seconds and in the process, I donated a pound to charity! Nice.

All bulled out we decided to head to the dance floor and get our groove on. By this time, the rest of our group had joined us and the bop was in full swing. We played some balloon volleyball while we danced to surprisingly good club music playing at a ridiculously loud volume. Unfortunately, at 12:30, I decided I needed to call it a night. Saturday was my first class of this term and it started at 9. Humph. I'm happy to say that, though it was one of my shortest Bop experiences, it was certainly one of my favourite.

Bubble Madness!

For the first time in a few days, the rain stopped yesterday and the sun came out. It was a perfect day for making giant bubbles. I purchased this big bubble thing a few weeks ago and have been waiting for ideal weather conditions to try it out. Although it was quite windy yesterday and therefore not "ideal" it was still good enough to warrant a go. I made my homemade bubble solution (a mixture of dish soap, corn starch, baking powder, and water), let it "strengthen" for about 2 hours, assembled the big bubble thing, and then headed out to the lawn to try it out. I was accompanied by some friends and we eventually had an awesome time. I say eventually, because it took us about 30 minutes to figure out how to get the really big bubbles to come alive. We found a spot blocked from the wind by buildings and were finally able to make the magic. The first time I made a big bubble with the big bubble thing I screamed. I was that excited. It wasn't long after that that we had big bubbles almost every try. The bubbles were huge, colourful, and "strong". They dodged buildings and trees like they were alive. It was incredible! I can't wait to do it again. (Thanks, Ulfie for the pictures!)

Addicted to Traveling

I know that I've just returned to London from a fabulous vacation, but I'm already looking for the next adventure. I think I'm addicted to traveling. Or maybe I'm just hoarding passport stamps. Either way, I'm already thinking of the next trip.

As of right now, the next fully planned adventure doesn't happen until April! How can I go 3 months without another adventure? I don't think I can. I'm sure I'll find something to put in there. April is packed, though with Mom's visit and a trip to Paris, followed by a week or so in Holland with Patrick's friends and family, finished off with a trip to Berlin with the girls. April is going to be AWESOME!

Then, in June comes the trip I'm most excited about: Iceland! Jess and Nate are journeying across the pond and then we will go to Iceland for 5 days. I am more than excited about this. I am bouncing in my seat just thinking about it. I spent the majority of this afternoon hunting for hostels, flights, and attractions. I thought 5 days would be enough but now that I'm thinking about all of the amazing things to do in Iceland, I'm not so sure. Iceland is my dream destination. The landscape has so much to offer. I feel like I could spend months there and still not see it all. Regardless, here's what's on the itinerary thus far.

Jokulsar Lagoon

Vik beach: Black sand and basalt columns

Svartifoss waterfalls and basalt columns

Stokkur geyser

Gullfoss waterfall

Blue Lagoon thermal pools

Nate, Jess, Patrick, are you ready for this? I have never been so excited about a vacation. Is it June yet?

A Weekend in Brussels

I spent this past weekend in Brussels with Patrick. We left early Friday for the 2 hour train to Brussels. This was my first experience on an international train and it was fun. Still, not quite as luxurious as I had thought it would be. I guess for the kind of train I'm imagining, I'll need to go for longer than 2 hours. Regardless, the train ride to and from Brussels got me two passport stamps with train symbols (to go along with the plane and boat symbols I already have)! I'm geekishly excited about that.

We arrived in the late afternoon on Friday and walked from the train station to our hotel. After checking in and freshening up from the journey, we headed into the city centre in search of some adventure, and food of course. We went to Grand Place square, which was breathtakingly beautiful. It reminded me of Amsterdam. I snapped lots of pictures, Patrick patiently waited, and we headed off down one of the streets surrounding the square to explore. We found several quaint streets with lots of little shops. We went into lots of shoe stores and other shops. Soon the rumbles in our tummies was enough to put us on the path toward food. We looked at lots of restaurants and decided that for tonight McDs would be the best bet. By the food on our trays, one probably thought we were feeding 5. I stand by my Amsterdam assessment of McDs, in Europe it's just somehow much much better than State side. After dinner we decided to kill some time in a casino. We gambled for about an two hours on different machines but inevitably came out losers. I lost 3 euro, Patrick lost 10. I guess Friday the 13 isn't as lucky as we had hoped. Reeking of smoke, we headed back to the hotel and called it a night.

Free breakfast in the hotel consisted of a surprisingly American spread, much like "continental breakfast" with more croissants. Delicious, and filling! After breakfast we went out to explore the city. We stopped at Manneken Pis to take some pictures before heading up the road toward the park and royal palace. We passed lots of pretty buildings along the way. After crossing through the park we headed toward the European Union headquarters. It was kind of a long walk, but we were there soon enough. Another park ushered us into the district of European Union buildings. They all looked new and clean and suddenly the streets formed a perfect, oh-so-familiar grid. Snacks in the park and a rest on the bench before turning around and heading back. We stopped at a tiny bakery for the most delicious croissants I've ever had. Warm, flakey, calorie-packed scrumptiousness brought smiles back to our faces and put the extra spring in our step needed to make it back to the hotel. We used the hotel's free wi-fi to find a recommended restaurant. We headed to the #2 restaurant in Brussels, Comocomo, for a Belgian tapas experience. Though we waited for what felt like forever for some plates of meat to get to us on the conveyor belt, we were soon surprised by how delicious these tapas were. Simple, but flavourful pieces of everything from cheeses, to pork,  to frog legs, to octopus, to beef tongue to dessert. After about 2 hours, we had eaten 18 plates of food and felt satisfied enough to head back out into the cold night. We admired the square by night before heading back to the hotel for bed.

More free breakfast on Sunday morning: croissant-bacon-hardboiled-egg sandwich, juice, chocolate danish, yogurt, and kiwi. We conquered the metro system on our way to the hideous but somehow famous Atomium. We walked around and under the huge eyesore, saw that entry to the thing cost 15 euro and decided that we had had our fill of Atomium. We walked through the park next to the Atomium and then headed to Mini Europe. I was incredibly exhausted but excited for Mini Europe. Seeing miniature, to-scale versions of all of Europe's major attractions sounded amazing. We walked up a steep hill and through a small street of amusement park-ish shops and restaurants to the gates of Mini Europe. That's right, the gates. Apparently Mini Europe closes from January 9 - March something. Depression was soothed by Magnum ice-cream bonbons for sale in the local sweet shop. For dinner on Sunday we stumbled upon the most delicious meal of the trip. A real stuffed cow laying on the doorstep of this restaurant drew us in. Amadeous offered barbecue and jacket potatoes. The menu was in French but we saw "spareribs" and decided this was the place for us. The interior to the restaurant was adorable, floor to ceiling bookshelves with row upon row of books, checkered table clothes on the old wooden tables, etc. etc. The food was delicious and we soon discovered the the spareribs were all-you-can-eat! Amazing. We stuffed ourselves and then lazily rolled back to the hotel to sleep it off.

After breakfast on Monday we checked out of the hotel and walked back to the Grand Place square to do our souvenir shopping. I bought postcards and then we hunted down a postoffice for Belgian stamps to the Americas. We bought a box of delicious Belgian chocolates from a shop called Leonidas, which is supposed to be one of the best Belgian chocolatiers. At last we were hungry enough for an authentic Belgian waffle. I topped mine with chocolate and a scoop of vanilla ice cream and just about died to go to waffle heaven. The texture wasn't what I had always thought of as waffle texture. It was closer to something like a warm croissant. Rich, buttery, flakey, soft. Heaven. We went back to the hotel to collect our suitcase before heading for a sandwich shop that came highly recommended by locals and tourists alike. Le Pain Quotidien turned out to be quite a surprise for me. I ordered the roast beef tartine with basil oil and parmesan cheese. I thought it would be delicious. Imagine the shock on my face when they brought out a tartine with raw meat spread over it. I tried two triangles of the sandwich before giving into the my stomach's resistance. We then walked back to the train station, boarded our train and headed home.

 

I had a wonderful time in Brussels. It was a small, quiet but fun city with some culture and interesting food. I would go back again simply for the Amadeous stake house we had on Sunday evening. I am looking forward to the next adventure, wherever that may be, and to more stamps on my passport!

Not 'Goodbye,' but 'See You Later'

The time has come and I can hardly believe it. Nearly half of my year in London is over. It's crazy how insanely fast these past 5 months have passed. In such a short amount of time I have made unforgettable, amazing friends. As the semester officially comes to a close, one good friend must say 'see you later' to Roehampton and to all of us, at least for a little while. Pepijn is the provider of constant amusement in my life; and when I am old and striped with laugh lines, I know that some of them will trace back to him. I don't want this to sound like a eulogy or something. He's not dying or anything like that, he's just going back to Holland. It's just a short (and cheap!) flight away, by no means an insurmountable distance. And, Skype and Facebook and the portion of my student loan dedicated to travel will keep us together forever! I absolutely LOVED Amsterdam, so I feel compelled to see the rest of the Netherlands. Pepijn, I hope you know that whenever I visit the North of Holland I will be surfing your couch and you will be my personal tour guide. (Of course, you are more than welcome to surf my floor whenever you hear London calling.) Thanks for bringing sunshine to our little spot of London, smiles to my face, and happiness to my heart. Thanks for teaching me useful (and inappropriate) Dutch phrases (Kringspier musketier! Anaal rider van de ronde tafel!). See you in April. Kusjes en knuffels!