Holiday Season 2012

Cambridge keeps getting colder and colder; snow even began to fall the last couple of days I was there. So it is safe to say I was certainly glad to be going home for Christmas. Christmas in Southern California definitely isn't like the ones you see in the movies filled with snow angels, sledding, and other snow related activities. Christmas in Southern California generally includes walks along the beach in a light knit sweater. I was hoping for a bit of California sunshine before going back to the gray skies of England, but no such luck. The weather this holiday season is much like the weather I just left- cold, gray, and rainy. The poor weather hasn't stopped me from taking part in my usual Christmas festivities. I spent a day with my cousins in Upland listening to Christmas tunes, watching Elf, and of course baking. We made several kinds of cookies (many had a hint of Peppermint in them) and built a gingerbread house.

I also got to see my beautiful cousin Makenzie dance the part of Clara in The Nutcracker. She was breathtaking. That same weekend I made a quick trip up to my family's cabin in Lake Arrowhead. One day Kiersten and Ruairi went snowboarding so I stayed behind to take care of the pups; Abbie, Aslan, and I went for a nice long walk along the lake.

It certainly wouldn't be Christmas without a trip to Candy Cane Lane or a movie date with my cousin Kylee. She hadn't seen the new Twilight film, Breaking Dawn Part 2, so I went and saw it a second time with her. My mom, brother, Kylee and I then stopped at Starbucks to get holiday drinks to keep us warm while strolling around Candy Cane Lane, admiring the Christmas decorations and lights.

This Christmas Eve, Ruairi and I slept in while my mom did a little grocery shopping for our Christmas Day breakfast. At 3pm we went to Kings Harbor Church for the Christmas Eve service and then made our way to my grandparents house. This year was a bit different since the Murdocks and Sarah and Chris weren't with us, but we will see them all in a few days in Indianapolis for my sister's wedding. It certainly has been a holly, jolly, Christmas this year!

A Day Trip to London

Now that term is over and I have some free time (at least until I get back to the states because then I have to conduct a case study), my friend Carly and I decided to go into London.

Upon arriving, we went to the Pepperdine London house at 56 Prince's Gate, my home away from home. We dropped off our bags and I said hello to Carolyn, Fred, and Jenny. It was around lunch time so we figured we should probably fuel-up for the long day ahead of us. I brought Carly to Kulu Kulu Sushi where I realized that I hadn't had sushi for over 2 months! That is insane. When our tummy's were filled we made our way to Christmas World in Harrods, but not before stopping in Laduree to pick up an assortment of macaroons. I chose Christmas, Hazelnut, Raspberry, and Rose. Then we went down the street to the Natural History Museum; Carly taught Geography before coming to Cambridge so this was right up her alley.

Of course we went to the tourist-y spots: Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and the London Eye. It started to get dark around 4, 4:30 so we thought it would be a perfect time to go to the Christmas market at the Southbank since there were Christmas lights everywhere. We tried to see the giant tree in Trafalgar Square, but unfortunately the lights weren't on when we went. I don't quite understand why since it was pitch dark outside...oh well.

There was a chill in the air so we stopped in Starbucks to get hot soy Chai Tea Lattes to warm ourselves up before going to Hyde Park for Winter Wonderland. We met up with my friend Borja, Jenny, and two of her law school classmates. We enjoyed the Bavarian Village, the 60-something year old D.J. who sang along to songs like Gangnam Style, We Found Love, and Summer of '69, and the endless amounts of Christmas cheer! I was absolutely frozen by the end of the evening, but all I can say is, is that there is NOTHING like Christmas in London. I can't really describe it, it is just purely magical.

This morning I caught up on some sleep on my train ride back to Cambridge. My aunt Annie drove down to deliver some Christmas presents and to take me to dinner. We went to a French bakery called Patisserie Valerie, which is absolutely to die for! Of course we had to order dessert, so we decided to split the Blackforest cake. I have already decided that the next time I go, I am going to try the Strawberry Mille-Feuille with fresh strawberries and cream filling....Yum! Annie then helped me pick out the right medicine at the pharmacy. I am suffering from a cold brought on by my lack of sleep, I'm sure. Hopefully I will feel better by my flight on Thursday because nothing is worse than being sick on a plane.

Survived

I did it, I survived my first term here at Cambridge. Now I have to play the waiting game to get my marks back on my essay, which won't be available until the end of January. Fortunately I have a lot to look forward until then. Yesterday had it's ups and downs. Here at Cambridge you must have two copies of your paper bound and turned in to the administrative office of your faculty by 4 pm. I stayed up until 4:30 am revising my paper so when I woke up at 8, I figured that would give me plenty of time to print and bind my paper. Well I was wrong. My across-the-hall-mate Carly and I spend 2 1/2 hours just trying to print our papers (page numbers got messed up, tables of contents were wrong, formatting got adjusted etc.). Eventually we made our way to a stationary store that does binding, but of course they wouldn't be able to do it for at least and hour and we definitely didn't want to take any chances. We went to the Graduate Union (I found out it has a cool hang-out area/cafe) and they managed to get our papers bound in about 5 minutes. Carly and I then ventured to the Faculty of Education building and handed in our papers. Hallelujah!

We celebrated by enjoying a meal at the Earl of Derby pub before going to Primark to do a little shopping. In the evening the chapel held a candlelit Christmas Carol service and the CR committee put on the annual college Pantomime.

Today I got to do one of my favorite things in the world....SLEEP! I definitely needed it after all the late nights I had this week. I did leave my bed to go to the University Library to return some books. Tomorrow I will be going to the Vintage Fair that is held in the Market Square, where hopefully I will get some Christmas shopping done. On Monday Carly and I are going to London. I'll get to meet up with some of my friends (Jenny, Elizabeth, and Borja), visit some of my favorite museums, and go ice-skating at Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland!

And then I get to go home on Thursday!