Ten See Ya Laters

Here I am, sitting on my couch at the Palace of Milton (will make sense as you read on), about to write my very last entry for this very special blog.  I leave England tomorrow and this experience has been the most incredible I have ever had (and maybe will ever have) in my life. 
The past ten days have been really bitter sweet for me.  I am really excited to move home, to see my friends and family and to start the next chapters of my life.  However, I have had so many goodbyes to say...I can't really find the words to explain how difficult it is to leave a life behind (I know I did it already, in a way, when I left Canada and moved here, but when I did that I knew I would be back.  This time, however, I'm going home for good). 
I have made so many amazing friends here that are such a huge part of my life.  So, needless to say, there have been many tears this week; they have, however, been because of the countless memories we have made together that will always be with me.
Now, as my final blog entry, here are my Ten See Ya Laters:
1. The weekend before school ended one of my favourite people came down to Maidstone for a visit: Matthew Farrah!  This ended up being the last time I saw Matthew (and my birthday sister Nicole as well) before I left for home.  I am going to miss you both so very much - good luck next year and I will anxiously await the day when we can have another sexy vacation together!

2. On Wednesday evening I met up with Kevin (who had been off work the last two weeks of the term due to arthritis) to say goodbye.  This was extremely hard for me - Kevin has been like my dad here and has done so much for me the past two years.  I am going to miss him dearly.



3. The Thursday before school was finished I went out for dinner with my department.  I do feel a little sad about this because we had never once gone out as a department before - and what a shame!  We had such a lovely evening together; they are a wonderful group of people and a wish them all the luck next year at HTC (or wherever it is they may be).

4. Friday June 22nd was an especially hard day for me.  Not only was it the last day of school (so I had to say goodbye to all my students and all the lovely people I have worked with for the past two years), but Sarah was also leaving early Saturday morning for her Canadian summer vacation, so I also had to say goodbye to her. 
I had a really hard time at the after-school goodbyes, hugging (and crying with) everyone.  As much as I have complained about HTC, I am truly going to miss it with all my heart.

After school Sarah and Simon came over before we met everyone at Thai Palace for dinner.  Sarah, bless her, made Kari and I these amazing books entitled "All The Things We Did Together," just loaded with pictures of the fun-filled times we have had together the past two years.  It is such a wonderful gift that I will hold dear to my heart forever.  We then made our way to the restaurant for a delicious Thai meal - the last we would all have together as a group.

After dinner Sarah and Simon drove me home and we said our goodbyes.  Oh man, did we ever cry!  It was raining (a little pathetic fallacy for you) and we just stood outside, getting rained on, hugging each other and bawling our eyes out.  I didn't know it was possible for someone to cry as much as I did that day.  I am going to miss Sarah more than anyone can possibly imagine.
5. That weekend, all the girls went out for one last (or so we thought!) night out in Maidstone at Strawberry Moons (our favourite bar).  It was a very fun, drunken night, as they always are.  Goodbye Moons, you've been a hoot!

6. The next Tuesday I said goodbye to London, and to my love of West End shows.  Brit, Laura, Heather and I went to see Jersey Boys and for a delicious Gourmet Burger Kitchen dinner.  It was such a wonderful day - the show was absolutely fantastic, as was the company.  I am really going to miss how easy it is to just hop on the train and travel to London for the day.  It is such a fantastic city and there is so much to do there.  Oh well, I guess I will have to settle for my own London at home ;)

7. Wednesday night and Thursday morning, I think, were the saddest days of all.  The inevitable had been slowly creeping up on us and all the emotions I had been bottling up inside me needed to be released.  On Wednesday Kari came over for a short time to say goodbye, as her flight left on Thursday morning.  There were no tears but I had to hold them back (Kari isn't one for crying and I didn't want to make it harder for her). 

But on Thursday morning, when Britny left for her Canadian summer vacation and we had to say goodbye, it all came pouring out.  After living together for the past year a half, it's going to be really hard to go without seeing each other every day.  However, Britny also made me the most wonderful gift; she is a phenomenal scrapbooker and made me my very own scrapbook of our time together in England.  She even wrote a story to go along with it - the story of Princess Britny and Princess Sarah who lived together in the Palace of Milton.  I absolutely LOVE it and I have looked at it every night since she gave it to me.  It's the perfect gift and I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends who take so much time to make me such amazing things.

8. On Thursday, after laying in bed bawling for most of the morning about being Britny-less for a long, long time, Laura and I travelled to Sittingbourne to visit Charlotte.  Charlotte just bought a new house AND got an adorable little puppy named Chase.  We had a really great day there; we drank wine, ate loads of delicious cheese and meats on this crazy grill thing, and played with her puppy.  It was a really nice day and I hope Charlotte doesn't miss us too much next year at HTC!

9. On Friday night Mark suggested we have a Last Night Out at Moons Part 2 for Laura (who, I forgot to mention, didn't actually make it out the previous time due to a little too much alcohol consumption earlier in the day).  It was a really fun night - full of drinking games (Simmy: remember your little man!), drunken falls and messy subs galore! 

This was the prequel to mine and Laura's last day together as, the next day, Laura (bless her; she was horribly hungover) made her way to mine and we spent the afternoon and evening watching True Blood and eating loads of pizza and wings - the perfect hangover remedy if you ask me!

10. Mark (commonly known to me as Jr Spell) is my last See Ya Later as he, very kindly, is driving me to the airport tomorrow morning.  I am very grateful that I don't have to leave my life in England all by my lonesome and that I will instead have a friend to see me off. 

Well, there you have it: my Ten See Ya Laters.  To everyone mentioned in this blog: I love you and I'll miss you with all my heart.  And to my dear friends who I have said goodbye to this past week: if any of you die before I see you next, you can be certain I will dance with your dead body!  See you all next summer in Canadialand for the ultimate friendship reunion.  Love yas!
Xx

Celebrating Canadia

I never would have imagined Canada Day in any other country could compare with our own celebrations, but boy was I wrong!  Every year England hosts a massive Canada Day party in Trafalgar Square, London, and luckily for us it fell on a weekend this year.
After a very fun day at work (filled with "Happy Canadia Day, miss" wishes from loads of students) we took the train to London, drinking and decorating ourselves with Canada tattoos on the way. 

I was already a little tipsy by the time we got to Trafalgar Square where Laura, Brit, Mark and I met the rest of our friends.  We stood around the square, dancing and singing, surrounded by about 20,000 people all there enjoying the fantastic weather, decked out in their red and white, celebrating the birth of our great nation. It was so much fun I really can't put it into words.  
The only disappointing thing about the evening was that, before we got there, Sarah, Kari, Cara, and Simon met and had their picture taken with none other than Wayne Gretzky!  I was so upset we hadn't arrived a couple hours earlier. 

Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, Sarah and Simon bumped into Mike Myers - I swear, Sarah is like a magnet for famous people (she met Matthew Fox about a month ago too)!  Oh well though, snooze you lose I guess.
We spent the evening drinking, tattooing and drawing on each other with red and white crayons (which are very difficult to wash off, by the way), dancing along to Blue Rodeo, and just generally being our crazy, fun selves.

There were, of course, a lot of angry faces made throughout the night - not because of anger though; it was more of a nostalgic thing.  Like, HEY!  GIMME MY FRIENDS ON CANADA DAY!  :)

To finish off the night Blue Rodeo played the national anthem, and we all sang along with thousands of fellow Canadians to "Oh Canada" - it sounds cheesy but it was a pretty magical moment; Britny even had tears!  Here they are:

I am really happy I had the opportunity to celebrate "Canadia" Day abroad; it's definitely a night I will always remember.

Birthdays, Ballet, Bowling, and a Band

Weeks like the one that just recently passed are what I live for! Friday June 17th was Laura’s twenty fifth birthday and so, naturally, we had a huge party celebration after work. We hadn’t all partied together in a while (and, soon, won’t again for a long time) so it was a super fun, albeit a super sad, night. I have to admit, there were drunken tears later on in the evening at Moons (the club we usually go to); I just couldn’t help it!

The next day we, in our ridiculously hung over states, made our way to London for the Royal Ballet’s performance of Romeo and Juliet at the O2 arena.

We bought these tickets ages ago and it was something I had been looking forward to for months; after all, Shakespeare and ballet are two of my absolute favourite things. The show was simply beautiful, and the way they set up the stage was very cool. Since there is no pit at the O2 they put the orchestra in a narrow glass box above the stage so the audience could see them as they played.
I have to say though, there were times when it was a bit slow. They had these incredibly long intervals between scenes, not to mention some of the more dramatic moments in the ballet when it was just Romeo or Juliet on stage moping around very melancholy-like, but not actually dancing. Even for a lover of dance, it was a bit much (although probably being over-tired didn’t help matters).
Furthermore, I’m not sure everyone in the audience was fully up to speed with the characters or plot. Actually, scratch that. I know everyone in the audience was not up to speed. Sarah, in particular, leaned over to me at one point and said in a most unimpressed voice, “what the hell is going on?” It was even difficult at times for me, who knows the play like the back of my hand, to follow who was who and what was going on. I don’t know if it’s just because the choreographer didn’t want to spoon feed or patronize the audience, but he should have made it more obvious who the characters were; it would have been simple with the use of more symbolic colours, like black for Tybalt and white for Mercutio, for example. 
I am being very negative here though and have failed to mention all the wonder that the show had to offer. The dancing was phenomenal, especially from the leads. There were arching leaps, caressing lifts, graceful spins…all in all it was a brilliant performance. One scene in particular that stands out was near the end of the ballet when Romeo arrives at Juliet’s tomb; it was a beautiful, touching scene where Romeo dances with Juliet’s “dead” body while she hangs completely limp. Not only was this scene extremely moving, but it also started up our newest favourite thing to say to one another: “when I die will you dance with my dead body?” Hah! We crack me up.  After the ballet we had a much-needed greasy dinner at GBK and then headed home for an early night’s sleep.
The next day Jason was celebrating his 31st birthday just like the little boy he is inside – with a children’s party at the Maidstone bowling alley.

Sarah, Simmy, Charlotte and I went together and met Jason, his wife Helen and a bunch of his friends there. It was actually so much fun! It was exactly as I remember children’s birthdays, with hats, streamers, candy and chocolate, and even children’s meals – little burgers or pizzas or chicken nuggets with fries. We bowled (I scored an impressive 68, haha) and partied like we were twelve. It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Although going back to work on Monday was a struggle, I had Wednesday to look forward to. I took the first train after work and made my way back to London, Hyde Park, for the Kings of Leon concert.

It had been pouring rain (like, literally cats and dogs) all day and Sarah and I were really worried that we were going to end up drenched to the bone. Luckily for us, though, the rain died down and it was a nice, sunny evening at the show.

Kings of Leon put on a good show, although I have to say it is not the best concert I have ever been to.  I thought that they didn't have the sound up loud enough for whatever reason as I struggled to hear the words all the time.  They did play Notion, though, my favourite song of theirs, so that made me happy.  It was a great night; I basically just want to spend as much time with Sarah as possible before I go home, so it was totally worth it.

This was, needless to say, a very busy week, and I can't believe it's come and gone already.  Before I know it I will be home again...but until then, well, I guess you'll have to stay tuned.

Off To See The Wizard

Last night my friends and I went to see Andrew Lloyd Webber's newest broadway spectacular, The Wizard of Oz on the West End.  Quite honestly, I didn't really have the highest expectations for two main reasons: first of all the show didn't have the best reviews when it opened only a short time ago in February; secondly, the last few shows I have seen that have been based on a film haven't really been at the top of my list.  I think it's because I have such a high standard for the shows with such specific expectations based on the films that I adore.  Legally Blonde and The Lion King are two perfect examples of this; not that I didn't enjoy the shows (I mean, all musicals are fun and entertaining), but I was just not as in awe as I normally am when I watch a really good musical.

This show, however, was a really pleasant surprise - in fact, it was fantastic!  The sets were incredible; there were amazing special effects (in true Webber fashion, the witch and monkeys flew down from the ceiling to the stage!); the costumes and make-up were fabulous; not to mention the actors and singing which were simply excellent - I must mention that Dorothy is played by eighteen year old Danielle Hope, winner of Andrew Lloyd Webber's reality show Over the Rainbow (so she has no professional experience whatsoever), and she was sensational!  The Wicked Witch and hilariously camp Cowardly Lion were also wonderful and were probably my favourite characters in the show (apart from the uber adorable Toto, of course).
It was a show that generated such a magnificent nostalgia for my childhood and had me smiling all the way through (and admittedly even dabbing at a few tears).  I am very happy I had the chance to experience the land over the rainbow before I leave for home.

A Rockin' Family Holiday

My parents arrived at my house shortly after Mike, Juli and I got back from Belgium.  It was so nice to see them (even though I was super jealous of their gorgeous tans - they had amazing weather on their cruise).  They needed to get some laundry done and were looking very much forward to a home-cooked meal, so we stayed in that evening and had a delicious (if I do say so myself) spaghetti dinner.
The next day we were off bright and early to London to start our little family holiday.  I brought them to Camden Market to start.

I love wandering around there so much and figured they would find it fun as well (which they very much did).  I especially love shopping with my mom as I always seem to end up with more stuff than I would if I had gone by myself!  We spent a couple hours there, had a yummy Chinese lunch from one of the many stalls to choose from (I thought Mike was going to vomit, he ate so much), and made our way to the theatre district.
Next up was We Will Rock You, one of the few shows on my list that I had yet to see. 

I must admit, it wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be, although not necessarily in a bad way.  I guess that was my own fault though; I had no clue what the musical was about - the only thing I knew was that the story centered around the music of the band Queen.  I suppose, because of that, I assumed the musical would take place in the seventies.  Um, not exactly.  The show is set in a futuristic dystopian era where originality and individualism are shunned and music is essentially outlawed.  The main character, known as the Dreamer, is destined to fulfill a prophecy that will bring rock and roll back to mankind.  I must say that most of the costumes, characters, and sets are very bizarre (due to the futuristic theme), but the show is very funny, the singing was fantastic, and the music itself most definitely had me singing along (although I have to admit I didn't even realise most of the songs in the show were Queen)!  All in all, I would have to agree that I was rocked.

That evening I took my fam to a restaurant I am truly going to miss when I move back home: Gourmet Burger Kitchen.  GBK specialises in gourmet burgers of pretty much any description you can imagine.  They have beef, chicken and veggie burgers, as you might expect, but the variety of toppings they offer are endless and, some might say, kind of strange.  One of the burgers worth mentioning (although they were all delicious) is the one Juli got: Aubergine and Goat's Cheese (for those of you who don't know, aubergine is eggplant).  When Juli's burger was delivered we all burst out into fits of hysterical laughter.  It was HUGE; the goat's cheese itself was the size of a regular beef patty!  It was definitely a kodak moment:

As Juli disassmbled her burger so she could actually eat it, Mike and dad were wiping the sweat off their foreheads and gulping what must have been gallons of water.  They each had the Habanero burger and apparently it is very, very spicy (Mike even claims it is the spiciest thing he has ever eaten)!  Although tears were pouring out of our eyes (some due to spice seeping out of pours, others due to laughter), dinner was a success.  GBK, two thumbs up as usual; you never fail to impress.

After dinner we went back to our hotel for a relatively early night; we had to wake up at about five in the morning for our day trip and I must say, I wasn't very happy about it.  However, up we got and we were on our way by 7am - thank god there was a Starbucks open right around the corner from our pick up spot (Chai Tea Latte me)!
The first stop on our bus trip was to Oxford. 

Our visit to Oxford primarily consisted of a tour through Oxford University, consistently ranked as one of the world's top ten post-secondary schools.  My mom and I didn't really know how exciting this was going to be but we were very pleasantly surprised.  It was absolutely huge and wonderfully impressive, not to mention our tour guide was a very cheerful, passionate woman who offered an abundance of incredibly interesting information about the history of, and life within, the university.  For instance, Oxford is the second oldest surviving university in the world; there is evidence of teaching that dates as far back as the 11th century!  I could tell the buildings were very old just by looking at them, but I didn't realise just how old some of them were. 
A very cool fact about the first section we explored is that several scenes from the Harry Potter movies were filmed there - I felt very magical, standing there, taking it all in...

It was very peaceful, wandering from place to place within the university grounds.  I don't know if it's just because it was exam time and therefore all the students were inside studying, but it seemed like a very calming, serene campus.

We walked a short distance from the main entrance, through one of the many gorgeous archways that link each and every section together, to the Bodleian Library - this is the central research library of the university and is only one of one hundred libraries the universtiy has.  This library is famous for several things; first of all it is another popular filming location for the Harry Potter films; secondly, it is what is known as a "legal deposit" library, which means that it is legally entitled to the first published book of every book ever published in the United Kingdom.  This means that if I ever publish a book in England, the Bodleian Library will get the first copy.  Because of this there are over eleven million books in the library, and they have to add approximately three miles of shelving every year - crazy!

After the library we passed under another archway to visit some of the colleges; the university is divided into thirty-eight colleges, each with its own structure and activities.  When a student is accepted to a particular college, this is where they will sleep, eat, and study for their entire degree.  We visited two of those colleges, Trinity College and Jesus College:

By now our time in Oxford was up and we made our way back to the bus (we did, however, walk past J.R.R. Tolkien's old room window on the way!):

We continued our journey to Stratford-Upon-Avon through the Cotswolds.  If you connect the dots between London, Oxford, and Stratford, the Cotswolds is the entire area within the triangle that is created.  Our first stop was Bibury, an unbelievably adorable, charming, precious little village.  We only spent a short time here but, as we wandered around, snapping countless photos, I envisioned myself retiring in one of the delightful cottages; it really would be the perfect place to grow old with someone you love.

Two of the most popular attractions in Bibury include Arlington Row and the Bibury Trout Farm.  Arlington Row is a strip of twelfth century cottages that were originally used as the production site of woolen cloth.  Apparently Arlington Row is one of the most photographed parts of the entire Cotswolds area.

The Bibury Trout Farm, directly across the street from Arlington Row, is one of the oldest trout farms in England (founded in 1902), and is famous for their high quality Rainbow Trout.

I was very sad to leave Bibury; it really is one of the prettiest places I have ever been.  We next drove through another little village called Lower Slaughter and our tour guide let us get out and walk to meet him at the bus about ten minutes away so we could experience more cuteness.

The last stop in the Cotwolds was Stow; we stopped here for about an hour for a very short lunch and wander.  It isn't as cute here, in my opinion, as the other places we stopped, but it is more of a "town centre" area as opposed to cottages and housing, so maybe that's why.  Regardless, it is still a lovely, quaint little area.

I have to admit, I initially wasn't very excited about our trip through the Cotswolds.  When my family and I were planning our trip I voted for Liverpool but Mike and our dad really wanted to do this trip; I am so incredibly happy that I lost the vote!  The Cotswolds is known as the "Heart of England" and has been designated as an Area of Outstanding Beauty.  I have to agree with both of these statements; as I mentioned above, it really is one of the most enchanting, picturesque places I have ever visited.

Last but not least was Stratford-Upon-Avon, the home of William Shakespeare!

This was unfortunately rather disappointing; because this was the last stop of the day, and because the tour ended at 6:30pm, we only had about an hour in Stratford and were dropped off in the town centre where Shakespeare's birthplace is located.  I would have liked to stay a bit longer to explore the river and park area that we drove by as it looked lovely.  Oh well...can't have everything. 

Aside from that, though, Stratford was great.  I was over the moon to visit Shakespeare's birthplace, an extremely old house that looked like it was even more ancient than the houses in the Cotswolds.

I even learned a little something during the tour: apparently, when families wanted to show off to their neighbours that they had a little extra cash lying around, they would put a bedroom in one of the downstairs rooms of their house.  This was so a bed could be seen from the front, ground-level window; only wealthy families could afford beds, so this was the perfect way to show off.  The Shakespeare family was one of the lucky few who had a bedroom on the ground-level.  Cool eh?

Upstairs in the house is the actual room where William was born - very exciting!

There was a rather nice view of the courtyard from the bedroom too!

As we left the house there was a performance of the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet in the courtyard (admittedly I was reciting the lines along with the actors...but really, what else did you expect from me?).

This was the end of our day trip and we made the two and a half hour journey back to London.  We got back to Maidstone at about 8pm and had dinner at a pub before heading home for a very well-deserved night's sleep.  It was a really nice trip, and I enjoyed it even more because my family was there with me.  Awwwww, I know.
The next two days, before my family went back home, were spent lazing around the house, shopping in town, playing cards, eating loads of really healthy food (hah!), and just being together.  It sounds uber cheesy but it is exactly what the doctor ordered.
I said goodbye to my family early Sunday morning, but only for another couple of months - I have finally booked my flight home and move back to Canada on August 1st.  Let the countdown begin...again.