a british thanksgiving

I think I forgot to mention in my mosques and temples post that I went to Windsor Castle with Johnny and Sandy and the queen was there. We didn’t see her but the castle was pretty phenomenal nonetheless. Definitely like the way you expect castles to be.

So we were planning to go to Edinburgh but the tour fell through and we just decided to stay in London over Thanksgiving. It’s funny how holidays can follow you. I woke up yesterday morning feeling like it was Thanksgiving, even though I’m in a country that doesn’t celebrate it and there hasn’t been any real build-up to it like we have in the states. I’m really glad we stayed so far because last night was a ton of fun. CAPA hosted a Thanksgiving dinner with a pub style quiz afterwards. The food was pretty good. The iced tea on the other hand…not so good. But, whatever. I’ll be having proper iced tea in a few weeks time. We had turkey and little stuffing balls which were kind of strange, uncanned cranberry sauce which was really yummy, potatoes (roasted and mashed), steamed veggies, and buttery sweet corn. If you know me at all, you know that those last two items thrilled me to no end. For desert we had coffee and pumpkin pie. It was all very yummy.

For the next part to mean much to you, you first have to understand how Southwestern is, particularly here. We are the only private institution here that CAPA hosts in London. Our uni puts in tons of money for this program and has done so for over 20 years. We are frequently considered the smartest and most privileged of the groups here. So, when they announced a pub quiz, we all jumped into action to defend our reputation. We divided into groups of six and began. We named our group The Polyglots to demonstrate how smart we are. We were almost The Persnickety Polyglots but we decided not to push it too much. So after the first 3 rounds or so they announced the top 3 and much to our shock and horror, none of the 2 SU groups were in it. At this point we were really discouraged and started making comments about how we had internet (many of the other grps don’t in their flats) and just generally being snarky. We, holding fast to our SU creed of race, class, and sex, made Michael go up since he is a white male to see if that would swing things in our way. It must have because when they announced the winners, the other SU group was 4th and we were 1st! We felt very proud to have upheld the SU name as the best and to prove that we really are all smart ass nerds. It was pretty hilarious actually.

Afterwards everyone left but like 7 of us girls and Michael (of course) and so we girls danced while Michael lecherously sat and watched. We danced to MMMBop, Hot In Here, Genie in a Bottle, and a bunch of 80s music. The DJ got us all shots (of like apple juice or something) and it was really fun. It was definitely the most unusual Thanksgiving I’ve had but probably one of the most fun as well.

For the rest of the week I think Michael and I are going to the Natural History Museum, the Barbican, National Gallery, and National Portrait Gallery. We are also going to try to see a movie since we haven’t been to a movie theatre since we got here.

paris part deux and coming home

Last weekend Michael and I went to Paris with his mother, grandmother, and sister. We went to see Wicked in London before we left as well and it was phenomenal. There really is nothing so amazing as a London West End play.

So Paris. We were staying in this lovely hotel right in front of the Louvre. We got there on the Eurostar which was interesting. It goes underneath the English channel which discomfited me a bit but overall it was pretty nice. Paris was freeeezing. It was like 30 degrees plus the wind chill made it a lot colder. The first day was bearable but Sunday was horribly cold. The first day we went to the Musee D’Orsay which is a reconfigured train station. It’s really lovely with this gorgeous big clock. We saw some Renoirs and Monets, Degas and Van Goghs. It was quite nice. Then we went to the dinner cruise on the Seine. After we got a taxi that is…yet again there was a transport strike so everyone wanted a taxi. It was ridiculous. But, we finally got one and the cruise was phenomenal. I had snails (not as good as the first time but pretty yummy nonetheless), veal, and some pear dessert and a ton of wine. I’ve never drunk a lot of wine but Michael kept filling my glass up so I definitely enjoyed the trip. It was beautiful to see Paris at night from the river. Quite enjoyable.

The next day we went to the Louvre which was pretty nice. Honestly I preferred Musee D’Orsay. It might be because the Louvre is so giant and really confusing to navigate. But, it was still really nice. Definitely worth a visit. That evening we went and had dinner on the Champs Elysees at Planet Hollywood and got some photos of the Arc De Triomphe. Michael’s family left the next day so we planned on going to the Galleria Lafayette. Alas it and Printemps were both closed.  So we found some place to eat lunch and looked at the windows and then we went to the Carousel Louvre which is a shopping centre next to the Louvre. It was fun. Afterwards we headed out and got home.

It was good to get back to London. As lovely as Paris is (and it really is), London feels like home. We got home, went to a pub and had a proper dinner. We were planning on heading to the Scottish highlands for Thanksgiving but the tour fell through so we just canceled the trip and decided to enjoy some of our last free days here.

Last night Michael and I went to Hamley’s which is a huge 7 floor toy store. It was fun but pretty obnoxious how gendered it really was. The girl’s floor was all pink and dolls, the boy’s floor was all weapons and trucks. But, apart from that, it was really enjoyable and as we left we noticed that there was no traffic and tons of people on the sides of the road. We asked a bobby what was going on and she told us that they were lighting the Christmas lights. We got some dinner and walked out and saw them. There’s something amazing about just walking down a lit Christmas road in Piccadilly at night. It was so beautiful and busy. I can’t help but feel like this is home.

I leave for Texas in about 17 days. I am excited about seeing my parents and eating some good food, but honestly, I know that after a few days I’m going to start feeling home sick for walks along lit roads and traffic noise and being legally able to drink…I think the next semester is going to be really hard for me to get used to Southwestern again after having fallen in love with London so much.

mosques and temples

Wow it’s been a while since I posted. Alright, quick recap.

Johnny and Sandy came. It was great.

Lots of work.

Karen, Honeyrie, and Amy  (Michael’s mom, grandmother, and sister) are here now.

I went to the first purpose-built Mosque in London on Thursday and had an amazing meal and an interesting conversation with the Imam. It made me very angry and very full all-in-all. Angry because of some of the ways he defended certain beliefs (“Mohammad was illiterate so the Quran MUST be true!”) and just the general circular way of thinking that religion seems to create. But, it was interesting and it was really nice to see how they worship and think and to discuss some common misconceptions with them.

We also went to celebrate Diwali yesterday. It is the Hindu Celebration of Lights and it was a blast. We went to the largest Hindu temple outside of India and I saw Camilla and Prince Charles which was kind of cool. I’ve been wanting to see some royalty, and now I have. I ate amazing food and I’m considering trying the whole vegetarian thing for a few months. I won’t until I get home and have some steaks and other good foods first though….lol. I just think it would be cool to try it and it’s cheaper and probably a bit healthier so it can’t be too bad right? I don’t know how good it would be at home though since there isn’t as strong of a vegetarian culture as there is here. Here you can get amazing chick pea anything and Indian food is just full of great vegetarian recipes that is a lot less available back home. But, we’ll see. The food was good enough to make me consider it, that’s for sure!

I got to see the main place where they keep their deities which was interesting and really gorgeous. The temple is made entirely out of marble and stone, no steel. It’s lovely and domed and shines white. It was really lovely to see all of the women in their colorful saris and the fireworks and to drink the amazing Chai tea, etc. It was fun and I was really glad to go.

Now I’m exhausted. I have a lot to do and there doesn’t seem like enough time to smush it all in. I’d kill for a bath (dead serious, I would murder someone for a bath) and just sleep….but, until then, I’ll just read Dracula (for class) and work on a paper about British masculinity as depicted through film….-_-”