chocolate and more chocolate

Just before the New Year, R took me to Cadbury World along with his friends. I don't know how to describe the experience exactly, because by the end of it all, I swore to myself I'd never have chocolate again. Is that a good reaction you want out of Cadbury World?

Mind you; that reaction didn't last very long at all. I had chocolate the next day. It truly has become a staple food in my diet since this Christmas.

chocolate Christmas tree!

I'm trying desperately not to eat too much chocolate for the new year because I've done a shocking, and embarrassing amount of eating throughout the whole month of December 2011. Cheese, chocolate, wine, bread, more chocolate, mince pies. It never ends does it? I can't complain though- the Christmas spirit here in the UK is something I'll well and truly miss when I go back to New Zealand.

Upon entering Cadbury World, we were given "free" chocolate (as my economics lecturer explains, nothing is ever free), and of course I practiced little to no self restraint and open a pack of Cadbury buttons while walking through the history of the discovery of cocoa beans. I have to confess though- I got through my crunchie bar a bit too early in the tour because my throat started to get sore from all the sweetness of Cadbury Daily Milk Chocolate. =p

a board telling you how much cocoa beans are worth a pumpkin, a rabbit, and an Aztec man

The place itself wasn't laid out too well because we got confused as to where we were supposed to go several times, but all in all, it was a ton of fun! I learned an impressive amount about George Cadbury, and the Cadbury's, and their empire of Bournville in setting up villages and creating job opportunities for all their workers (whilst providing them good welfare and security unlike other capitalists back in the day)
I also learned that they were fascinated with Chinese culture (coinciding with the tea trade), and in order to lure people into the store initially, George Cadbury had employed a "fully dressed Chinese man" to stand outside the door of his shop! Thanks Cadbury World for the most interactive and interesting history lesson I've had so far.

The most confusing thing about Cadbury World though... Can anybody explain the picture above? Anyone? So far I've gathered that it's a man wearing a harness and dangling from...somewhere. But what's the significance of this sign indoors? It's hardly a warning sign either! AND it wasn't exactly like there was just one sign on the wall. There were almost a hundred of them lined close to each other along the pathway! Oh Cadbury.

Apart from learning a ton of cool facts about the making of Cadbury itself, we had the opportunity to create our own chocolate, see it getting made, shop at the world's largest Cadbury shop, and go on fun rides that involve the adventures of certain cocoa beans in the Aztecs to the United Kingdom. We also took many photos that involved imitating the figures around the Cadbury museum. Some of the best ones aren't too well lit, but here are some photos anyway!

Anna and I imitating some Aztecs

In Japan, R and I used to take photos in these giant mirrors that they have in the street. There was one conveniently located in the Cadbury World factory, so for the sake of tradition...

懐かしい！歩きながから携帯から撮った写真！

the main feature of this is anna and tom posing beautifully in the background, really :P

Cadbury World itself had many things to see and explore, and I definitely recommend it as a destination point if you ever come to the UK! Not only is it a fun, educational experience, you get lots of free chocolate. So much so that you temporarily experience a slight hatred of dairy milk chocolate.

I bought lots of chocolates that NZ doesn't tend to stock in the supermarkets, some cute postcards, Cadbury World tote bags, and gifts for friends and family. Some of you might be getting a Cadbury postcard very soon!

R had to persuade me not to buy this chocolate teapot that apparently will melt when I put hot water in it. I know for a fact it won't because it's only made to look like real chocolate, but R has developed nasty compulsive lying habits since I've come to the UK. =p

isn't the packaging adorable? Wish the ones in NZ were the same!

SO MUCH CHOCOLATE. 

1kg bar of chocolate with a side of diabetes? yeah?

The Cadbury store in itself is impressive beyond description. I mean, who the heck would think to stock up 1kg chocolate bars?! Seriously! And not to mention all the endless concoctions of chocolates... *Sigh* Writing about this place now makes it seem like I never went. I really should have bought a kg of chocolate, and just leave it on my study desk, never to be opened until I survive the next academic year. Wouldn't that be a great incentive? Not sure if its a great health decision though.

it honestly does look bigger in real life. My camera lies to people all the time.

Cadbury World will definitely be a memory that will stick with me long after this vacation is over. It's quite nice spending the New Year in a different country. I'm not sure what the new year has in store for me yet; but for one thing I'm sure, is that I'm definitely going to not eat as much chocolate for 2012. =p

Hope you all had a lovely New Years, and I'll see you in a month and a bit!

All my love always, and eat dairy milk chocolate :P

April 

Day Trip To Leamington Spa

After leaving Blackpool around noon on the 27th of December, I arrive in Birmingham around dinner time. It was already quite dark leaving Selly Oak station, and I felt exhausted from all the stress of catching trains on time. In comparison to Japan, trains here don't tend to run as often. In Japan the public transport system is impeccable, and getting to places be it far or near is ridiculously convenient. Any train to anywhere would leave once every four minutes, whereas I think trains here will only leave once an hour (depending on where you would want to go, especially if it is a long distance journey)

What is it about travel that just takes it out of you? Too much sitting down maybe?

I find that train rides, car rides, plane rides, and bus ride all tend to make me feel extremely lethargic. Boat rides I'm okay with though- the ocean is too distracting terrible to travel with because I'm never entertaining in public transport. I just tend to close my eyes and drift off to sleep (most likely on your unfortunate shoulder too I might add)

It's quite a good idea to buy a railcard if you ever come to the UK. 

R advised me accordingly, and I am eternally grateful for listening to him (for once)

It's saved me a ton of money considering all the travel I've been doing, and not to mention I get to keep it all in a handy railcard wallet.

I'm quite disappointed in myself because I haven't planned my time well in the sense that I've only managed to start blogging about all the things I've seen and done here in Birmingham on New Years Eve. Blogger has a function that allows you to alter dates of all your blog entries, and I might cheat a little and change the dates of a few entries I'm making today. Just so that in the future I actually will remember what I did on what day. Actually that might not be the brightest idea I've had so far because this entire blog will be in past tense and it's too late now to go back and proof read anything, which will lead to a lot of confusion...but oh well. It's already the New Year in New Zealand, so I thought I best jot down all the things I've done so far in 2011 that has made my year a considerably good one. A challenging but good one. 

My first day in Birmingham involved a day trip to Leamington Spa. 

The place is absolutely gorgeous, and there are quite a few shops around the area as well. Obviously I didn't get to participate in any retail activities, because R and I were too pre-occupied in making embarassing Japanese tour videos on my camera. 

Although I'm taking History as a major at university I have immense difficulty in remembering specific names of places and dates of events. I've sort of avoided this issue since NCEA levels in high school, but it has come to my immediate attention recently that if I were to try and study honours at tertiary level, I can't afford to skim over rather important basics. 

R's mum is quite knowledgeable in all things history and coincidentally, we've been visiting places that are correlated with the time periods my courses are associated with for the new academic year. 

English History extends back thousands of years, and in comparison to the short 400 year history of New Zealand, I'm quite determined to step up my game.

The history papers I took at university at the start of the year only very briefly covered European history, and hardly delved into specific detail. American history really only starts come the American Revolution, (sorry if this is an offensive statement) so the two are incomparable.

It's truly a blessing in disguise I came to the UK over the summer really, because I'm much more aware of what I am going to study next year since I can imagine the history of it all unfold location by location. It's exciting to hear from R's family all the things you can actually do in the UK apart from the typical London tourist-y things. Apart from the cold weather and the constant sore throat I seem to be developing recently, I'm thoroughly enjoying my stay here in Birmingham. 

I'm halfway through my trip in the UK, and I'm not entirely certain if the time has passed by quickly or slowly. Time should pass by quickly on vacations surely, but it seems like forever since I've been here. It's not necessarily a negative thing either because I'm thoroughly enjoying each and every day as it passes. Unlike my exchange in Japan, I honestly felt that someone was tampering with the clocks and turning every day into 12 hour days or something. Also, I can't complain about having time with R, because I'm sure the second half of this holiday here in the UK will pass by more quickly than I hope.

I hope you all had a great new years back home, and that you're all enjoying the nice warm weather! Don't forget to make resolutions that are actually feasible to accomplish in order to avoid that horrible sinking feeling later in the year. 

Miss you all.

All my love always

April 

Christmas in Blackpool

It’s my second year away from home during Christmas time, and I find myself missing my family and friends more than ever. Ever since my exchange in Japan, I've spent less and less time with my family and friends back home. I love traveling, but because I’m not here for an academic purpose as such, naturally there are not as many distractions that will keep me from feeling homesick and lonely.

It was not quite as big a shock last year whilst I was in Japan, because I had grown accustomed to my host family and their way of life. Coming here, I have had more of a culture shock than I did in Japan- which is a rather strange. I don’t have a proper explanation for it except that perhaps I’ve had more contact with my family on a day to day basis than I did in Japan, which has made me rather reminiscent of what is waiting for me back home.

After celebrating R’s 21^st birthday in Durham, I came to Blackpool for a short week and a half stay. I leave tomorrow to Birmingham for New Years, and along with my abundance of Christmas gifts, my luggage is already bursting at its seams. I baked a cake for R’s birthday after we went out to dinner. I miss baking a lot. Making Italian dark chocolate ganache with mascarpone and cream, and decorating fresh raspberries on a butter pound cake is truly a priceless joy.  

In the first week of my stay here in Blackpool, Harry and his friends took me to Pleasure Beach. The theme park allegedly features Europe’s largest roller coaster, and I was really excited just at the thought of riding it.

looking quite marshmallow-y with my five layers of clothing (excluding the coat!)

Unfortunately the theme park was closed for December, and we had all unknowingly paid a total of 12 pounds for Nickelodeon Land instead.  That’s nearly 30NZD for a bunch of carousels and mini teacup rides. Though we were all apprehensive about it at first, (I lie of course, I love Nickelodeon and embracing my inner child), the theme park was all in all great fun. I got to meet Patrick Starfish, and realized that my dreams of tasting a Krabby Patty will never come true.

ice skating!

About three days into my stay here, I caught the world’s worst terrible cold. I have been coughing, sneezing, and sniffling throughout the week and haven’t managed to get any better despite tons of bed rest and tea. Apart from feeling sick, we’ve been spending most of the time watching films, taking the dogs for walks, and sightseeing around Blackpool. My parents called me from New Zealand at around 2AM in the morning on the 22^nd to inform me of my successful acceptance into law school next year, and although I was extremely excited to hear the news, all I could manage was a feeble “mmmmuuuuurrrrgggghhhh….” Being sick around the holidays is by far the worst experience I’ve had so far, and I wish my immune system had not failed me at such an inconvenient time.

All year I’ve been stressed about having a shitty Christmas and New Years if I was to find out that I had been denied acceptance into law school, but by some stroke of luck, I managed to score an A+ in my Legal Method exam for the semester. It certainly is a pleasant surprise, and not to mention a lovely Christmas present from the University of Auckland. Thank you everyone back home for all the support as well; I know I was a downright mess most of the time.

All in all, Blackpool is a lovely city with great sights and atmosphere. It was also nice getting to know Harry's friends. It’s a bit frustrating that most of the shops and attractions were closed due to the Christmas holiday season, and not to mention that I cannot partake in Boxing Day shopping as well. It never occurred to me that large or small businesses anywhere in the world would knowingly close on Boxing Day itself. I guess that is rather culturally ignorant of me to assume as well, because Christmas is a huge holiday in the UK, and the day after Christmas should accordingly be a holiday as well. In New Zealand, and many if not most parts of Asia, Boxing Day is the day to shop, shop, and shop. Traditionally, my family and I would wait outside the department stores before opening time just so that we could get in there early and grab all the good sale items. I’ve been feeling rather disorientated just sitting at home and eating leftover Christmas chocolate. Usually we go outside on Christmas day, to the beach, or even have a barbecue. I have been craving the seasonal strawberries, cherries, and watermelon as well.

The sun sets at around 8, 9PM around Christmas time in New Zealand. Here, the sun sets around 4PM, and it feels like I’m in constant hibernation mode. No wonder my body has been lashing out at me. A year’s worth of winter isn’t kind to anyone.

Having so much time indoors has also led me to an increase in my Japanese study time. I’ve managed to keep at it for the entire time I’ve been in Blackpool, and fingers crossed, I’ll keep going at it for another week or so if there aren’t too many distractions around. Considering that I’m going to R’s tomorrow, I’m not too convinced that I’ll be focused enough to keep at a consistent work ethic. I don’t know what to expect of Birmingham, but considering that it’s the second largest city in the UK, I expect it to be livelier than Blackpool.

It would be ideal for me to get most of my Japanese study done in these holidays, especially since I’ll be doing a Conjoint BA/LLB degree at university next year.

I suspect that the workload will not be lenient. I’ve had to enroll in 5 papers for the first semester of 2012, not to mention that it includes three Stage Two law papers. Regardless of the increase in workload, I do plan to thoroughly enjoy my year at university next year. This year has gone by much too quickly, and 2012 is literally just around the corner. It felt like yesterday that I was struggling with working around SSO for enrolling into first year.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas! Here’s to a great new year ahead.

All my love always,

April

London Day Three: An Eventful Day

Before coming to the UK, I did a fair bit of reading on what were the “must-see” spots in London. Websites and guide books alike recommended that you take three full length days to explore the sights of London. This included museums, parks, churches, galleries, restaurants, department stores…the list goes on.  Although we didn’t visit any museums yesterday, we definitely managed to get through a majority of the top tourist spots. 

SO MANY RED DOUBLE DECKER BUSES. IN A CIRCLE

At the very least, I managed to get through almost all of the things I wanted to do while I was here in London. The only things that are left on the list are visiting Doctor Who/Harry Potter shops, taking a picture with the 9 ¾ spot in Kings Cross Station, and an array of embarrassing fan-girl things to get through. I might do those things on my own, or try and convince a friend or two from New Zealand to come nerd it out around London later in my holiday. It’s hard to believe that my holiday extends till the end of February!  

Buckingham Palace!

I’m extremely unfit as of late and the fatigue of power walking non-stop all day yesterday has been hitting me all afternoon. I have no reason to complain though, because words cannot begin to express how fulfilling it was to see everything in person.  I think if I ever have the chance to visit London on a separate occasion, I’d come in the summer when the weather is kinder. It’s definitely a challenge to walk around in five layers of clothing with the wind constantly in your face. 

was really tempted just to run inside and hug all the guards. ALL OF THEM. 

After having a large but healthy breakfast, we headed out of Tufnell Park around 10:30 in the morning. Taking the subway to Buckingham Palace took less than half an hour altogether, and immediately I noticed a change in the atmosphere. I was truly taken aback at the aesthetics of it all, and equally overwhelmed by the diverse cultures everywhere. 

Seriously, I freaked my shit out when I saw this. People started filming me instead. 

just casually trooping back into Buckingham Palace.

Just within the M&M store in Piccadilly Circus itself, I was exposed to many different languages. I heard Thai, Malay, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, Russian, the list goes on. It’s so different to Tokyo in the sense that such a wide variety of international diversity is rampant here.
As Kat regularly points out; just sitting in the subway alone, you can hear a million different languages all being spoken at the same time. Apparently this phenomenon is multiplied tenfold in New York. That’s one major difference between London and Tokyo. I
t’s rather odd that such a metropolitan and upscale city like Tokyo only have a population of less than 5% of (European) immigrants. Guaranteed, immigration into Japan itself is a complicated procedure that requires…god knows what. From what I know though, it's quite a feat to acquire permanent residency there.

Aside from the people itself, the surroundings and definitely the atmosphere itself made me rather reminiscent of when I first visited Minato Mirai in Yokohama. Being new to Japan and finally seeing something I had longed to see in person (the giant ferris wheel in Yokohama), the wait was definitely worth it.

a bit unfortunate I couldn't go in. Would have to pay $30 NZD for entry unless I wanted to enter for the purposes of worship...

The places I visited yesterday were by far much more impressive in person. Looking at photos online offer the viewer a sense of what you’ll see when you visit London, but by no means do they offer you the sense of the actual size of the buildings itself! A good example of this is Big Ben, actually. I anticipated it to have towered over all of London, but surprisingly it wasn’t as tall as photos make it out to be. Regardless though, it’s quite refreshing to see it in person. The magnitude of it all is overwhelming, and I might be over dramatizing the experience here. I’ve waited for this trip this entire year and finally being able to have the holiday that I wanted it’s been a great mini trip down to London just before Christmas.

We walked for a few hours around the area, going by the palace itself, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, and also went across the Thames to see the London Eye, and through to Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, then to Covent Garden. The walk was pleasant, and though I couldn’t actually buy anything, I was extremely happy to have had 200 more photos in my memory card.

random foreigner being athletic and flexible...

...while I assume awkward pose in front of the lion. 

Also, this person who was a champion at climbing on top of the lion statues in front of the National Museum/Gallery fully put my non existent athletic ability to shame. This was as far as I got up onto the lion. I tried. It's about the effort.

posing in the M&M store...

nom nom nom nom nom nom nommmmm

Also, I got to try out a proper English afternoon tea experience. After walking around for hours, and purposefully depriving myself of lunch just so I could enjoy afternoon tea, the first few bites of the decadent chocolate cupcake was to say the least, absolutely heavenly. Kat and I gorged ourselves on 24 pounds worth of cakes, slices, scones, marshmallows, and meringues. Unfortunately, getting through about a 1/3 of the sweet tea was enough to fill us up, and the remaining 2/3 (with a few slices and meringues to spare) was really self force feeding. I’m not too sure how much sugar I’ve had since I’ve been to the UK, but definitely more than I’ve had in comparison to my year at university!

a haunted house

At night we all went to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. Initially it was hyped up to be a walk within Hyde Park that would feature an ice skating rink, and impressive Christmas decorations all around. To our surprise it ended up being a Christmas carnival, with festive themed rides, stalls, and food that were all somehow oddly influenced by Germany and Austria.

why are there two Santas?...

how do you tell the difference between a porcupine and a hedgehog?

The Winter Wonderland carnival ended up being the highlight of my day - simply because it truly reminded me of Christmas, and I enjoyed the atmosphere and surroundings. I’m not entirely sure if I’d recommend it to future tourists though. It was rather confusing to see German words all around, and not to mention they sold German food as well! Regardless though- great experience, great company, and great night. Before heading back home we all decided to drop in a Canadian bar and warm up. Kat and I had good tortellini for dinner at around 10pm (completely savory with rosemary breadsticks as a snack), and I went straight to bed an hour later.

London Day Three has by far been the most eventful one. Though this trip to London has felt rather short, I definitely plan on coming back and re-discovering all the places I went to once again. Hopefully I can find a hair salon here that won’t cost me a small fortune (seriously, why does it cost more than $120NZD to get a trim here…?), and I’ll be warm with my inadequate winter clothing. The weather has been plummeting into the single digits by now, and I’m starting to really feel the chill. I should have brought warmer tights with me! To those of you who stuck it out and finished reading up till here- thanks for reading! And for those of you who just clicked the link to look at pictures- thanks anyway :D

All my love always,

April