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 

London Day Two: Camden Town

Today was an extremely relaxed and casual day. I was surprised that I took more photos today than I did yesterday though! A total of 100 photos taken at Camden Town today and although time ran out for Kat to accompany me to Regents Park. I apologize in advance if I upload more photos to this blog than write any actual proper content. You’d think that having vegetarian curry for dinner would be healthy, but for some reason my skinny jeans are hugging me around the waist just a little too tight for comfort.

Help.

kat in mid-yawn

Walking throughout Camden Town, Kat and I were discussing the similarities in atmosphere between the marketplace and Harajuku. Funny enough, shops in Camden also sell cosplay! Most of the shops sold things similar in product availability and design to one another, and there were definitely more tourists around Camden Town than there were yesterday at the markets. 

Another thing I managed to do today was sit on a red double-decker bus! I compiled a huge mental list in my head of all the things I wanted to do in the UK, and on that exhaustive and extremely cultured list, one of the things to do was sit on a red double-decker bus. Apart from that, I also had fish and chips the night before R and I came to London, so that’s another thing I can cross off!

Camden Town Station

I do realize that this list is rather simplistic, but considering the intense academic year I had at university, and my desire for an extremely relaxing holiday, so far England has not disappointed me. Of course I am much more relaxed back up in Durham, but I am with different company and in a different city- there’s no fair means of comparing Durham to London, I don’t think.

I bought myself a T shirt and a necklace today, and felt immediately guilty about it afterwards. I think the intense self restraint yesterday on my part concerning the leather bag might have impaired my logic in effective decision making towards appropriate purchases…and eating habits. Nevertheless- I am enjoying my shirt, and loving the necklace! Hoping I can wear them soon, though a T shirt might not be the best idea given the decrease in temperature recently in the UK.

Overall, the trip to Camden Town was short but sweet. I’m hoping to go to Buckingham Palace tomorrow, and send out postcards to friends and family too. There might be a possibility that I’ll be having fancy afternoon tea (that costs more than my T shirt, mind you), and visiting Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park! I’m quite excited.

All my love always,

April