HAPPY HOLIDAYS everyone!!
Hope you all had a great Christmas! I miss spending this special day with all of you back home! :(
It's the first time I'm spending it overseas and it was actually in London, where we went to visit my friend's friend. Okay, it's more like he went to visit his friend and the two of us tagged along. They were really hospitable and friendly though and were nice enough to put us up in their flat, which saved us loads of money! YES!
Holidays started on 18 December and immediately after class ended, a group of us got on a train and then a ferry to the Isle of Arran, where a Scottish friend of ours lives and who has invited us to visit his hometown. Arran is a small island off the west coast of Scotland, so travelling time for us wasn't too bad, since Glasgow's in the west of Scotland too. It's colder, windier and wetter there too but Arran's really pretty, especially in the spring and summer, when the weather's better. We stayed in his father's house, which made me feel like I was in a hotel. NICE.
To get a better idea, here's his kitchen:
And though you're probably just going to laugh at my hair, to prove my point about the wind, here's how strong it is:
P/S: Zoe, Aga, Jac! Look! I'm using the scarf from you guys! :)
The people here all form a close-knitted community. Everyone knows everyone else and they don't lock their front doors at all. That's a nice ideal community. Anyway, we only stayed here for 3 days before heading back to Glasgow on Saturday evening. That same evening, we went straight from the train station to a senior's flat for Christmas dinner, where I had THE BEST CHEESECAKE EVER. Don't be sceptical! The vote was unanimous- it was unbelievably good!! Sometimes the seniors do seem a wee bit scary...
On Monday evening, three of us travelled to London by coach. It was an overnight 8-hour ride but wasn't too bad. In any case, tickets were cheap. We arrived on Tuesday morning and had dim sum for lunch in Chinatown before catching Wicked, the musical. It is indeed as good as everyone says it is! London is a good place to watch musicals, particularly if you're a student, as the student price for fantastic seats are very reasonable and there are constantly musicals going on in the many theatres.
The next two nights were spent in Christmas parties, where there's free food! HAHA. More money saved! There are no public transport services on Christmas Day itself though, so we had to walk. That isn't such a bad idea, considering the amount of food we've consumed :P
Here are some photos:
Big Ben and the London Eye behind, on the left.
The Borough Market, which sells mainly food.
The ice-skating rink in the moat of the Tower of London. This is my first time, so it was quite scary but it was easier than I thought it would be. Not that I'm good of course! I still have a sore butt from all the falling I did, haha.
All of us :)
Boxing Day, 26 Dec, is the first day of the post-Christmas sale in the UK and the crowds are just insane. INSANE. It is when every single shop in the entire country puts up sales and they're usually quite good, like up to 50 or 70%. If you're interested in branded goods, it's even more worth it, which kinda explains the crowd in Harrods and the number of people on Oxford Street with a bright yellow Selfridges bag. So, Xiangning and I braced ourselves for the crowd as we headed for Oxford Street (a super long shopping street) on Boxing Day. Some shops open early but most keep to the usual timing. Though we were quite early (10+ am?), some stores already had mobs of people pressed up against the doors. Scary. There were so many people there! River Island had queues for the whole day, while Zara was congested beyond belief. Clothes were just strewn and thrown everywhere, including the floor. Poor sales assistants! Overall, it was a tiring experience but I thought the discounts were good :)
Next day, we headed to Harrods, just so Xiangning could take a look. We ended up zooming into the Zara opposite, where we spent about 2 hours... Haha. But we went into Harrods after that and in the food hall, I spotted something that made me exclaim in delight!
LADUREE!!!!! Omg do you know what it is? It's the famous patissiere from Paris, the one with the macaroons!! Haha! Imagine how happy I was when I saw it! It wasn't there the last time I was at Harrods with my mum (or maybe I just missed it) but it's right next to Krispy Kremes.
Look at how beautiful the inside is! We weren't allowed to take photos but I managed to snap this and keep it :D And then, how can one leave without buying some macaroons???
Clockwise from the pink one: Red fruits, Caramel with salted butter, Rose, Praline, Chocolate. 5 macaroons for a grand total of 6.68 pounds. It still does not deter me from fulfilling my dream! Haha. Now everyone must think I'm a little mad... Hopefully I'll get to try Pierre Herme's macaroons if we really go to Paris during the Easter holidays!
We left for Glasgow that night. Finally, home! Time to recuperate and study before ski trip to France on 3 Jan. More updates then! Have a happy new year!! :) MISS YOU!
