Since Paris, I've been to London again, hung out with hundreds of seals at Donna Nook, had a bad spell of homesickness, ate a Thanksgiving meal in a huge manor house in England, had my last day of class for the semester, and had a Christmas dinner with my British family in a room covered in gold.
The past few weeks have been incredible, but now it is the crazy time of packing and saying goodbye to friends now. We have two and half days left at Harlaxton, and that, to me, is bittersweet. On Thursday, at one in the morning, it's off to Italy.
I've started doing vlogmas, where I will vlog all 31 days of December. You can follow that adventure, as well as watch previous vlogs on my YouTube here.
The first order of business is recapping the London weekend for you. The weekend after Paris, we had a British studies field to London. On the field trip, we visited St. Paul's Cathedral (where Princess Diana was married in that incredible dress). We also went to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. Friday night, we went to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park for the ultimate christmassy fun!
Saturday, we saw Buckingham Palace, and I finally got to go to Abbey Road and take that cliche but very awesome picture walking across the crosswalk.
Our bed and breakfast was in Hampstead, my personal favorite part of London, so we ate at a pub in Hampstead on Saturday. Sunday, it was time to get on the train to go back to Harlaxton. It was a short weekend, but it was great to see places that we didn't get to see the first time. You can watch the highlights of my second weekend to London here.
The next few weeks brought homesickness along with the holiday season.
My British family, from the Meet-A-Family Experience, took us to the sea to see the hundreds of seals that come there to give birth and find a new mate. It was so amazing to see animals like that in their natural settings just doing their thing. The pups were so cute too! I showed footage of this in day one of vlogmas here.
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| What I'm thankful (in the yellow) |
However, it was no home cooked Thanksgiving. I really missed home that day, especially when I called home and saw all of my family making Christmas crafts and eating all of that good food.
Thanksgiving came and went, and soon, it was time to start listening to Christmas music nonstop. It was time to start doing vlogmas.
This past Thursday night, we had our Valedictory Dinner. The principal, professors, and staff talked to us about the semester and presented us with certificates and pins that represent that we are part of the Harlaxton Society. They fixed a wonderful dinner, and afterwards, we watch the Fall 2014 semester recap video, which you can check out here. Sadly, I never saw the signups for this video, so I am not in it, and I'm very bummed about that. However, I am very glad that I have been keeping up with my blog and vlogs bacause now I will have my personal memories and experiences captured in words and on video to look back on for the rest of my life.
On Saturday, we had our Harlaxton Family Christmas Dinner. Our meet-a-family came to have dinner with us. Before we ate, the musicians at Harlaxton played some instrumental Christmas music. It was really great considering that they were sat in front of Christmas tree, and the fireplace was roaring in the Great Hall. The choir then sang Christmas songs and encouraged all of us to sing along. Dinner was buffet-style, and really good.
There were Christmas crackers that contain gifts that you pull to open. I had never done one before, so that was very fun. After dinner, we took pictures with our British family and said our goodbyes to them (I'll get to see them in two weeks, so I'm excited to see them again!).
Then, we had a little fun and took pictures with the British Studies professors. Afterall, our semester wouldn't have been the same without them.
So, that's what we've done up until this moment. My adventure isn't over though! I mentioned earlier that leaving Harlaxton is bittersweet. It's bittersweet because this semester has been incredible on a personal level. I've had experiences and traveled to places that I only dreamed of going just a few years ago. But, I want to see my family again. I want the familiarity of home. I want to see my puppy, and have home coked food every night.
I will miss Harlaxton and these experiences tremendously just like I miss home tremendously, but I am planning on visiting again someday. I can't wait to tell stories from over here to friends and family for years to come. I've also learned a lot over here, which I will elaborate on in a farewell post to Harlaxton coming up in the next couple weeks.
Thank you to all of my family for being supportive and helping me reach this dream. I can never repay you for what you've done for me. Thank you to Harlaxton for this unforgettable semester. You learn a lot about yourself, relationships, and especially people. I am ready to completely start anew in the new year. I can't for new experiences, friendships, and memories.
Off to Italy!
Love always,
Alexandria
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