Hello all! I am currently sitting in my kitchen, covered in water and specks of potato. Why you ask? Because we're showing some Brits how real Americans do a proper Thanksgiving. This includes 2 turkeys, stuffing, 2 green bean casseroles, 2 huge bowls of cranberry sauce, 2 massive pots of mashed potatoes (22 lbs of fresh, hand mashed potatoes to be exact) and 5 pies. Tonight, I made all of the mashed potatoes (I had some help peeling them, thank goodness)and constructed one of the casseroles. Tomorrow, I took a half day from work so we can make the turkeys, make the gravy and make onion rings to put in the casseroles (they don't have french fried onions here!!). It'll be hard work, but this should be totally worth it. I'll also probably make some spaghetti because we have a crazy amount of people coming and I want there to be enough food. It'll be a lot of fun once the cooking is done and I can fall asleep. Ha. Sleep. Right.
Other than that, Friday I leave for a weekend in Dublin. We don't get back til Monday morning/ afternoon so it'll be tiring. But I'm very much looking forward to it. I've heard it's a beautiful city. We're going to the Jameson Distillery, the Guinness Factory, St Patricks Cathedral, and the Dublin Castle. To name a few places. That's on Saturday. We bought this day pass for a flat rate and we get in free to a bunch of different places. Sunday, we plan on just walking around and enjoying Dublin. Maybe sitting on a park bench here and there. Nothing too crazy.
Then next week is going to be crunch time working on my paper and hopefully I'll be done with it by Saturday night. On Sunday, if I get it done, I may go to Bath to visit Ciara. That's just a maybe though. Then the next week is my last week, so I'll be packing and deep cleaning. I want to have everything basically done by Wednesday morning, so Angela can check the flat over before/ after the reception. Thursday I'm going with Camilla to Scotland for the day. And Friday I take a train to London, where I'll spend the night before heading back to the States. I only have 16 days left until I'm heading on 270 back to Dublin. Craziness.
Anyway, I'm probably going to head to bed soon, as I will be going to the constituency tomorrow, which requires me to wake up an hour earlier than usual. It'll be a short day though.
I'll try to remember to post after Dublin!
Sending my love home, Amanda xoxox
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Viva Barcelona
I'm finally 21. It took long enough! :) So o celebrate this monumental birthday, I went to Spain, because hey! I'm studying abroad, I probably should have gone somewhere spanish speaking so I might as well practice a little!
As it turns out, Spain is probably one of my favorite countries and Barcelona is one of my favorite cities. It was amazing. If you haven't checked out the flickr, do it : http://www.flickr.com/photos/43046959@N06/
I took so many pictures, but none of them do the city justice. I will be going back there someday. It's just too beautiful to see only once, and we could only see so much in one weekend. I had the time of my life. And paella is my new favorite food. Mmmmmm. So tasty.
We saw la Passeig de Gracia which has many of Gaudi's structures on it, like La Pedrera and Casa Batllo. We saw La Sagrada Familia (amazing) and Park Guell, which are also works of Gaudi. We got to see La Catedral de Barcelona, La Rambla and the beach next to the glistening Mediterranean. We had gelatto and walked the boardwalk and our hostel was a bit outside of town and up a mountain. The view was absolutely gorgeous though. Totally worth all the cardio involved.
I have 23 days left here officially, which is crazy. Partially because I really need to work on my paper (oops) but I am really looking forward to heading home. I miss the family and the boyfriend a lot, along with all of my friends.
Luckily for me, I have pretty awesome friends here too because Mel and Ciara are coming to visit tomorrow for the weekend, which should be great!
Next weekend is Dublin, which will be rather exciting. The next weekend is finishing up the paper and working on cleaning/ packing, and then I'm home!
Everything is slowly winding down here and it will be nice to just hang at home for a few weeks starting in December. I still can't believe it's already basically the end of November.
We're planning a Thanksgiving bash with all the interns, some AMs and support staff. I'm pretty sure there's going to be like 20 people in my apartment. Yikes! I'm going to start heavily cleaning here very soon :)
That's about it. Like I've said before, I would update more often, if there were new and exciting things happening...but there aren't. Aside from weekend trips.
But I shall go read now. Sending my love home as always, Amanda <3
As it turns out, Spain is probably one of my favorite countries and Barcelona is one of my favorite cities. It was amazing. If you haven't checked out the flickr, do it : http://www.flickr.com/photos/43046959@N06/
I took so many pictures, but none of them do the city justice. I will be going back there someday. It's just too beautiful to see only once, and we could only see so much in one weekend. I had the time of my life. And paella is my new favorite food. Mmmmmm. So tasty.
We saw la Passeig de Gracia which has many of Gaudi's structures on it, like La Pedrera and Casa Batllo. We saw La Sagrada Familia (amazing) and Park Guell, which are also works of Gaudi. We got to see La Catedral de Barcelona, La Rambla and the beach next to the glistening Mediterranean. We had gelatto and walked the boardwalk and our hostel was a bit outside of town and up a mountain. The view was absolutely gorgeous though. Totally worth all the cardio involved.
I have 23 days left here officially, which is crazy. Partially because I really need to work on my paper (oops) but I am really looking forward to heading home. I miss the family and the boyfriend a lot, along with all of my friends.
Luckily for me, I have pretty awesome friends here too because Mel and Ciara are coming to visit tomorrow for the weekend, which should be great!
Next weekend is Dublin, which will be rather exciting. The next weekend is finishing up the paper and working on cleaning/ packing, and then I'm home!
Everything is slowly winding down here and it will be nice to just hang at home for a few weeks starting in December. I still can't believe it's already basically the end of November.
We're planning a Thanksgiving bash with all the interns, some AMs and support staff. I'm pretty sure there's going to be like 20 people in my apartment. Yikes! I'm going to start heavily cleaning here very soon :)
That's about it. Like I've said before, I would update more often, if there were new and exciting things happening...but there aren't. Aside from weekend trips.
But I shall go read now. Sending my love home as always, Amanda <3
Thursday, November 5, 2009
I'm always apologizing...
I'm awful at updating, but since Erin checks this everyday, I figured I should update :-P
I had an amazing time in France! A week ago from this past Sunday, Cat and I spent the whole day in Paris, where we saw the Eifel Tower (at night!! And there was a light show on it and it sparkled!!!), Notre Dame, the Arc de Triumph, the Champs Elysees, the Moulin Rouge, the Sacre Coeur, the Siene, and various other bits of Paris. We took a late train back to Tours, where we spent the rest of the week. I had such a good time! I saw the rivers of Tours (so gorgeous) and the schools where Cat teaches and I got to meet all of her other assistant friends. It was so relaxing and I wish I didn't have to leave.
I'm back at work now, and I was supposed to go to Scotland today but planning fell through and we rescheduled for Dec. 10th (my 2nd to last day) so I get to see Scottish Parliament. :) I'm sooo excited!
This weekend has been set aside for writing my paper (a necessary evil). Next weekend is the weekend before my birthday and we're going to BARCELONA! The next weekend, Mel and Ciara are coming to Cardiff to celebrate a late birthday with me! So pumped. Then the next weekend, we're off to Dublin for a late celebration of Joe's birthday. The next weekend is the last weekend in Cardiff and then on the 11th I leave for London and the 12th I come home!
Today, the fact that I have the BEST FRIENDS has been reinforced. I came home from work to find a package by my door, which contained 21 cards for my 21st birthday, various Cinderella accessories, glow sticks, a birthday sash and crown and a BUNCH of confetti from Erin, Kristen, Rachel and Colin. I have never felt so lucky to have the friends that I do. I miss them like crazy now, but the package TOTALLY made my day!!!
Anyway, I'm off to grab a quick nap, but I'll try to update again soon (most likely after Barcelona since all I ever do is work otherwise...and that's not very interesting).
Sending my love home, Amanda <3
I had an amazing time in France! A week ago from this past Sunday, Cat and I spent the whole day in Paris, where we saw the Eifel Tower (at night!! And there was a light show on it and it sparkled!!!), Notre Dame, the Arc de Triumph, the Champs Elysees, the Moulin Rouge, the Sacre Coeur, the Siene, and various other bits of Paris. We took a late train back to Tours, where we spent the rest of the week. I had such a good time! I saw the rivers of Tours (so gorgeous) and the schools where Cat teaches and I got to meet all of her other assistant friends. It was so relaxing and I wish I didn't have to leave.
I'm back at work now, and I was supposed to go to Scotland today but planning fell through and we rescheduled for Dec. 10th (my 2nd to last day) so I get to see Scottish Parliament. :) I'm sooo excited!
This weekend has been set aside for writing my paper (a necessary evil). Next weekend is the weekend before my birthday and we're going to BARCELONA! The next weekend, Mel and Ciara are coming to Cardiff to celebrate a late birthday with me! So pumped. Then the next weekend, we're off to Dublin for a late celebration of Joe's birthday. The next weekend is the last weekend in Cardiff and then on the 11th I leave for London and the 12th I come home!
Today, the fact that I have the BEST FRIENDS has been reinforced. I came home from work to find a package by my door, which contained 21 cards for my 21st birthday, various Cinderella accessories, glow sticks, a birthday sash and crown and a BUNCH of confetti from Erin, Kristen, Rachel and Colin. I have never felt so lucky to have the friends that I do. I miss them like crazy now, but the package TOTALLY made my day!!!
Anyway, I'm off to grab a quick nap, but I'll try to update again soon (most likely after Barcelona since all I ever do is work otherwise...and that's not very interesting).
Sending my love home, Amanda <3
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