In London

As I said last week my blog post was going to be late. And the reason why?! I went to London!

I took a crap load of pictures and I tried to include most of them in this post. Enjoy! 

 The view from the airport window in La Coruna. 

 Travel buddy Lauren and I on the tube. I'm really glad I've had the D.C. and NY metro systems to help me practice for the London Underground. 'Cause dang it's huge! 

 Telephone

 They take Christmas very seriously in the U.K. 

 Like they just go all out!

 I mean just look at that! 

 These pics are for my dear grandma, who specifically requested pics of Piccadilly Square. 

 The fountain had scaffolding around it. I really hate scaffolding. It gets in the way of really cool pictures. 

 But it was cool nonetheless. 

Dinner was a burger. Because you know gotta stay true the 'murican roots. 

 This was the street my hostel was on. 

 It was more hotel than hostel but it was still pretty cool. 

 They really liked The Beatles if you couldn't tell. It was a little weird sleeping in a room with 7 other girls who I've never met before. They were all nice though. They were from Australia, Korea, Italy, and some other country that I couldn't quite place where her accent came from.

I flew to London on Friday and we got there pretty late but we still did stuff. Because why wouldn't we! 

 Saturday we went to Trafalgar Square. 

 More like we went to the National Gallery.

 Saw some Degas

 And Van Gogh

 And Monet

 I also saw an Ugly Duchess.

 I gazed upon some Da Vinci as well. 

Can I just say that seeing these artists work in person made me realize how genius they were. Especially Da Vinci. He was amazing. His work as a scientist and an artist is just purely amazing. The talent and the observation skills he possessed really just blow me away. Van Gogh's use of color and texture is incredible. Monet's art has so many colors but isn't as textured as Van Gogh. In a literal sense. When I was looking at their art Monet's pieces were smooth while Van Gogh's just had so much texture and really weren't blended at all. He used so much paint! The National Gallery was definitely one of my favorite things that we visited.  

 After that art adventure we had lunch. I had some very touristy fish and chips that were absolutely delicious. 

 And a lemon meringue pie with clotted cream ice cream. I had to have some pie since it was recently Thanksgiving and I didn't get anything delicious like that on Thursday its self.

 Big Ben

 Westminster Abbey

At Westminster Abbey we attended a boys choir evensong. Simply put it was beautiful and almost made me cry. I'm learning as I get older I'm quite a sensitive person. It must be the Judd genes kicking in. 

 It never rained while we were there but it was definitely very cold. Shout out to dad and his rain coat that doesn't breath and traps all the heat for keeping me warm while I was there! Even if I did look like a hobo.

 Street art by the Thames

 London at night. 

 We had Chinese for dinner. I had duck. It was pretty dang delicious. So crispy and tender. Words that you normally wouldn't put together in a descriptive sentence. 

Sunday we found a cool van.

 I had a proper English breakfast on request of my British friends back in Coruna. I will say it was pretty good. I still don't like baked beans very much though. 

 The tube.

 Equestrian

 Wellington Arch

 And Buckingham Palace. 

We watched the changing of the guards. It's a good thing I'm tall or else I wouldn't have been able to see anything. There was so many people. 

 Wild non-Canadian Geese. 

 After Buckingham we went to the British Museum. So here you have magical Egyptian eyes.

 And lions that guard tombs. 

 The west frieze of the Parthenon

 Other parts of the Parthenon. 

I saw a lot of other cool old stuff but mostly Greek naked statues. Moms favorite. She really would have enjoyed it I'm sure.

 For dinner we had Korean food. I felt so cultural in my food eating. London in general is a cultural place. I swear I heard more foreign languages than English while being there. It was so cool. I heard some languages that I've never even heard before. 

 I love how they tell you which way to look when you cross the street. 

 Monday we went to London Bridge.

 Saw an old Cathedral

 And the ruins of an old cathedral. 

 We also saw the Globe theater! 

 I was super excited about seeing it them it was brought to my attention that none of it was original. 

 So that was kind of disappointing but it was still really cool to see what it would've looked liked in Shakespeare's time.

 After the globe we went to Borough Market and had Thai food for lunch.

And the most creamy scrumptious cheesecake I've ever had for dessert. 

 We walked along the water from there and saw Tower Bridge and walked across it.

Again flipping freezing. 

From there we went back to the hostel, picked up our bags, and then headed back to Spain. Dear Linda picked us up from the Airport and that was the end of it. 

I had a really amazing time in London and I want to go again. Gotta save up that money first! And doing this trip to London has made me less afraid to travel to other places in Europe. I mean I of course traveled to Spain on my own and that was pretty cool but I wasn't going to travel beyond that. So thanks Lauren for getting me to go with you! Now I want to go to the Netherlands and Ireland and all other kinds of countries. 

Also I want to thank Lauren for being a good travel buddy. She never complained. Unless it was with me when I was complaining about being cold or hungry. She wanted to go to all the museums and historical sites and she planned most of the trip. It was pretty great and I had a ton of fun. 

Now I only have two days left in Spain till I go back to America. I'm so excited! I miss my family so much and I can't wait to be with them. 

 Also before my London trip I went to the Picasso house museum here in Coruna with my British friend Helen. I had no idea that he lived in La Coruna for a time. It also was all just replicas of what it would have been like but it's still always cool to be like, "I stood where this famous person once stood." 

 Thursday as you know was Thanksgiving. This was my dinner. yum. It didn't help that my family video messaged me while they were eating and rubbed it in my face. It made me hungry and miss them. Dang family. I can't wait to be with them.

 Thursday was also my last night with the kids. I'm really going to miss them. We had a sweet goodbye Friday morning. Although I don't think Teo understood that he wasn't going to see me again. Matilda was sad though and kept complaining about how she didn't want me to go. She's secretly my favorite. It turns out it's easy for me to make friends with 10 year olds. They're nice. 

Wednesday was my last day in Spanish class. My older British friend Marian had everyone sign a card for me in their native language, another guy Dan bought me an Orange Juice afterwards, and after that my friend Magdalena took me out to lunch. I have made such amazing friends while living out here and I'm going to miss them all so much! It's been so great!

This is just a few of the people in my class. Angel the teacher is in the corner.

Well next time I write it'll be from America. How cool will that be! Till next time! 

1 1/2 Weeks Left

Well my people only 1 1/2 weeks till I go home! That's pretty crazy. I'm truly amazed at how fast time goes by. I'm really excited to go home though. I miss my family a lot. Like you don't even know. I also miss random things like cooking and cleaning. Guy! I haven't had to make dinner in three months! I don't even know who I am anymore. 

This week, like last week, was pretty chill. I've got a routine now that I pretty much just stick to so it's not nearly as exciting as it was in the beginning. However I do promise that next weeks post is going to be quite an interesting one. I'm going somewhere awesome. You'll see. The post will be later than usual though. Like I'll probably post on Tuesday. Some of you may already know where I'm going so don't spoil it for the other readers. ;)

This was on the way home from Spanish class one day. We took a stroll down the beach. This is Magdalena, she's from Poland, and Yan, from China. I've made a lot of friends from my Spanish class and I'm really going to miss them when I leave. It's been pretty amazing learning about their different cultures. 

I really love the ocean. I think I could just spend hours staring at it. It's so relaxing. I love how it changes. Some days it's stormy. Other days it's still as glass. It can be green, blue, or grey. It's just the best! I'll definitely miss it.

This week I've felt a little melancholy. Maybe it's because I'm leaving or I'm ready to go home. Maybe it's because I don't feel like I no longer have a purpose in being out here. I don't know it's weird. 

Anyway on another not Friday was the last day of Sunshine. Saturday and today have been miserably wet and crazy windy. The forecast doesn't provide much hope for it to change either. Dang it. Everyone has been telling me that I've been very lucky with the weather. Maybe my luck has run out. 

 Saturday I felt very fancy. I had Ox tail with Saffron. It wasn't that expensive either. Only 4 Euros. It was pretty delicious. I love here how they give you bread with everything so you can wipe up all the gravy and juices with it. It's the bomb digs.  

 I also went to a cafe that had really good cakes. It's really close to my house and I'm sad I never went there before. Dang it. Missed opportunities I guess.  

Sorry if you feel like I only ever post about food. It's probably because I do. It's the highlight of my life. That food. 

Anyway next week! Prepare yourselves for an overload of pictures, probably a lot of stories of my adventures, and other fun stuff like that. You'll like it. I promise. Till next week!

A Food Filled Weekend

My week was pretty chill. I hung out with Lauren and got ice cream with her. I don't know why I'm getting ice cream all the time when it's starting to get cold and rainy. But whatever it tastes good and that's all I care about. 

 Teo says hello. He likes to take pictures with me. 

 Friday after I dropped the kids off at school I just chilled around the ocean. It was grey and misty but it was still beautiful. I go back home in about 2 1/2 weeks and as much as I am ready to go home I'm really going to miss it here. 

 Saturday I did a lot but in a chill kind of way. Linda invited me to hang out at her house for the afternoon and so that is what I did.

 She fed me tortilla and this really yummy Australian meat pie. It was kind of like less saucy sloppy Joe meat inside of puff pastry and it was pretty dang delicious! 

 Earlier on in the week I told Linda about how I was craving some brownies with some vanilla ice cream. She was a dear and had gotten me some! She truly is the best. I told Soledad about it afterwards and teased me a bit. She's like, "I see you're already trying to go back to the American way of eating." Yes that's exactly what I'm doing. 

 After that delicious food fest we had a siesta. Woo! I do love me my naps. 

 After my refreshing nap we went to her English school and I helped build a table. Shout out to dad's awesome rain coat! I swear I look like a hobo in it but it's really comfy and it keeps me warm and dry. Plus the Spanish like to dress kind of baggy anyway so it's all good. 

Sorry for that randomness. I'm kind of a random person. Afterwards I went home and chilled. I bought Mandarin oranges. They're my favorite out here. Really I just love the fruit. It's all so fresh and delicious and super cheap as well! 

My time at home was wonderful. I had some home made chicken fingers made by the lovely house lady Liz and then I headed out again to eat again. This lovely thing is called Cocodrilos. First may I say that the potatoes here are the best and I've been spoiled. I'll probably go back home and never eat french fries again. They're seriously that good out here. So a Cocodrilos is several salted slices of fried potato with a slice or two of some kind of fried meat. I think it was cow but I'm not really sure. It was so good though. Probably tied with Raxo de Pollo, which I've mentioned in a previous post, and something else that I'm about to talk about.  

To top off the night I had Carne Asada. Dear Linda has been raving about this meat from literally the first day I met her. I wasn't disappointed. The meat was really tender and yummy and the boiled potatoes that went with it must have been salted or something. And once you ate all the meat and potatoes you could dip bread in the remaining gravy and it was just a nice warm scrumptious dish overall. 

And so that was my weekend. Full of really delicious food that always makes me happy. Today I went to church and had my traditional Sunday nap. I really do love sleep. I should just become a Koala. Till next week! 

Castles and Cliffs

I've had quite the eventful week. As I stated in last weeks post the family was gone in Southern Spain till Tuesday. So I had Monday and Tuesday to do as I pleased. Woo for me! 

Monday I chilled with Lauren in the morning and watched the Imitation Game. It wasn't really morning considering the fact that I woke up at 12:30 but hey who really cares? In the afternoon I accompanied Linda to her Au Pair job out across the bay. This was part of the scenic drive. 

 She watches over two kids but one was sick. So we took the younger of the two, he's two, and drove to Castillo de Santa Cruz. 

I forgot how much I love two year olds! It makes me miss Jane. This kid was seriously the most loving child I've ever met. Five minutes after I met him he was sitting on my lap and giving me hugs. It was a little crazy. But I liked it. 

 The castle was closed so I couldn't look inside but I did get to walk around the perimeter. A lot of foliage and walls is what I saw. It was still pretty awesome though. The castle is on a little island and the waves would crash up against it and almost got us wet a couple times. It was pretty dang awesome! 

 After our little adventure to the castle we drove to Seixo Branco. It's directly across the bay from Torres de Hercules. You can kind of see it in this picture way off in the distance. We got a little lost on the way there but it was worth it! It's probably one of the most beautiful places I've been to here in La Coruna. 

 I mean just look at this view! It's surrounded by cliffs and I just think it's plain amazing. 

 Like past this field it's just a drop off. Very different from America where literally every possible ledge is fenced off for "safety". It's a lot more dangerous here and I love it!

 Down the cliff with crashing waves.

 Terrain that I thought was interesting. 

 There's also, along this coast line of cliffs, random holes in the ground that go all the way down to the ocean. These did have fences around them but I can kind of see why. Like you're just walking along and then boom you fall down to the ocean where a watery grave awaits. That would suck. 

 Me and this kid playing in smooshy moss. It was quite exciting. At least to a youngin. 

 Jumping in sunsets.

Choca los Cinco. A.K.A. High Fives! 

After our outdoor adventures we went back to the house where the grandma was making us a pie. At least in Spanish terms. It was apples, sugar, cream, and flour and that was it. No crust or anything so I wouldn't exactly call it a pie. It was really good and weirdly made me happy to see someone make something on their own. (Most people have cooks that do everything) It could have definitely used some cinnamon. I think it's interesting how we as Americans pair cinnamon with anything apple. Without it just tastes off. 

So that was Monday. Tuesday I legit just stayed home all day. I slept in, watched some Netflix, and knitted like an old lady. It was great. The rest of my week was pretty normal. Took the kids to school, went to Spanish class, etc. I'm pretty sure I've told you my basic everyday schedule. 

 To the weekend! Saturday it was my South African friend, Chantell's, birthday. There was a free concert going on so we went and had tapas at a bar nearby. 

 This was from my walk to the bar.

Apparently Chantell is his #1 Fan and took this picture to prove it. Or something. His music was pretty chill. It was mostly acoustic covers of Spanish and English songs but I liked his musical taste. Or at least the way he chose to sing the songs. It matched my current laid back music mood. His name is Edu Calvario if you want to look him up on the youtubes. Btw if you want to understand my current laid back music moods I'm currently digging Diamond Mind by Jonah Tolchin and Broken Horse by Freelance Whales.  

Also I will say that I had THE best tortilla that I've had since being out here. It had a lot more flavor than the ones I've had previously and was pretty small. Pretty much only enough for one person. So good! I wonder if I'll go back to America and think all the food is too salty or something. I guess we'll see.

After the birthday extravaganza Linda, my British friend Sarah, and I went and got ice cream. It was all locally made if that means anything but it was pretty dang good. Especially the strawberry ice cream.  This is Sarah.

And that was pretty much my weekend. Today I went to church and rode the bus home with all the missionaries. They're all really nice and friendly and said I should pretend to be a missionary so I can have thanksgiving with them. Apparently I could do it if I really wanted to seeing as I had three people today ask if I was a missionary. Anyway when I got home it started pouring down rain and I just took my traditional Sunday nap. The family had codfish for lunch and invited me to join them. It turns out I don't really like codfish. It's too solid and tastes more fishy than most fish. If that makes any sense. It was weird tasting to say the least. Well I think that's all I've got for you peeps. Till next week!