TEA & MEETING HARRY x2

(Continued…)

Tea has been running through my veins. Tea for breakfast, tea after class, tea breaks between class, just because tea, at midnight tea, and so on. Since being here, I have gone to a few different tea shops but one that I recently I have gone to is the, “Tea Cozey”. Why is it called the ‘Tea Cozey’? Well, when they bring your pot of tea to your table, it has a knitted cozey around it and it’s super cute. There was one that was knitted in the pattern of a watermelon, some polkadots, and even stripes. The teashop was decorated with the Royal Family memorabilia. It was “organized hording” as I would call it. The walls, shelves and ceilings were covered with things about the Royal Family including news articles/papers, magazines, photos, souvenirs, anything you can think of! It was crazy to see the dedication they put into their decorations. Besides admiring the décor, I got their breakfast tea with a chocolate chip scone. SOOO GOOD! It was great being able to sit down and drink tea with Katelyn, Hannah, Katie, Tiana, Jenn and her friend (who was visting from Scotland). 

The next day was a fun one, the day before Halloween to be exact! A bunch of us got together in the lovely flat of 30C and had a pumpkin carving party. It was really neat to see some individuals carve pumpkins for the first time! Everyone got their thinking caps on and got down to carving. I didn’t carve a pumpkin (due to forgetting to get one) but, I did enjoy watching everyone carve their own. Some went with the basic pumpkin face and some got really really really creative. I was fairly impressed. On Halloween, I spent sleeping in to catch up on sleep. Later that evening, I went into town to go on a hunt for a costume and I was joined by the beautiful ladies, Hannah, Tiana, and Micah.  Before the hunting got serious, we grabbed a bite at Ed’s where I ordered a delicious chicken burger with a side of chips. It had truly hit the spot. After a yummy meal, we walked over to St. James street to take a look at the charity shops (aka thrift shops). It was getting really annoying because 1) I didn’t know what to be and 2) nothing was sparking my interest on being anything. A few hours later, I came across a cheap Hawaiian tshirt and I decided to go basic and be a tourist. SCARY right?

Chris, Diede, Daniel, and Evan.

 I paired my shirt with a swimsuit top, skirt, borrowed some tall white socks, sneakers, sunglasses, and a lei. Super simple but got the job done. As the sun went down, the costumes came on and it was finally hallows eve. A group of friends and I got a wristband for about  £8 which gave us free access to a several clubs and pubs. 

You would think it would be a good deal but it wasn’t (sadly). All of the queues were miles long and places closed down for others because it was way too full. Angry and about to give up, we come across a club promoter who gave us discount access into their club for  £2  and let me tell yeah, it was super lame. 

Makin up for the boring club with fun selfies.

We danced a bit and decided to give it another chance but Diede saved the night when he spotted a door! He opened it and it lead to a long hallway and before I knew it, I was following him and Daniel down the hallway which to our surprise led us to Colosseum, which happened to be another club which was poppin! To give you some background, this club was about £10 to get into. We decided to stay put and the rest of the group joined us later on in the evening. I  had such an amazing time dancing away the night. It was a lot of fun and definitely a night to remember. It would not have been the same without Daniel, Diede, Laura, Chris, Phillipp, Evan, Micah, and Isil. SO thanks to you lovelies. 

From the last few days being so hectic, the following day was a “lazy day” for me. This included drinking some tea and hanging out with my buddies Katie and Tiana. Bored from being so lazy, we wanted to get outside. We decided to go explore our “backyard”,we found it to be a pretty neat area! We wandered the area a bit finding some trails made by other people and we eventually came across a gate and decided to see what was beyond it. We met two lovely ladies owning a beautiful collie. Us three sat on the hill, took some selfies and just chatted as we watched the sun set just behind the hills. 

Although it was very simple, it was a day that I will cherish. It was nice seeing what was just a few yards behind where we sleep at night. The following day was planned to have a “Robin Hood” day in Nottingham, but due to expensive tickets we decided against it. Since a group of us were already up early and at the train station we decided not going home and wanted to go adventure somewhere else! We decided on London. Grabbing a few booklets for 2 for 1 deals, we were off. 

Morning chai at the station. SO good.

After the train, we all were starving and decided to get lunch. All of us wanted different things so we all split off. I got teriyaki with Hannah and it was a nice time just us two getting to know each other a little bit more. Afterwards, we met up with the rest of the group. All of us wanting to do different activities, we decided to split off again. A group of us headed to Madame Tussauds and the other group headed to a Library. 

What was exciting (and a little silly) was that Madame Tussauds was on my To-Do list in the UK so I was super stoked to go. Joining me was Micah, Hannah, and Katie. For starters, it was not what was I expecting; it was a lot better! Standing in queue for about an hour was definitely worth the wait. I got to “meet” so many people! I could go on and on and on who I saw but I saw Emma Watson, David Beckham, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling, Madonna, Beyonce, Ghandi, Mandela, President Kennedy and President Obama, and of course One Direction. What was pretty neat was that it was organized by Sports, Music, Movies, etc so it was really cool to see who and what they were famous for. The one I was pretty clueless was the sports section because a lot of their sports players I didn’t recognized, besides their bronze medallist diver of the summer Olympics, Tom Daley. When we came into another room, it was full of the Royals. I even got to “meet” the queen. It was awesome. 

The photo we got with the royal family gets me every time. It is just SOOO awkward, none of us knew where to put or hands or what do because we did not want to offend anyone but hey, we got a picture we can look and laugh at. I also got to meet my favourite Prince Harry, too bad it wasn’t for real. Another cool thing about the museum is it had a section of the history of torture and wax figures of famous murders. It was actually really interesting to see what they look like up close. There was also a haunted house but I decided to pass it up because haunted houses just give me way to much anxiety, but, the rest of the girls did decide to go through it though and they said that it was frightening.

After the haunted house, the building continued on (it was HUGE)! They even had a ride to go through the history of London and such, it was rad. Towards the end of the museum, they had a section on the history of Madame Tussauds and how it all started and such.  If you ever have the time, I recommend looking in to it!

I mean, how could you not?

Moving on, the 5^th of November (Guy Fawkes and Bonfire Night) rolled around! Let me tell yeah, it was soooo cool to experience something that we don’t celebrate back in the states, “Remember, Remember the 5^th of November”. Walking the streets of Lewes and seeing a parade of a “Mob” who carried torches and played instruments, making canons go off; It was so NEAT! I was entertained the whole night.

Later that evening, we went to a bonfire and saw fireworks. At the moment, it sucked because all of us were freezing and we were so close to leaving because they were over an hour late to start (being cold makes you do things you don't want to do), BUT I am so glad we didn’t because the firework show was phenomenal!!!! I was so blown away by the show they put on that it had left me speechless (definitely on the top of my list for fireworks). I am so glad to have been joined by lovely people to experience such a night.

One of many shots that I took of the night on my DSLR.

 I end this post with a Thank You! Thank you to my family for their constant support on my love to travel and for supporting me on this journey. I also thank you to the lovely group of people who I am surrounded by 24/7, this experience would not be the same without ANY of you. Whether we are close or not, you make this experience just as great. THANK YOU THANK YOU! Also, thank you for reading my rambling and awful grammar, it really means a lot. I couldn’t have done this without any of you.

 

The only group shot we got from the night!

Cheers! Until next time. x

Amanda

Now Playing: Once in a Lifetime – One Direction (From their new Album - Four. I recommend go giving it a listen. It is really good what I have heard so far, very different sound).