London Calling

October 26-28:

It's half term!! A wonderful week off from teaching all our hyperactive crazies (my affectionate term for students). I could say it's going to be a restful week off - which would be nice and much needed - but that would be a lie. We have an absolutely travel packed itinerary planned. Our first stop was London for a two day and two night adventure for Gabel's birthday and also so I could meet up with my family who are visiting!! My dad was in London with some friends doing a football tour and Annette and Adam came along to hang out with me in London. Then we would all be going back to Southampton together. 

On Saturday morning, Steph, Katherine, Gabel, and myself took a taxi from our flat in Southampton to our hotel in London. Most people are absolutely stunned that we travel such a far distance by taxi but it's actually quite cheap. It only costs 80£ for us to make the hour and a bit journey and divided by 4 people is actually cheaper than taking the train and much quicker than a bus (and at the same price). We arrived in London around 10, dropped off our bags and eagerly began our journey. My dad, Annette and Adam were at a soccer game and were planning on meeting us later for dinner. Gabel's friend Kate did meet up with us though. Her and Gabel had gone to school together in Australia and Kate is from Manchester so she trained down to London for the bday weekend. I absolutely loved her accent (Manchester is more up north so it's quite a thick accent) and she was so fun and easygoing. I'm so glad to have met her and can't wait to hang out with her more in England. 

Our hotel was located in the Pimlico/Westminster area which is fairly close to all the central London attractions. We decided to immediately try and navigate our way through the London Underground to get around! I am so proud of us for figuring out the tube system so quickly. I just pulled out a map of London and we hurried on over to the nearest tube station. We bought an all day pass which was incredible value. It was only £7.30 and was valid on all tubes and buses in the city until 12am. The tubes are so efficient and quick it blew my mind. We never waited more than a minute or two for one to come and more often than not we simply walked right onto one without waiting at all. It is very tourist friendly and easy to navigate and the speed at which they travel is impressive. We got off at Piccadilly Circus station which was a neat intersection to take pictures of. It's right on the edge of Soho (the upscale shopping district) so we walked down there for a bit and window shopped the amazing stores and then turned around and headed to Trafalgar Square. That was unfortunately a bit of a disappointment because the NFL is actually in London trying to promote itself and the entire square and been sabotaged by the NFL and turned into a huge fan rally. There was NFL paraphernalia everywhere and it blocked most of the sights of Trafalgar, including the fountain. We managed to get a couple of pics but I couldn't believe that even on another continent, the NFL was ruining the sites. It started raining a bit so we ducked into a proper English pub and had beer, fish n chips and cider. I quite enjoyed my meal and by the time we were done the rain had stopped so we ventured back out to Big Ben and the houses of parliament. We took quite a few pics there, went over bridge and posed with Ben in the background and then headed back to Westminster Abbey. We had just missed the visitor hours to go inside but were able to get some group shots in front of the Abbey and even the outside of it is very impressive. It's such a beautiful structure. After the Abbey we trekked to St. James Park and took pictures with all the fountains, bridges and birds. St. James Park leads right to Buckingham Palace so naturally we stopped there for tons of photos. No sightings of the Royal Family though - darn! Lastly we went through Hyde and Green Parks and then into the Green Park tube station to get back to the hotel. The five of us girls got all done up and then walked to a nearby restaurant/pub called The Warwick for Gabel's bday dinner. The exciting part for me was being able to meet up with Annette and Adam there. We enjoyed a decent meal, had lots of fun catching up and then went our separate ways. It had been about a 14 hour day at this point and we were EXHAUSTED. But it was Gabel's bday weekend so its not like we could just go to bed. Plus, I'd be disappointed in myself if I came all the way to London and didn't go out clubbing. So we did an outfit change, freshened up, put on some music, had a pre drink in the hotel and then called a cab to take us to the Piccadilly Circus/Leicester Square area which we had heard was a good party spot. It's a very interesting experience there. Within seconds of stepping out of the cab, a man was approaching us trying to get us to go to a club called Avalon. It turned out he was a promoter - one of maaannyyy - whose job it was to patrol the streets and find girls to get into their clubs. We eventually chose a club named Rumba and after showing our ID's, ran to the bathroom for a pee break. Why the pee break is relevant is because once in the bathroom, I realized my drivers license was gone. I had shown it to the bouncer and walked straight to the bathroom and in that period of time it had somehow disappeared. We searched high and low for it, asked everyone we could see and no one knew where it was. Just great. Then a few minutes later, Gabel realized that she no longer had our hotel keys. She remembered locking our room on the way out but they were not in her purse. We were off to a  great start. To make matters worse, on the key ring was a key to get into the building itself and we weren't sure if there would be anyone at reception in the early hours of the morning when we returned from the club. The other troublesome thing was that keys and locks in London/England can be a bit different. To unlock our hotel room door it required a key, even on the inside. That meant that we had basically locked Gabel's mom, Katherine, in the hotel room. If she wanted to get out, she would have needed the keys to unlock it from the inside but we had them and lost them. So it was quite a pickle and we debated throwing in the towel. Realistically though, we had just paid cover to get in, it was Gabel's birthday, and we were in London for the first time. We had to put it out of our minds and have fun. The club was actually really decent and the music was great so we all had a blast dancing away. This was also the time change weekend in England so we gained an extra hour of partying. The entire Piccadilly/Leicester Square area was super busy and bustling which was fun. We cabbed home around 3am (which would have normally been 4am) and then wondered what to do about our key situation. Gabel stood on the road and looked down near where we had caught the cab and suddenly called out in triumph. She had found the keys just lying in the road and we were able to get in. That's lucky! By 3:25am I was sound asleep in my bed. Crazy long but extremely fun day. 

I wish I could say that we slept in the next day but you can't waste time when you only have 48 hours in London. We got the free breakfast offered to us by the hotel and then headed out to the London Bridge. From there we stumbled upon The Monument which is a very tall tower and special memorial for the London Fire of 1666. It was a very beautiful structure that towered over the city and then we realized that we could climb it. Adam, Annette, Steph and I decided to be the brave ones to climb up the 311 steps while Gabel, Kate and Katherine went to grab smoothies haha. It took us FOREVER to climb up those steps. The staircase is quite narrow and winding and you have people going up and down on the same stairs. I thought we'd never make it but finally we arrived at the top and the view was well worth the climb. It was a beautiful day so we did get some nice pictures up there. Plus, burning all those calories just gave us an excuse to eat more food that day! After the monument we headed over to the Tower Bridge which is designed all in blue accent colours and looks like a castle. At the base of the bridge is the huge Tower of London (a famous fortress, castle and jail). We paid to do the Tower tours and we were able to see really neat sights, including the famous ravens inside and the Crown Jewels! You're not allowed to take pictures of the Crown Jewels but of course we snuck a few. The crowns and sceptres were my favourite and I found a couple of purple ones that would look great on me haha. After the Tower of London we went to do a bit of shopping in Soho. Kate had gone home at this point and Gabel and Katherine briefly split up from us to go and get theatre tickets because they wanted to see Dirty Dancing that night. I told Gabel to text me when she had the tickets and I would tell her what store we were in. Time went by and I still didn't have a text from her. Steph and I went into a store called Anthropologie and suddenly I noticed Gabel and her mom right outside of it. They started walking away so I went after them. Gabel turned around when she heard me calling her name and I could immediately tell that something was wrong because the look on her face was utter panic. What did she tell me? She had lost her phone. In London. Likely on the tube…

I can't remember if I included this in my Oktoberfest entry but Gabel had also lost her iPhone in Munich, Germany and after a few days the taxi driver got a hold of her and mailed it back to us in Southampton (lucky much?!). So I literally could not believe this was happening again. They came with me back into the Anthropologie store and were telling me about the realization of the lost phone. Meanwhile I kept calling it and texting it over and over, trying to entice whoever had found it to not steal it but give it back. I could tell Gabel was super upset and not in the mood to shop. Sure enough, she was soon telling her mom she wanted to leave. Just as they were about to say bye, my phone started ringing. I couldn't believe it but on the caller ID it said: GABEL. Her phone was calling me. I answered it with a squeal and discovered that someone had found her phone in the subway, and then turned it into the security at Gloucester station where they were holding it for her. HOW CRAZY IS THAT?! So Gabel and Katherine obviously quite promptly headed to get her phone back. 

Meanwhile, Annette, Adam, Steph and I had booked a Jack the Ripper Tour for 6pm. Unfortunately we misjudged how much time it would take to get to the tour and it became evident we were quite late. So we tried getting a refund but that ended up taking us on a goose chase around the city. It was super disappointing but we didn't manage to make it to any other Jack the Ripper Tours that evening. or get a refund. Determined not to let it ruin our night, we headed over to the London Eye. That turned out to be even better than expected. Since it was dark out by this point, the London Eye was all lit up with green lights and the entire city was lit up as well. I had been operating under the misconception that the Eye was a ferris wheel but really its more like a gondola. It's always constantly moving very slowly and instead of seats it has these giant pods and you have to run in them while its moving. The views of the city at night were spectacular. Big Ben was all lit up as well and the city stretched out for miles and miles. I'm glad we were able to at least get on the London Eye. Our last stop was at a cute Italian restaurant near the eye where we had a late dinner. Then Adam and Annette headed to their hotel to meet up with my dad and I went to my hotel with Steph where Gabel and Katherine were waiting. What I was really excited about was having a shower because the shower in my flat is absolutely ridiculous as you all know and there is no pressure. The shower in the hotel was so wondrous and powerful I stayed in there forever. When I came out I was so relaxed and just wanted to climb into bed and finally sleep. However, Gabel had been looking out for me and called Rumba night club to see if they had found my ID. It turns out, they had which was such a pleasant surprise but of course that meant going back out to get it. It was 11:15pm at this point but I didn't see what other choice we had so Gabel was nice enough to come with me and we headed to the Underground station. We successfully got my drivers license back but by this point it was midnight and the tube had closed. Not wanting to spend money on a cab, Gabel managed to look up a bus route for us and we ran through the streets in the pouring rain trying to find the stop. It took us quite awhile and we made a couple wrong turns and got thoroughly drenched but eventually we got onto one of the famous double decker red buses and were back at the hotel right after 12:40. We had recovered everything we lost! I quickly tried getting to sleep because I knew I had to get up at 7:30 the next morning to get back to Southampton. 

Overall, I am in love with London. It totally stole my heart and it's my favourite city. I travelled all over it and  everywhere I went I found it was clean, beautiful, well kept and full of things to do. It is impossible to be bored here and the transit system is simply brilliant. The architecture is stunning and there is a perfect combination of old, heritage buildings and modern elegance. The people were so friendly too! I had been warned that people in London were rude and self involved but I witnessed so many acts of kindness in the 48 hours I was there. I saw a man offer to help a woman - a complete stranger to him - carry her suitcase down a long flight of stairs in the Underground. When we arrived in Soho and were taking pictures, a woman approached us and asked if we wanted her to take a group picture of us. When we got out of our first tube station, we were a bit disoriented at first and a man approached us right away and asked if we needed directions somewhere. And of course don't forget about the guardian angel who turned in Gabel's cell phone instead of stealing it. This city is a must see and must do and I can't wait to come back here with Matthew when he visits. 

 Stephs new bf

 London pubbing

 Westminster Abbey

 Buckingham Palace

Going out for bday dinner

 Piccadilly clubbing 

 Tower Bridge

 The Monument - we climbed all 311 steps up

 Great views on top of The Monument 

 Tower of London

 London Eye at night

 London Eye Pod

 dancing to our song

What We've Been Up To

I'm a little overdue on updates from the past few weeks so let me try and catch up on how we've been spending our October. 

Teaching -

Of course Gabel and I have been teaching during the weeks and we both now average about 4 days a week. Every single one of my teaching days this month have been at Ryde Academy on the Isle of Wight except for one day at Winton Academy in Andover. I never thought my life would revolve so much around an island as it does now. It's also crazy to me that since moving here I've only taught at three different schools. It's kinda of nice because I'm fairly well known at all three schools, especially at Ryde of course. The weather is getting worse as the season gets closer to winter so the Hovercraft can be quite late some days making me late for school but that's a regular facet of island life. There have been terrible winds recently as well so being on the Hovercraft is more like being on a  theme park ride and it's all I can do to not barf everywhere because I'm quite prone to sea sickness. If you had told me in teachers college that I would be getting seasick on my way to teaching, I would have laughed in your face but here we are. One good/bad thing about the hovercraft is that Gabel and I discovered a special hover pass that is meant for teachers and for 40 rides it costs 135£. We purchased it and it makes our rides go down to about 6£ a day instead of 17£ a day. It's good because we are obviously saving a lot of money now but bad because I shudder to think about how much money I wasted in the first month and a half I taught at Ryde. Sigh. Most of my teaching at Ryde is English but I do a fair amount of PE (gym) as well which is mostly hell. There is nothing like teaching boys only PE to make you question why you became a teacher. I honestly don't know how PE teachers do it day in and day out. Letting loose an entire class of 13 year old boys has often proved dangerous for me and I come home without a voice. I have never once taught a PE class without at least one of them ending up on the ground crying and in serious pain. I'll have to ask questions like "WHY IS TOM ON THE GROUND CRYING?!" and they will tell me back nonchalantly, "Oh Callum whipped a ball at his face." One day I was supposed to teach hockey to the boys but the other PE teachers wouldn't let me because they were afraid the boys would use the sticks as weapons. When I was giving a basketball lesson last week, I had to stop about 16 times to remind them that biting, elbowing, shoving, kicking, or violent shoving was not part of the game. I got so fed up at one point, I lined them up against the wall and just screamed at them for a good five minutes. Everyone (in Britain and back home) tells us that British kids are among the worst behaved students in the world and that we should be prepared for hell but besides PE, both Gabel and I have managed pretty well actually. My regular year 7's and 8's that I teach every Monday and Friday are adorable and I'm getting on so well with them. I've been trusted now to do all the lesson planning and marking for them and I taught them what jeopardy was last week because none of them had ever heard of it and I had made us a jeopardy review game of the novel we had just finished reading. I love walking down the hallways at Ryde and hearing "Hi Miss M!" The only one negative experience I had was last Monday when I was severely terrorized by one year 11 class. I was supposed to give them a test and they absolutely refused to be quiet but I had three boys determined to break me. They would not stop making noises, throwing paper airplanes at me, running in and out of class as they pleased, swearing at me, pulling out their cell phones, insulting me, etc. At one point they started a huge drum banging beat on the desks that nearly everyone joined in with. Normally when I have students that misbehave, I just have to give them my death glare or yell at them once in what I call my "scary angry voice" and they stop. It was nooooot working. They think they are clever but I knew all of their names and I reported the three main culprits to student services where they all received hour long after school detentions, as well as got demerit points on their record and a notice home to their parents. Plus I told their regular teacher and she punished them as well. The other teachers in the school informed me of their procedure for what I could do in the moment if that ever happened again so the next time I get any more spawns of Satan, I will know how to get them removed from class. Overall though I feel really proud of my teaching and I know that I'm becoming a really good teacher (Gabel too of course!). It's been quite an enjoyable experience and I know that if we can handle it here we can handle it everywhere. Something else really cool happened a couple of weeks ago. In the UK, schools get inspected a couple of times a year by Ofsted which is a school quality inspection agency and they come an inspect schools and give them grades and if a school gets a bad enough grade it will be shut down and all the teachers out of jobs and the students would have to be relocated. Of course I ended up teaching on an Ofsted inspection day but I was just doing general supply cover and I got stuck with a period of science, a period of PE, a period of geography, and a period of drama. None of which are my teachable subjects! And of course wasn't I the lucky one who got Ofsted inspectors in my classroom watching me teach science. All about immunization which I know nothing about. I was in the middle of winging my lesson when without warning, the vice principal and the Ofsted inspector just walked into the classroom and watched me from the back. You can imagine how quickly my heart was pounding. However, at the end of that day, the vice principal came and sought me out and said I did amazing and she was so proud of me. And then the next day, she came to me and said the Ofsted results were back and that they had received really great comments about me and that I was engaging with the students and in control of the class and doing a good job, etc. The actual teacher who I had been covering for also came and found me and thanked me for doing a great job with her class and getting such great feedback for the school. So I am obviously elated with the positive feedback. 

Football - 

By football I really mean soccer but you can't tell the Brits I said that. Every Tuesday night is our training session and the women there think Gabel and I are quite good so they all started fighting over us to join there Thursday night competitive match league. Gabel and I chose to play on a team called The Black Swans and we've made friends with someone named Louise who drives us to and from the games. It's loads of fun but different from back home. It's only five a side here instead of eleven and you can use the boards and you're allowed to pass back to your goalie. At first Gabel and I broke a couple of rules getting used to it but we're doing well now. So every Tuesday and Thursday you can find us at the Goals Soccer Center (its called soccer for some weird reason) on Millbrook Point Road having fun out on the pitch. Steph has always been a loyal fan and comes and watches and takes pics of us. I'll miss having her there with us. 

Shakeaway - 

Gabel and I are both huge booster juice fans and with there being no Booster Juice in the UK we had to find a replacement. Well, were we ever successful. There's a mall in Southampton called The Marlands which is a really crappy mall located across the street from our grocery store ASDA and down the street from the real mall, West Quay. However, we were walking through The Marlands one day and walked past a place allied Shakeaway. They specialize in milkshakes but also dabble in smoothies and juices. Naturally we decided to try it out. OH.MY.GOSH is it ever amazing. Gabel often gets one called The Alan which is a mixture of banana and nutella with minstrels (a really awesome type of Cadbury chocolate) on top. I am obsessed with the chocolate raspberry one which isn't on their menu but I requested it and it's unreal. Steph tried it when she got here and now she only gets the chocolate raspberry one as well. Steph actually said that she doesn't know how she's going to go back to Canada because there's no Shakeaway there. Basically every Sunday morning we wake up hungover and go to Shakeaway for relief. But if we happen to run into one somewhere else, we will definitely run in. KGabes has gotten addicted to The George (reeses peanut butter cup) while she's been here as well. So everyone, come visit us and we'll bring you to Shakeaway!

Clubbing - 

We finally found an amazing nightclub in Southampton. It's called Oceana and it's simply unreal. About a 7 minute walk from our flat is a massive complex called Leisure World. Inside you can find a a movie theatre, an arcade, all types of leisure activities like bowling, and then Oceana nightclub. It holds up to 4,000 people and it's incredible inside. There's crazy stages and a huge bar area, a massive dance floor, crazy lights and chandeliers, balconies, VIP rooms, and an excellent DJ. It's Euro clubbing at its finest. Steph, Gabel and I went last 2 weekends ago and it was a blast. The cover was only 5£ so I think we're going to be going back there a lot. 

Movies/TV - 

We've had a lot of movie and TV nights curled up in my bed the past two weeks. Steph, Gabel and I watched Taken and then Taken 2 and now Im terrified of travelling because although my dad's pretty bad ass, he ain't no Liam Neeson as a CIA agent. I've also gotten Gabel hooked on Sons of Anarchy so I'm rewatching the first three seasons with her and then we'll watch seasons 4 and 5 together. And somehow I've never seen the movie The Breakfast Club and I really want to and it's Gabel's favourite movie so we keep trying to watch it but its like an ongoing joke that whenever we try and watch it, something happens and we can't. It's been going on for a month now. Hopefully at some point in the next month I finally get to watch it. 

Exploring - 

On my day off last week, Steph and I went exploring around Southampton. There's a huge park called the Southampton Common thats at the north end of the city and we walked over to it. It was so worth it because the park is gorgeous and full of hiking trails and lakes and fields. It was lots of fun and we got some amazing pics. I just love how green Southampton is and how many parks there are. On our way home we stumbled upon a Gelato Bar not too far from our place.  Obviously we went inside and were blown away. That's going to become a regular spot I'm sure. I love living in a city where you don't know everything and can still be surprised. It was a fun sissy date. 

Counting Down The Days - 

I am finding it so incredibly difficult to be away from my love Matthew so I'm just continuously counting down the days until we get to be together. What's helped is that we planned out our itinerary of our trip when he gets here on December 6th. We're going to do a weekend in London, go to Paris and Berlin, hang out in Southampton and see a Southampton FC game against Newcastle, sleep overnight in a Castle called Thornbury where King Henry VIII and Ann Boleyn stayed a couple of times, go to the Eden Project, Bath and then finish our trip in Switzerland with Gabel and Alex and go skiing in the Alps. I'm so excited for the four of us to be all together. 

Half Term - 

The last week of October is half term in England which means its a week of school for both students and teachers alike. Gabel and I have a crazy amount planned and I doubt we'll find it remotely restful but stay tuned to hear about our half term adventures! Check out some pics below 

 We goin out

 too poor to cab: use a shopping cart 

 Oceana 

 Sissy date in Southampton Common 

The Zoo Shirt Saga

Those of you who know Gabel well will know that she has a zoo shirt. It's a big baggy Tshirt with a big print on the front of tons of different animals. She loves wearing it when she's lounging.
I hate it.
Hahaha.
Well hate is a strong word. Mostly I thought it was dorky and it just became the joke that I hate it.
My suspicion is that upon learning of my dislike of the zoo shirt, Gabel started wearing it more and more. And of course she brought it to England with her. Just taunting me.
So I did the only logical thing I could think of. I stole it in our second week here.

This was meant to be a short lived prank but it just got so funny I kept it going. I placed it in obvious site on the floor of my closet, right next to my printer paper which she has periodically gone to get. She never noticed her beloved zoo shirt beside the paper. Occasionally she would ask me if I had the shirt and I always denied it. This would leave her grumbling around the house for a few minutes going "WHERE IS MY ZOOOOO SHHIIIRRRTTT!" But then I wouldn't hear about it for days, as if she had accepted her fate.

Then a couple weeks ago, she lost her black lulu lemon sweater and this promptly led her to form the hypothesis that there was a goblin living in hiding in our flat who would come and steal her clothes. I obviously found this hilarious and whenever me or Steph had temporarily misplaced something, she would shout out, "it's the goblin who has my zoo shirt and sweater!"

I confided my hilarious prank to her sister Jen and we came up with the plan that around Christmas I should write a blog entry that solely stated the zoo shirts' whereabouts to see if she would discover it on her own. I was so excited! But then something happened I hadn't taken into account.

Katherine Gabel arrived and Gabel almost immediately took to whining to her mom about her lost zoo shirt. While Gabel had been quiet about it for weeks, she suddenly thought about it every day and kept bringing it up woefully. Steph kept telling me to give it back but it had gone on for so long at this point I didn't know what to do. Finally last weekend, Katherine went into momma bear mode and was determined to find it for her daughter. I overheard the two of them moving around the bed to find it and they scoured the room. When we went out shopping, Gabel pointed out this hideous smurfs Tshirt and said she wanted to buy it as a replacement for her zoo shirt. I narrowly escaped that disaster and realized I was in a pickle.

I texted Jen and she told me I had to give it back. Her exact words were "You brought in kgabes....that's game over because she won't stop till it's found." Jen suggested I hide it somewhere else and let her stumble upon it but that wouldn't work because there aren't any suitable places in our flat that hasn't already been inspected in the zoo shirt frenzy.

So finally last Saturday night I revealed that I had the zoo shirt. Katherine started laughing and Gabel let out a shriek of rage and went running to my closet. Of course she came back down to the living room wearing it and had barely taken it off since. In fact, I'm almost certain she's worn it at some point every day for the past week. I might have to steal it again! So I'm sorry everyone back home, but for now the zoo shirt lives on. For now...

Confessions of a Mind Delirious with Sickness

Last week can be summed up by the worst sickness I have had in the past five years. Every single day I grew worse and worse. On Wednesday I was forced to be a PE (physical education) teacher all day and the constant yelling really did me in. By the time I got home, I had no voice. I went to the rest of my classes that week begging my students to take it easy on me because I couldn't really talk. I designated some students in each class as helpers and their job was to get everyone silent when they could see I wanted the attention of the class. I also played a lot of movies! It was such a struggle though. I was achy, exhausted, weak, my throat felt like it was being stabbed by daggers, I was SOOO stuffed up to the point that I couldn't breathe properly and would wake up gasping for air in the night. Not a pretty sight. By Friday I was so bad that I decided I had to go to the clinic. I've had colds before but this felt different. I was really struggling and hadn't felt this sick since I had pneumonia five years ago. The thing is.. imagine being sick in a foreign country. What do you do? You don't know what their process is or where the clinics are. I don't have a health card here. I had no idea what to do. Gabel was a saint and kept looking things up for me on the internet while I texted with our boss asking for help. She told us to go to a NHS based location and they would help us without charge. So Gabel found a place that we could train to in a little suburb called Eastleigh just outside of Southampton. The thing was we had to be there by 9:30pm or they wouldn't see me. We arrived in Eastleigh just before 9 and began the walk to the clinic location using our GPS. When we arrived it was closed and it was labelled as a Sexual Health Clinic. I looked confused at Gabel and she couldn't figure out what was going on. Turns out the poor thing had so many tabs open on the computer she accidentally looked up directions to Eastleigh when we really wanted to go to Bitterne which is an area of Southampton where there's a regular clinic haha. So we were about 7 miles out from where we needed to be and the clinic was closing and I couldn't breathe. So we walked back to the train station in Eastleigh and got a taxi to bring us to Bitterne. It was so hard to find the clinic but I made it with five minutes to spare. The head nurse examined me and told me that I had laryngitis. She was helpful in explaining to me what was going on with my body and gave me tips (absolutely no speaking all weekend, breathe in steam, take ibuprofen to lessen the inflammation of my vocal chords, take lemon lozenges, sleep lots because this virus leaves you exhausted, etc) but she did not prescribe me anything and did not help me with how stuffed up I was. So I left with a diagnosis and tips, but no medicine. Very frustrating. Gabel figured out how we could bus home and I just passed out when we got back. I was so thankful to have Gabel though. Normally when I'm sick Matt takes care of me and take me where I need to go. Gabel did an excellent stand in job and it was so nice to not have to go to the clinic alone. <3

So what did I do all weekend? I did not speak a single word. It was soooo hard!! You can't even imagine how hard it is until you try it. Especially because I was with Gabel and Steph the whole time. And they would be having conversations and I'd want to add something but I couldn't. The only form of communication I was able to perform was typing out everything I wanted to say. It was torture. At one point I typed them out a note that said "I feel bad for you all that you can't listen to my quick witted hilarity or zinger comebacks anymore because by the time I type it out the moment is gone." Hahaha and Gabel told me that it was too bad and that she was taking over as the funny one now. But it really helped me to rest my vocal chords.

We all rested and lounged the entire day Saturday which was nice and needed. By nighttime though I was feeling really guilty that my sickness had been such a dominating presence in our lives for the past week and I didn't want to ruin everyone's fun. I had also promised Steph we would take her out clubbing. So I summoned up some strength and we got ready to go out. Gabel let me do her hair and makeup which I loooove doing. And Steph let me do her makeup. We had a really funny time at the bar because we don't necessarily know all the best spots to go yet. It's still a trial run. We ended up in this place called the Rhino which was playing rap music and.. let's just say as white girls we were the minority there!! Very funny experience indeed. We got home around 3am and had a good sleep in the next day.

Sunday I decided that we all needed retail therapy! And it was an activity I could still do without talking. The really neat thing is that the company Gabel and I work for has a promotion that when you refer a friend, you get 150£. Since we came over together, we qualify for that money. So we are splitting it down the middle aka freeeeee 75£ each. So our shopping budget was 75£ each. We went to Primark which is like a really big and really cheap store for teens and young 20 somethings. It's pretty comparable to Forever 21 back home. Our next stop was Top Shop which is one of the best British fashion stores everrrr. Gabel's bday is coming up and she found the best birthday outfit ever there. It's expensive but worth it! Then we went nuts in the H&M. I did well for myself though. When all was said and done I only went a little over my budget and I got 2 long sleeve teaching dresses, 2 mini skirts, one long maxi skirt, a pair of really funky pants, a necklace, a sweater, and a unitard thing. Which sounds really dorky but it's actually really pretty and comfy.

We then hurried over to ASDA and made it ten minutes before it closed (I'll never get used to how early things close here!) and bought some things for our own Thanksgiving dinner. They really don't celebrate it here so getting a turkey was out of the question. But we found a large chicken, got some potatoes, green beans, buns, and gravy (and obviously yummy desserts). Annette sent me the instructions for her to make her famous beer can chicken and I was able to replicate it. Our meal was fantaaaastic. Soo good! I had a really hard time being away from home for Thanksgiving because I usually have four turkey dinners, including a huge fun potluck I've done with my friends for years. I reallllly missed being able to be with them so at least Gabel, Steph and I had a great meal of our own. To everyone asking if Steph helped with the cooking - don't be ridiculous!! Hahaha. So we stuck her on dishes duty instead.

The best part was the leftovers. Gabel and I both taught at Ryde yesterday and at lunch we busted out this amazing feast and the other teachers were like whaaat.

As of right now I have my voice back! So the world is no longer deprived of my thoughts. I'm slowly on the mend, just trying to get rid of how stuffed up I am. Fingers crossed I'm 100% soon. Katherine Gabel has just arrived as well to stay with us for 3 weeks and I'm really excited about that! Lots of adventures to come.

Cheers! xo

Oktoberfest!!

On the third page of my bucket list, you'll find the words "go to Oktoberfest in Germany." This past weekend, I got to cross that off!

It was a really neat experience. Here's the good, the bad, and the ugly. 

Gabel had already left for Switzerland last Thursday to go and visit Alex so on Friday, Steph and I flew to Zurich in Switzerland. Alex and Gabel came and picked us up along with Alex's friend Michael. The five of us piled into a tiny chevy aveo and headed off to Munich. Keep in mind that all of us average around 6 feet so it was pretty crammed. It should have taken 3 hours from Zurich to Munich. We all thought we would be there by supper time. 

Unfortunately we did not have luck on our side for our travels. Gabel, Alex and Michael got held up in bad traffic on the way to the airport. So by the time we left Zurich it was later then we wanted it to be and so we got held up in rush hour traffic leading out of the city. We got lost a couple of times and ended up in Austria once. That was actually really cool for me since my Omi and Opa are Austrian. The one major thing we did in Austria was eat at McDonalds along the way because we were running super late and needed to refuel. Once on the highway in Germany, we again got hit with MAJOR traffic. We eventually learned it was because a massive 18 wheeler transport truck went off the highway into a ditch and took out a guard rail along the way. It took us about 2 hours to pass the accident scene from when we first hit traffic from it. Instead of getting to Munich around dinner time, we rolled in at 1:00am. Our accommodations were with a company called Stoke Travel. They ran an all inclusive (you get a tent, sleeping mat, and air mattress) camping site near the festival grounds and provided free shuttles from the site to the beer halls as well as some complimentary meals. All that only cost me 100 euros for the two nights. 

By the time we got checked in and settled it was going on 2 in the morning. That wouldn't have been so terrible except that we all had plans to get up at 5:30am. Steph and I were sharing one of the teeny tents and although the campground company provided sleeping bags, Steph and I weren't sure how clean they were. So we didn't use them and instead shared a light comforter that Steph had brought. This resulted in a pretty freeeezing night, especially when it started raining. Germany was much colder than England. Additionally, the sleeping mats they had for us were really pool loungers. The long narrow ones that you use to float in your pool. Steph and I were both longer than the pool thingy and also then our tent really so we had to sleep bent or diagonally. I was also almost wider than the pool thing. So that first night was not the best 3 hours of sleep. 

We awoke at 530am, cold and wet in the pitch black. Fumbling around in our tents we managed to get ready and go meet Alex, Gabel, and Michael. The free shuttle dropped us off in the heart of Munich and we walked to the festival. We entered the gates at 7am and it was just incredible. There's thousands of stalls selling every imaginable delicacy and souvenir. I don't know how many beer halls there are but they were all so intricate and beautiful looking. At the back end of the festival there's an amusement park with rides. I thought we were early but once we picked out which beer hall we wanted, I was glad we were there. The halls all open at 9am but people start lining up outside hours before. Not everyone is granted entry so you have to make sure you're in line. The five of us waited in line for nearly two hours and it was worth it. We were right near the main doors and there were thousands of people behind us who couldn't all get in. Right at 9am sharp, the doors opened and it was MAYHEM. Instantly the thousands of people in line starting shoving and pushing and squishing each other and suddenly I felt like I couldn't breathe. Everyone was shouting and chanting and I wasn't even really standing on the ground anymore, I was being held up by so many people shoving against me. Once we finally made it in, we grabbed a great table right up front and took in our amazing surroundings. The hall was beautiful and MASSIVE. They have a really neat system. Each table has a bar maid responsible for it. Tip your bar maid and be nice to her because she is your ticket to food and beer! The way it works is that when you order a beer, they bring you a litre at a time. The beer was phenomenal by the way! The menu for food was all in German but luckily Alex and Michael could translate for us. The food was very traditional and basically consisted of meat and cheese haha. Every few minutes, either the Italians in the place would launch into a massive drinking chant or the Germans would start saying PPPPRRROOOOSSSTTTT (cheers) really loudly until every single person was joined in, holding the note and then everyone would cheers and drink. Imagine thousands of people all chanting that, just waiting to take a drink. Steph and Gabel caught some really great videos of it. The atmosphere inside was just so exciting and fun the whole time and we met lots of people (mostly Italians) and just talked with them. We lasted just over six hours and then just had to stop drinking because some of us (aka me and Steph hahaa) were getting crazy. So we went outside and explored all the stalls and got some neat souvenirs. I bought an October Hat which looks like the sorting hat from Harry Potter but it has Oktoberfest pictures on it which I love. I also bought an Oktoberfest tshirt. 

Back at the campsite things were pretty soaked from the rain we got that day. Steph and I went to bed around 10pm but again, I wouldn't say we had a great sleep. Our tent was broken so we got kind of wet and it was fairly cold again. At three in the morning, we got woken by someone having a coughing fit. If the coughing wasn't bad enough, some Scottish guy from one tent started yelling at the cougher to get up and get some hot chocolate because if they didn't they would end up puking in their tent from coughing so much. I dont know if it was funny because of his booming Scottish accent but he kept shouting things like "YOU'VE GOT TWO OPTIONS. YOU CAN COUGH UP YOUR LUNGS LIKE THIS FOR ANOTHER FEW HOURS UNTIL YOU PUKE IN YOUR TENT BECAUSE YOUR STOMACH CANT HANDLE IT.. OR YOU CAN GET UP, WALK IT OFF, GET SOME HOT CHOCOLATE. THE CHOICE IS YOURS." What made it funnier was that the cougher never acknowledged him. They just kept right on coughing. The site was fun though if you were in the mood to party. They had really cheap beer and a little bar area so it was really sociable and fun. There was also flushing toilets, showers, and a changing/getting ready area. The camping wasn't terrible, the weather was just not great for it, Steph and I should have brought a sleeping bag like Gabel and Alex did, and we had the misfortune of a broken front end of our tent. 

Sunday morning we woke up and commenced our extremely long travel day. We drove back from Munich to Zurich, got on a plane to Geneva, had a layover in Geneva, flew from Geneva to Heathrow, cabbed from London to Southampton. I got four hours sleep and then got up this morning to go and teach at Ryde. 

I'd love love love to go again next year. It's a must do for anyone travelling to Europe in September or October. Here's what I would do differently: 

- bring my own sleeping bags camping so that I would be warmer 

- travel differently: Alex did an amazing job driving and the traffic was not his fault. Nonetheless it was uncomfortable being squished in a car with so many giants. I also found I lost a lot of sightseeing time due to travelling. Next time I would fly into Munich directly and cab to the camp site. 

- stay longer: instead of only having one day at the beer halls, I'd want two

Other than that, the only thing I would want to be different would be the weather. It was cold and rainy the whole time but it would have been nice to have been able to take more pictures outside. But alas, a real traveller knows that you can't care about the weather. It will do what it wants, and so will we! 

People have asked me how the language barrier was and honestly it was not an issue. The campsite was run by English speaking people. Most of them were Australian or British honestly. 95% of the campers there spoke English as well. At Oktoberfest, we had Alex and Michael to help us order. If they hadn't been there, our bar maid would have understood basic things like beer and food. 

Overall, the best thing we've done so far! I love my travel companions and we had some amazing adventures! Prost! 

Here's the pictures:

 A beer hall 

 Beer hall 

 The beer hall we chose

 Breakfast

 An October hat! My favourite purchase

 The pool loungers we slept on 

 Amen to that

 The city of tents in the forest