London.

Sunday, I woke up around 5:45am to catch the tram at 6:45am to the train station. I only got 2 hours of actually sleep. I can't seem to sleep the night before traveling. I don't know why. Then, I had to catch the 7:30am bus to the Grenoble airport. I got to the airport around 8:30am, where I was told that my flight to Luton airport was canceled. Thanks, EasyJet. So, they put me on the next flight on, which was at 2:50pm to Gatwick airport. I said, okay. I'll keep myself busy for the next 7-so hours. Then, sometime later, I was told that my flight was delayed another hour due to snow. Fuck. I waited some more. I finally got onto the plane at 4:00pm. On EasyJet planes, they don't really provide you with anything. They really just provide you a seat from point A to point B. All food and drinks costed money. The plane ride took only about an hour and half. I got to London around 4:30pm, since it's an hour before France, but then had to take a bus to the train station, and then a train to central London. My cousins met me at the Victoria train stop. We went out to eat and for drinks. It was nice. I'm staying with my oldest cousin for the first couple of days. I was extremely exhausted from waiting all day. I passed out that night for 14 hours. Amazing. :)

I'm a little mad because I wasted 15 pounds on my train ticket from Luton airport to central London and I paid another 16 pounds for my train ticket from Gatwick airport to London. Damn.

Monday, I went to the National Museum. It was a 20 minute walk from my cousin's place. It was actually really cool, which a bunch of cool historical stuff, sculptures, etc. I spent most of my afternoon there. Then, at night, my two other cousins that live in London came over for dinner and we all hung out for a bit.

Today, I went shopping on Oxford Street to do some shopping. I got off at the Tottenham stop at around 2:00pm and got to the Oxford Circus stop at around 6:00pm. It took me about 4 hours to get through about a 20 minute walking section, but I was shopping and there were an outrageous amount of people. I bought some sweet stuff today. I tried to buy things that are only found in Britain, like Topman, Uniqlo, Petroleum, etc. I really like this sweet brand, Uniqlo. So clean, so simple. Also, it's not extremely expensive either. I got back to my cousin's flat. We don't have heat. The boiler is broken or something. It's pretty damn cold in here. I hope it gets fixed soon!

Tomorrow, I'm planning on checking out the other part of Oxford Street that I didn't make it to today. I have to be back to my cousin's flat at 2:00pm-ish, because we're leaving for Bradford tomorrow. Bradford is where my aunt and uncle live. I'll be there until the 29th. If I don't update for a while, it's because they do not have internet up there.

I hope everyone is having a great holiday!

Avoiding priorities.

So, I'm procrastinating packing. I have no idea why I do this every single time. I just need to throw some clothes into my suitcase. Simple. Then, why am I procrastinating?

Anyway, something that been bothering me a bit is that I really haven't talked to Anne in over a month. I don't know if she's just real busy, doesn't want to talk to me anymore, or anything in between. I use to talk to her like once a week during the first couple months, but these last weeks, no communication at all. I shouldn't really care. I shouldn't let it bother me.

London bound.

I'm leaving tomorrow for London. I have to wake up at like, 6:00am, take the tram to the train/bus station, get the bus at 7:30am, then wait for my flight at 10:30am. I arrive at Luton at about 12:30pm, and then I have to take a train to central London and arrive at about 1:30pm. I'm staying at my cousin's place. It should be nice. The 23rd, I leave for Bradford, where my aunt and uncle live. I'll be there for Christmas. I return to London on the 29th until the 3rd, when I return to Grenoble.

I don't know why but there's this uneasy feeling about leaving France. I can't seem to pinpoint why I'm feeling this way. It could be that I'm homesick and I'm not actually going home home for Christmas. It could be that I'm actually sad about leaving France, but I have no idea why. It could be that I'm going to miss the people that aren't coming back after break. I don't know, but it's a weird feeling.

It should be an interesting break. England, here I come!

I think I'm French now...

So, I had a big weekend. I went skiing for the 2nd time ever on Saturday. I took lessons again. I still go way too fast and need to work on my turning, but once I master the whole, turning thing, I'll be fine. I never knew that skiing is that hard on your body. Damn. Saturday night, my body was a mess.

Sunday, went to Lyon for the Fête des lumières. I was supposed to take the train with Anne and Carlos, but I woke up late. Eeeek. So, they left my ticket on top of an advertisement sign at the train station. The advertisement was kind of tall, so I had to jump up and down to find it. People at the train station were looking at me funny, but I found my ticket. I got lucky and met Miguel, Nathalie, Charlotte, and Elisabeth who were taking the next train too. Lyon is pretty cool. It's like an enlarged Grenoble with more things to see. The Fête des lumières was sweet. They put on light shows with music, using the cathedrals as a background. It was interesting. They also had fireworks, which was nice.

I had a great, but busy, weekend. :)

Thanksgiving (Frenchie style)

Sunday night, Anne and I organized a Thanksgiving dinner. We started cooking around 4:00pm. There were at least, 10 people there to help us out, by cutting vegetables, preparing items for dinner, etc. It was nice of them to help us out. I really needed help, as I was hung over from going out the night before and tired as hell from skiing. We finished at like 8:00pm. We had, a ton of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, green beans, and carrots. I made some sick stuffing that night. It was fucking delicious. It was though, kind of stressful, as we were expecting over 30 people to show up, but it was a lot of fun.

Before, I thought Thanksgiving wasn't going to be the same without my family, but these international students have pretty much become my family. We are a pretty tight knit group.

Dinner was a lot of fun. They had Anne and I give speeches. All I said for mine was, "Merci." I didn't know what to say at that moment. Damn, it's stressful. :)

After dinner, we had a rave dance party. This should be a traditional for future Thanksgivings. :P

Thanksgiving in France. Succès.