Apple crumble and scones
Hello again! Everything has suddenly changed, weatherwise - it's got all cold and windy and rainy, which truly signals that Autumn is finally here. I love the idea of Autumn, with the beautiful colours and crunchy leaves and misty mornings, but in reality it's mainly cold and wet. However, nothing can dampen my mood at the moment, because it's the holidays and everything is great!
Last Thursday I went to Leipzig to see Jack briefly, where we drank Gluehwein (me) and banana beer (him - not a wise choice) in a cafe overlooking the square before going back to his flat and cooking all the food I'd brought from Chemnitz that needed eating. This was followed by Jack walking me to the station so I could get my train to the airport! Leipzig airport is fairly small - I was the only person going through security, so it took roughly three seconds - and I saw several other ELAs who were getting the same flight as me, which was oddly comforting. There was a slight debacle at Stansted at the other end, involving firstly my father and I both waiting in Arrivals for about half an hour because our phones had hilariously failed to function, and then driving home only to find that all the roads were closed. However, that was I think the only low point of the few days in England.
On Friday I went to London to see Sharika, where she treated me to her favourite lunch of a pulled pork burrito from a stall on the South Bank. It was lovely, and she is one of the few people I am happy to eat a burrito in front of, due to their tendency to explode all over your face, lap and the ground. I almost managed to corrupt her to the point of missing her afternoon lectures to see me, but instead got my conscience in check and took the short trip to Goodge Street to see Becca, where she fed me tea and Kitkat before we got the train back to Bedford together. On Saturday we went to London again, this time to see the Gothic exhibition at the British Library. It was very reminiscent of A Level English Lit, as Abi and I confirmed when I met up with her for lunch in the Library cafe. Again, it was wonderful to see her! I also saw Eloise that morning for coffee, so all in all it was an incredibly productive couple of days in terms of seeing my favourite people.
In general, my time at home was spent mainly talking to my mother, cuddling the dog and taking him for walks, also with Jane, and consuming vast amounts of humous, pitta bread and tea. In the evenings, we watched various things, including Amelie and Kickass, and I also introduced Mutti to Orange is the New Black and Parks and Recreation, both of which I would recommend to everyone in the world because they are simply fantastic. We also played Careers, the board game which take ages but is worth it when you WIN (which I did, snatching victory from Julia in the last two minutes with some clever bargaining).
It was lovely having food provided for me as well - there's nothing quite like the comfort of knowing that even if you don't do anything to make it happen, food will appear at a mealtime and you can just eat it. We made apple crumble as a sort of practice-round for me so I can make it again in Germany for my teachers/flatmates, and we also made scones and lemon curd so we could have afternoon tea. It was absolutely delightful and very civilised! The food was, of course, not the most important part of my time at home, but it was wonderful nonetheless.
My journey back to Chemnitz was slightly eventful, with first my plane and the first train being delayed, and then my second train to Chemnitz itself being cancelled. Instead getting an hour-long train to Geithain and then waiting for an hour outdoors in the freezing wind and rain for the train to Chemnitz, which would last another hour, I decided to go against all the advice we've ever been given and get a lift with a strange man who said he lived in Chemnitz so could take me there. And it was fine! He turned out to be lovely and friendly and took me right to my door instead of dropping me at the station as he had said and leaving me to walk half an hour in the pouring rain.
After my relatively long and mildly stressful journey yesterday, today has been very lazy. Tomorrow I'm off to Vienna to visit Zeynep, and I can't wait!
Last Thursday I went to Leipzig to see Jack briefly, where we drank Gluehwein (me) and banana beer (him - not a wise choice) in a cafe overlooking the square before going back to his flat and cooking all the food I'd brought from Chemnitz that needed eating. This was followed by Jack walking me to the station so I could get my train to the airport! Leipzig airport is fairly small - I was the only person going through security, so it took roughly three seconds - and I saw several other ELAs who were getting the same flight as me, which was oddly comforting. There was a slight debacle at Stansted at the other end, involving firstly my father and I both waiting in Arrivals for about half an hour because our phones had hilariously failed to function, and then driving home only to find that all the roads were closed. However, that was I think the only low point of the few days in England.
On Friday I went to London to see Sharika, where she treated me to her favourite lunch of a pulled pork burrito from a stall on the South Bank. It was lovely, and she is one of the few people I am happy to eat a burrito in front of, due to their tendency to explode all over your face, lap and the ground. I almost managed to corrupt her to the point of missing her afternoon lectures to see me, but instead got my conscience in check and took the short trip to Goodge Street to see Becca, where she fed me tea and Kitkat before we got the train back to Bedford together. On Saturday we went to London again, this time to see the Gothic exhibition at the British Library. It was very reminiscent of A Level English Lit, as Abi and I confirmed when I met up with her for lunch in the Library cafe. Again, it was wonderful to see her! I also saw Eloise that morning for coffee, so all in all it was an incredibly productive couple of days in terms of seeing my favourite people.
In general, my time at home was spent mainly talking to my mother, cuddling the dog and taking him for walks, also with Jane, and consuming vast amounts of humous, pitta bread and tea. In the evenings, we watched various things, including Amelie and Kickass, and I also introduced Mutti to Orange is the New Black and Parks and Recreation, both of which I would recommend to everyone in the world because they are simply fantastic. We also played Careers, the board game which take ages but is worth it when you WIN (which I did, snatching victory from Julia in the last two minutes with some clever bargaining).
It was lovely having food provided for me as well - there's nothing quite like the comfort of knowing that even if you don't do anything to make it happen, food will appear at a mealtime and you can just eat it. We made apple crumble as a sort of practice-round for me so I can make it again in Germany for my teachers/flatmates, and we also made scones and lemon curd so we could have afternoon tea. It was absolutely delightful and very civilised! The food was, of course, not the most important part of my time at home, but it was wonderful nonetheless.
My journey back to Chemnitz was slightly eventful, with first my plane and the first train being delayed, and then my second train to Chemnitz itself being cancelled. Instead getting an hour-long train to Geithain and then waiting for an hour outdoors in the freezing wind and rain for the train to Chemnitz, which would last another hour, I decided to go against all the advice we've ever been given and get a lift with a strange man who said he lived in Chemnitz so could take me there. And it was fine! He turned out to be lovely and friendly and took me right to my door instead of dropping me at the station as he had said and leaving me to walk half an hour in the pouring rain.
After my relatively long and mildly stressful journey yesterday, today has been very lazy. Tomorrow I'm off to Vienna to visit Zeynep, and I can't wait!
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