Simply Skegness

This week I was recovering from a nasty cold. Hoping it goes away quick, but I think it is finally drawing to an end. So not much has happened other than work, coughing, class, coughing, working out and coughing and then a little bit of souvenir shopping with a side of coughing. These souvenirs? Of course they are not for me! They are for you guys, so get excited I have found some great stuff! To make up for the slow week I have some great stories and adventures from my weekend. I was away on my HOST visit in Skegness. Now to sort this out early on, the reason that I write it as HOST in all capitalized letters is because that is how the company that I went through does…I am not screaming at you guys so don’t get nervous! But the jist of it is that you sign up and fill out an application and then a family chooses to adopt (host) you for a weekend depending on if the schedules meet up or not. So I applied way back when in August and this is the only free weekend I had at the time, so this was the one that worked for my host family. Of course I had been anticipating this for quite some time. I have always wanted to be an exchange student so this was the closest thing that I could find, so I was all in!

Finally Friday morning came…very early Friday morning. I got up and hit the gym quickly for my workout and then it was shower and off to the train station for my commute out. Now this was the first thing I did wrong about the trip. I arrived to the station almost an hour early for my train to leave. Yeah you don’t need to do this. Rarely will your platform even be announced half an hour before let alone an hour. So I stood in front of the large board and stared at the orange letters and numbers hoping that my trip’s platform would hurry up and announce. The train was leaving at 10:08 on Friday morning, and when was the platform finally announced? Oh at about 09:58. So that is when I made my way over to platform 1 where I would board and ride. The ride was split up because I would have to get off and then board a second and smaller train to make my way to Skegness, since it is such a small area. The first ride was about an hour and fifteen minutes, but I snoozed for most of that…although there was a rather annoying bunch of business people by me who would not shut up. Now they weren’t your average business group…I think they might have been on their way to a video game convention or something, you get what I’m saying though, not the average group on business trip. I got off the train at a stop called Grantham where I literally walked to the other side of the track and boarded my next train a minute later that would be an hour and a half to Skegness. My host family was there waiting on me bright eyed and smiley when I got off the train, and this is where my weekend began.

Tony and Sue is the couple who I stayed with in Skegness…a town on the east coast of England (3 hours from London). They have a dog Ace and a black cat named Snowy (clever I know). They also have Sue’s mother, June, living with them in her own part of the home on the side. Their daughter, Amber is married to Anthony and they have a five-year-old named Isaac. Tony and Sue also have a son named John and he lives not too far away with his girlfriend Toni. Another fun fact about the family? THEY HAVE A SNAKE! Yes. When I first arrived and settled my things, I walked into the kitchen and Tony said “do you want to see a snake?” I immediately froze in my tracks, wide-eyed and thought he can NOT be serious. If you know me then you know my fear of snakes at the zoo or in the woods, yeah try staying in the same house as one!! I swallowed my fear though and said “Oh…um..sure!” I looked at the snake and that was it…well I mean I kept my eye on it for most of the weekend as it’s cage is in the family room where we watched TV and ate…so there is that! But what did we do this weekend other than share great stories, eat amazing food and site see around the small towns on the east coast? LOTS!

After we settled and I had some crackers with cheese, Tony and Sue took me on a nice walk around their home area and parts of Skegness. They actually live about 8 miles outside of Skegness but it is beautiful where they live. I bundled up and borrowed a pair of their Wellies (rainboots, but way cooler) for this rather muddy walk. By the way, need ideas for gift giving this year? Wellies are WAY COOL! I wore Toni’s pair which feet me perfectly and they were a hunter-ish green color, gosh I loved them! So we took their lab, Ace, on the walk with us and we walked and walked and talked and of course did some ice breaking along the way. Something else that is so amazing about the life here…the dogs just wander with their owners and are so well behaved they don’t even wear leashes! It just amazes me how great they are around people and other animals. After our long walk Tony took me out to his shed to show me his new (old) car that he is renovating and then we played some nice table tennis for a bit. We watched some Rugby on the Tele (TV) and then headed to town for some walking and food. Since Skegness is on the coast it is a shore-side town with a lovely beach. Tony and Sue took me walking along the beach (even though it was freezing outside) and we saw some of the Christmas lights which are already put up in town. We then headed out to a neighboring town for proper Fish and Chips served in PAPER!! FINALLY. I have been waiting my whole time here to eat fish out of paper and it happened there in that town and in the back of their car I nibbled away on this great dinner. After that we drove back to the house to watch a benefit show and enjoy some Gin and Tonics to drink with some peanuts. Then off to bed it was for me as we were having an early start in the morning.

Gosh you are all probably thinking that I am just rambling about each and everything we did but it was so lovely to experience this. I felt like I was just traveling around for a weekend with two family members, I felt so at home and this was great for me! Some “family time” was much needed. Anyways, day 2…well day number two (Saturday) was a lot and so much fun at the same time. We got up at a decent time to head out to Lincoln which was about an hour drive. Now I forgot to mention earlier in my blog that this trip was my first experience in a car in England. Okay just in case some of you are living under a rock, they drive on the wrong side of the car AND road here. Frightening is the right word I believe, especially on the windy back roads which I am still convinced that two cars WILL NOT fit on at the same time. So off we went to see the Lincoln Cathedral and walk around a bit. This Cathedral was FULL of stained glass windows and beautiful architecture…the pillars and carvings were just breath taking. We spent about an hour and a half walking around before our stomachs were screaming at us. Then we wandered to the market where we sat in a Tea Shop and had tea with scones and clotted cream…TO DIE FOR. I can’t even try to explain clotted cream because words can’t do it justice, you just have to try it!! We grabbed a brownie from  the sweet stand and then were back on the road to Skegness. We got a call that Isaac (their grandson) needed to be picked up from Rugby practice and taken to swimming lessons. Yes you did read earlier that this child is only five but he is the most sophisticated five-year-old I have ever met…Rugby, swimming, horse riding, speaking in French, he literally does it all, and he has mastered the English language better than I have! So we got back to the home just in time for Tony and I to throw our Wellies on again and head out to do some beating. What’s beating? Well dad you and Anthony would be so proud of me. Beating is not what you think. Or not what I thought of anyways. We rummaged through the woods making all kinds of noise and scaring the pheasant up so that the men in the field could shoot them. Yes! I participated in a form of hunting. Gosh the things you will try in England. After the adventure was over we got back into the car, grabbed Isaac and off we went to swimming. Sue lent me one of her swim suits and we swam while Isaac got his lesson. This child is already doing the back stroke while I just sink in the water. We spent quite some time in the water after Isaac’s lesson just playing around before we dropped him at home and got back to a wonderful chicken stew that Sue had prepared. Gosh it was just so decadent and delicious…potatoes, celery and carrots with large chunks of chicken and an amazingly salty broth, and a large side dinner roll for dipping. I was stuffed! After dinner Tony and Sue put on some different Rugby matches and they explained the rules rather well…Tony played Rugby his whole life and actually was still playing for a club at age 50, so they are experienced! I am no expert but I do have a better understanding of the game. But all this game watching and driving and swimming wore me down so at about 10:00 I gave in and hit the bed for a rest before another early morning of church.

Sunday morning was quite early as we headed to church at 7:45. Before the service began I had the honor of ringing the bell, which I might add is a much more difficult duty than it appears to be. I got quite the arm workout in, at church too! The church in Skegness was jam packed with me making it a total of seven guests. Although this may sound comical, it was a great service and had a lovely message. After a half hour in town we went back to the home for a large porridge breakfast…wow was it great! Have I mentioned the food was to die for? Oh it was!! Tony and I then headed out for some baseball in the yard. I mentioned to him several times that I did not hit but I don’t think he got the point until I whiffed the first three. After that though? I was smashing the ball. Gosh coach would have been so proud of me…I just won’t tell him that it was a child’s bat and a tennis ball. I am a hitter now! Then it was off to the beach to see the motocross races on the sand. There were tons of hills and dips in the sand that these racers had to race through…let’s just say that many of the men took a few minutes to just get past the first hill. My weekend ended with a large, traditional, English dinner consisting of meat, potatoes and vegetables, Yorkshire pudding and gravy. Gosh it all just melted in my mouth. And to top it off we finished with apple crumble and custard. Yes I am still drooling, are you yet? Let’s just say I slept soundly on the train ride back to London Sunday night.

So what can top my lovely weekend away with a nice family? Ummmmm…maybe a weekend with my real family beginning THIS SATURDAY!! They arrive Saturday at noon. Can you tell that the countdown is on? Well it is! There will be plenty of stories to come once mom, dad and Bailey arrive in London! For now I am off to wish my father a very Happy Happy Birthday! Yes, we will be skyping soon. But until then another special birthday shout-out goes to my big, fat, mean, ugly, bird head (uh-huh) dad!...don't worry I'm not being mean that is what he calls himself. :) Okay love you dad and everyone else who is reading out there!

Good night from London. 

Mind that Gap!

The Site-Seeing Softball Player

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Well it seems like forever since I blogged...maybe because it has been? But I have had what seems like a very hectic week here in London. There has been so much to do and I am starting to feel like so little time. So what do I do? Run around like a chicken with my head cut off! Anyways...the week began with my internship as usual, Monday and Tuesday. This week was a bit unique because Sarah, my boss, was out on holiday in Berlin. Of course when she told me of her plans to Berlin all I could think? YES, I'll get the week off! Well welcome to reality Mallory. Just because your boss goes on holiday does not mean that you get holiday as well. Oh and just a fun fact for all of you out there...when I say holiday I am referring to what we Americans call vacation. Here in the UK they call it holiday, so sophisticated I know. Which also reminds me...you know the movie The Holiday? The one with Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Jack Black, Kate Winslet...ringing a bell? Okay well part of this movie takes place in London right? Yes! And you know the real reason for the movie title? Yep. Now you're on my flow. She goes on holiday for the holidays. So this makes everyone happy...the Americans think that she is celebrating for holidays and the Brits know that she is on holiday. Gosh isn't it great to finally understand English in a whole new way? Well it is for me and I am slowly helping you to as well. But back to the week I had. So I went in on Monday and Tuesday and worked for George, the girl who sits across from me, gathering materials for some sessions she had planned later on in the week. It was pretty smooth without Sarah, except when I broke the binding machine and then fixed it again oh and ran the printer out of paper a solid eight times because of all the printing I had to do, but like I said...rather good two days at DBA.

After the two day work week we decided to go out and celebrate one of London's unique holidays...Guy Fawkes Night. This took place on Tuesday night and was a giant firework show, unlike any that I have experienced in the states. The reason for this light filled holiday? Well it happens every single Novermber 5th and a fun reason to remember this day? There is a little saying the Brits use..."Remember, remember the 5th of November." This day/night commemorates a man named Guy Fawkes and his attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament, but why would they celebrate this? Great Britain celebrates his failed attempt to do so and the thanksgiving of this. The fireworks were in a huge park called Brockwell Park and it was like any ordinary fair but times a million! There were food, drinks, rides, everywhere! Even a lady throwing fire! And the fireworks? Put the 4th of July to shame. They had the themes of seasons and matched the music to the fireworks, so sophisticated and super pretty.

Wednesday and Thursday were like any other normal day...but Friday was quite exciting. We had another day trip with the program planned. This time we ventured to Greenwich for the day. Now just a side note about this place...although many would think this place is pronounced Green-which it is not at all what it looks like. Here they call it Gren-itch. Super confusing I know. But off to Greenwich we were for the day. In order to get there we took a nice ferry boat along the Thames River which was beautiful. Another word that they try to trick us with over here. The Thames Rive is actually pronounced Tames rather than Th-ames, tricksters with their words though. So we got a nice tour along the water with a rather hilarious tour guide, cracking jokes left and right he was, we even got some nice rain for the day. Yes, every single time we take a day trip with the program we get rained on, its lovely. But while in Greenwich I got to stand on two different sides of the Meridian at once which was awesome...I didn't really feel any different but it was still pretty darn cool so there was that. We toured the museum and then headed out for some leaf playing. Yes, we threw around, jumped in and tossed many leaves because why? IT'S FALL! Who doesn't do this in the fall because if you said yourself you are lying! After we worked up an appetite leaf throwing we made our way to the Cafe Sol for some Mexican food and a birthday celebration. Emily Moore, one of the girls in my program, was celebrating her 20th birthday and we did it Mexican style. It was fun and the food was delicious. After this we stopped into a museum and then a market for some browsing. We took the DLR line back, which supposedly is the only tube line ran by mechanics alone rather than a driver, but I totally saw a dude running it so that is a lie! And then back to Woburn Place we were for some relaxation, Grey's Anatomy catch up and Twilight marathon, just to prepare for Emily's real birthday party that night.

Saturday? Oh Saturday! I loved Saturday! We headed down to Regent's Street where we prepared ourselves for the Christmas lighting of the street. This was great. We got down there early enough to join in all the celebrations and made our way awfully close to the stage. Who did this stage hold? Well folks I was among many who got to see the reuniting of two of THE Spice Girls...yes Baby and Sporty Spice performed a nice song for us to start the night off right, and then headed out because Sporty needed to run to Germany (no big deal). We saw a few other smaller bands perform and then to finish the night, Leona Lewis sang a few songs that melted the crowd's heart to say the least. But Leona Lewis was the least of my concerns...yep someone better was there! Someone who can make you laugh on your worst days. A man that I just began my relationship with two short years ago. A guy who everyone hopes their husband turns out like. Yes ladies and gentlemen you guessed right....PHIL DUNPHY FROM MODERN FAMILY. Yep. Ty Burrell himself was here in London to flip the switch for the lighting of Regent Street. You know that annoying girl jumping up and down about 20 rows from the stage screaming "I LOVE YOU PHIL DUNPHY"? Yes you bet that was me!! ha So I took some pictures of Phil and then saw the beautiful lights appear after a false alarm by the crew...I think it was planned. There were fireworks and mad dashes of people everywhere but gosh you guys...It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here!!! Especially due to their lack of Thanksgiving here, gosh the stores are filled with Christmas and everyone is so cheerful. But anyways...I could talk about Christmas for hours on here so not to bore you!

Things are really flying by here...the weeks are dwindling away and things are picking up in pace to the extreme. I love living here and can't think about my time ending, but that is good because I still have so much to do. Gosh I have my HOST visit, and then get to host my family for their visit, and then Ireland and I think a last minute trip to see Shan in Wales...so much to do in so little time! As for now? Getting rid of this nasty cold I have, lets just hope the medicine I got is really non-drowsy like it said or I am out of luck here!

Love you all tons and miss your beautiful faces!
The Site-Seeing Softball Player

P.S. sorry for the lack of pictures...for some reason my blog is being stubborn and won't let me upload any for the time being, I'm working on it though.

Very Venezia!

Friday morning came...way too quickly...and we were back to the train station and off to Venice! This trip was already more exciting (on the train) because we would be traveling from Florence to Venice, but not just to Venice itself but the island of Venice! So halfway through the trip we began to be surrounded by water...it was beautiful! On the train? I was sitting with a very nice Italian family that consisted of a husband, wife and grandma. Well I think they were nice, but they kept trying to speak to me in Italian...yeah didn't work! A few Italian conversations later and we were in Venice, well at the train station! From there? Off to find the hotel we were staying in for the night. Yes mom and dad you read that right! We got a HOTEL for Venice, not a HOSTEL. Woooo-Hoooo! (so we thought) We get to this "hotel" and the man at the counter was quite grumpy, but we dealt with it because WE WERE ON AN ISLAND! Checked in, dropped our backpacks and straight to the food! Gosh how could we not eat right when we arrived? Our bodies were already so used to the amazing food that we just naturally flocked to it in Venice....and the gelato, oh the gelato! Goodness you guys! I don't know how I will ever eat another piece of pizza or another thing of ice cream again. So maybe the over-consumption of gelato that week did end up having a positive benefit? I will forever be unhappy with the ice cream in America...NOT. (unrealistic). Anyways, we got really lost in all of the canals within Venice, like HOLY CANALS! They were EVERYWHERE! Pictures of each one? Of course! And then we found more....walking around among water all over the place, it was perfection! Later on in the night we found a rather fancy restaurant for our last night of dinner in Italy (tear). They began our meal with a free "orange drink," that we believe was a sangria of some sort but it was very alcoholic to say the least. But they didn't tell us about this before we ordered a bottle of wine...so yep we were a smidge "polluted" as grandma would say! But the food did help this. Lexi and Phipps spotted their dream man while we were having dinner so there was that and then we were off to the hotel, but not before a late night serving of gelato! Our last day in Italy was spent walking around, being tired, stuffing our faces with more food and gelato, and of course getting lost! We made it to the shuttle which took us to the airport where we sat for four hours waiting on our flight back to reality (London). Italy was dreamy, beautiful, full of great food and somewhere I want to go back to for sure! If any of you have the chance to visit the land of the Italians...DO IT!

As for now? Well last week was the craziest week I have had since I arrived. Phipps was still here until Wednesday so we had three people living in a room that is maybe big enough for one. Also? The largest paper I have had was due. Want to know why this was so stressful? Because it was the only paper we have had! haha worth half of the grade in the class. Then we had Halloween to prepare for...a ZOMBIE PUB CRAWL! It was so fun and super exciting...lots of blood and paint everywhere and of course free drinks! Yesterday we checked out the second largest mall in the UK. Originally this was the largest mall, built specifically for the Olympics but France had to go and ruin that one! After shopping? Relaxation and movie time! Today? Another paper, grocery shopping and some lovely catch and throwing at the park...we will have to bundle up because its getting really Iowa-like (weather) here! Hope all is going well with everyone back home or wherever you are reading this from. I'll try to get the pictures back up and running soon, but until then just check my Facebook page...unless you are Kelsey and then in that case just paint the pictures in your head my love!! Miss you all but the time is drawing close to an end so not too much! :)

Mind the Gap, Keep Calm and Carry On, Cheers!!
The Site-Seeing Softball Player

Forever in Florence.

So my days of Rome came and went quickly, but boy did I not even have a clue what was waiting for me in Florence?! We left Rome early on that Thursday morning to catch our train to Florence. So we got there and off we went, just site seeing through Italy like professional travelers...but on a train! The whole time all I kept thinking was "I am in ITALY training through just on an average Thursday!" Gosh I love trains...and Italy! So we were on the train for about an hour and a half when we arrived in Florence. We took the ten minute walk to our hostel where I was blown off my feet. Okay I was blown off my feet for more than one reason...number one was that our hostel had really fancy gated doors (but it wasn't fancy), number two we climbed three flights of stairs to get to the hostel (not easy!) and number three: this was THE MOST ADORABLE thing I had ever seen in my life...besides my grandma! Yes, this was like hostel and a really nice perfect cottage had a baby, that was where we were staying! The room was so cute and cuddly with three twin beds in a row by each other and gosh I was in love! Almost to the point of not wanting to even leave the hostel...extreme I know but that was how gosh darn fantastic this hostel was! And the view from our hostel? Goodness it was to die for! But once I got over this hostel and its perfection (or tried to) we decided to venture out and explore Florence since we were only there for the day. How did we begin our day? MARKET SHOPPING!...well after we had gelato of course! The markets were so great, and so many of them with the best souvenirs you could find, most of you will be seeing that sooner than later! So we walked up and down and up and down and then up again for shopping, shopping and more shopping...ate some lunch and were off to see the famous David. We entered the Accademia di Belle Arti Firenze, went through the metal scanner thingy and then onto see this hunk of a man. The best part about seeing David? There weren't any falsely advertised signs like the Sistine Chapel, better yet there weren't any signs at all. So yes we were just walking along in the museum and BAM there he was! Standing there...well posing there for us just waiting for us to come and see him. The worst part? He was screaming TAKE MY PICTURE which wouldn't be awful if there wasn't a huge sign reading..."Picture taking is FORBIDDEN!" So what did we do? TRY TO TAKE A PICTURE! So we schemed a plot to get this oh so forbidden picture of this large naked man...yeah not sure why we wanted it but we did. We ventured around to the back side of Davey boy  and sat down to "take it all in." Now I should clarify that when I say "we" I mean Lexi and I because Phipps wanted nothing to do with this forbidden picture, she was not being part of this plan. So we are sitting there and I am feeling pretty darn courageous when the body guard just keeps eyeing me left and right, I got pretty panicked and decided to hand the camera off to Lexi to do the dirty work while I was on look out. She perched the camera behind her wallet and had it at the right angle and everything, went to take the picture and then it happened. I accidentally left the flash on and we were goners...so we thought! Lexi threw the camera in my lap and sprinted away leaving me there blinded by the light. So I played it off cool and kept staring at this giant figures butt, seemed right at the time? haha Well yes guys we freaked for no reason, nobody saw the flash and we were left with a well captured picture of David....FROM THE WAIST DOWN! Yep. She didn't even look to see if she got him, just went snapping away. It makes for a good story right? Just not the best evidence that we were there...but that's what Google images are for! After this adrenaline rush we exited the gallery as Phipps was shunning us the whole time saying she was highly disappointed in us...mainly because we didn't get the whole body shot! Off we went to explore more beautiful buildings and venture our way to THE food heaven. We ate at a restaurant that was suggested by a friend of Lexi's and gosh it was the best suggestion I have ever had...I could eat there every single day! And that my folks is when I discovered my new favorite food...gnocchi. AHHHHH. If you haven't had it go running to the nearest old Italian woman and beg her to make it for you. The noodles are made out of potatoes and it has the richest and creamiest cheese sauce on top that is topped with a crunch. AMAZING! What did we do after this forced food coma? Well we decided to check out this "super fun" club-ish bar thing that someone who stayed in the hostel before said was their favorite part of Florence...plus the flyer said that international students get a free glass of champagne....I'M IN. We get there and yep. We were the only three people in there for the whole time we stayed. Oops! Oh well, free drink and then off to bed for the next adventure! So it might not have sounded super eventful but if I could re-do any trip it would be Florence in a heart beat! I fell in love and want to return soon someday. The food was to die for and the people were great...even the creepily straight forward Italian men making inappropriate comments. Sorry the blog doesn't contain pictures of the trip...apparently Google Blogs doesn't want me to rub it in too bad because it wont allow me to upload this time! Stay tuned for Venice! Love you all and can't wait to keep sharing my stories with you. Cheers!

The Site- Seeing Softball Player