Christmas Time

Holy Moly, I really need to blog more often....okay, here's the big update. I have a new job working at an architecture firm called Heat Architects. They're based in Islington which is in Northeast London. It's a small firm but it seems very cool and laid-back. I start work on Thursday, which also happens to be the night of their christmas party, so I guess I'll get to know everyone pretty quickly! This last weekend was pretty eventful....on Saturday night my roommate Morgan and I helped out our friend Ruthie at a christmas party that her cousins were throwing at their flat. Morgan and Ruthie are both from South Carolina and Ruthie's two cousins both came to London on Bunac visas in the early 90's and never left. They have a lot of American friends here, though, and all night everyone kept saying, "well I declare, it's been ages since I've been in a room full of Southerners!"
Sunday morning began with an early morning jog through the streets of London since Morgan and I found ourselves late and the tube shut down. We were on our way to the International Student's House to go catch the bus to Leeds Castle. It was a trip organized by Bunac, basically two big tour buses and lots of Bunac kids doing the tourist thing for the day. Leeds was really pretty, but I was kind of disappointed when I went inside. The castle was built starting in 840, so it's really super old, but it was sold out of Royal hands around 1600 and since then has been a private residence. Apparently the owners along the way didn't care that they were living in a ridiculously historical building and have renovated the entire interior. Now for an interior design nerd like me it was kind of cool to see rooms that were designed by people I learned about in my history of design classes, it just seemed strange for a castle to feel so new. It's located in a beautiful countryside with sheep and black swans roaming about. There's also a maze on part of the grounds that we were lost in for probably far too longer than we should have.
After Leeds we went to Rochester, a small town east of London. The high street of Rochester is on the path that historically ran from London to Dover, out to sea. But the real claim to fame for Rochester is that it is the town that Charles Dickens set many of his stories. Great Expectations is the best-known example of this, and our tour guide pointed out several pubs and inns that are mentioned in the book and are still operating today. Every year Rochester hosts a Christmas festival, which we were able to enjoy this weekend. The town is really cute. It looks exactly like you would expect an English countryside village to look like with tudor buildings. thatched roofs, and cobble-stone streets. The people who live in Rochester dress up for the Christmas Festival in Dickensian dress, and not just a few people, but the entire town! I seriously felt like we had stepped out of 2005 and into "A Christmas Carol." It was really great, there were street performers singing carols, vendors roasting chestnuts, and mulled wine, and then the night finished with a parade. As cheesy as it sounds, this town was so genuine in their celebration that it was addicting to be around it. we were talking on the way home that you always see towns like that in movies but I never thought that there would actually be a place like that.

Pictures are: Morgan and I at Leeds Castle; G.P, Stephanie, Kate, Me and Morgan on the back side of the castle; and Kate, Trace, Morgan and I with some Dickensian folks.