Christmas, and beyond....

Merry Christmas everyone! I'm sorry I've been really bad about blogging lately, so hold on tight, because here is the huge update.
Christmas in London was fun, though I must admit I was kind of killing time until Ross arrived on Boxing Day. Public transportation in London is shut down on Christmas day, so I went over to a flat where some other Bunac girls live on Christmas Eve, and we had big slumber party for a couple nights. There were about nine of us who were braving our first holiday away from home. We went to St. Paul's Cathedral for midnight mass on Christmas Eve, which was amazing. The setting was beautiful, and was an incredible experience. At the end of the service they opened the huge doors at the end of the cathedral and the London fog kind of drifted in with the moonlight. Christmas Day was spent at the International Student's House where they put on a lunch and afternoon festivities. We had a three course meal, watched the Queen's address to the nation on tv, took a walk through Regent's Park, and then afternoon tea and cakes. It wasn't quite the same as being at home, but I survived with no problem.
Boxing Day brought my real Christmas present when I looked out my window and saw Ross walking down my street. Unfortunately he missed my flat and I had to run after him, chasing him down the street. It made for quite the Hollywood moment though, so I didn't mind. We spent two days here in London, but the city was still pretty shut down because of Christmas, so there wasn't much that we could do. I did wake up to snow one morning, which was an amazing surprise in this snowless land! Ross was less than impressed, considering he had just left Colorado. It didn't take him long to become a Londoner, especially once he bought a wool coat and I did a little work with my scissors on that mop of hair!

On Wednesday we headed out to the country on a little jaunt around England and South Wales. Our first stop was Salisbury where we saw the Salisbury Cathedral, the biggest church spire in England. On Thursday we went to Stonehenge, which was very exciting for both of us since we've learned so much about it in all of our art history classes. The problem is, we're both really cheap, and the view of Stonehenge was just as good from behind the fence as it is inside the fence, so we kind of just huddled outside the barrier and took pictures from there. It was pretty humorous actually. Stonehenge is located out in the middle of nowhere in the cold English countryside, and after 30 minutes we were frozen to the bone and were ready to leave. That afternoon we made our way to Bath. Bath is known for its Roman Baths, built on the only working hot springs in England. The town is very European feeling, it has a fun Italian vibe, which is unusual for the typical half-timber English towns. On Friday we headed to Cardiff, Wales. Cardiff is a city just across the bay from England, and the capital of Wales. Ross and I loved Cardiff. The people were really friendly, and many still speak Welsh with each other. There is a really fun port and a cute main street. It had a bit of San Francisco feel. We loved it so much, in fact, that we thought about just packing up and moving there, but there are no design jobs....so after a night in Cardiff we made our way back to London.

For New Year's Eve, we went down to the River Thames and gathered with the rest of London to watch the fireworks display over the river. The tube was supposedly running all night and free, but because of a worker's strike, about half of the stations were shut down, thus requiring about an hour walk down the river in the middle of the night.
It's back to work for me tomorrow, and Ross has to get serious about settling in here now....finding a flat and job, you know, just a few little tasks. I hope that updates everyone on my life a little bit. I miss you all and hope you enjoyed your holidays!