Thanksgiving, Christmas markets, and Bournemouth

Hello guys! It has been a great couple of weeks since we last met on this blog. I am completely moved in to our new apartment. It is in Ocean Village which is a part of Southampton that is located by the marina. You can even see the sea from our balcony! :) It is lovely being settled in. It is about a 30 minute walk from the apartment to school so I need to leave plenty early for my classes. I walk everywhere here, so 2 miles or so to school does not really bother me. Hopefully I will take this habit back to the states with me.

 I decided that even though I could not be with my family in Sodak for Thanksgiving, Harvey and I would cook a huge dinner at our apartment. We invited Grace and James (you should know them by now!) and it was just the four of us. Even though many many people asked me, England does NOT celebrate Thanksgiving. I know. Its surprising. hehe.

We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cheesy beans, sweet potato casserole, corn, and even cherry pie! Everything turned out really well if I don't say so myself ;). It was delicious. I think Grace and James were particularly surprised by the sweet potato casserole and cheesy beans. Since apparently no one in their right mind makes pumpkin pie here since I looked EVERYWHERE and could not find canned pumpkin, we had cherry pie with ice cream for dessert. A very American feast with very English people.  It was lovely.

I decided to stay in England for Christmas instead of heading back to America. I will miss my family tremendously. Harvey and I also booked our flight to Abu Dhabi for New year. We will stay for about 10 days and try to make a trip to Dubai as well. There are only a few weeks of school left until Christmas break. I have a few tests and assignments but I am not overwhelmed.

Christmas Market

This past weekend Harvey and I walked into Southampton and visited the christmas market. The christmas market in Southampton consists of vendors up and down the streets. A lot of items sold are food. German sausages, sweets (candy), hog roasts, and more. Other vendors sell jewellry, hats and scarves, etc. There is also a large German beer garden in the middle of the vendors. Fun!

German Beer Garden





This past weekend, Harvey and I went to Bournemouth. Bournemouth is about 30 minutes away from Southampton by train, an hour by bus which is what Harvey and I took. Bournemouth is on the English Channel. The weather was really cold on the beach but it was beautiful. I couldn't believe it when I saw the surfers in the water. What were they thinking!! Bournemouth is also a big shopping area. We looked around for a few hours, went to an arcade an wasted a few quid, then headed home.