2015

Hi Allison,

It's January 4th now. If I don't write these down now, I probably never will. I've just accepted that this space is probably just something for the two of us now, but that's cool. Just another medium for us to express our obsessions with life and Jesus and hot dogs and each other and friendship.

So here are my resolutions, goals, ambitions, etc. whatever we'd like to call them, for 2015. 2014 was honestly the most amazing year of my life for so many reasons, but I want 2015 to be the year when I'm really intentional with becoming a better person and to continue pushing my life in the way I'd like it to go.

Let's get into it, shall we?

Be healthier. Obviously. Is it even a new year if you don't make a goal to at least be a little bit healthier? Now I'm not trying to set any drastic goals like run an Iron Man (let's not even talk about how patriarchal that is) or lose 500 lbs. or anything. I'm just talking about working to make small changes that help me to live a healthier lifestyle. (I want to punch myself in the face for saying "healthier lifestyle" probably just as much as you do right now. Sorry.) Whether that means going on walks more or actually eating a salad once in a while or getting back into running, I just want to be able to look back at myself at the end of this year and say, "Yeah, I'm for sure moving in the right direction on this whole health thing." Because I want to be able to explore the world and have dance parties forever, so if not now, when? This is my prime. I should act like it.

Be present. This really comes from a mindset of me thinking that I want to be more of who I was when I was abroad. When I studied abroad, I told myself, "Say yes to everything. Take advantage of everything. You'll never have an opportunity like this again." And those are all true things. Life was amazing because I was so thirsty for adventure and wanted to be fearless and just absorb everything. But isn't that true about life in general? We should be saying yes to everything. Taking advantage of everything. We'll never have another opportunity to be young, be in college, have this time to explore, etc. so we should take every day as if we're determined to squeeze as much out of it as possible. Why is it that when I was in London I'd feel guilty if I slept too long and I never wanted to spend too much time on Netflix because I just wanted to live this life, but when I'm in America I'm 100% fine with sleeping my weekend away? I just want to have the same adventurous spirit and hunger for life that I did then.

Appreciate things. This ties into the whole "being present" thing. Whether it's being more appreciative of the people around me or being more mindful of having a grateful spirit to start each day, I don't want to take anything for granted this year or ever again. I want to be intentional when it comes to seeking the positive things out of every situation and appreciating things for exactly how much joy they bring me.

Be more creative. I want to read more, do more, cook more, explore more, create more things. I want to try new things and really explore my creative side. This kind of goes hand in hand with two other resolutions that I have. One being to stop being such a mindless, technology obsessed potato. Less Netflix. Less computer. Less social media and texting. More conversations and reading and becoming a better member of society. Second one being use my time better. I want to stop wasting time on mindless things and use time to my advantage to grow as a person.

Make this year about Jesus. I want to fall more in love with Jesus every day. When I'm abroad, when I'm traveling, I always see God in everything. I'm constantly feeling overwhelmed by His beauty and His love for us. Somehow, that seems to slip my mind more often when I get into a gross routine of school and work and being exhausted and homework and whatever. I want to make Jesus the priority again. I want to be constantly caught up in wonder at who He is and the fact that He chose to love me. I want to daily sit at His feet and be constantly seeking His plan for my life instead of my own. I want to hold His hand as I walk through this life and learn everything about Him and this world that He has to teach me. This is the year for #RachelAndJesus (which btw will always come before #RachelAndNiall).

Document things more. I want to write more things now and be more conscious of memories. Sometimes it saddens me when I think about all the good things that happened in 2014 that I didn't write about. Nothing makes me happier than reflecting back upon little moments that brought me joy and what I wrote immediately after I felt them or looking back and seeing a small thing that I was thankful for seven years ago and immediately being reminded of happy memories or finding a little polaroid or a note in an old purse and just being overwhelmed with joy. I want to document this amazing life I'm living. And not just on Instagram.

C'mon 2015, let's do this.

SEEING ONE DIRECTION

I know, I know, this is so late and I'm horrible at blogging. Let's all recognise that and move past it onto bigger and more important issues (One Direction).
Pretty much the only thing that matters from the two weeks before Katie was here was the Brit Awards red carpet, and I know that this is the post that everyone (Abby Head, mainly) has been waiting for. I'm writing about my entire experience here and making this a separate post so that people who don't care (probably everyone) don't have to read it unless they want to. If for some reason (I can't think of any) you're reading this and you don't know about my obsession with One Direction, my inner stalker, and the fact that I'm engaged to be married to the one and only Niall Horan, you might have a little catching up to do. Do your research, and come back when you've gotten your mind right.
So February 19th was the day. The Brit Awards 2014. There was a red carpet (obviously) because that's what they do at these things. Alex and I had been talking about attending the Brits basically from the moment we first made eye contact, and we unfortunately missed the ticket sales so we couldn't actually go. Silver lining: the red carpet was still happening and One Direction was confirmed to be attending the Brits. There was no question that we would be there as close as possible to get pictures and see famous people and maybe get breathed on by Beyoncé or something.
So at two in the afternoon we started getting ready for our (kind of) red carpet debut and then set out soon after. I had red lipstick on (duh) and only one hand of nails painted, so I was just as put together as always. It was quite a trek to the dear O2 Arena, but we made it and were only mildly freezing. I wore my beloved cosy tights, so I was fine. We got to the red carpet line around 3:30 (FYI I'm using my message history with Gaylard as my time table for this night, so if the times are super specific that's why) because we are the definition of eager, but a few hundred people beat us there so I didn't feel like too much of a fan girl. We could see the red carpet and all the entrances to the venue, but the section right next to the carpet was gated off and the guards told us that there was a "one out, one in" policy, which meant that we couldn't get in until the number of people in front of us in line had left. I'm gonna be honest, for a while there, it was bleak. I saw sleeping bags and camp sites. These girls had been there for days. What were the chances that enough people for me to get in were gonna leave in time? I've never been more stressed.
After much waiting and getting blown around and screaming for something called Rizzle Kicks (later found out was a pop/rap duo, so I understand), we finally got let into the gated area (at 5:59 p.m. to be exact). Glory. I found my spot. There were two red carpets: a long one where we were all standing and a shorter one where the paparazzi were that you had to have tickets to stand in. From where I was standing, I could see the entirety of our carpet, as well as where people were getting out of cars, and the stage where they were getting interviewed on the VIP carpet. I was in the prime spot. I learned quickly that since this was an awards show for British musicians, I literally knew no one (besides Rita Ora and Jessie J). The girl next to me had to keep explaining the relevance of each person who walked in. I was too excited and I kept thinking everyone was famous. I thought six different camera guys were David Beckham and some random skinny girl with short hair walked down the carpet and I whispered, "Kiera Knightley" to myself (just as weird as it sounds) and earned myself some glares from the British girls around me. It was clear I belonged there (*sarcasm font*). However, the entire time we were there, no celebrities (besides Rizzle Kicks, whoever they are) came over to the carpet we were on. More stress.
The show started at 8, so at about 7:20, I put my heels on because it was game time. All the too-cool-to-show-up-too-early people were gonna get there soon. Still no luck. No one was coming over to where we were and I was giving up on the idea of seeing anybody that I had ever heard of. Daft Punk walked by us at one point, but who even knows what they're about? If I can't see your face you are not important to me, so. Finally, a guy walked down our carpet with a bunch of security guards and I recognised him, but I just could not remember of who he was. I was just thinking to myself, "Where have I seen him before!?" and then it hit me. He was one of One Direction's security guards (before you yell at me for being so incredibly creepy, he had quite a large cameo in their movie which I have seen approximately ten thousand times, so leave me alone) and when I realised it I got weak in the knees. A murmur of recognition swept through the crowd because everyone knew. They were coming.
(I actually feel like I'm narrating a war or something right now, but whatevs).
Since I could slightly see where the cars were pulling up (it was literally a kindergarten drop off line) at the start of the red carpet, I could see what kind of cars were arriving and every time there was a van, people would scream and then realise it wasn't One Direction and then sigh in disappointment (actually hilarious). I figured I would just wait because I could judge by the screams whether or not they were there.
Finally, I saw a van pull up and then something was different. I heard a lone scream. It didn't stop. It was happening. I saw the boys get out of the car and Niall did a lil' hop on his crutches because he's the cutest thing on the face of the planet, so is there any other way for him to get out of the car? Absolutely not. Now that they were there, it was the dilemma of whether they were going to come down and say hi to fans or go straight into the awards show. I couldn't see them after they got out of the car, but I could tell by the screams that they were working their way down our red carpet.
I made about fifteen five-second videos of the red carpet just anticipating their arrival hoping I wouldn't miss anything, but that didn't prove to be a very effective method. So I said to myself, "I'll just wait until I see them to start the video." So I stopped the video, and then looked down the carpet and who do I see with my own two eyes? Zayn "Perfect" Malik. About five feet away from me. Taking selfies. Gracing peasants with the presence of his eyelashes and flawless bone structure. I then proceeded to take the worst video in the history of the world that ended up being in slow motion and it literally looks like I threw my phone up in the air. Then I regained consciousness and who do I see walking towards me? Harry *expletive* Styles. His hair looked clean which was an actual miracle and he was doing something silly like looking for a pen. What a cupcake. If I would've reached out my hand (and crushed the girl in front of me into oblivion) I could've caressed his face. What a lost opportunity. Whatever.

This picture does him literally no justice.

I managed to capture him approaching me in a horrible slow motion video (which you can watch here) before he walked away to find something to write with. I followed him with my eyes and who did he walk up to but my future husband Niall James Horan. In the flesh. At that point, I'm 99% sure I blacked out because I got no pictures of anything because I saw his actual face with my own eyes and entered a state of pure euphoria. His quiff was perfect. His smile was perfect. His face was perfect. His lil' crutches were perfect. The fact that he was ten feet away from me was perfect. I could've cried or screamed or passed out (but I didn't, and that in itself is a miracle). I then noticed that Liam and Louis were there too. Obviously perfect as usual. Harry was the only one who came down in front of where I was, and because they showed up like fifteen minutes before the show started, they didn't have much time before they had to go and get interviewed and find their seats and whatever famous people do at award shows.
Luckily, from where I was standing I could see them get interviewed and talk to two little boys (no idea who they were, but they were living the life I want because they would just chill and do cartwheels until famous people showed up and then they'd high five them so that's the actual dream). I was doing so well at holding myself together like a composed, strong woman, until they walked inside. Niall was the last one to go inside and he turned around and someone on the red carpet said something to him to which he threw back his head and laughed (in the flawless way that only he can) and I just screamed because I couldn't contain my emotions about the fact that I was seeing this happen with my own eyes in real life and it wasn't a dream or a YouTube video.
After they went inside, everyone who was standing at the red carpet left, which was hilarious because everyone around me was saying, "Oh, we're not just here for 1D, we want to see everyone." Yeah, okay, you're all a bunch of liars, so bye.
I really couldn't breathe afterwards and the awards were starting, so we took a picture with the sign and then left because I had to FaceTime G and J Baby and Gaylard and people to scream about this with. I (obviously) got McDonald's on the way home, because what else am I supposed to do after seeing my future husband in real life for the first time? Also I've fallen even more in love with One Direction because they were the only celebrities sweet enough (my babies) to come say hello to their fans who had been there for actually days rather than just going straight to the VIP carpet and inside. But I also wanted to cry for them and hug them and ask them questions about their lives, so I just have a lot of feelings about these few hours.

 The O2 is a cool place and I looked hot, so here, have some pictures.

I've included an HD photo so that you can see what I was dealing with and be really proud of me for not passing out after seeing these angels (are you joking with that face, Zayn? Literally stop) in real life.

Wow, so that was way too long and dramatic so thumbs up if you made it this far. I'm writing another post immediately after this that will be about the other (irrelevant in comparison) things I've gotten up to in the past few weeks. So keep a look out if you want. Love you all too too much.

xx

Also, I'm trying to win a free ride to the airport at the end of my program so I don't have to carry all my bags on public transportation and be a sweaty mess all over the city of London. Basically, all I need is the most Instagram likes on all my pictures with #CISLondon, so if you would like to help me out with that you can do so here.

Hayley In London

First and foremost, I sincerely apologize for the lack of blog posts over the last two weeks. This has been due to Hayley visiting, having my first paper due, recovering from the Brit awards red carpet, horrible blogging skills, and also extreme laziness. I promise promise promise I'll do better in the coming weeks to update you more frequently. So I'm going to break the past two weeks into separate posts so that you aren't overloaded with too much information about my not so exciting life.
Let's see, I left off with my extremely boring week after spending time in Leeds with Hayley, so I'll pick back up on Thursday when exciting things start to happen again. Thursday morning I have my classic art history class as always, only this week we were meeting at the Globe Theatre (note the incorrect British spelling) which was so exciting! It was Allison's birthday on Thursday, so her and I rose quite early and headed off to the train station without the rest of the class so that we could have time to grab something to eat before we had to meet up with everyone. We ended up sitting in the middle of the train station eating bagels (yes) and drinking chai lattes. Life was good. Then we walked along the Thames to meet up with our class. I love southbank. It's probably one of my favourite areas of London. I just think it's so pretty and traditionally "London" because you can see Big Ben and the Eye and stuff. Loves it.
So we toured the Globe and got to learn all about the history there, even though the original one was burned down (#ThatchedRoofProbs), so this was just a historical recreation. Still awesome though, and gotta love Shakespeare and learning about him. This was probably one of my favourite tours that we've done. When we finished, Alex, Alexa, Allison (I pretty much only hang out with people whose names start with A) and I went out to lunch at a little Italian place further down the river. It was great and I drank tea out of a little tumbler which was strange, but the food was delicious so I could not complain. Then Allison headed back because she wanted to Skype with her family for her birthday and I followed her shortly after so I could work on my paper for a bit before I had to pick up Hayley at the train station.

 Wherefore art thou Romeo (Niall)?

 Pasta obvi

 Sick ceilings even in the Globe

I would love to say that this was an awesome group photo of my class, but sadly it was some primary school group that happened to be there at the only moment I could've taken this picture, so here we are.

So then I headed to King's Cross to pick up Hayley, yay! I grabbed her and then we headed to campus to drop her stuff off at mine and freshen up before heading back to southbank with everyone to grab some food and drinks for Allison's birthday. Seeing the city at night was so breathtaking, the Eye was all lit up and southbank was decorated for Valentine's Day, and it was so fun to see Hayley's reaction to really seeing London for the first time (girl was freakin'). I am falling so in love with this city it's crazy. It was freezing outside and it was so windy since we were right on the river so we warmed up with some food at Wagamama's and then walked towards St. Paul's to grab some drinks at this little pub that was actually in the middle of the water (not really at all). Such a fun night to celebrate such a great person!

 I am the greatest Valentine I could ever ask for

 I love this place

Curry is really important to me

The next day, everyone else had things to do so they were going to grab breakfast super early at a place down the street, but Hayley and I slept in a bit later and then went to a place in Clapham Junction that I found on Yelp! that supposedly had the best American pancakes in London (obviously we had to be the judges). It was raining, of course, but the place was so worth the journey. The food was literally so dope and not expensive at all. Also, they had bottomless tea, so Hayley was happy (she's actually become addicted to tea and it's kind of worrying). I'm usually not a French toast person, but this French toast literally spoke to my soul it was so magical. Basically no better way to start Valentine's Day than fueling my love affair with breakfast food.

Like damn shawty

After we gorged ourselves on English breakfast, we headed to Kingston to look around and to buy penny boards, eek! We've decided that when we go on our massive trek through eleven European countries at the beginning of April, the quickest way to zip (or fall, in my case) around will be on these precious little skateboards, so we found a shop in Kingston that sells them and bought those bad boys up thanks to the help of the cutest sales girl ever. We were planning on pracitsing skating around, but it was pouring rain so we ducked into a precious little café and grabbed one of the most delicious hot chocolates I've ever had to try to wait out the rain (which was a fail). The downpour was unrelenting, though, so we ended up just heading back to Roehampton.

 I've named her Josie and I'm quite fond of her.

 I'm really surprised it took me over a month to get a picture like this.

Actually a spiritual experience.

We just hung out at mine for the rest of the afternoon and then made some food for dinner before our night that included heading to an Anti-Valentine's Day party that Alex had found and getting blown over by the extreme wind on the way home. Probably one of the greatest Valentine's Day I've ever had.

Yay mates

Saturday we got a (somewhat) early start and headed to central to show Hayley around. We hit a bunch of the major sights, including Chipotle, which was fantastic. We took the train to southbank and then skated (can't believe I can actually say that) to Trafalgar Square and got a bus to Chipotle (holy grail) because it started raining. This is the first time I've had Chipotle or anything even remotely close to Mexican food since I've been here and it was legitimately an answered prayer. Only they gave you a lot less food than the ones in the States, and the concept of me asking for "extra rice" was apparently completely foreign to the homegirl who was working there because she looked at me like I'd asked her to help me commit murder. Regardless, it was a beautiful experience and I'm glad that I was reunited with my one true love. 

Ironically, "Holy Grail" came on as I am typing this. How relevant

Then we walked to Oxford Street and went in the giant Primark, Topshop, and a couple other stores before skating through Piccadilly Circus back to Trafalgar Square and then to Covent Garden where she was introduced to the beauty of Shake Shack. Incredible. So Covent Garden was extremely crowded because it was a Saturday afternoon, so we took shelter in a Starbucks so we could charge our phones and warm up before meeting up with the rest of the girls at Somerset House for the London Fashion Week show.

Alex texted me when they got there and so we ran over there and it was probably one of the weirdest environments I've ever been in. There were people who looked fabulous, and they all went inside the show, obviously, but then everyone else had weird coloured hair and was wearing strange patterns and bright colours (when did that become fashion) and carrying big cameras and taking pictures of random people. I've actually never felt so out of place because I had chucks and a skateboard, so. Allison got her picture taken by a random though, which was funny (famous). So we walked around, but we couldn't get in anywhere obviously because we're nobodies, and I wasn't dressed for the occasion, so I couldn't even pretend like I was cool enough to get in anywhere. Best moment was when some girls passed us handing out free bags of popcorn and literally everyone else was death glaring them and not taking it, but Hayley and I were like, "Free calories? Yes. Thank you." so we got to eat delicious popcorn that had been rejected by fashion people (#swag). Then Hayley, Allison, and I left and went back to Roehampton and made dinner and watched This Is Us, again. Good times.

I'm actually shocked that no one kicked me out.

Sunday we (Hayley, Allison, and I) woke up and got breakfast (obviously) and then went to Harrods which was actually the most overwhelming experience of my entire life (probably tied with the six-story Topshop on Oxford Street). I heard a rumour that you're not allowed to take pictures (as if that's ever stopped me) and I was afraid of getting kicked out of such a beautiful place, so I didn't even risk it like I usually do. We were there for almost two hours and probably saw 1/16 of the entirety of anything. We basically hung out in the food places (home) and then briefly explored the clothes and shoes. Also we used the bathrooms which were nicer than any home I ever live in will be. The best part of it was The Cosmetics Haul (yes, capital letters are necessary). It was home to the most beautiful cosmetics counters I've seen. Chanel. Burberry. Lancome. YSL. Dior, to name a few. I died. I wanted to touch everything, but I was equally stricken with fear at messing up the perfection of it all. The clothes were all beautiful and more expensive than my entire life. A magically spiritual moment happened in there though; we were walking into a giant room of shoes and "Show Me" by Kid Ink started playing and if my entrance to Heaven isn't exactly like that, I'm going to be disappointed.

 Bill's. Breakfast. Babes.

 Yum tho

Memorial to Princess Di on the ground floor of Harrods.

After a very extended period of sensory overload in there, we decided to just head down to Oxford Street to go to church. I just love church. It was great. We ended up getting there early so we stopped at McDonald's and got some fries and used their wifi before heading to the Dominion. Church this week was different, they called it a "touching Heaven" service, and there was no message, just extended worship. It was amazing. There's this one little guy that leads worship and he just jumps around and is so full of joy and he was leading and he just makes me so happy. He was bopping around like he'd had five shots of espresso beforehand. Such a pump up. Then we headed home and made food and I finished my paper and we went to sleep because Hayley's train left early on Monday morning so we had to leave here earlier than usual because rush hour.

Such a great weekend with Hayley and I'm so glad that we've been able to spend so much time together and live our mutual adventurous dreams together in the UK and I can't wait for our month of adventure in April, eek! I hope y'all are doing so well and I apologise again for the extreme drought that has existed on this blog during the month of February, but I'm going to work harder to do better, I swear! Also, I finally figured out where the post box is to send things (I suck, I know) so expect mucho postcards in the near future! Much love to my homies.

xx

If you want to see video documentation of my weekend with Hayley in London you can do so by clicking here.

Also, I'm trying to win a free ride to the airport at the end of my program so I don't have to carry all my bags on public transportation and be a sweaty mess all over the city of London. Basically, all I need is the most Instagram likes on all my pictures with #CISLondon, so if you would like to help me out with that you can do so here.

Hampton Court Palace and weekend in Leeds

Hey friends, sorry for the long wait again, nothing really exciting happened last week, so I was just gonna post about my weekend on Sunday, and then I obviously procrastinated until now. Shoutout to the dear Abby Head for inspiring me to write this today. Just trying to keep my fans happy (totally kidding, please don't think I'm conceited). But let's get my horrible memory started on trying to remember the past like, 10 days, (eeek I promise I won't go this long without blogging again).
Last Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: it rained. I laid in bed and went to class and bought groceries and that was about it. This was mainly due to the fact that it was gross and I am a lazy person, but there were also the tube strikes (straight from satan himself) which caused any sort of getting around London to be completely miserable considering half the lines weren't even running and all the buses were packed, so that was a major bail.
Thursday was when the magic started, as per usual. The only thing I hate about Thursdays is that I have to wake up so freaking early and for everyone who knows me at all, I love sleep and getting up before the sun is not in my list of activities that I'm interested at all. This week, however, there was the most gorgeous sunrise to greet me when I woke up and it was only there for a few minutes, but it was such a sweet little picture. I felt like God was just like, "Good morning Rachel, you're more beautiful than this sunrise." And I was like, "Man, thanks God. You're the best." And therefore my day began in an awesome way.

#nofilter

For my art history of London class we set off to explore Hampton Court Palace which was so dope, y'all! Like, we need to talk about the ceilings for a quick minute because British people are #not #playing with their ceilings. This was probably my favourite trip that I've taken with this class so far. For some reason I just really liked it and my teacher didn't give me an anxiety attack this week and it was just really great. We just walked around this sick castle and I got to light a candle in the chapel and I laid on a bench and looked at the ceilings for a while which was nice.

 This was actually the worst chai tea latte I've ever drank. Don't trust hot drinks that come from a train station kiosk.

Notice the shameless promo to follow them on all social media

 Just picking up British boyfriends left and right

 I know this has historical significance, but I couldn't stop thinking about The Other Boleyn Girl. Scarlett Johansson, anyone?

 This is the dream prom photo spot.

 I'm sorry, are we actually in the state of Alabama right now?

 Sickest parts about castles (besides the ceilings) are the doors.

 Here's a fireplace that I apparently thought was good enough to photograph?

I actually don't know why I take half the pictures that I do.

My favourite part of castles is probably the really awesome chapels that they all have in them. In this one in particular, the cutest old man gave us a whole history of the church and it was so adorable and interesting. Basically, this was where Henry VIII hung out for a time and my all time favourite part of history is the fact that good ol' Henry VIII started a new religion just so that he could divorce his wives. Not saying I truly agree with the policy, but literally, what a baller. I get the feeling that he was the Kanye West of the 16th century.

 There were cushions on the floor, so I had to sit on them. There really wasn't a choice.

 Apologies for the horrible picture, but this was yet another photo that I wasn't allowed to take and so I had to be sneaky (but still got yelled at). These ceilings were just too bomb not to share with the world.

 Stained glass windows are cool and Alex is an actual freak.

 Casual backyard shot.

 #Vogue

 Selfies with the wicked ceilings.

 Bathroom selfies or it didn't happen. Also this was the first bathroom I've used in England that had the flush that you had to pull a chain from the ceilings for. Too cool.

Let us just imagine what it would be like to eat meals in this room because I really want to. Also, this is proof that English ceilings don't mess around.

After we got done touring the palace (by the way they had a maze there, nbd) we just walked around Surrey for a bit trying to find somewhere to grab lunch and we ended up at this precious little deli where I got a toastie (panini) and chocolate cake and it was beautiful. Then we headed to Covent Garden because Yuri had his sights set on this cookie place that was another gift straight from the hands of the Lord, also I had to go to Vodafone to deal with the bs that was my phone plan, so it worked out.

Then Thursday I didn't go out because I had to get up quite early in order to get my train, so I just hung out and went to sleep early.

Friday I woke up and had to head to the library to print out my train tickets (most complicated process ever, by the way) and then I headed to King's Cross (call me Hermione) to get my train to Leeds to see Hayley, yippee!! Train journeys are actually the best ever and the English countryside is really so beautiful. However, there were the most obnoxious guys ever seated at the table next to me and they got drunk on the train and were being really loud and rude and they were doing that thing that drunk people do where they think they're really funny, but they're actually so annoying, so I was just like, *sarcastic side eyes emoji* But I sat next to a precious old Irish couple, so they made the journey worth it.

My train got delayed and we were stranded in the middle of nowhere for an hour, so by the time I got to Leeds it was almost dinner time. Hayley and I walked to her flat, stopping quickly in Primark to grab a blanket and some pyjamas for me (British people are so into pyjama sets and onesies though) before getting ready to get food. Leeds was a lot more different than I expected it to be, it was a pretty good sized city and she was right in the middle of it, basically. It was so strange to be able to walk everywhere and not have to take public transportation though.

We ended up going to Wagamama's for dinner before going to her friend's flat for predrinks and then going to the club at their Union. Leeds Uni is actually huge compared to Roehampton (think 3x more students) so their student union was massive. They had multiple clubs, so it was super fun. We danced the night away and it was fantastic even though guys were creepy. I love how much One Direction is played when we go out here, it is definitely what I'm about.

Wagamama is actually where it's at

Yay for besties reunited in the UK

Coolest place ever

Favourite part of the night was when guys would keep trying to put girls on their shoulders and the DJ would just interrupt the song and say, "Get down!" He was also doing birthday shoutouts? Not really sure, but every now and then he'd interrupt some rap with a, "Happy birthday Samantha," so we were just like, okay. Do you.

Saturday we slept in a bit and then just made some food at Hayley's before heading out to do some shopping and explore Leeds. The shopping there was so great, everything we needed in such a close proximity it was amazing. We also had afternoon tea at the cutest place ever. I felt so freaking British in that moment. And we went to this incredible sweets shop! Americans steal a lot of ideas from other countries, so I'm just waiting for the idea of massive sweet shops to make its way over to North America because it is a really important concept. That night we decided to just have a chill night and so we went to the "cinema" which was really really nice, we had assigned seats and the popcorn was really nice. It made me want to go on a date with a boy to the movies (Niall, call me) really badly, but as we all know I will probably have to wait 100 years until that happens. After the movie, which featured a beautiful Zac Efron accompanied by a girl who looked like she wore the same smudged eyeliner for the entire movie, we went back to Hayley's and I forced her to watch "This Is Us" and then we started planning our adventures for the month of April.

 Macaroons are everywhere here and I am not complaining.

Ceilings dude

Sunday we got up and grabbed breakfast at the cutest little deli and did a quick look for penny boards in the skate shop next door before I had to catch my train. This train journey went much smoother (no delays) and besides spilling hot tea on myself, it was grand. When I got to King's Cross I went straight to church which was amazing as always, also I got a sick new Bible. This weekend was so great.

This week has been really boring so far because again it has been cold and rainy, so all I've done is go to class, but today Allison and I went over to Chiswick and explored a bit and got some tea and a snack at the most precious little bakery ever. It was raining the whole time though which was pretty miz, so we didn't stay long. We did find a couple cute shops though including a massive bookstore and a precious thrift store! So we're planning on going back when the weather is nicer.

So that's pretty much all that's been going on over here, I'm really excited for this weekend because Hayley is coming and it's fashion week and Galentine's Day and yay! Luvin lyfe. Well I love you all so freaking much and miss y'all tons and sometimes I just stalk your Instagrams and cry because you're all so beautiful and amazing and I want to squeeze your faces. I'm also super jealous of all the school that y'all aren't having and am gonna need y'all to send some of those cancellations my way. Also I'm officially going through withdrawal from Chick fil A sauce and Easy Mac so if you could somehow find a way to transport a chicken biscuit straight into my mouth that would be fantastic. Love y'all talk to y'all soon, muah!!

xx

P.S. If you want to see my video documentation of my weekend in Leeds with Hayley, you can click here.

Also, I'm trying to win a free ride to the airport at the end of my program so I don't have to carry all my bags on public transportation and be a sweaty mess all over the city of London. Basically, all I need is the most Instagram likes on all my pictures with #CISLondon, so if you would like to help me out with that you can do so here.