happy thanksgiving!

I am currently celebrating Thanksgiving by eating my chicken-stir fry leftovers from last night while doing some Black Friday shopping online (the sales be crazy!). It felt weird waking up late this morning and not having to prepare anything. I would usually wake up really early on Thanksgiving to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade while helping my dad mix the stuffing, cram it into the turkey, and then put it right in the oven (since turkey takes FOREVER to cook). Throughout the day, I would peel a whole bag of russet potatoes, make pie (usually apple, but just last year I became a pumpkin pie convert), boil down some cranberries for cranberry sauce, chop up vegetables, and do whatever else that needed to be done. It's tiring, but I actually enjoy every step of it. And it's all worth it in the end when you're enjoying the meal with the ones you love. I'm definitely missing my family right now and I wish I was back at home cooking. Nevertheless, I'm still grateful to be here in Manchester. I've been on the most wonderful journeys and made amazing friends that I'm thankful to have met.

So I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving with your friends and family! But be careful not to get a turkey stuck on your head!

oslo, norway

After some very last minute weekend plan changes, I headed to Norway this past weekend with Stacie and Eric! Specifically, we spent the weekend in Oslo, the capital of Norway. It is also known to be one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in (2nd after Tokyo, apparently). Perfect for college students on a budget, right? I'll be honest here: Norway wasn't exactly at the top of my list of the countries I wanted to visit. Heck, it wasn't even on the list. I barely know anything about the country, except that it's super cold, part of Scandanavia, and inspired the movie Frozen. So why Norway? Mainly because the plane tickets were super cheap. Well, not really for me, since I bought my tickets last minute. But hey, I wanted to visit at least one more country before I go back home, so I decided to take the plunge. And I'm so glad I did!

First off, the three of us grabbed yet another late flight on Friday night. It was pouring on the way to the airport, which is no surprise in Manchester. After arriving at the airport, we had to take a 1 hour bus ride to actually get into the city, so we got to our hostels pretty late at night. I was staying at a hostel about 15 minutes away from Eric and Stacie, who helped me walk there since we essentially got no help from the local taxi drivers. Once checked-in, I basically collapsed on my bed and went straight to sleep.

We started off Saturday morning by grabbing breakfast at a local bakery. I got a cinnamon bun and the "coffee of the day." I loved the bun--It wasn't overloaded with sugar like normal cinnamon buns. I was not a fan of the coffee, though. It had a strange fruity taste to it that I'm not used to, and I could barely finish half of it. Fun fact taken straight from Oslo's guidebook: "Norwegians are world champions when it comes to drinking coffee. Oslowegians (oops, we were calling them Oslonians) consume around 500 million cups of coffee a year; almost 1,000 cups per inhabitant." WOAH!!!

After breakfast, we headed to the Folk Museum, Norway's largest museum of cultural history. We had all bought Oslo's Day Pass that gives you access to all of the museums and to hop on/off all of the city's buses and trams. It was definitely worth it.

There were a bunch of interesting artifacts and traditional costumes to see throughout the museum. It was also apparent from the stories we read that the Norwegians hated the Swedes. Their farmers got into a lot of wars, including one called the Cranberry War?!? Apparently they still dislike each other today, but it's more of a playful rival (as in they're not killing each other anymore. They're friends at the end of the day. Ain't that nice?)

Reindeers are better than people.

The best part of the Folk Museum was their "Open-Air"section, where they recreated the Old Towns and Countryside of Norway. The houses looked so cute! I also noticed that the doors were really small, and it made me think that they would be perfect homes for hobbits that enjoy cold weather.

By the way: all the while being outside, I was FREEZING. I thought I layered on enough clothes in the morning, but it definitely wasn't enough. I couldn't even feel my feet at certain times. Sure, I like cold weather, but not 30 degrees Fahrenheit cold!

This one shall be mine.

There was also one house that had a chimney smoking, and it turned out that there was a demonstration taking place inside! A man was cooking a Norwegian flatbread called lefse over a fire. There was also a lady inside the house mixing the ingredients and rolling out the dough. Even though the house wasn't that warm, it felt so good to be indoors for a while. It was also really cool to see how the bread was being cooked. We had to wait a bit to get our pieces of lefse, but it was well worth it! The bread was piping hot, slightly sweet, and delicious. Oh, and of course spreading butter on it made it even more amazing. The man told us that during Christmas time, people wait in line for nearly an hour outside to try one! So, we definitely came to Oslo at the right time.

And of course I grabbed a copy of the recipe before I left! Here it is if you want to try to make it at home (I know I will):

Norwegian lefse

2 eggs
250 grams sugar
125 grams melted butter/margarin
1/2 litre buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking powder
About 1 kilo wheat flour
Optional: Barley flour
To serve: Butter, sugar, cinnamon

Mix eggs with sugar and butter, and stir into the milk. Mix the baking powder with some flour and stir into the blend. Mix with so much flour that the dough is easy to roll. Barley flour makes it easier to roll out the lefse. Bake the lefse on a griddle or in a dry frying pan.
- Lefse are fine to put in the freezer.
Serve w/ butter, sugar, and cinnamon on top.

A man who can make good bread is the man of my dreams, to be honest.

After the Folk Museum, we headed to the Viking Ship Museum. Seeing them up close was pretty crazy. They are massive and so well-preserved. Nick Offerman would certainly be proud of the Vikings' craftsmanship.

Next, we went to the beautiful Frogner Park, which is mainly known for its, err... rather "mesmerizing" sculptures made by Gustav Vigeland. This is probably the strangest park I've ever visited. But we had a lot of good laughs. I'll now let most of the pictures speak of themselves... (Warning: these photos may not be suitable for children.)

World's best dad?

Horrifying.

?????

Let me just get in the middle of this.

(I'll give you a moment to let you think about what you just saw...)

For dinner, we already had a place in mind to eat at--a restaurant called Elias that served reindeer stew. But the trouble was actually finding the place. While we arrived in the general area where the restaurant was located, Eric asked a lady in a small cafe who ended up giving us the wrong directions, which made us very confused. We walked up and down the streets for a good 15-20 minutes in the cold before finally finding the place. Once seated in the restaurant, I was thinking "this reindeer stew better be darn good," AND IT WAS. It's probably one of my favorite dishes I've had so far abroad. The stew was creamy and cooked with mushrooms, onions, and carrots; the deer itself tasted like regular beef to me, but it was nice and tender. It was served with a side of mashed potatoes and lingonberry sauce (way better than the jarred stuff you get from IKEA). Oh yeah, it definitely hit the spot.

It was only around 6:00PM when we finished dinner, but it felt so much later than that. Norway gets dark so fast! With lots of time on our hands, we decided to browse Oslo's Christmas Markets. There were plenty of wool mittens and sweaters, hand-carved goods, and troll figurines to choose from. I was hoping the stuff sold at the Christmas markets would be relatively cheaper than the stuff sold at the actual gift shops in Oslo, but NOPE, I still couldn't afford a lot of things. Yet we did buy 4 bags of freshly roasted candied almonds. We just couldn't resist! There were also a few fire pits around the market where we spent a lot of time getting nice and warm.

Afterwards, we walked around the city for a while and decided to buy some Norwegian candy to try back at the hostel. Eric chose a bag of these black fish gummies that ended up being salty liquorice. Oh my goodness, they were some of the worst things I've ever tried. I barely took a bite of it and it just tasted AWFUL. What's even worse is that it also got stuck in the back of my teeth. Blehhh. But the rest of the night we had some good fun singing "What Does the Fox Say?" by the Norwegian comedy duo Ylvis. Remember that song? Ah, those were the days...

The next morning, we were expecting it to snow in Oslo, but it sadly never did. Weather forecasts are full of lies! It got our hopes up for nothing. *cries* We did get some rain, though. I mean, who doesn't love more rain? It was a slightly colder too, so I put on tights underneath my pants this time before I went out. It was the best decision I ever made.

So after grabbing some more coffee in the morning (which was much better than the first one I had!), we headed to the National Gallery. Although we saw some great pieces of art, we were mainly there for one painting: The Scream. It took us forever to get proper selfies, but it had to be done!

AHHH!!!

After the Gallery, we went back to the Christmas markets to actually buy some souvenirs and grabbed a good ol' bratwurst for lunch. Before we knew it, we had to catch the bus once again to the airport, hop on our plane, and head back to Manchester.

Overall, I had a wonderful time in Oslo. The people are super nice, and they're also not bad to look at (heheh). Although it was freezing, I loved exploring the different museums and the city itself. Prepare to have a hole in your wallet after visiting Oslo, though. Everytime I looked at the prices, I died a little bit inside. But Stacie and Eric made this trip all the more special and fun (lots of Yoohoos, bad attempts at speaking Norwegian, and Pamela Anderson and George Washington references?!?)! I am hoping that one day we'll have a reunion and take a road trip around the rest of Scandinavia!

uceap thanksgiving in dublin

I am back from the land of O'Briens! There actually is a chain of sandwich shops called O'Briens in Ireland, which I found quite amusing. But anyway, I was primarily in Dublin this past weekend to attend UCEAP's Thanksgiving Event! UC students studying all around the UK gathered at the Guinness Storehouse for the festivities. It was a bit strange to be celebrating Thanksgiving 2 weeks early, but super fun nonetheless.

But before I talk more about the actual event, let's start from the beginning! I caught a 9:40 PM with Stacie and Eric Friday night. We got to the airport nearly 3 hours earlier than our departure time, but it was a good thing since going through security involved a pat down and an embarrassing struggle to put all of my liquids into one plastic bag. We grabbed some airport Italian food and had some fine chats before boarding. The flight was actually a lot faster than I thought it was going to be--it felt like it was only 30 minutes? Which is good, because I hate flying anyway. Once we arrived in Dublin, we boarded a bus, got to our hostel, and called it a night.

The next morning, I was still super tired because I had the hardest time falling asleep. I'm pretty sure I only managed to get about 2 hours of sleep, so it was a great way to start the day! After having a rather bland (but free!) breakfast, my friends and I walked around Dublin exploring various places. We stopped by Trinity College, found Oscar Wilde's seductive-looking statue, and discovered Ireland's local animals in taxidermy form at the Natural History Museum.

Hay gurl.

During the afternoon, we made our way to St. Stephen Green's park, walked around the shops along Grafton St., passed by Dublin Castle, and browsed some fine art at the Chester Beatty Library. We also stopped by Dublin's Christmas Markets to grab some lunch. It was so crowded, and it was madness trying to get to the stalls. But everything looked and smelled delicious, and I ended up getting a hot dog--the large size, obviously. I'm not sure if it was because I was super hungry or if I hadn't had a hot dog in a long time, but my goodness, it was probably one of the best hot dogs I've ever had. The casing was crispy, and the I love the charred flavor it got from the grill. Thank goodness there are Christmas Markets in Manchester because I am definitely getting another one. After lunch, we ended our afternoon with a tour at the Irish Whiskey Museum, naturally. This tour was definitely stranger than the one in Scotland. It involved lots of interactive videos, and there were no scratch and sniff cards this time. And once again, the whiskey burned my throat. It burns so good... (not).

Come to me.

At night, we got all dressed up and went to the Guinness Storehouse to finally have our Thanksgiving dinner. We left the hostel around 6:30 PM, and had to wait forever to actually get into the main dining room. While waiting, we were served refreshing lemonade with cucumber and mint. I don't know why I didn't grab another when I had the chance because they were so yummy.

I don't think we actually got into the dining room until almost 8:00 PM. Unfortunately, we didn't get in fast enough to secure seats for all of us to sit together, so that was pretty upsetting. Nonetheless, all of at this point just really wanted food. After a couple of speeches, we finally got served 1 bread roll. Yay! And thankfully we didn't wait have to wait too long for the main course. I was expecting a larger variety of potato dishes since we were in Ireland, but we only got good ol' mashed potatoes. And for dessert, we were served a fudgey brownie with Guinness in it, of course. Overall, it was a pretty darn good meal. It wasn't as good as Thanksgiving at home, but it was satisfying enough. (Note: I apologize for the horrible looking photos that are about to follow. Bad lighting is a camera's worst enemy.)

The night's menu + magnet as gifts!

We ended the night with a live Irish band and a performance by Irish dancers. The dancers were amazing. I couldn't see their feet, but boy, do they know how to kick! The way they dance looks super tiring-- I don't know how they can manage to keep smiling. The whole room was full of energy, and we cheered them on as they danced. I tried to get good pictures, but they moved too darn fast. The band was also awesome--they played Irish folk songs, and Kyle said it felt like that scene in Titanic where Jack and Rose danced the night away. I totally agree; I didn't have my own Jack Dawson for the night, but eh... who needs one anyway when you're with great friends? The band also threw in quite a few American songs like "Sweet Caroline," "Folsom Prison Blues," and "I'm A Believer." When they played "You Can Never Tell," I felt like getting up and doing the dance from Pulp Fiction, but sadly no one got the reference. But it's okay, I sang along and did my own little moves in my seat. Actually, I surprisingly sang a lot throughout the night and let loose more than I usually would. I think this resulted from my lack of sleep. Nevertheless, I had a wonderful time.

Fun night with these beautiful people.

The next morning, Stacie, Kyle, Katherine and I decided to head back to the Guinness Storehouse for a proper tour. Now, I knew very little about Guinness before coming here. I thought it was just your average beer--but oh no, it's apparently kind of its own thing. It has a distinct dark ruby red flavor that comes from the roasted malted barely, and a creamy white foam is formed when poured correctly into a cold glass.

Overall, this was probably one of the most enjoyable tours I've ever been on. The Storehouse is HUGE, and there's so much to see and do. One of the most interesting parts of the tour was going into the Tasting Rooms, where you get to smell the actual flavors and ingredients found in Guinness and are shown how to correctly drink it.

Woahhh.

AND YES, I FOUND THE CONAN PICTURE. I literally ran to the wall of celebrity pictures to find him, and was a little too excited when I actually did. But hey, a fan's gotta do what a fan's gotta do.

It's like he was there, but not really.

One of the last parts of the tour was a stop at the "Guinness Academy." It was time to learn from the pros how to pour a proper pint of Guinness. There were six steps total:

STEP 1: Take a cool, clean, dry, Guinness branded glass.
STEP 2: Hold the glass under the tap at an angle of 45 degrees.
STEP 3: Pull the handle forward until it is horizontal and fill the glass to between 15mm and 20mm (about ¾”) from the top. Never put the tap spout into the Guinness.
STEP 4: Leave the surge to settle (approx 119.5 secs).
STEP 5: Top up the glass by pushing the tap handle backwards until the head is just proud of
the glass. Do not let the stout overflow, and never use a spatula to level the head.
STEP 6 : Hand the pint to the consumer with a steady hand. There should be no overspill.

It looked easy when the instructor did it, but I was really nervous to pour in front of the whole group. I think I messed up a bit because I didn't get a lot of foam, but oh well. We all received certificates at the end, and it was certainly one of my proudest achievements.

After graduating from the Guinness Academy, we headed to the top floor's Gravity Bar that offered a 365 degree view of Dublin. And I've gotta say, I don't drink beer, but Guinness is actually okay! I mean, I still didn't like it, but it wasn't as bad as other beers I've tried (which is not that many, anyway). I managed to finish drinking up to the end of the Guinness logo on the glass. It was probably the most alcohol I've ever consumed in one sitting, which ended up being a bad thing because I got a headache afterwards.

Don't worry. I'm certified to pour your next pint of Guinness.

Enjoyed my Guinness as I looked to the horizon.

After the tour, it was time to grab our bags back at the hostel, hop on the bus, and catch the plane back to Manchester. Thank you to those from UCEAP for putting on such a wonderful event! Although my time was short in Dublin, it is a beautiful city and I had a fantastic time. I definitely want to come back to Ireland one day and explore the countryside. Farewell for now, Ireland!