last afternoon tea

Well, today was my last day of having traditional afternoon tea in England. And what better way to indulge in some fine tea than with some fine friends? Stacie, Eric, and I went to Richmond Tea Rooms, which is mainly Alice and Wonderland themed. The inside is really cute, and the designs made it seem all the more special and fancy. They also had up some pretty Christmas decorations, and played many Christmas songs by my favorite, Michael Buble (or we call him "Michael Bubble").

We went all-out this time with the "Queen's Tea," which was served with a variety of finger sandwiches, cakes, a scone with my forever favorite clotted cream, a quiche, and a pot of tea. All of our orders were served together on a huge three-tiered stand, and it was beautiful. Everything was delicious, and I was so full that I couldn't even finish a few of my cakes by the end of the meal! We also stayed at the tea rooms for nearly 3 hours. Our chats just flew by! The waiters were probably annoyed at us for staying so long, but oh well. You can't rush tea time.

Sillys.

It's GLORIOUS.

I still don't understand why afternoon tea is so expensive, but like I always say, TREAT YO SELF. I know there are some tea rooms in California that may suffice when I'm back at home, but it just won't be the same! This is definitely a part of British culture that I will truly miss.

And to all of my friends who are preparing for finals back at home: Keep calm, and drink tea.

lincoln christmas market

Yesterday, Stacie, Kyle, Eric and I went on our last (*cries*) trip with the International Society to the Lincoln Christmas Market! I came here with the intention of buying more gifts, but instead we mainly spent the whole day eating. But hey, I'm not complaining.

It was incredibly cold throughout the whole day. Thank goodness I wore tights under my pants again. When we arrive late in the morning, it was also extremely sunny. The sun didn't keep us warm, though. It made things worse by basically blinding us because we couldn't see where we were going. This is when sunglasses actually come in handy in England...

The market surrounded the Lincoln Castle. We wanted to visit and explore the castle too, but apparently there were renovations going on and we couldn't find a way in. But it was beautiful, anyway.

As you can tell from the photos, the markets were SUPER crowded. Apparently the Lincoln Christmas Market is one of the largest in England, so maybe that's why. Plus, it's only a 4-day event and it was a Saturday. So the crowds were partly why I didn't buy anything; people were just in the way everywhere and it made me frustrated. Tis the season to be jolly, y'all.

But what made me happy was the food. Oh, the food was everywhere and it was glorious. To start off our morning, we grabbed some good ol' sausages. I was tempted to get their Pork, Venison, and Mushroom sausage, but in the end I got the classic Lincolnshire sausage. And yes, it was amazing. The crispy casing gets me everytime.

As we walked around some more, we spotted a Danish Pancakes ("aebleskivers") stall. I've been wanting to try these for a while! I remember seeing them when I visited Solvang several years ago, but I didn't try them (I forget why!). We couldn't resist getting an order of 10 to share (though I probably could've eaten them all for myself). They were warm, light, and fluffy and just so darn delicious.

*drools*

Okay, here is my last mention of food. Shortly after devouring the Danish pancakes, we passed by a stall that had piles of different pastries. I ended up buying a "cappuccino shell" (a donut filled with whipped cream with a cappuccino-flavored icing) because I mean, look at this beautiful picture of the mountain of donuts:

How dare you do this to me.

So throughout the day, we walked through the entire market, stopping at stalls here and there to browse/buy. We also stopped by a little restaurant near the end of the day to have some nice afternoon tea to keep warm.

Overall, the city itself is pretty--but not when it's crowded. Nevertheless, I had a wonderful time with my friends, and all of the International Society trips have been awesome and a convenient way to explore different cities around England (and Scotland!). I would definitely recommend study abroad students to join their university's International Society, as it's also a great way to meet students from around the world.

It is now hailing once again as I'm writing this. Apparently it was supposed to snow today, but it never did. We only get snow's evil twin.

And I can't believe I'm going home in 6 days! I went shopping today and I didn't even finish. I need to get crackin' on my essay as well. It's so difficult to start. Remember that Spongebob episode "Procrastination"? That's what's happening.

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!