When in London

I have only spent a weekend in Europe and I am already in love with it! I have never been to London and the weekend excursion that came with the AIFS program to start of the semester was a blast! We got to London super super early in the morning on Friday and after getting situated in the hotel were allowed to go and explore the city. A couple friends and I walked through the streets of Chelsea England and also got to find some great food stops. Fun facts the streets of London are a little backwards than those in the US and drivers break for no one, and when I say no one I mean NO ONE. We were based out of Chelsea England where the famous Chelsea Futbol team has their home field. The team is unbelievably popular and even though we did not get to tour the stadium you could tell how massive the place was!

The second day in London we got a bus tour throughout the city. By far one of my favorite parts of the weekend because we were able to see all the staple London spots you would want to see on a visit. We got to visit Buckingham Palace (it was interesting to hear that the flag changes whenever the Queen is or isn't home), St. Paul’s cathedral which is where Princess Diana was married in and then also the Tower Bridge and Big Ben. The tour covered lots of stops on the way too such as famous shops and streets including Kings Street where a lot of famous artists such as the Beatles used to live.

After the tour we were able to go off on our own venturing to what had to be one of my main requirements of visiting while in London, platform 9 ¾ of course! It was a cute sectioned off area of Kings Cross Station where you could pick your house’s scarf to wear and you could get your picture taken. We luckily hit it at the right time because after that the line was crazy! From there we wandered around London and even got to stop at the British Museum. A thing to note about London all the museums are free to the public but accept donations. This particular museum had a whole lot of eastern country history which was interesting to see! From the Rosetta Stone to antique German cars.

Platform 9 3.4, think you being funny do you>!

The most opportune piece of the day was getting to meet up with my friend Suze from SMC! She has been studying abroad in London for about a month now in Kensington, we talked about meeting up and a couple of us were able to get over to Kensington for dinner! It was great to see another familiar face and who would have thought we would all end up in London?! Crazy right! The weekend in London was unreal and far too short to see everything but it was a jam packed weekend! Now onto Spain!

Facebook: Candice Kalil

Twitter: @CandiceLeeMary
Instagram: candicekalil31

Let the Abroad Adventures Begin!

So I can tell you know that in exactly 48 hours I will be on a plane bound for a weekend in London and to a fourth month adventure to Spain. It blows my mind how lucky I am to be able to go study abroad in a foreign country for a semester and all the great times that are ahead!

Yeah this is my next semester, not too shabby
via

To note I even have to pack all four months into one suitcase. ONE SUITCASE. You may not think it but it is absolutely possible! And yes my bag is 49 out of the 50 lbs allowed to check onto the plane but it works! I have all my camera SD cards ready to go and words can't describe how excited I am. The opportunity is here and there is no way I am going to pass it up! Next time I write to you I will be across the pond!

Will keep you posted!
Candice

Facebook: Candice Kalil

Twitter: @CandiceLeeMary
Instagram: candicekalil31

Christmas Present Fiascos and the 3 Week Coutdown

Since the holidays were so busy I thought I would save this post until after the festivities were over! I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year! I think the expectations of Back to the Future might not compare to the reality of 2015 but that is okay since there is much in store for the new year!

(via)

As I have touched upon numerous times, in about a month I am going to be on a plane to Spain for the semester and will not be back at Saint Mike's until I am a senior....WHERE DID THE TIME GO?! Time to embrace my inner grandma as I realize how old I am and how fast my college career has flown by. And yes even though 20 feels old, I feel better about 21 and even 22 since Taylor Swift was able to create a pretty awesome song out of the year. As finals are over, and I am finally home, typing this with my puppy Stella cuddling next to me on the couch, words cannot describe how great it is to be home for the holidays. But I can tell you myself that I put off a lot of presents until the last minute, which is awful because I was like "oh yea I am going to be crafty and Pintrest everyone's presents to make.", terrible idea on my end. The result has been a little bit of cramming and some small snafu's. For the perfect example of why a person should not procrastinate Christmas presents here is my first-day-home-from-junior-year-story.

Example of Scrabble Coasters 

My freshman year of college my mom asked me to get her a coffee mug from the school store as a Christmas present. As I was browsing the school store mug selection, I found one that was purple having a "Saint Mike's Mom" design with a flower (my mom being a floriculture and agriculture vocational teacher, it was perfect with the flower too!) which I immediately bought and gave to her for that Christmas. A little while after I had returned from Christmas break, I got a phone call from my mom. She was telling me about home and asking how everything was, and then she added how she accidentally broke the "Saint Mike's Mom" floral mug. It got bumped off the table and shattered. Upset and wanting a new one she asked me to pick her up a new one, but the problem was it wasn't being sold anymore in the school store. I forgot about the coffee cup until this month when the school store came out with a new "Saint Mike's Mom" one! I was so excited, maybe a little too excited, because I could get it for her just in time for Christmas. Once I got home I went to take it out to wrap it but found the handle on the mug broke on the way home from Vermont to Rhode Island. This is why Candice can't have nice things and shouldn't get breakable Christmas gifts.

Christmas at the Kalil household was still great besides my present fiascoes as we spent the day with both sides of the family! Fun fact Pinterest has a great ideas for gifts which I don't think I could have gotten through the holidays without (When in doubt, go to Pinterest!). One of the gifts I made were these scrabble piece coasters for my parents. You can easily get the board game pieces off amazon in bulk and the rest of the materials are available at your local Michael's or craft stores. This idea and many more coaster ideas were on this link: Coasters. Also BLANKETS, they make a great holiday gift! I went to the local fabric store, ordered 4 yards total of felt (2 yards for each or 2 colors) and made a large tied warm blanket that was the perfect present! For the instructions to make this follow on this link: Felt Blanket. For those of you aren't the most crafty people on the planet, the felt blanket is easy to make and won't be super time consuming to make! Being able to spend the holidays with family and friends was wonderful since I have some time left at home before I make the big move to Spain! Take a lesson from me when I say don't stress or worry so much about presents because at the end of the day they are the least important part of the holidays, spending time with family and friends trumps any gift you can put under the tree!

Facebook: Candice Kalil

Twitter: @CandiceLeeMary
Instagram: candicekalil31