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

Semester All Wrapped Up

Its December! And you know what that means: Christmas time! So my last couple of blog posts I have made more informational and I am going to take this one to talk about my semester at Saint Mike's. I knew coming into my junior year I wanted to make the most of the semester because the scary fact is, after next week the next time I will be back on campus I will be a senior. Like.....WHAT?! The thought of that sends chills through my bones because time is going by so fast! I could not tell you where all the time went. I have spent this semester working at my classes, playing rugby, working at my internship for VYRA (Vermont Youth Rugby Association), and spending time with some pretty amazing people. It has been a fun semester that has flown by and next thing I know I will be on my way to Spain! But before then, I got some pretty cool assignments to do.

This is not the only blog I got to create and keep up with this semester. For my Marketing class, we were asked to keep up with recent marketing news and connect class topics into a nine-post blog. It was interesting to study companies like Apple, Crocs and other big brand names seeing how they got themselves on the market. To look more into it, check out the blog Marketing 2014 Fall 215 - B

Another blog I got to keep up with this semester too was on a large article I wrote for my Environmental Journalism class, My topic was in researching how Farmers Markets in Vermont are an Alternative Food Network, and the importance of supporting local farmers' and their businesses. I got to talk to a lot of great people for the article while keeping up with news both nationally and locally on the topic. To check it out, here is my blog Vermont's Alternative Food Network: Farmers Markets. Sadly both of these blogs are coming to an end as the semester is coming to a close. This blog I will continue into going abroad but these two will end next week.

As the semester closes too I have been working on multiple projects that are the final assignments for my classes. One of them is my final adventure film. My project partner and I decided to do ours on ski patrol. Having already interviewed a few people, we tried getting in contact with Smugglers Notch Resort Ski Patrol to talk with them about the job and what it means to have that role on the mountain.Now you will quickly learn that just by going to Saint Mike's, a lot of doors open for you. One of my professor's from last semester has connections to Smuggs since her husband works there and that they are from the area. She got us in contact with the ski patrol and the assistant director turned out to be a Saint Mike's alumni, who would've thought?!

We had the most unreal experience getting to shoot on the mountain that day. Not only did we get great shots as it was snowing, but a majority of the ski patrol on that day were "in training" so we were able to film them doing a practice simulation. Everyone at the mountain was super friendly and helpful while we were trying to capture everything. And before I explain the second half of the day, let me remind you that I am still in a cast (until tomorrow wahoo!) and on crutches.

They set us up with snow pants, let us come up on the chairlift (on crutches mind you), film the entire thing and the best part: We got to go down the mountain and film while sitting on RESCUE SLEDS. Hands down the coolest possible thing we could have done that day. We needed cool footage and they needed practice so in the end everyone won! It was an experience I will never forget and the craziest part was, it was all homework!

To watch t not only our final film The Patrol but all my films for Adventure Filmmaking, check out my YouTube Channel:

Facebook: Candice Kalil

Twitter: @CandiceLeeMary
Instagram: candicekalil31

Home Again Home Again... Until January

You do not realize how blissful a week at home is until you have it. After a semester full of homework, a packed schedule and a good amount of coffee, nothing is better than coming home for a break. For this Thanksgiving break we had an entire week off as opposed to a normal couple of days. This made for a lot more time relax and at least for me a lot more time to get organized. As I said earlier I am studying abroad in Spain next semester and I leave January 21st. EEEEEEPPPP! It’s coming up so fast and I am both excited but nervous! I've been to Europe for a trip in high school, but living in a foreign country for 4 months is another story. So in preparation for study abroad I had a few adventures this past break.

From what I learned this past week, take a bit from my experience! First off the biggest thing I can tell you is ALWAYS be on top of what you have to get together for study abroad and be organized about it. There is a good amount of paperwork that you need to get in such as passports, VISA's and medical forms (mine turned out to be interesting to send in because it had "fractured fibula" in probably the smallest handwriting possible at the very bottom, oops!). My mistake was not looking up my VISA information ahead of time and ended up getting to the Spanish Consulate in Boston later than I could of. All the paper work takes a bit to get together but in the end its all for a trip of a lifetime!

 Second....packing. I can't even begin to tell you how much I am not prepared to figure that one out. Granada has bit of a warmer climate than Vermont and Rhode Island but I am basically packing for every weather condition minus packing for frigid-cold weather. So far for packing AIFS (the program I am studying abroad through) provides a packing list which is helpful! Between that and talking with friends who have studied abroad in the past year or so I am starting to figure out what I do and do not need to bring.

A little warmer than New England, 50's are shorts weather here

 Over break I had to get all the paper work together and start putting together things for the trip. Since I have a month for Christmas break before I leave, I will have plenty of time to get everything else all set! The biggest thing for me is that I get a good amount of time at home before I go. I got to spend all Thanksgiving break with family and friends which was great!

And I can't even describe to you how full I still am from all the food, sweet goodness. For my family we have two Thanksgiving dinners in one day. The first we have with my Nana around lunch time and then we have Thanksgiving dinner with my cousins from the other side of the family. All the food the entire day was unreal and once we got to Thanksgiving dinner, we realized how much we had gotten ourselves into. My cousin Kimberlee thought, with leftovers in mind, that getting a 25 lbs. turkey for seven to eight people was a sweet deal. I can tell you first hand we did not even make a dent in the pan there was so much food, one of the best things about the holidays! I am unbelievably excited to be heading to Spain but with all the preparation needed to get done before I go over there, nothing was better than being home!

Facebook: Candice Kalil
Twitter: @CandiceLeeMary
Instagram: candicekalil31

Cracks and Crutches

The past few weeks ended up taking quite a turn and drastically changed what I had envisioned as the end of the semester. During a rugby game on November 1st I rolled my ankle as I got tackled. Everyone else was convinced I had a sprained ankle and even I was too, but still wanting to be cautious I went over to the hospital to get some X-Rays done. What I figured would be a maximum 1 to 1 1/2 hour trip to the hospital turned into a 4 hour adventure and one of the spookiest moments I think I have ever had. I was told I sprained my ankle but I fractured my fibula. Your fibula is one of two main bones in your calf. The tibia is the larger shinbone that runs down the middle of your calf while the fibula is the smaller bone that runs on the outside of your calf. Apparently what occurred was when my ankle rolled in as I got tackled, it not only sprained my ankle but caused two cracks to happen in the lower part of my fibula in my ankle joint.You can easily say I was shocked and for it being my first big injury in my almost 21 years of living, I was dumbfounded. At first I had to rock a lovely chunk of a splint for a week before I got my now prettier purple cast.

(via)

Now for someone like me, who has never once in her life needed crutches or gotten seriously hurt, the past 2 - 3 weeks have been a learning curve. It has been a challenging and interesting adjustment to life no longer on both feet. Even then I can tell you the amount I have learned in that time is unreal. 

For starters, friends are the best people in the entire world. I say "I'm sorry!" far to much and I don't think I will ever be able to cover how grateful I am for them in the millions of ways they have helped me out. 

Second, I live out of my backpack because it is really the only way I can carry anything around. Even if it is a small trip I usually take it to just make things easier.

Third, once you loose a little bit of independence you learn to appreciate it. For the record also I fractured the fibula in my right leg so I can't drive. I do not have a car on campus but I apologize to my family ahead of time when I come home because I might need to be shuttled around a bit! The smallest things become way more difficult on crutches and you learn to work around them. 

Fourth, I can actually walk a little! I was given this oh so pretty shoe that I get to wear over my cast to work on walking. It cracks me up because I know for a fact my 92 year old Nana has the exact same one. Thankfully I have friends who motivate me to not be scared and try walking on it one step at a time. Today I was able to make it almost 10 steps without any crutches (doesn't sound like a lot but I'm getting there!).

I add a fuzzy sock for a little extra style

Fifth, as scary as this whole injury sounds, don't let it discourage you from wanting to play sports. Everyone gets hurt, people get hurt tripping and bumping into things on a regular basis. I can tell you regardless of this I already plan to run a 10 mile race hopefully this summer and eventually plan to run a half marathon. Believe me I can understand but athletes and non athletes all get injuries!

Last but certainly not least, Saint Mike's is by far the best campus to be at with a cracked bone. I can't imagine going to a big school and just being a number among the crowd with this cast and crutches. I cannot tell you the endless amounts of examples I can share on how helpful and kind people have been the past few weeks. Every time I walk into Alliot to get food I at least have more than 1 person offer to help me carry my plate and I rarely walk past a door without someone offering to hold it open for me. The funny thing to is even if I wasn't on crutches, people do that anyway! Just being on crutches I have recognized it and learned to appreciate it more! The Saint Mike's community is full of great people and I don't think I would be able to get around as much if I was somewhere else. 

Even though I have my frustrated moments of not being totally independent, not being able to drive and realizing how much of a ski season I don't have this year, bones heal and I will be back to normal as soon as I can be! Until then I will be hobbling around, using my Nana's wheelchair to hopefully cut the lines for Christmas shopping and having my injury make watching all the Netflix I can a bit more socially acceptable. A cracked bone isn't going to stop me from walking onto that plane at the end of January to make it for my 4 month adventure to Spain, I can promise you that!

Facebook: Candice Kalil 

Twitter: @CandiceLeeMary

Instagram: candicekalil31

Food...Food...And More Food

ITS ALMOST THE HOLIDAYS! And you know what that means...FOOD. The best part of the holidays (besides all the love, shopping, caroling, Christmas movies and family time) is the copious amounts of amazing food that it entails. This just doesn't just include holiday parties and meals with family or friends, but also what you give back. There are so many programs, churches and community efforts that make sure everyone gets to join in the holiday festivities whether it is a soup kitchen, fundraiser or party. So whatever your holiday event might be whether it is for a small or large crowd, here are some awesome recipes to make! Some are holiday related others just look so
delicious they had to be added:

Make sure to not get any cavities in the process!
(via)

(via)

Pies! - Who doesn't love pie? There are so many kinds and they make a perfect treat at Thanksgiving and even Christmas. Now I didn't just find one recipe but rather Pinterest was able to provide 50 in one post! Check out: 50 Delicious Thanksgiving Pie Recipes

(via)

Oreos and Chocolate Chip Cookies Together?! - Yes this is a thing and it is absolutely possible to make. Both of America's favorite cookies can be combined into a masterpiece. Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies only take about a half hour to make and are a great treat for any holiday gathering. Check out: Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

(via)

Garlic Bread. YUM. - Garlic bread can go with many occasions
and is a great compliment to any dinner. Here is a yummy recipe for Cheese and Garlic Crack Bread (Pull Apart Bread).

(via)

Hot Chocolate Cookie Cups - This is the cutest little dessert/treat to make for the holiday season! A perfect bring to any holiday party, event or family gathering. Its kind of like finger food only dessert. Check out: Hot Chocolate Cookie Cups

(via)

A Taste of Fall for the Holidays - To keep going with the treats theme, these scones are to die for and would make a great addition to any Thanksgiving meal! Just put them right next to the pies on the table and you will be set to go! Check out: Harvest Pumpkin Scones

These are just a few of the millions of awesome holiday recipes you can find online! From Google to Cooking sites to Pinterest, there are so many recipes you can make at home or in you suite building kitchen! For everyone on campus there are kitchens in the townhouses and in the suite buildings where you can bake and cook. Baking in my opinion is one of the best parts of the holiday season and is a good way to bring everyone together! Tags such as "Christmas Recipes" and "Holiday Recipes" should bring up some awesome results!

Facebook: Candice Kalil 
Twitter: @CandiceLeeMary
Instagram: candicekalil31