I've left this far too long so the post will probably be lengthy and I'll miss out a lot but I'll have a go.
Two Thursdays ago (the night before Boston), I went to an American version of a pub quiz - called Trivia over here. We didn't win but we won a few individual rounds so we got pitchers of beer and shots of tequila for free. After that, I went to the cinema at midnight to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. It was a good film and I was a bit tipsy which made it even more enjoyable! On the Friday morning we left for Boston which took about 2 hours 30 minutes in the car. We stayed at Ellen's friend Mallory's apartment which was fun. On the Friday evening we went to Quincy Market for food (I got curry, not up to English standard) then headed to the basketball game. The Celtics lost narrowly but all-in-all it was extremely enjoyable, I saw Shaquille O'Neal who was one of the few players I'd ever heard of, he was literally the size of a bear. Afterwards, we got the train to Cambridge which is one area of Boston and met Ellen's friend Michelle and went to a really good club called Middlesex. It just had one DJ doing a continuous mix which was a nice change and he threw a lot of different things in (Human League, Lion King, The Beatles, lots of rap). On Saturday morning we went to a diner called The Breakfast Club which played 80s songs and had 80s movie posters on the walls, the food was really good and reasonably priced, I tried Eggs Benedict which was nice but a bit sickly. In the afternoon we went for a tour of Boston on an amphibious vehicle, also known as a duck, which was a bus that became a boat on water. The tour was entertaining and Ellen was allowed to drive it on the water which was entertaining. Afterwards, we met Ellen's friend Michelle and a couple of her friends and they took us to a barbecue restaurant called Soulfire for dinner, the food was so nice and there were four different types of BBQ sauce to choose from! Later on, we headed out to a few pubs but they didn't accept driving licences as ID so went back to Mallory's and sat around for a few hours before we went to bed. On Sunday, we decided to go out for breakfast again so we drove to Cambridge to look for somewhere but there was no parking so we headed to The Breakfast Club again - one benefit of driving round Cambridge was getting to see quite a bit of Harvard which was really nice. In the afternoon, we went to downtown Boston and did a bit of shopping and sightseeing then went back to Mallory's and headed home at about 4.30.
Last week was a bit disjointed because classes finished and the dining halls closed on Tuesday for the Thanksgiving break. On Tuesday night a few of us went to WT's for a meal, I got steak which was lovely. On Wednesday lunchtime, I went to the international students Thanksgiving dinner which was more fun than it sounds. The food was good then afterwards we did some folk dancing which was weird but entertaining. On Wednesday evening Ellen picked me up and went to her house on Long Island for Thanksgiving. The drive took just over 3 hours and on the way we passed signs for Woodstock, Sleepy Hollow and Amityville, all of which I wish I'd taken photos of. That night we went out for a little bit but we were tired so went back early. On Thursday, Thanksgiving day, we got up quite early and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV which is basically lots of floats and balloons going through the middle of Manhattan with a huge crowd watching. In the afternoon we went to a lovely restaurant called Villa Lombardi's for our Thanksgiving dinner. It was a buffet and there was basically everything you would expect and more, I had about 4 plates full of food and was stuffed (turkey, beef, stuffing, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows, pumpkin crepes, spinach, pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie, ice cream). In the evening we visited some of Ellen's extended family who lived about an hour away. They were all really nice and friendly and we listened to lots o stories and ate more desserts! On Friday morning, Ellen took me for a Long Island bagel which was very nice (spinach and bacon cream cheese) then I got the train to New York City from a place called Ronkonkoma, which I thought was a very funny name. When I got there I met my friends Nikki and Sian from Nottingham in SoHo and we walked to Little Italy for a slice of pizza then we went to Grand Central Station for a look around and headed to the Rockefeller Center to look at the Christmas tree and ice rink. After they headed back to where they were staying I met my friends Pontus and Stine from Albany and went to eat at an Italian where David Letterman once took Madonna for pizza! I got the bus back to Albany at 8.30 so was home for midnight.
The weekend was very quiet, I did almost nothing besides going to Giulia's on Saturday night for pizza. On the way to her apartment, the winds were possibly the coldest I've ever had to deal with - my brain felt like it was frozen and took about 20 minutes to thaw out! I've got a lot of work coming up in the next few weeks. I have a final exam on Thursday and a 10-page essay due in next Wednesday then two exams the week after that. On the bright side, this time in 3 weeks I should be at home in Workington if all goes to plan, although I don't hold much hope after the hellish journey I had on the way here! That's all for now.
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