February 2015 – just meesh

February 24, 2015February 24, 2015

london adventure part 2

Because I know you were all so anxious to hear about the second half of my day, yeah right, lol. Let’s see…

After getting a beer and ordering some food we settled in and frankly I was just happy to be able to rest since I’d pretty much been on my feet since 7. As we were sitting there, the pub started to fill up and by the time we left it was like trying to leave the club at the end of the night from the middle of the dance floor, that’s how crowded it was. When we finally managed to make it out we were greeted by a huge group of people that were hanging out, outside with their beers, the place was that full.

Photo: Failed attempt to show how crowded it was…

Side note: This family showed up the the pub with their 4 daughters or something like that and these girls were fairly young like in their early teens and they were just causally drinking beers with their parents and it was a little like, ok then….

By that time we figured we’d head over to the stadium. We managed to meet up with Maddy and then by some miracle not only got ourselves to the right train and made it just in time, as it was about to leave. I literally was almost running to the train because it was cold and I was determined to make it on. Which we almost didn’t fit, it was definitely a tight squeeze.

Photos: the stadium

Also, forgot to mention that somehow I figured out the whole Oyster card thing and then Tom tried to convince me that I didn’t get the right card and I almost had a panic attack because I believed him. It’s fine, no worries I bought the right thing, sometimes I doubt myself too much, lol.

Anyways after a short train ride we got off and pretty much followed the crowd to the stadium. And we made it, I felt so accomplished and at the same time so far from my new home in Leeds (because I actually was).

After finding our seats and getting some advice on which team to cheer for…..apparently Millwall are “such ducks” so clearly we’d be cheering for Fulham. That worked out nicely because our seats were in the visitor section and they were the visiting team. I really wanted to get one of those like typical football scarves but being at the Millwall stadium they obviously weren’t selling any Fulham stuff 😦

Photos: pre-game warmup and partner stretches 😉

And because I had my camera with my I proceeded to take about a million pictures of the players and their butts lol…good thing I brought the lens that has a really good zoom…

Photos: pre-game handshake and huddle

The game ended in a tie, though Fulham did almost score but they called “off sides” on it which Tom said would be too confusing to explain so we just went with it. But for me, the whole experience was a definite win, there really is nothing like being in a stadium full of 90% men that are truly passionate something and also loveeee to chant about it.

Photos: game time

It was actually quite refreshing, aside from the chanting their was really no distractions that would take your focus off the game. They really just let the players do their thing which is something you don’t see in the US because no one can pay attention to something for more that 2 seconds….

Photo: a little halftime entertainment

Once the game ended it really hit me that I still had to get all the way back up to Leeds….and the sun was already setting. But nonetheless I’d made it this far, what was another 3 hours? I did finally make it back and it was no nice just to be home. It was a long day, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Photos: a few close up shots

Traveling alone showed me just how strong of a person I really am and made me realize that their is so much out their in the world waiting for me. I will be back for you London and one day it will be indefinitely, until then…

Enjoy.

~meesh

P.S. for more pics of the cute football boys click me & huge s/o to Tom for inviting me and putting up with me all day, you’re a gem

February 23, 2015February 23, 2015

london adventure part 1

Only someone as crazy as myself would decide to buy a train ticket into London at 5:05am, why? because I wanted to buy what was cheapest…After managing to get up and get ready at 4 in the morning to make my train I then realized I would be walking through the streets of Leeds alone at this hour. Let’s just say that it wasn’t my best idea, but I was comforted by the fact that when I was getting up and ready to go my flatmates where just getting in from the night out, so I figured how bad could it be?

Don’t worry mom and dad, I clearly made it to the train safe and sound but never again. (insert emoji of the girl making an x with her arms)…So by the time I got into the London the sun had just come up, it had rained all night and there was a ton of moisture in the air, needless to say when I stepped off the train my hair was a mess within minutes, which is why I got no pictures of myself #sorrynotsorry.

Photos: Taken somewhere near Oxford Circus

I managed to find my way over to Oxford Circus, where I planned to meet meet a friend in front of the H&M there. First, Google maps I don’t know why you took me off the beaten path to get there….but whatever I made it. And, second there just so happened to be 3 different H&M’s within a block from Oxford Circus so I proceeded to check all 3. But like really 3 separate H&M’s within a 3 block radius, I like H&M but not that much…

Photos: Telephone booth and cool lion statue

Whatever…so we finally found each other tg or else we’d have been screwed. And because of course I plan nothing really in advance we decided to just wander in the general direction of where we needed to go. And after walking through some semi-mysterious crushed gravel courtyard, we found ourselves approaching Parliament Square, where a guard proceeded to scare the sh*t of me. But I was totally fine, although it was slightly creepy.

Photos: Creepy guard and odd courtyard

None of that mattered, when I caught my first glimpse of him. Big Ben. I don’t know how many years I have dreamed about getting to see him in real life but it was pretty much just as I imagined it would be x100. I was literally about to cry but I held my tears back for the sake of my friend, Tom. So, I obviously proceed to take about a million pictures, which definitely don’t do Big Ben any justice. Seriously he’s so much more beautiful in person.

Photos: It was love a first sight…

Once I stopped gushing over Big Ben, we realized we couldn’t feel our fingers so we stopped in a few souvenir shops to pick a few things and of course warm up. Once we felt slightly revitalized we headed towards the river because we need to cross to get to Borough Market where we were meeting our other friend before the football game. And, I honestly have no idea how we got there because neither of us really had a clue.

Photos: View from waterfront

We finally got there and the smell of food made me realize how hungry I was in seeing I had nothing since I’d woken up at 3:30 that morning. So we found this cheap looking hole in the wall sort of place and figured, ok sure. I have to say when we walked in I was quite intimidated. I was literally like one of 2 girls in the place and it was clear we were tourists because I had my camera around my neck.

Photos: View from the other side of the river

I think I’ll stop here for now before I start to bore you, but this was only half the day. We hadn’t even been to the football game which was the reason for my trip into London in the first place. So I guess it’s to be continued….

Enjoy.

~meesh

More London city photos here.

February 14, 2015February 18, 2015

the not so weekly update 2/14

Since I haven’t done anything to super crazy of late I figured a little update would be good enough.

This past week has been a bit of a roller coaster….

First off on Monday my room light goes out….so I was living in a cave until maintenance fixed it on Wednesday. And let me tell you living in the dark is not fun. You have no idea what you look like when you go to class and it just brings you way down, because you’re just sitting in the dark alone.

Photo: hump-day slushy, this definitely helped me get through the week…

Second off, there is this black cat that is always roaming around right outside the complex (I don’t have a pic for obvious reasons) and each time i see it, I’m like “oh, great…something is gonna go wrong today…” Well, on Thursday I just so happened to see this particular black cat twice……both on the way to and from class. And although nothing particularly went wrong, Thursday was not my most shining moment. But, I did make some awesome news friends in class an ate the best fish n’ chips I’ve had so far.

Photos: yum.

S/O to Bridget and Kate for an awesome afternoon and late lunch at Revolution.

Also, tg I didn’t see that black cat yesterday (you know, on Friday the 13th) or else I think my life would have been over. And speaking of Friday is was probably the best day of the week because we celebrated Galentines Day….Leslie Knope you are a goddess. Anyways the day was everything that is was supposed to be…a day to celebrate 4 girls from Illinois killin it in England.

Photos: Galentines hot coco and dessert

Then there’s today….v-day…which has been pretty much the source of my “bi-polar” esque mood this week. I’m not really a fan of the holiday, I think it’s a total cope out for people in relationships, like why does saying “I love you” on Valentines day mean so much more than it does on any other day of the year?

Photos: thanks siri…

So I’m obvi spending the whole day in the my room eating chocolates an avoiding people in general. That and I’m always home from school this weekend 1. to spend the day with my family and 2. to celebrate my goddaughters birthday. It’s been really hard knowing that I wouldn’t be able to be there this year. I guess you could say I’ve been a little homesick knowing that that’s where I would normally be right now….

But, I just have to keep looking forward because next week marks the official one month of being in England which is super exciting and crazy. I can’t believe I have lasted this long, lol. So then, let’s hope next week has better things in store….cheers!

& Happy Birthday little e, wish I could be their to watch you blow out your candles.

Enjoy.

~meesh

P.S. I promise I have some more exciting posts to come…

February 7, 2015February 7, 2015

50 shades of sheffield

With a month off for ‘Easter Break’ the weekends prove to be the perfect time to take a day trip. And with no class on Friday…why not start the weekend early…

So I hopped off the Train at STS

With a dream and my cardigan.

Welcome to the land of South Yorkshire,

Am I gonna fit in?

Walked to the map,

Here I am for the first time .

Look to my right and I see the City Hall sign.

This is all so crazy,

Everybody seems so English…

Lol….I couldn’t stop myself….maybe I’m a little homesick of Miley and parties in the USA. But, that’s really beside the point….

Sheffield is a really quaint town just south of Leeds, and just north of Nottingham. And since the train ticket was pretty cheap, why not? Since Sheffield was not listed in my guidebook we weren’t really sure what to do, but since the whole just wandering around thing seemed to work pretty well in Liverpool…we figured to just go for it.

Photos: Around and about in Sheffield

The city was full of little parks and fountains or ‘water features’ as they are called here…around every corner. And as we left Courtney said “Au revoir big balls” to play homage to our favorite water feature there.

Photos: The big balls…

For more photos of Sheffield and of my other travels too, check out my flickr!

Enjoy.

~meesh

P.S. This post is appropriately titled “50 shades of Sheffield” because it seemed that the 50 Shades of Grey franchise owned the city, with a poster for the movie around every corner…literally, and with all their “big balls” it seems to fit perfectly.

February 1, 2015

“i felt you and i knew you loved me”

Like I mentioned in yesterday’s post about Liverpool, when I walked into the Cathedral I was absolutely blow away by how breathing taking it was. I knew immediately once I stepped foot inside there was no way that a picture would be able to do it justice.

So rather than attempting to take photos of the whole thing I figured that it would be a lot more meaningful to capture the little moments I experienced when inside. I think that these moments really capture the essence of the Cathedral. Although they aren’t grand, they are detailed and focused, as was everything inside.