You name it, I ate it.

Thanksgiving has come and gone however I am still feeling the effects. I need a wheelbarrow. Or a gastric bypass to prevent this from happening again! Too much good food.
Although I have initiated thanksgiving feasts back at home due in part to having an American brother-in-law, doing an American studies degree and pumpkin pies are just so damn good, nothing could have prepared me for a proper American thanksgiving.

My roommate invited me to join in with her family for the holiday and I eagerly accepted. It wasn't until I began to hear stories about her family,seeing a drawing of her HUGE family tree and getting to know her a bit more that I started to become a bit nervous! I'm a quiet British girl. I love my family to bits but we are a small family (I remember everyone's name for a start) and we are not a particularly loud family either, especially my home with my parents. My roommates family are one big loud American one! She has 32 cousins. I have 5 and 2 of those are 1st cousins once removed (or 2nd cousins, i'm not sure).
I have to say that they all welcomed me with open arms and made me feel comfortable straight away, even if there were some members that I had no idea what they were saying because they talked so fast!
We left Santa Cruz on Wednesday night and stayed at my roommates house in Sacramento. The following day we drove up convoy style to her aunt's new house in the Sierra Nevada foothills. It was gorgeous! Huge stone fireplace, open spaces, country kitchen, neighbours a mile away, perfect.
The house was descended upon with grandparents, aunts, cousins, in laws, everyone, on her 'moms' side of the tree. Plates were lined up on the kitchen counter...yams, mashed potatoes, broccoli salad, cranberry sauce, biscuits (like bread rolls), a Turkey to feed the 5000, and that was just the main course. The appetisers went on for hours: cheese and biscuits, smoked salmon, salami and cold meats, pickled asparagus (the only thing I did not eat!), piped cream cheeses. I was full by the time the Turkey came out of the oven!
The 40 or so people held hands round the kitchen and gave thanks and then we dug in! The following few hours was a vicious cycle of eating, pain, lying down, eating, pain, napping etc. OH and also a long long game of hide and seek with a 7yr old and a 12yr old. I had forgotten that feeling of extreme excitement and twitchiness that you get when you are a kid and hiding under laundry baskets!
Dessert- 11 Pumpkin pies. How did I have room? I didn't. I forced myself to find room!
We drove home and then a few of us went out to a pool bar (as in snooker) for a while to 'work off' some of the food in preparation for the next day. Her dad's thanksgiving day. Lord help me.

But first, Black Friday. The sale day to end all sale days. After playing pool, it was about 1am so we decided to swing by Walmart to laugh at all the crazy people lining up to buy plasma TV's at a reduced price! I was shocked at how many people were there. It was like a marathon. People sprinting down the isles, snatching at DVD players, dragging small children who were half asleep to the mile long line to pay, this wild look in their eyes. I silently chuckled to myself at the insanity of it all. The picture shows the lines at Walmart at 1am!
I had been looking for a new camera for a while so while we were in Walmart we went to have a look at some to see what the sale prices were like. I found a really nice one for $200 but a guy came up behind me and whispered "Target are selling these for $99. I bought 3. GO". Go we went. I turned into one of those crazys that I had just snorted about. Running out of Walmart, jumped into the car, drove full speed to Target while praying that there was one left. Barely waited for the car to stop moving before I lept from it and ran, pushing past hoards of people with a similar intent. We arrived sweating and puffing with wild eyes in front of a stack of 200 cameras. I laughed at myself. While I line hopped to the front with my new toy. I feel like my dad.

Getting tired of typing so will make the rest brief. Day 2 was similar to the first day: food, and more food. The highlight was definitely playing with matches and nearly setting the house on fire, and my introduction to smores. Toasted marshmallows sandwiched between graham crackers with chocolate. It doesn't take a genius to know that this was like eating heaven. A 'slumber party' followed with my roommates 12 year old cousin complete with popcorn and movies! I have definitely been in touch with my child side this weekend! As if I hadn't eaten enough food, we stopped by 'A Touch of Britain' to buy maltesers, smarties, dark chocolate kitkat and mince pies. Although we don't celebrate this holiday, everyone being with family and friends made me feel a bit homesick, so I have decided that I am thankful for skype and facebook!

I am about to cry at the prospect of the coming 2 weeks. Too much work, not enough time. In the next 5 days I have 2 presentations, a 10 page paper due, and a Spanish composition and oral exam. Kill me, kill me now. Preferably by stuffing pumpkin pie down my throat. That will be a nice way to die I think. Or to be hugged to death by Soxies.

"This is no ordinary apple. It is a wishing apple"

Rain, rain, rain...reminds me of home. It has not stopped in almost 24 hours. The sound is peaceful but the gloominess is a bit depressing. I have all the lights on and it is 11.30am!

Another busy week or work; it's never ending. Well there is an end in sight...18 days and counting until my final exam and then off to LA and then Seattle:D I can't wait to see my sister and brother-in-law. I will miss the cosy, english village Christmas but I am excited to spend the holidays in snowy Seattle even if it is going to be fffrreeezzzziinnnngggg. I have also spent quite a bit of time on the Disneyland website in preparation for my visit to SoCal! I feel like a little kid who can't wait to hug Mickey Mouse and all his friends! Oh and points to whoever gets the reference from this blog title;)

Speaking of Disney, I have chosen my modules for next quarter. After having such stressful, deep classes this quarter I have decided to take a more laid back approach to my American academic life. Ready for it? My modules include: Spanish 3 (ok so still stressful but I want to be able to at least say a sentence in Spanish by the time I return!), TV and the Nation (looking at the role of TV and broadcasting in shaping America since WW2) aaannnnddd WALT DISNEY! Yes, I will spending 4 hours a week analysing Disney and his movies and the franchise! At first I felt guilty for signing up for this class, I am constantly reminded how much I am spending on my degree but when else will I ever be able to learn this?! Not in Warwick that is for sure! So I am taking full advantage of the sheer range of classes they offer. There are some PE classes slipped into my schedule as well, I have to have some motivation for working off the Thanksgiving pies and the Christmas stuffing!

Went 'downtown' (yes I know there will be certain people laughing at this word) a few nights ago to celebrate a friends birthday. The way she phrased the invitation to me was "you wanna coming dancing? We are going to this club called Motive". I was taken a back by the word 'dancing'. I took it to mean 'clubbing'. So there I was getting ready as I would at home, downing the wine in preparation, but once down there realised she did actually mean dancing. We got into the club, expected to go straight to the bar, but no, we just went and danced. For ages. With no alcohol. Everyone was completley sober! This is not something I was used to! I think in the space of 3 hours, around 4 alcoholic drinks were consumed out of a group of 8! At 2am they even got in their cars and DROVE HOME! From a night out! I have to admit, it was a really really good night once I had got over the initial awkward, uncomfortableness of it all. Why is it that the Brits need to be completely wasted to do anything? It seems in America that when you go to house parties, that is the place to get smashed, but when you go out to clubs it is more just to dance. At least that has been my experience of it all. Will have to wait and see!

Cake has also featured prominently this week. A friend brought over the nicest banana loaf I have ever had ever, a chocolate cake was made a few nights ago, and then yesterday my roommate came back from picking around 100 apples to make apple crisp. Seriously, the apartment is covered in Apples! I can't believe it is thanksgiving on Thursday! I'm supposed to be saving myself for then! But how can you resist when the whole place smells of sweet, delicious desserts? Perhaps I need to face the rain and go to the gym. Actually that isn't even a perhaps it is an I WILL. Oh wait, is that another apple crisp I see?

Don't you love having a student id card!

Happy Remembrance Sunday/ Veterans Weekend/ 11-11-11!
Last week was stressful and long and hormonal. You know when just everything that can go wrong, goes wrong! Sorry if this sounds repetitive. Uni life is a mixture of ups and downs both at home and away so nothing new there, just going through the motions in a slightly sunnier and warmer climate!
We had the day off on Friday for Veterans Day so although all I wanted to do on Thursday was curl into a ball and say goodbye to the crappy week with TV and ice-cream, me and my roommate drove to San Francisco! and I am so glad I went! It took my mind off of everything.
On Friday we loaded up and headed out to start the first sight-seeing day. We headed over to Golden Gate Park and the deYoung museum to go to the observation deck at the top. Aaammaazzziinnnggg view over the city!

We walked down haight ashbury, a popular district in the 60s and 70s. Really cool area with a real hippie vibe. there were shrines on the street dedicated to dead musicians, including Amy Winehouse! Did a bit of shopping before heading over to Japantown for some Ramen noodles and to hit up the cheap $1 Japanese shops for items like Japanese sweets, white boards and sponges! We also stopped off at Alamo Square where those famous San Francisco houses are located (any fans of Full House, Party of Five, or any other show based in San Francisco will have seen these houses in the opening credits!)

We hopped on a bus to Union plaza where by this point it was absolutely chucking it down! We hopped into a few high end shops, including a home and kitchen wear one that was giving out hot apple cider...we hung out in there for a while! We then barged our way into a really posh hotel to take the glass lift that is on the outside of the hotel, up to the 32nd floor to get a view of downtown San Fran! We tried to make it look like we belonged in this hotel but we clearly didn't...rucksacks, raincoats, and soaking wet girls did not fit in with the uber posh, upper-class, older couples sitting in the wine lounge at 3pm. Too wet and rainy to go wonder round China town so we headed over to the Ferry Building to sample lots of deli foods! Went back to my roommates sister's apartment and watched Crazy, Stupid Love...hilarious film! I have always been in love with Steve Carrell.

Supposed to get back to Santa Cruz for midday on Saturday as we both had a lot of work to do, but we heard about a Green festival on 8th street which  was only a few blocks away so decided to go check it out for a bit. Well, we must've spent 2 hours in there! We got in for free because we were students and  this place was absolutely enormous, stalls stretching for about half a mile! We picked up some free tote bags and worked our way down, picking up samples of ice cream, protein powders, raw and natural fruit drinks, granola bars, chocolate, kale crisps, rice, licorice samples, apple sauce, literally anything that was natural and sustainable, we picked it up! We filled up two bags, went home, dropped them off, then went back again for round 2! We came back with 5 bags full to the brim of free stuff! It was amazing. We didn't get back to Santa Cruz until 9pm even though San Francisco is only an hour away! I love Californians and their love of natural, greeness;) Means that I don't have to ever buy apple sauce or bags of red licorice (retail price $6!) or energy bars or laundry detergent again! I have no idea what to do with my hemp seeds though. I'm sure someone in Santa Cruz can tell me.

Hanging with the dogs of the sea!

Another Sunday, another post, though a short one I feel:)

Today was spent in the great outdoors! Although winter is setting in (we have had lots of rain and it is getting much colder) me and my roommate went on a sunset kayaking trip in Monterey Bay this afternoon. I was excited for the trip but after a great white shark attack on a surfer in the area 5 days ago my excitement was dampened somewhat! But after the initial 15mins I completely forgot about the shark and what could be underneath me and just enjoyed the beautiful scenery. It was so gorgeous and peaceful. Pelicans, sea otters, seals and sea lions joined us on our trip on the slightly choppy pacific ocean as we paddled out of the harbour, round the boardwalk and wharf for a few hours! A real arm and shoulder workout! I will admit there were times when a piece of kelp would rise up and resemble a fin and completely freak me out (doesn't the attack in Jaws happen at dusk...I thought so!).

The sea lions like to hang out underneath the wharf and they are so loud! You can hear them from miles away. Hearing the sea lions you can see why they are called 'dogs of the sea'! On Saturday a few of us went down to the wharf to see them and look for whales as the humpbacks have been in the bay (didn't see any unfortunately!) but I hear they are still around so I am keeping a look out! This video I took shows how loud they are!

Can't think of anything else to report. Next weekend is Veterans weekend so a day off on Friday...trip to San Francisco? Yes please!

Oh for the love of....

A few days late but I have a very good reason- Halloween! Let's just jump right into it.
I'm not the biggest Halloween lover, I find dressing up more stressful than fun and so was pretty prepared to let this holiday just pass by. No such luck in America. Literally, for weeks now, everywhere you look there is a carved pumpkin on a porch, a string of bats hung up in a shop window and numerous 'commercials' for 'half off halloween candy'. I wanted to scream "People! It's a children's holiday!! yes, at uni it is a great excuse to throw a party and drink lots but the majority of you are 3 years away from  being able to do this!" After this weekend however, I take it all back!
I put little to no thought into a costume; I borrowed some lion ears and tail from a friend in my spanish class. My roommate went all out, which she tells me is the norm for a lot of people, and literally made her costume (an anime character) from scratch. I even went to the fabric store with her to find just the right shade of grey! It is that serious of an event! The weekend arrived and while a gathering at a friends apartment was fun, it was just a normal evening but in costume. Monday came and I enjoyed the free cupcakes and chocolate that my spanish teacher provided, and the chocolate that my swim coach made us 'work our asses' for but I still was not in the Halloween spirit. After receiving an email from the university a week ago telling us to please not go downtown for Halloween night as people kept getting stabbed last year, I was a bit wary of going but was convinced in the end.
I am so glad I did, it was like Mardi Gras in downtown Santa Cruz! Thousands of people all in some form of costume, ranging form the extreme (the full on Teletubbies clan) to the conservative (me in my little lion ears), from the ages of 0 to 100 (I saw an elderly couple dressed as Prince Charles and Camilla which was highly amusing) all cheering and parading up and down the centre of downtown all night! It was insane!! It made me appreciate that Americans don't do anything in halves; it is all or nothing!

Last week was a pretty hard week actually, emotionally speaking. I blame it on the American invention of mid-terms which I do not agree with! Exams in the middle of the term and without a holiday at the end of them? Mean. I was feeling like I was really enclosed in, like the Warwick bubble but here in Santa Cruz (though a more beautiful looking bubble). It was nice then that this Sunday I went on a high ropes adventure course that had been organised by the Recreation department. 90ft up in the Redwood trees...scary but amazing at the same time! I met a bunch of really nice people and it was great to get properly outdoors and away from work and stress! The powow of love at the end of the day made me slightly uncomfortable, us British are not used to expressing our thoughts and fears and praise to strangers, but it was actually pretty nice to do. I can feel myself becoming an American already;)

Next week I am going on a Sunset kayaking trip in Monterey Bay which I was excited about, until I heard that there was  great white shark attack on a surfer in the Bay a few days ago. Umm, I changed my mind, I don't want to go. Some friends kindly tried to make me feel better by telling me I won't be on a surfboard...i pointed out that I would be in a kayak. Those shapes look the same to a shark from bellow! So this may or may not be my last post.....