Saying Goodbye to England

Wow!

That's the best word I can think of to describe this last week here in England. Last week I had a feeling something was being plotted very secretly (and not so secretly at times!) for me on the weekend, but I had no idea what it was. Let's just put it this way. I was awoken Saturday morning... to Christmas! How can that be, you ask? Well my friends decided to make it Christmas morning for me, and surprised me with this amazing winter wonderland on my door...

I knew something was up the night before, because my friend Grace was completely covered in glitter. But I had no clue it was for something like this! Charlie, Grace, and Louisa worked so hard on this, and I have refused to take it down while I am here. Hopefully it will be here to greet the next occupant of Room 8 next semester!

That wasn't the end of the surprise though. They had, along with Cheryl, given me the most amazing poster I have ever seen! It has the entire book of pride and prejudice on it, and in the words you can see the silhouette of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth! Don't worry, when I get home I will be sure to post a picture of this. It was so incredibly thoughtful of them, and also explained why they wanted to measure my suitcase the week before. :) I was surprised yet again when they told me that a bunch of us were going to my favorite restaurant here for lunch. Here is all of us at Southern Eleven, the same American restaurant I went to at Thanksgiving...

On the left side of the table from Front to Back: Cheryl, Charlie, Natalie, and me. On the right side of the table from Front to Back: Jiaowan, Cristina, Grace, Louisa, and Martha.

The food was amazing, and my bbq chicken was just as good as anything I would get back in the States. The presentation is also fantastic at this restaurant, so I had to take a picture of my chicken and little dish of mashed potatoes and (of course) my gooey chocolate brownie I had for dessert...

It was an absolutely amazing day that ended with the movie "Top Gun" and lots of Krispy Kreme donuts. I have truly been blessed with wonderful friends here, and am so sad to be leaving them tomorrow. It's hard to believe that we have only known each other for a few months, it seems like I have known them so much longer!

Sunday our floor decorated our corridor for Christmas, because there was a competition between floors for an amazing prize to be given at our Gabs Christmas Dinner on Wednesday. We have many talented and creative people living on our floor, and without them there is no way we would have had these beautiful decorations made from recycled material. Here is a message my next-door neighbor Bana created out of a trashed yoga mat...

We were so happy, and very proud, to find out Wednesday night that our floor won the competition! We had so much fun decorating it together, but it has to be said that all the other floors were beautiful as well. :)

Christmas dinner at St. Gabriel's was so great, and I stuffed myself full of turkey, potatoes, stuffing, and dessert. It was the last time a lot of us would be together, so I used the time wisely and took many pictures of the wonderful friends I have made at Gabs. Here is a picture of (from Left to Right) Louisa, Martha, Charlie, and me...

And also a picture of the amazing Natalie looking gorgeous and mischievous at the same time (as only she could)...

This one is of my good friend Ingvild, who is from Norway, and Cheryl...

And finally a group picture! :) Standing in back from Left to Right: Charlie and Grace. Sitting in front from Left to Right: Ingvild and Cheryl...

I will miss everyone at St. Gabriel's so much! We have had the best times together, and I will remember them all for the rest of my life. My very last class at University of Manchester was yesterday, and since then I have been packing in earnest. Free space in my luggage is filling up fast, but luckily everything is going to fit! (insert massive sigh of relief here) :) Hopefully the weather cooperates tomorrow (it snowed a bit this morning and caused all kinds of chaos) and I will be eating a delicious home-cooked meal tomorrow night!

It's a very bittersweet moment for me. I'm excited to go home, yet already missing my friends here. But I have a plan.

I'm just going to have to convince them all to move to Missouri.

Hey... it could happen!

Flat Hannah's Corner

Flat Hannah is already packed up and ready for our journey home, but she also attended our "Christmas Farewell" party last Saturday. She hung out a bit with Charlie at dinner, and was very excited to hear of our good friends' plan to study abroad in the States next school year. We both look forward to reuniting with her when she visits our home country, and can't wait to show her around! Here is Flat Hannah and Charlie at dinner...

It is now time for Flat Hannah and I to say our goodbyes to our friends and to the beautiful country that hosted us for almost four months. Great Britain certainly lived up to its name, and was everything that we always hoped and dreamed it would be - and so much more!

See you on the other side of the pond!

Cheers!