Oh Christmas is already here!

The Actor who played Prince Charming won X Factor in 2009. 

Well Christmas has come and gone…how crazy is that? I still can’t even wrap my head around it being December let alone Christmas and now that it’s over I still can’t believe it.

This past Sunday the family and I went to the Hayes Beck Theatre and saw the Pantomime of “Cinderella”. Basically a Pantomime is a play but is audience based – you get to talk to the characters, boo at the baddies, “aw” at the adorable moments and so on. When we got there and looked for our seats my host mom couldn’t believe what she had done, she booked us in the front row. About half way through the show two characters got into a water gun fight…needless to say they ran around the audience getting one another and guess who got hit the most – the front row! We got soaked! My host dad’s mom and dad came with us and the ugly stepsisters chose my host dad’s dad as their new love interest – they involved him in everything! He had to stand up and turn around so everyone in the audience could see him and they talked about him while they were performing.

One part that was so funny was when the one ugly stepsister went to try on the shoe she said it wouldn’t fit because she was wearing her wool stockings. After pulling off the very long stocking on the end was a part of knickers with my host dad’s dad name on them! This play had me laughing so much at points I was crying. It was a great way to start the Christmas break with the girls.

Lina and I on Christmas

Finally it was Christmas! I was awoken at 8am to loud thundering feet from the stairs as the girls ran downstairs to see their presents. The morning went really fast as well. After opening presents we went to Hampton to use their outdoor pool, which was 29 degrees – it was like a giant hot tub fit for 100! It was great when you were in the pool but once you got out it was so cold, obviously not as cold as it is in Canada but it was still pretty cold compared to what it has been. After that we came home and had a lovely pork and beef Christmas lunch. We watched The Queen's speech and the rest of the day was filled with Christmas movies and FaceTiming with my family to see them open the gifts I got them, the post man still has mine so hopefully I get mine before next year. :)

So far the break has gone by super fast! Next week is New Years already, still cannot believe it. Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and will have a Happy New Year!

Doctor Who Fans Unite!

This weekend I went to Swansea to visit my friend Erin from Canada, she's currently working over here and offered to show me around Wales and take me to the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff. It was yet another early weekend for me, getting up at 5am to be able to catch my train at 7:45am in London was not fun but I did sleep a bit on the train so it made up for it. I got into Swansea at about 11am where I met Erin at the train station and she showed me around.


We went by all the shops and Christmas festivals going on, then it began it rain. Was not fun! I've noticed that each weekend I go away somewhere it always rains, hopefully this streak will stop for my next trip (more on that later). We spent the day catching up with one another and going to different places in Swansea, we went to a museum and saw a presentation on Doctor Who - it was really interesting. One of the speakers is a rapper and he made a rap about Doctor Who, watch it it's pretty good : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeMU5CmTKHk

On Sunday we made our way to Cardiff, it was a very Doctor Who filled day. We went to the Torchwood entrance as well as the shrine for it - which is on the pier sort of near the Doctor Who Experience. We made our way over to the Doctor Who Experience and I have it say it was pretty cool! Now I've seen a couple of episodes of Doctor Who but I have not seen a lot, my siblings and mom are bigger fans than I am so I really went for them so I could tell them all about it. I have made a promise with myself to start watching it come the new year so I can appreciate the Experience more.

When you first go in the first 25minutes you are apart of a Doctor Who episode. The Doctor (Matt Smith at this time) is trapped in Pandora's box and you have help free him. You get to walk inside the Tardis, drive it but then become kidnapped by Darleks. The Doctor helps you out of there but then the Weeping Angels start coming after you - they are even scarier in person!

After fighting them off you save the Doctor and return to Earth. After the Episode they have on display costumes from all the Doctors and the most recent companions. They have wax figures of all the aliens and monsters as well. The Experience ends with a stop at the gift shop. Overall it was a pretty cool building - any Doctor Who fan would appreciate it. After that we walked around a bit more before grabbing some dinner and seeing a movie (Saving Mr. Banks). I took the 8pm train home and was back in Uxbridge just after 11pm. It was a very full weekend but well worth it!

Now we're at 8 days until Christmas and then it'll be the new year, where did the time go?

Merry Christmas everyone and Have A Happy New Year!

Madame Tussaud's

On Saturday I went to Madame Tussaud's with a friend and a friend of hers (which is now a friend of mine haha). Anyways! We were there for around three hours and if it wasn't as busy we probably would have stayed there a bit longer just to make sure we saw everything. It was amazing in there! The wax figures are so life like it kind of creeped me out a bit.

There are different sections in the building, and also the building is much bigger than it looks on the outside. We started on the red carpet and then made out way to the cinema stars, everything was decorated for Christmas so of course Santa had to be there. In the building there's a part of it called "The Spirit of London", it's a wax section of the highlights of London history. Instead of walking through it you got to sit in a mini taxi and take a ride through it, it was so cool!

















We then saw a Marvel Avenger's 4D movie! The film was 3D and if they did certain stuff we would either get misted, blasted by air or moved in the seats. I hadn't been to one of those since Disney (Honey I Shrunk the Kids 4D movie) so it was a really cool reminder of how it is.

After Madame Tussaud's we went to Covent Garden to go to The Maple Leaf for a drink and some food, we were all starving by then. By time we got there the place was packed so we had to go somewhere else, ended up walking around London a bit more before going to Pizza Express (which is the best pizza I've had in a long time). More walking lead to seeing all the Christmas decorations that are up and around London. It's so beautiful in London right now, a little bit of snow would make it actually feel like Christmas but I'll settle for all the decorations.

Next weekend I'm off to Swansea to visit my friend Erin for the weekend. That post will be next Monday or Tuesday as I'll get back really late on Sunday. Bye for now :)

And the countdown is on!

          Would like to just say that I am jealous of London, Canada for all of the snow they have and here it's still looks like Fall. Temperature wise the only time it goes into the negatives is later in the night, we've been having highs of 10-11 degrees everyday for the past two weeks or so. I did read a news article that said England is suppose to get the worst winter in over 60 years this coming winter but from what a tour guide said to me awhile ago London's temperature won't be as cold as the country side - so out here in Uxbridge we might not even hit the negatives during the day this winter.

Anyways this weekend I went and saw Catching Fire with a friend and then headed to Hyde Park for "Winter Wonderland". Almost half of Hyde Park is set up with food stalls, shops, fair games and carnival rides! It wasn't as busy as it could be, there were still a lot of people there, but it was enjoyable.

      The entire thing was at least 4miles long or so, it was HUGE! Free admission to Winter Wonderland but if you wanted to go on any of the rides you had to buy tickets (£1 per ticket and most rides asked for 3 per person so there your money would add up). There were lots of German Pubs, Mulled Wine stalls, Fish & Chips stalls, Hot Chocolate (with rum) stalls and so much more! If you wanted to feel the Christmas spirit you just had to walk through the gate and you were all set.
Trying to get home afterwards though? CRAZY! We went to the Hyde Park Corner tube station and they had shut the entrance gates until the crowd from below mellowed out....ten minutes later we finally got to go in and they had the tubes labeled wrong. Of course didn't find this out until we were on it and moving so we just had to make 2 transfers instead of one.

Next weekend is going to be a lazy weekend. I'm going to go to White City to Westfield Mall and do some window shopping and see either "The Butler" or "Saving Mr. Banks" (depends on if "The Butler" is still playing there or not). The week after, it'll be December (Holy Moly!), I'm meeting another Canadian Au Pair and her friend for a day out in London and then on the 14th&15th of December I'll be going to Wales/Cardiff to meet up with my friend from Canadian who came back over here for work.

Also 30 Days until Christmas!!!

Light It Up!

Santa's House

Oh yes Christmas is in the air! Lights turning on each weekend and different Christmas events going on in London soon. It's so exciting!

This past weekend was party central at the house. It's my Host Dad's birthday this coming Thursday so we had a party Saturday night for me. Co-workers and his brothers came to the house for food and drinks and an all nighter from what I heard - I went to bed around 1am and they were still all up (thank goodness the kids were in bed though, they'd be exhausted the next day.) We had fireworks and sparklers in the backyard to celebrate.

Giant Elf's walking around the mall.

On Sunday I went to the mall in Uxbridge for free concerts they were putting on throughout the day and then a countdown to turning on the Christmas lights around the mall. Joe McElderry, X Factor winner in 2009, was the main star. He sang "The Climb" and then after much anticipation he turned on the lights. He is also starring in "Cinderella" this Christmas, which the family and I are going to see over the Christmas holidays.

Not much planned for the rest of November, other than seeing Catching Fire & Saving Mr. Banks :). A friend of mine from Canada is suppose to be going to Wales for work in a little bit so I'll be meeting up with her hopefully in December or January.

CHRISTMAS!

          Yes you read that right... Christmas! Well over in London it is anyways. Christmas lights are everywhere, all the shops have there Christmas items out and they are even playing Christmas all over the radio and showing Christmas movies on the TV. Good thing it's my favourite holiday ;)

          Saturday on Regent Street was the annual Christmas lighting ceremony. It was going on throughout the whole day with mini fashion shows and then at around 5pm the concerts started. I briefly saw Leona Lewis, Eliza Dolittle and Baby Spice, also it was on a big screen that I saw them. The place was packed! And apparently you needed to have a VIP wristband to even get into the venue so needless to say my friend and I were with about 200 other people outside the barriers trying to get the best view we could.

          I saw a bit but you couldn't really hear anything so it wasn't really worth the little moss pit that we were in. We eventually moved back a bit on the street so that we could see all the lights and patiently waited for Phil Dunphy (from Modern Family, I know that's not his real name but much easier to picture the character than me saying the actors name and you having to look him up.) Around 7pm they started the count down to turn on the lights, they pressed the button AND.....nothing. No lights and a lot of booing from the audience. They tried it again AND......nothing yet again. About 10 minutes later they tried one more time and finally they lit!

          Fireworks followed the lights turning on and it actually felt like it was Christmas, just needed a cup of hot chocolate in my hands and it would have really felt like it. After the ceremony my friend and I walked around Regent Street, taking pictures of the lights and meeting up with more friends. We then went into Hamley's, a 7 Floor Toy Store! Each floor has it's own theme, toys wise, and there is so much that I want to get that I might as well buy the store and then I could have it all.

          The next couple of weeks are sort of lazy weeks, I don't really have much planned (other than maybe going into London the odd weekend) but I am currently getting my Christmas package ready to send back over to my family. Happy to say that I am finally done my Christmas shopping, just have to send it all over now. There is a new movie coming out each week that I want to see so I think I'll take sometime for myself and go and see them :)  "The Butler" is finally coming to the UK on Friday, next week it's "Catching Fire" and at the end of the month "Saving Mr. Banks" (yes we get it before you "insert evil laugh here").

Merry Christmas from Mike&Sully!

          All is well with me and the family. They just got back last week from their mini holiday and the girls had a lot of fun with rock climbing, swimming and many more activities. Now it's back into school and after school activities routine, which has been going surprisingly well even after a week off. Also mentioning Christmas we will have two new additions to the family by that time, TWO more kittens! I'm going to turn into crazy cat lady and they won't even be my cats haha.

          I hope to try and post at least once a week, unless some really awesome stuff goes on and then there could be more. So hope all is well in Canada, missing my friends and family but am so glad that I am here and experiencing this :) talk to you all later!

Mini Break Part Two

Hampton Court Palace

          Well my week off is coming to an end, which I am sad but also happy about (as I will explain later.) So onto the rest of my week!
         Thursday was Halloween and so instead of sitting on the couch all day watching Halloween movies (I did that that night instead) I went to Hampton Court Palace which is where Henry the VIII lived, as well as some other Kings.

          I just have to say now that it is such a beautiful place! And not just because of the architecture, the paintings and the staircases and just how everything is arranged in Hampton is just breath taking! If I could live there I think I would. It was a cool day, which didn't help with my cold but I pressed on. I'm really glad that I have this membership pass (thank you again Caitlin), now I don't have to worry about seeing everything in one visit, I can go back anytime I like (as long as they are open) and explore more of the things that I didn't see.

Just one of the beautiful ceilings I saw 

They have this exhibit on at the moment all about the Royal Bedchambers of some of the people who lived there, we weren't allowed to take pictures but the beds were just beautiful! I believe it was Queen Anne who had FIVE mattresses for her bed, they were made of feathers and soft wool (and stacked every other). I think it was King George who had a take-away bed that he would bring with him where ever he went, it could be taken part and put into a box about 3 ft wide. But when it was resembled it would be as long as 6ft for a comfortables nights sleep.

Natural History Museum 

         
On Friday I went into London to go to the Natural History Museum, and this day made me decide for the next half term break the girls have (if the family is on vacation I will also go somewhere else other than central London!) Oh my god it was busy, well everyday that I've been into London this week it has, but this was a totally different story! Just trying to walk around the museum and see anything was a struggle, you had kids running around and running into you, parents who were carrying their kids (which is smart for being so busy) but not looking where they are going and hitting you (which was not fine) and then you had the "in a hurry parents and kids" who would run by you and two seconds later run by you again in the opposite direction. 

Thank goodness it is free to get into the museum or I would not have gone that day, I will have to go back again when it is not as crowded to really enjoy myself there. For the weekend I plan on taking it easy, I think this is the first weekend that I have not gone into London or gone somewhere at least one of the days. I have been feeling better so a couple of days of relaxing won't hurt. The family gets back on Monday so it will be go-go-go for me when they get back, which will be nice to get back into routine again.

I have a few little things planned for November, mostly going to the movies and getting my Christmas presents and cards ready, and December will be a busy one with the girls have their break, Christmas, Boxing Day, New Years and all the activities I will be joining in with the family. I hope to from here on out to post at least once a week just to give an update or even twice a week depending on what's going on. I think I'll make my blog postings for Sundays, it'll be a nice wind down from the week and a reflection of what I did the past week. Remember to comment with any recommendations you wish me to go to or any pictures that you want to see of past events or really anything :) Thanks for reading guys!

A mini break filled with adventure!

Her Majesty's Theatre

Maple Leaf Canadian Pub

 Well I promised you another post and here it is! This post will be all about the beginning of my first week off of work and all the stuff I planned to keep me entertained. I must of packed to much stuff into the week though and worn myself out already because I now have a cold. But with some medicine and sleep am feeling much better now.

          Monday started off with weather warnings of the hurricane that hit England on the weekend. They were calling for lots of rain and wind and to expect delays with the trains and traffic because of the severe weather. I am glad to say that all we got in my area was rain and a little bit of wind! Me being silly however still didn't bring an umbrella and proper windy weather clothing with me on Monday so I got rained on and was cold most of the day (most likely how I got sick so yes it is my own fault.) However I made the best of my day, I went to collect my ticket for "Phantom of the Opera" (which I saw that night) and then headed to The National Gallery. I didn't spend to much time in there however because I don't know that much about Art and the Artist in there and really just wanted to see the Van Gogh pieces (so this means I do need to go back once I am more educated on the other Artists in the building.)

         After that I walked to Covent Garden to check out there daily flea market, they already have the place dressed up for Christmas! And I thought I was gun hoe on Christmas but never this early, it's not even Halloween yet! For lunch I went somewhere that was the closes to Canada I'll get in awhile, The Maple Leaf (an all Canadian pub). It felt nice to have a little bit of home far away from home. After a long day of rain and wind it was time to see Phantom and it was amazing! My seat was pretty decent, even with the restricted view it said it had (there was a pillar slightly to my right but it did not effect the view of the stage.) The cast was amazing and the guys who played Raoul and The Phantom were quite attractive as well so even better.

Map of the Tower of London

          On Tuesday I went back into London to go to the Tower of London. For my birthday my sister got me a membership for the palaces and courts of England. It includes the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Banqueting House, Kensington Palace, and Kew Palace. I get free admission to each place, free admission to most of the events going on at each place and a discount on the cafes and shops and so much more! I've always been a fan of History, yes even with my memory, so it was really interesting to be apart of it all and learn about the History that happened only forty minutes away from where I live. I toured around the whole tower and learned all about the Kings that ruled there, how the coin mint of England was moved to the tower, who was executed at the tower and about the two Princes that *disappeared* from the tower. Since it's school holidays at the moment the place was packed with families and tourists, which meant lots of queues! Have I mentioned how I hate queues? More specifically queues made because people are walking so slowly! Thats how it was for a bit while I did the walk around the upper ledge of the Tower, waited five minutes to get into one of the towers to realize it was being people were walking so slowly or stopping in the middle of the way and other people not moving around them.

         The only thing I did not see while I was there was the crown jewels. There was an hour and a half queue line by time I arrived in the morning and it wasn't gaining any time what so ever by time I left, but good thing I have the membership, I can visit however many times as I want within the year of my membership. Another thing to add onto the to-do list.  Today I took things easy, getting over my cold still but the rest of the week is filled with many more places to go! I hope to do another posting on Sunday about the rest of my week off :)

Here is a link to the Tower of London for more information: http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/

Ravens are an omen of good luck at the Tower
and each King that ruled made sure that Ravens
were always present at the Tower.

Funny kids t-shirt I found in one of the shops.

First Weekend Tour = Great Success

Hello everybody! Another weekend past us, another little trip for me. Well not little, the total opposite…it was HUGE! This past weekend I took a tour to Oxford, Burford, Stow-on-the-Wold, Bourden-on-the-water, Bilbury, Bath, Lacock, and Stonehenge! Man that’s a mouth full and a half!

Saturday morning started early again for me, had to be up for 5:30am to be in London on time and ready to go for 8:15am. Thought I’d sleep on the way the Oxford but the driver, and our tour guide as well, kept telling us all these fun facts that I didn’t want to sleep.

In Oxford we mostly just walked around one of the main parts of Oxford University. I think the coolest thing I learned about Oxford was how their school system works. There are 36 colleges in Oxford and Oxford University. The colleges are very different than the colleges I’m use too, basically the colleges are used for a living space, library, dinning hall and rec room. Every student, no matter which college they go to/stay in when they graduate from their program they will graduate from the University of Oxford! Wicked! 
After Oxford we visited some of the Cotswolds towns, they are apart of the Cotswolds because of the sheep that are raised there, these towns included (Burford, Stow-on-the-Wold, Bourden-on-the-water, and Bilbury). Each town had there own unique way of looking, very country feeling and a nice feeling after being in the city for so long.

Stonehenge

After a good rest at the hotel on Sunday we went to two other Cotswolds towns (Bath and Lacock) and then ended our tour at Stonehenge. In Bath we went into the Roman Baths and got to listen to an audio tour as we walked around. After Bath we went to Lacock, which is one of the only towns in England that hasn’t been touched by modern development. They do have electricity and drive obviously but there are no electrical wires hanging in the streets or TV dishes on the houses which means a lot of movies and TV shows that are set in the period times can be filmed here (like Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth). 

Stonehenge was the last stop before heading home. Other than being very windy and cold it was exciting to see these famous stones in person. Our tour guide told us lots of information about everywhere we went to this weekend but me being me and not being the best at memory will have to refresh my memory via the Internet. I apologize for this and because I am a horrible person for not giving more fun facts I’m going to be doing another post Wednesday which will be about my first part of my week off and then another on Sunday to follow up with the rest of my week.

Roman Baths

Off to Hogwarts I Go

Getting up at 5:30am on a Saturday to go to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour of Harry Potter...well worth it. I went to the studio with two other au pair friends of mine and instead of all trying to figure out the difference transfers to get to the studio we decided to take the "Harry Potter" bus, meaning I had to be in London by 8:45am at the latest so that I wouldn't miss it.

Of course this weekend the Uxbridge tube station has to be shut down so they can do repairs on the station so I had to get up extra early to get ready and take a bus to a different tube station that would take me into town. It was an early start but I'm glad I made it safely into London and with more than enough time to meet the bus.

          We made it to the studios at 10am (our entrance time for the studio was between 11:00-11:30am). We had a quick look around the entrance part of the studio and then joined the queue (line). We were then taken into a cinema and watched a quick video of the tour with introductions by Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint.  Finally at 11am we entered the studio tour and our first stop was The Great Hall. It was amazing to see in person! It actually felt like being in the real Hogwarts (not that I know what it's like, I'm just a muggle) but the feeling that I got when I walked through those doors was a great and amazing feeling. Throughout the tour we got to see the actual sets used during the movies and props/wigs/costumes that were created for each character. One of the coolest things I learned was how they made Robbie Coltrane into Hagrid, height wise. If you do want to know hightlight the text below between the quotation marks and copy and paste it into a word document and make the font bigger :) I know some people might not want to know the magic behind it or discover it for themselves so I will respect that.

          "   For distance shots they used a body double as well as stilts and even a robot head that looked exactly like Coltrane to fit the double that was controlled off screen to move. For closer up shots Coltrane used stilts to appear taller.    "

          I did get to have some butterbeer while I was there and for those who haven't tried making their own I suggest doing so, you can find recipes on pinterest, it is very sweet but also very delicious :) For any Harry Potter fan I highly suggest going here at some point, to see all the detail and hard work that was put into making these books come to life through movie is just breath taking! So many people worked very hard to make it all come true and it's great to see that they are getting the respect they deserve. 

This weekend coming up I will be going on a tour to Oxford, Cotswolds, Bath, Lacock and Stonehenge. It's a full weekend tour so it will be keeping me very busy. As well next week the family is going on a mini holiday because the girls have their half term which means I have the whole next week off :) I have something, or many things, planned everyday. There may even be a couple of posts just for next weeks events so stay tuned. 

Don't forget to make a comment if you want to know more about something or have questions or comments about anything :)

The Big 2-2!

Okay, okay I know turning twenty-two isn't that old or anything but it's another year added onto mine so I believe it's a big deal, and for people who know me my birthday is my second favourite holiday (Christmas will always be number one!) For this being my first birthday being far away from home and I defiantly felt it. Not that I was sad about being away from home but it was different not being around my family and having Thanksgiving. I had an amazing day however and would not have changed it if I could :)

The day started with a lovely breakfast made by my host family, pancakes, bacon, sausages the whole shebang! I then went into London and met with a friend for lunch. After that it was off to see "Les Miserables". The musical was amazing! Our seats were at the very top in the back row, only a tiny bit was cut off at the top of the stage for maybe two minutes at most but they were amazing seats for only costing £28.
The actors and actresses wonderfully portrayed the characters (having only seen the movie that is what I had to go off of). I believe this is the longest play that I have ever seen, both Act One and Two were an hour and a half each! It did not feel like an hour and a half each time, only that our seats were kind of cramped so my legs got stiff after a bit.


After "Les Mis" we went to Leicester Square to walk around for a bit before we had to meet with some more au pairs at the Metropolitan Bar. Apparently there was a Zombie Walk going on at the same time. There were hundreds of people dressed up in full zombie uniform and there was also a zombie band playing music. The British International Film Festival is also on until October 20th, and while we were waiting there was a premiere going on and celebrities on the red carpet. I saw Julia-Louis Dreyfus, tried to get a decent picture of her but she was being interviewed by time I got there and not looking the right way.

We then made our way to the Metropolitan Bar to meet up with some of the other au pairs I have met since arriving. I was quite surprised to see that two of the girls had gotten me a cake, I got to blow out the candles twice because we forgot to take pictures the first time. It was a very exciting birthday and I am so happy and blessed for everyone I have met so far to make it wonderful for me.



I am hoping to try and update the blog every week either on the Monday or Friday of that week. I am going to the Harry Potter Studio Tour on Saturday (19th) so I will post my next entry on the Monday of next week, so look forward to that :)

By Luck Yet Again

Most of you who have me on Facebook or are a close family member of mine already know this but for those that do not I would like to tell you about my weekend and how another chance of fate happened once again for me.

On Saturday I was met with another Canadian Au Pair for the day, we made a plan of going to the King's Cross Journey which was a festival that celebrated the Victorian times in England. They had dancing, sing-a-longs, games and food there for everyone to enjoy and best part was that it was all for free. Her and I spent a good portion of the afternoon there and then headed to Tower Hill and walked along the Thames all the way up to the Houses of Parliament. It was a good hour walk or so because of how busy London is on the weekends but we found neat little shops and different displays and street performers.

Before all of this happened though I had to meet her at King's Cross Station, it's about an hour ride on the tube and only about twenty minutes for her since she lives closer to it than I do. She got there first so I texted her and said that she should get her picture taken at Platform 9 & 3/4 while she waited for me. Once I finally got there I met her as she was still in line. It was quite busy in the station as well, me thinking because it was the weekend but in fact it was due to the fact that an actor from the Harry Potter films was there. Mr. Warwick Davis, he played Professor Flitwick and Griphook in the films, was taking pictures with people at Platform 9 & 3/4 (he is in London performing in "Spamalot" on West End.) I tagged along with my new friend and just before it was our turn they said that he had to leave. We were bummed out that we didn't get a chance to get a picture with him but still got our pictures taken anyways, this time for me in my true house scarf Hufflepuff :)


Her and I went into the store so she could purchase her picture and it turned out that Warwick was going to stick around for autographs and quite pictures! We caught him on the way out and I got my camera case signed and a photo with him as well. Apparently there was an announcement somewhere that he was going to be there that day because a lot of people came dressed up and had the Harry Potter books for him to sign as well.


So far on my journey here I have been very, VERY lucky to have such great opportunities and experiences. I am so blessed that I could even come to England to work and to travel as a bonus. My month of October is pretty packed with musicals, going to other au pairs home towns, traveling outside of London and exploring some of the most historic places in Europe. I am very thankful for all the love and support from my family and friends as I embark on this adventure and grow a little more each day from all that I have accomplished to get here. Yes I know this last paragraph is sappy but it has to be said, thank you everyone :)

Times Flies!

Crazy to say but I have been here for a month and 2 days already! It honestly still feels like it should be August and I should just be starting this job! It's insane!

Weather wise now a days it is cool and rainy, a mix of Spring and Fall all wrapped into one. I don't mind it being cool, my favourite season is Fall, but all the rain (it's not A LOT but it's more than what I'm use to I guess) makes the days kind of gloomy so I've been keeping myself busy with different little things.

I started using my Travel Card for Curves last week and have been going there every single day since then. It's good until tomorrow and depending on how much the membership is I am thinking of joining it for at least three months (once the girls go on their school holidays I won't have time to go in because of the times they are opened and the hours I will be working.) It feels good to do a full body exercise after three weeks of not going to Curves every single day for the past three months or so. Also I will take this time to do a shout out to all my Forest Curves friends :) Hello ladies! Hope all is well at Curves and that everyone is having a great time.

Overall during my stay my transition into the family has been pretty easy going, the girls are still getting use to me (which is expected of them) and I am still getting use to them. The family I am with is very friendly and have welcomed me in as one of there own (now I sound like I'm joining a wolf pack or something.) The only thing I still have not gotten use to yet is that my family and friends are five hours behind me. So when I go to FaceTime or Skype or even iMessage someone it's either really early for them or it'll be getting late for me. That feeling may never change though but will be working on it. I am enjoying myself though and finding different things to keep me busy, just finished reading "Divergent" the other day and am starting the second one today:), walking around Uxbridge and as I said before working out.

This weekend in Canada is the Forest Fair, the first time I will not being going to one in about twenty-two years :(, and in Uxbridge is the Autumn show on Saturday. I'm not 100% sure what will be at this Autumn show but will report back after attending. I hope to next week to go into London during the week to find "The Maple Leaf" pub, an all Canadian pub near Leicester Square.

TTFN :)

Fate at it's best

Today was a normal Saturday type of day. I got up, got dressed and had some breakfast. My plan was to go into London today to go and see "The Lone Ranger" (yes it's still in theatre's here) and walk around Leicester Square. I got on the tube, read more of the book my best friend Stef got me before leaving (finished it on the way back, "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children", AMAZING book go read it) and snacked on the way so I wouldn't have to buy lunch.

I got off at the Piccadilly Circus stop and walked to Leicester Square, a 5-minute walk at most. On the way to Leicester Square I passed by the Prince of Wales Theatre and was stopped by one of the workers there. He asked if I wanted to enter into a Lottery Draw to win a pair of tickets to the musical that was on at the moment. I told him that I was by myself so I could enter in for one, he then directed me to another lady who was also by herself and said that we could pair up, so that if either of us won we would have an extra ticket for the other. We got to talking and she told me that she has been a flight attendant for the past 25 years and comes to London at least 3 times a month almost! Her friend told her about this Lottery Draw (he had won the previous week before) and told her to go see it the next time she was in London.

We waited for 12:30pm for them to announce the winners, they called 3 peoples names before I heard them read the ladies name that I was with, we had just won FRONT ROW tickets for THE BOOK OF MORMON for only £20! We both looked at each other and screamed with excitement! We went in and paid for our tickets and agreed to meet back at 2:00pm when the doors opened.

As soon as I found WiFi access I iMessage my sister and asked if we could FaceTime quickly, not realizing that it wasn't even 8:00am back in Canada yet. I knew she'd be excited for me because we had tried to get tickets when it was playing in Toronto.

The play was AMAZING! It was super funny and very entertaining. You could tell that the creators of South Park made it for sure! The humour was crude but hilarious! Today turned out better than expected :)
                 

 

Some little differences

After being here for two weeks I've been starting to notice some differences about the way things are in Ontario and the way things are in England (what I've seen of it so far). Obviously the accent and driving on the other side of the car & road, those are a given, but just other characteristics.

-the yellow light at the stop light actually means "Go" instead of "Slow down" or "Wait"

-you can wear anything you want out, mostly this is about different types of patterns put together, and they sell this in the store as well (example, a stripe and cheetah print dress)

-no tax! unless it's paid for in other ways but if you go to a store and something is 10pounds, it's 10pounds!

-if you give someone a tip they find it weird. Got ice cream today and told them to keep the change and they gave me a weird look so I said "It's a canadian thing, a little treat for you." The girl then laughed and said Thank You

-everything is mailed to you. Got a bank account, had to wait for my debit card to come in the mail and now that I have the card I have to wait for the next letter to get my PIN number

-there are no screens on any windows! They just open and you can fall out if it's big enough

-it's much easier to cross the road, only have to look one way (most of the time)

-a lot of round a bouts! which are a good thing, some of the time


There will be more added when I can think of more but so far those are the things that really stick out to me.

First Weekend - London Bus Tour

Hello everyone! Busy weekend for me that's for sure. I took the Big Bus Tour around London this weekend and saw the sights and took lots of pictures :)

Sunday started out with me taking the tube into London, having to transfer to the bus system half way because of rail construction and then back to the tube. It took about 2hrs on Sunday to get there because the bus driver kept making random stops he wasn't suppose to, at each random stop there were pretty girls so I'm guessing that's why. Anyway I got into London around 11:45am and got on the Red Bus tour, apart of the Big Bug tours. With the Red Bus tour you get live commentary which was great! The tour guide pointed out everything and anything and gave you fun facts. On the Blue Bus Tour you had to listen through earphones, which stinked because if the bus got stuck in traffic (which it did when I was on it) you were behind on the stops and if you didn't know what you were looking for you were lost.

As apart of the tour you got free walking tours so at 1pm I took the Harry Potter walking tour which took you around to the places in Downtown London where they filmed part of the last two movies. It was really cool! The tour guide for that use to live right around the corner from Rupert Grint and had known him since a baby (Rupert moved after the movie got successful however). We got to walk down Diagon Alley and even go into a Sweets Shop that sold Harry Potter candies.

The rest of the day was spent on the bus and I stopped off at Buckingham Palace for a up close view of the place. It's HUGE!

Today I went to Platform 9 & 3/4 and got my picture taken there as well. I then travelled back to the Big Bus Tours stop and got on and did the tour over again to take videos this time for my family. I also did a River Cruise and got to see the Eye, Queen's Tower, the different Bridge's over the Thames and Tower Bridge as well at a great perspective.

I do want to apologize for not a lot of detail but I figured that the video of pictures would explain everything better than I can.

The video is about 8mins long but there's music with it and it has all of my best pictures from the weekend so enjoy :) Also sorry for the sideways photos, they'd be really small if they were the right way up.

If this does not work copy and paste this link into a new tab: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LktprcNxu_0

And so it begins!

I AM HERE!!!! It's so exciting to finally say that! Arrived on Saturday August 17th and the mom and youngest daughter picked me up at the airport. The flight wasn't to bad, only 6hrs and 12minutes. We watched two movies while on it and I got served dinner and breakfast, which weren't that bad actually. Took a Timmies muffin with me just in case I got more hungry on the plane.

After having a busy weekend with the family, they are currently getting renovations done on their house (I will be getting a brand new room :) it use to be the garage but they had to changed to a bedroom, that should be done by this weekend or next) and I went around with them to the shops to help pick out tiles and supplies, which was actually kind of fun believe it or not. "Your first trip out in England and it's to a toilette shop" the mom said that to me on Saturday, I thought it was funny :)

Monday I started work, because the girls are on their summer holidays until the end of next week there's no school. So far I have been to the cemetery by their house for a walk, on a bus and a double decker bus into town to go to the library and to the grocery store with them and the family. The girls are very energetic and very independent as well, they fight as sisters do but they are a lovely group of girls :)

And yes I have done a little bit of shopping (nothing big just a couple of little things), the shops around here close at 6pm and depending on the day I work until then so I've only been up once by myself though.

I am having a fantastic time so far and cannot wait to explore more of London in the coming weekends.

Mr. Moose at the Toronto Airport

The Tim Hortons of England

Four Days Now!

Only four days now! This is craziness!
 First off I want to thank everyone who could make it out to my going away party on the weekend. I had a blast and made many memories to cherish for a lifetime. Thank you also for the gifts I received to take with me on my travels, may need another luggage container for everything now. Above is a picture of the Build-a-Bear I received from two of my very good friends, Allison and Melissa. His name is Rocky Maples and his little mounty outfit and cowboy boots are adorable! Thank you girls once again!

So I leave on Friday at 8:45pm and I'm suppose to arrive at 8:45am (3:45am here). I've been told that it'll take some time to get use to the time change but I hope to trick my head on the plane and get into the mind set of it being five hours ahead, now only to see if my body follows. I finally have everything ready that I need to take with me, just have to pack it all up now. The fun stuff for the last couple of days before I go, I'm so smart :P

I hope to post at least once a week and once I figure out which day is better to post I will post it in my next blog post. 

Good day everyone :)

A Benefit of being a Small Town Girl

One of the many benefits of being a small town girl is being in the local paper. Now I've been in the paper since my birth announcement AT LEAST more than four times a year.
A friend of the family works for the paper (also a benefit) and wrote up this article on me. All this information was in my first blog post but some of the people who do not have a computer or internet do not get to see this so this article is something for everyone to see.

Also sometime before I go Lambton College will have a write up on me and I will post the link here once it is on their site.

Other than this no new information really. The days before I leave are getting shorter and shorter and I am getting more excited each minute!
Remember if you wanna post anything, maybe about where I should visit while I'm over there or activities I should do feel free to post any time :)

(Click on the picture to make it bigger)

Thirty and a confession

Today today today oh what a day it is! Only THIRTY, that's right, 30 DAYS until I leave for England! I am beyond words of how excited I am about this. I started this blog at 131 days and it's already at 30! My how the time flies when one is in anticipation about a big adventure :)

News news news whose got some news?

I have everything lined up for my trip. My VISA came in the mail a couple of weeks ago, my tickets will be available to pick up in about two weeks and my parents bought me some pretty cool looking luggage and carry on set as a gift (thanks Mom&Dad you rock). Now I just gotta figure out what I'm packing and what's staying behind, which I believe will be the most difficult part of my trip.

For those of you who know me very well I am kind of a shopaholic...sorry the first rule is to actually admit to the problem. I, Allison Steven, am a shopaholic. Glad I got that off my chest. Anyways, I do have a lot of clothes that I either really really love or are for special occasions  which hardly get worn but don't want to get rid of just in case I can wear it somewhere else. I have been getting better this past year though since I had to pay for rent and bills so my closet size has been shrinking and my friends closets have been growing :)

And I know what you are all going to tell me, "England rains a lot so pack for just that type of weather" when in fact the au pair with the family now has been telling me that it's beautiful and sunny over there when we've been having all this rain. Packing will be tough to do but thanks to my Dad for being an amazing packer I think I can fit my whole closet with me :)

Only joking, but it will be a struggle.

Who knew that Disney Characters were so smart?

I've always liked this quote, and anytime I read it I can always see Belle dancing around on that hill of hers and mindlessly throwing the chicken food around. First of, Belle your wasting the food geez! Second this quote describes my situation perfectly! 

For the people that know me yes I am very much a home body, I'd rather be at home doing something than go out this is true. Now that you know this some of you may be wondering why on Earth then am I flying 8hrs from home and staying there for a year? Crazy pants right? Right, I have been called crazy for taking this job and have been told that I'll end up calling home the first day crying that I miss my family. Of course I'll miss my family but I'm almost twenty-two (103 days and counting) it's time for me to put on my big girl pants and say "Hey lets go explore while we still can."

And that's exactly what I will be doing. Yes I am scared of this adventure but I am also excited to go to a new country (yeah I know England isn't that much different than Canada in some ways but still new place) and to just be young and not worry about all the little things I have been since I graduated high school.

I do want so much more than they've got planned....and I'm going after it :)

Graduation Day!

Now I know this may not really relate to my big adventure but it does have some value.
Yesterday, June 8th, was my graduation. I graduated from the "Autism & Behavioural Sciences" Program from Lambton College and couldn't be happier. This program was an amazing experience and I have learned a lot from my teachers about this topic and also have learned a lot about my self, as cheesy as that sounds. I would just like to take a moment to thank some people :)

My Parents and Grandparents: For believing in me and helping me recognize my potential of the things that I can accomplish when I put my mind to it.
My Friends/Classmates: For supporting me and helping me through both terms with the good and the bad.
My Teachers: For teaching me in a way that I could relate and understand the material.
And above all everyone for supporting me throughout my post-secondary education, I could not have done it without you guys. So once again thank you from the bottom of my heart :)

Me looking "all pretty and s@#%" as my good friend Devin told me :)

So an update on my big adventure: I go to Toronto next Thursday, the 13th, to meet with the British High Commissions to get my finger prints taken and to had in all of my documentation and my passport to complete my VISA. I will have payed off my ticket by tomorrow as well.

Have a great day everyone!

Skyping, Ticket Time and VISA, Oh My!

Hello Everyone :)

As you can see I am down to 77 days now for how many days I have left and I thought I would update you on what has been going on. I have put a deposit my plane ticket :)  I will be landing in Gatwick Airport on Saturday August 17th at 8:50am (3:50am our time).

The other day I skyped with my family and got to meet all the girls this time plus the au pair that is staying with them now, Laura. I talked about her in one of my previous posts but I just want to mention, if I hadn't before, how helpful and kind she is. We added one another on Facebook and whenever I have a question that range from how it is in Uxbridge to how is she liking it there and she doesn't mind at all answering these, which I am grateful. So once again thank you Laura.

While we were skyping the girls mentioned that in about 2 weeks they are getting some new animals.......any guesses?   Clue #1: they are adorable Clue #2: they are fuzzy and sweet, did I say adorable?

Give up? Well they are getting 2 kittens :) So when I arrive the kittens will be a couple of months old and I am so excited about the kittens. Two of the things I need to leave behind when I go are my cats, Hank and Yogurt, and I know I may sound like a crazy cat lady but it'll be sad. Hank always sleeps at the end of my bed if he isn't being crazy around the house so it'll be weird not having him around.

ALSO to add onto this long post, sorry guys lots going on that I want to share, the girls asked if I was scared about anything to do with my trip and I told them the truth. I am scared about traveling by myself because I have never done it, I've always been with my family if I was at the airport or in a plane. And I must be really worried about it now because I had a nightmare last night about me not making my plane so I had to find another one and it was just really weird and stressful :P

Any who, I won't bore you anymore. Other than the skyping I have started the application for my VISA and other than figuring out my health insurance I will be all done paying for my trip :)

Thoughts...

Today as I was putting my iPod cover back on I noticed the inscription on my iPod that I had gotten many years ago when I first got my iPod. It reads, "Oh baby oh, oh the places you'll go", and this got me to thinking.

When I got that iPod I was just starting my first year of the Early Childhood Education program at Lambton. All I was thinking about was is my roommate going to be nice (which she is by the way, hey Krystal :)), are my classes going to be hard, how much homework will I have to do per week, will I have time to meet new people, will those people like me and so on! A lot of worrying anyways. 

If you had told me that in just three years time I would be flying over to England to be Mary Poppins to three funny and charming little girls I would say, "You gotta be kidding me! Me leave home? No way!" 

See a lot can happen in three years time. Over the course of those three years I have learned to be more independent, more confident (in some cases), less worried about what the future let alone the next day holds for me and who I am as a person. It took me three years to figure out that I could accomplish anything I wanted to when I put my mind to it and as soon as the idea of being an Au Pair came into my head last year I was going for it!

People keep telling me that this is going to be such an amazing experience for me and now, with thinking, I believe that it will too :)

Big Day Today :)

So how is everyone? Everything going okay? What's new with everyone?

Oh you want to know why today is a big day....well....it is now in the double digits of when I go away! That's right, only 99 days to go until I leave :)

I am getting so excited about going away, actually another piece of interesting news to follow this. I have met, through Facebook anyways, the au pair that is currently with the family until I arrive. She is from Canada like me and we're around the same age. We met one another through the SmartAuPairs group (all the au pairs that will be in the UK or are already there belong to this group so that we can meet up with one another) we both belong to on Facebook. And just seeing her pictures is making me even more excited to go over and go on little adventures :)

Only 99 days left guys! It's so close!!

Poem Time!

A different kind of post today, hope you enjoy it!

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." - Robert Frost

Sound familiar? If so good, if not take a minute and search "The Road Not Taken" by Rober Frost and read it. It's okay I'll wait......

Read it? Good. Now you understand why I love this poem so much. Still confused? I'll explain. 

The general idea of this poem is to do things that you want to do and not let anyone's opinion stop you, that's what I get out of it when I read it anyways and I stand by it. This opportunity that I'm taking is my own choice, my own dream and I know that if I do not do this I will be taking the road most traveled on. 
This whole experience is new to me and it will be life changing. It will make all the difference and I'm excited for this new challenge and adventure, more so to see what life brings me on the road ahead.

Why this job?

There has been a lot of people asking why I wanted to become an au pair in the first place, what got my mind thinking that I would want to do this job. Truth is it is all because of this lady here....Mary Poppins.

Yes this may seem funny to some or weird to others that a movie character could help me choose my future career but if you know me any amount you know that I love my movies.

So no matter what you actually think of this new information, silly, weird or whatever adjective you can think of it is the truth and now here's why.

I remember first watching Mary Poppins when I was younger and fell in love with the dancing and the singing. I remember in Grade 4 when my Poppa taught the other 6 fourth graders in my class and I how to say "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" backwards...I now forget how to say it but for a good week I could. The whole aspect of Mary Poppins job, looking after the Banks kids, going on adventures and laughing all the time, I wanted all of these things in a future career. Mary Poppins has been a part of the majority of my life and it's really exciting to know see that I'll be the Canadian version of her :)

The joke around my family now is that I'll need to buy a magic bag to carry around with me and a parrot umbrella and I'm all set to go to England.

Just Something...

So even though this is a blog dedicated to my trip and adventures that I'll have over there just wanted to brag about something. After three tough, hard working years I will have completed my College education :) Now for some back story: 

At seventeen, late birthday yeah me,  I had to decided what I wanted to do for the rest of my life and that's a lot of pressure. I thought I was ready to go to College and start "furthering my education" as my Poppa would say but it turns out I wasn't. After applying and eventually going to Mohawk College for Broadcasting I decided to drop out of my program after a couple of weeks and go back to high school for my leap year. This is, up to now, the best decision I have ever made. During the leap year I took classes that I was interested in, because I had already graduated and had all the credits I needed. I did a co-op at the Public School by my high school and loved working there, I finally knew what I wanted to do and was happy doing it which is the most important thing in life (to work at a job but it not feel like you're working at all because you love your job so much).

I applied at Lambton College for the Early Childhood Education program and fast forwarding to today I am only four weeks away from graduating from my second College program. It has been a busy and tough three years but I am so happy with all the hard work that I have done and so thankful for my friends and family supporting and helping me along the way. Without them I wouldn't be the person who I am today and be going on this grand adventure. Thank you :)



Remember feel free to comment and ask anything you like :)

Uxbridge and what it's all about

Hello again everyone! Even though I am not leaving until August I am going to try and update the blog every week to keep everyone up to date with what's going on and to even provide you with some information about where I will be actually staying for my year long visit. And yes all this information will be from Wikipedia for now.

So obviously to start off with Uxbridge is located in London, England and as the Mom tells me it's "only a thirty minute tube ride into the centre of London". It's a large town located in west London, England and is the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon.

A little history lesson provided by Wikipedia, "Uxbridge also houses the Battle of Britain Bunker, from where the air defence of the south-east of England was coordinated during the Battle of Britain. Situated in RAF Uxbridge, the No. 11 Group Operations Room within the bunker took on a crucial rule during the battle and was later used during the D-Day landings."
Not very much stuff here as of right now but once I get talking to the family more and reading more about England and Great Britain I will get more on here I promise. And to end today I will leave you with some famous faces of Uxbridge. :)

Christine Keeler, iconic 1960s model involved in the Profumo Affair, was born in Uxbridge.
Bernard Miles (1907–1991), actor, writer and director, was born in Uxbridge.
John Stears (1934–1999), Oscar-winning creator of James Bond's Aston Martin DB5, Star Wars robots R2-D2 and C-3PO, and the Jedi Knights' lightsabers, among other special effects, was born in Uxbridge.