04.25.14

hi guys,

the last night has finally come.

i've been pretty busy with final papers/exam so i didn't do anything interesting since my last post. except for one day I went to Wales (which wasn't that interesting anyways, lolz)

i can't believe my last night is finally here. i'm so excited to go home!! but i can't say London wasn't great. this journey was a blessing in disguise. i struggled a lot and i've experienced some (un)pleasant things that required a lot of patience on my part. i'm not sure how i've changed or grown, but once i'm pulled out of this context and plopped back into the states amongst my family and friends, i'll realize (i hope).

mmm one thing i'll miss most about London is.......
MARKETS!!! especially the food markets. ugh, i will definitely miss going out to get yummy home-cooked international meals. and the vast selection of sweets!

my internship was also one of my favorite parts of my experience. i've met some of the nicest and funniest people in my life. i loved that everyone in my office loved sweets (although not good for my health/body). i learned so much and the fact that i got to spend everyday in that beautiful hotel was truly an honor!

when i think about it, i feel as if this entire trip was so unreal! did i really spend 4 months abroad in London? this is a city i merely dreamed of visiting one day. i'm so grateful that i was able to find such a passionate and loving church (although i wasn't too involved in the community).

in hindsight, it's been a pretty awesome four months. but i'm excited to see what's in store for my next step in life. i wonder who i'll meet, what kind of food i'll try, and what more i'll learn.

i apologize for my jumbled thoughts haha. it's not very cohesive and i know i didn't go too much in depth about everything but if you wanna know more, please feel free to personally ask me! otherwise, i just want to thank you all for joining me on this journey. i hope you enjoyed it as much as i did. and i promise i'll upload more pics on fb (later, though......2 many)

love you all,

xoxo

04/16/14

HELLOOOOO FRIENDZ

Long time.

I'm sorry for the very delayed post about Copenhagen. I had to work on my final paper all of Monday & Tuesday. Forgive me hehe.

So this past Saturday-Sunday, I went to Copenhagen, Denmark. Or rather, DOPENHAGEN cause it was pretty dope. Honestly, there wasn't much to do. We walked a lot and the weather was beautiful.. but in terms of tourist-y things or anything fun, it was meh. I had a good time though! 

Some things I learned/realized about Copenhagen:

• Currency is so high. 5DKK is equivalent to $1 and everything in Copenhagen is super expensive.
• Danish people (that's what they're called) must pay 50% of their income for TAXES.
• But this is also because the quality of life is considered to be the best in the world.
• Education is free (yes, that includes colleges. in fact, the government gives subsidies for students)
• Free healthcare! 
• If you get laid off, the government pays you 80% of your previous income for up to 1 year
• Danish people are so kind & willing to help out strangers!
• People walking on the sidewalk move out of your way when you walk past them (I've experienced this three times)
• Danish people are (apparently) the happiest! Because they're optimistic, not pessimisstic
• During the Holocaust, 99.9% of the Jews that were taken from this country were rescued and sent to Sweden for hiding/safety. Christian the 10th (the ruler at that time) was quite determined to bring safety & security to his Danish people (no, rather than seeing them as Jews, he saw them as his danish people). Basically, the entire country came together to work to save these Jews
• There is one area of Copenhagen called "The Green Light District" which has NO LAWS. It was actually quite scary. There were outdoor private stalls where people bought & sold some stuff (if ya know what i mean). Unfortunately, I couldn't take pictures. I was actually scolded by this man for taking pics and had to delete them in front of him
• Soft serve ice cream is a big thing there
• There was 711 EVERYWHERE

These are all I can remember for now. But here are some (hopefully, fun) pictures for you :)

Sorry, i just love cherry blossoms & we walked through a cherry blossom park...

meep

AHHHHH

Yep.

The best soft serve

This slice was equivalent to $5

The Marble Church 

Inside the dome of the church - 12 disciples

Cuz i'm happy~

National Museum

Such good frites

Cheers to my last trip outside of the UK!

So, this was my last trip. The only one I have left is WALES (tomorrow) but that's within the UK and I'll be only going away for the day. D-10 until I go home. Yay! 

Cheers,

xx

04/10/14

Much sad.
Some bitter.
Some sweet.

Today was the last day of my internship. And I actually don't know how I feel. It's been an amazing experience and I've met some of the most awesome people in my life. But the fact that I probably will never see them again makes me uber sad. Yesterday, I brought Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, today I brought probably the most delicious chocolate I've ever had. On top was chocolate shaped as a huge rose. Can you see there's a pattern? I give sweets to those I love and appreciate :)  But also, all the girls in my office have the same love for sweets (mostly chocolate and cake) as me so I knew that the chocolate cake was the best way I wanted to show my appreciation. And as cheesy as I can be, I wrote them individual cards because I'm terrible at orally expressing my gratitude and love bc it's too cheesy to say. But I'm much better at it in writing. So yah,

They surprised me with an English Breakfast!! They bought me CRUMPETS, Welsh cookies (to die for) and HOT CROSS BUNS (which are eaten during Easter season in England). So I got to finally have my original "tea and crumpets" hehe. They also wrote me a card and gave me a personal Ritz gift bag consisting of all things Ritz including a hardcover book of The Ritz, a ritz teddybear, pens, shampoo/conditioner/soap, and a journal. During my internship, I've secretly wanted all of them. So I was actually really excited and happy about this goodbye present. It was more than I could've asked for!

Overall, this time at this hotel has just been a huge honor. I've encountered some of the kindest, coolest, funniest people. Although it was a short time, I've learned so much from the technical things to cultural differences. But most importantly, I'm glad that I have no regrets at all. I hope that I've also impacted them in some way, just as they've each affected me. Who knows? Maybe I'll be back.... either as a guest or as a colleague........ !

(I'll upload pics later!)


Anyways, this weekend I'll be going to Copenhagen, Denmark so stay updated for that!
After I come back, I will have exactly two weeks left until I head back for the states.
Oh man, I am so excited.


Good night,

xx

04/09/14

Guys,


I can't believe tomorrow is the last day of my internship. How did 7 weeks go by that quickly?! Anyways, today I was walking to work when I thought of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. So I bought a box of 12 for everyone in my department... just wanted to give a pleasant surprise. :)

After work, another intern and I went to eat korean food. It was not that great but obviously my standards have lowered significantly. So everything I ate tasted good. Mer

Anyways, I just wrote thank you/good bye cards for some people I got really close to at work. I think I'm going to buy a cake before work tomorrow morning... everyone in my office has a huge sweet tooth and I loved this because I got to sample the hotel desserts as well! There's just something so special about people who share the same love of sweets. ~

Anyways, I feel pretty bittersweet. I'm going to miss everyone so much, esp those I've grown attached to... but at the same time I am ready to leave this place and go back home.

xx

04/05/14

Today was a great day because it involved a lot of food eye-shopping.

I woke up super early to go out with Seyoung. We went to 4 different markets: Portobello, Spitafields, Brick Lane and Broadway. Portobello was completely different from what I had expected. I thought it was mostly a food market but it ended up being a street of small stores with clothing and accessories that I didn't really fancy. So then we headed to Spitafields. We bought thin sterling silver rings and cronuts. I actually wanted to find a vintage denim jacket but failed to find one that suited me well. So after spending some time there, we went to Brick Lane to grab some good market food. I got the same Venezuelan dish I got last time and Seyoung got Ethopian food (ugh, so healthy). 

(it was glittery)

So good

We found this really yummy Malasian pancake/waffle AKA 붕어빵 that was to die for... but it was too small for the price so we left, sadly (definitely coming back for ya).

Our final destination was Broadway Market - it was both our first time there and it was also another cool food/clothing/accessories market but too far to go back again. But I did find a denim jacket! Hoorah. We left after going through the entire market and walked to & through the London Fields. 

"Best Vietnamese Coffee" - It was the best iced coffee (next to Paris Baguette Iced Coffee)

Vintage shops everywhere~

Flowers Spring. Spring flowers

Fresh Salmon on Bruschetta!

Anyways, it was a chill day involving good friends, good food and good talks.

Pretty tired now, so shall rest.

Good night

xx

04/04/14

I had to change from writing the "day _" s because I lost track. So now I just have to write the actual date as the title of each post!

I know I've been really lazy and slacking a lot with posting daily. But I've just been busy interning and haven't been doing anything exciting so I just let the days pass without posting anything. Anyways, as you all have probably read my status, yesterday was a pretty frightening night. I went out about 5pm to get some fresh air alone and it was good. I went to a market and ate a homemade juicy burger, a chicken empañada, and two homemade pastries: a banana bread with explosive caramel filling and cream on top and a vanilla cream pastry with raspberry jam filling. I watched and listened to a fantastic live performance. And I went to my favorite bubble tea place and ordered a mango smoothie bubble tea. It was a nice evening to myself and I got some good exercise too! Then I went to the National Portrait Gallery Museum and it was so nice because it was really quiet and I got to read a lot about significant people who I've never really learned about.

But around 8:45pm, I was about to head home until that whole thing happened (on my status). Sigh, I just can't walk around alone anymore, especially with my earphones in. I didn't know the area that the area it happened it is a really shady area. I was telling my professor today what happened and she said that Londoners never go to Piccadilly Circus. It used to be the red light district and also where prostitutes lingered. But now I know not to go there.....

Anyways, today I had class/field trip to Hampstead (middle-class area) and ended in Camden Market. Some of us stayed afterwards to grab some yummy food. I got Peruvian food because I wanted to try something new! I absolutely love food markets. They're just so real & awesome.

The suburbs of Hampstead

He used that green veggie thing to sauce the chicken!

Chicken, chile sauce, onions, sweet potatoes, potatoes, veggies, peruvian rice = Peruvian dish

_ _ _ _ _ 

I'm probably going to stay home for tonight. I think I'm still a bit shaken up from yesterday so I think I need to just relax. It's crazy to think that I have one more week left of my internship and just three weeks left until I go back home. I hope that until then, I will just be safe and go back home in 1 piece. A lot of friends and random facebook friends with whom I haven't talked to in forever messaged me to see if I was okay and that just made me feel so loved. It made me realize how much some people genuinely care about you. It helped me to calm down a lot. Ahhh thanks everyone for your prayers and concerns. Don't worry though I'll be really careful from now on. 

xx

Day _

Ok, to be honest I lost track of my days. Hahahaha I am terribly and truly sorry for being so lazy lately. But since some people have been pushing me to blog about Paris, it is time!

Today is the last day of March..... wait WHAT?! Did that really just happen. I'm so confused. But but but that means 26 days until I go home. WAH00Ooo000Ooo ~

Okay, sorry. Back to France. So we left Saturday around 6am and got there around 9am. We went straight to Versailles first and then we went to Paris. We stopped by the Palace of Versailles, which was just S T U N N I N G. Wow - the rooms were so ornate and fancy and gold. 

The weather was beautiful too. In fact, at times it was so hot we were sweating (gross, sorry). Anyways, we walked through the garden and to the fountains, aka the backyard of the palace. It was just such a nice day out that I didn't even think about how tired I was. 

Gold

on gold

on more gold

on more gold

on even more gold

how did they have enough gold?!

i aint sayin she a gold digga...

My favorite room

what an ok backyard - said no one ever...

After a few hours in Versailles, we finally headed to PARIS! Our first stop was Notre Dame. It was so detailed and .. big. 

Then we took a quick food breakie. Our plan was to go to Ladurée and then head to the Eiffel Tower to watch the lights shine at night. But after about an hour of walking around to find Laduree, we gave up. We just got french pastries at a nearby café and walked over to the tower. 

(Dramatic music cue)

AHHHH

Hello, you fine looking thang.

We finally got to our hostel called "Arty Paris" and it was pretty nice. It was way more ghetto than our hostel in Prague, but at least we got free breakfast.... which, actually I couldn't really enjoy cause my wisdom teeth were hurting so much. UghHhhHh. Anyways, on Sunday we had to leave by 3pm because (I didn't realize) that our flight was at 6pm.... So we still had to walk up the Eiffel Tower, go to Jardin du Luxemburg (Garden of Luxemburg), Ladurée, Arc de Triomphe, and the Louvre Museum.... which we ended up finishing with even 30 minutes to spare. 

So color

View from Eiffel

Much cool

much sweat

so amaze

ughhhHhhhhh

getting my crepe fix

THE LOOV

HI MONA

ALL I'VE WANTED

So.... me and my three friends did Paris in less than 36 hours. I'm not sure how I made it through but I did. Thank God for photoshop because I look half dead in all the pics of me hahaha. I didn't realize how big this city is.. I thought I could do it in a weekend but I was so wrong. But I did see everything I've wanted to see so I'm pretty satisfied. I might go back in a few years, but I'm in no rush to visit again soon. I would even be pretty content with not going back. 

I enjoyed it though (despite all the running / walking / sweating / gasping for breathe). The gardens are all so beautiful and there's just so many yummy things to nom. 

One more city off the list! One more to go.