Monday, December 22, 2008

Netball!

ok...so, even though our team hasn't won a game, we still manage to encourage eachother and have a laugh while out on the court. Our last game before the break was probably the most successful game, and the most fun we had on the court all season! We weren't trailing by too much and had a lot of improvement on the court. The women on the other team were great players and extremely good sports, they were friendly and after our match, shared coffee, mince pies, chocolates, and other goodies with us! We were even able to invite them to Capernwray's Christmas production which was awesome! I would have to say that even though it was the COLDEST night and the court was icy and a bit dangerous, we had such a great time even with a bit of reckless slips. Wish us luck for next term...our coach is treating us to a pizza party if we win a game! We almost had him convinced on the return to make a stop, but we had to settle for a picture in front of the Christmas tree in Over Kellet.

Weekend Trips

About a month ago, Capernwray organized a day trip to Liverpool and shockingly the majority of the students decided to go ;-) The coach ride may have been miserable, but it was worth it just to have a break from school and get into a big city. I got to spend an hour and a half in the Tate Liverpool, a very contemporary modern art museum, but it was just fantastic to be in a museum and see some art that I studied a few years ago! After meeting up with some girlfriends, we left Alfred's Dock and wandered up to a new shopping area called the Liverpool 1 and then headed to PriMark....this crazy store that is huge, and super cheap! It was way too overwhelming but we were able to nab some good deals....including matching roomie pajamas for Christmas! After meeting up with some more friends, we all headed to Pizza Express for dinner then caught a taxi to the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and spent the evening watching the Liverpool opera/philharmonic. It was so different than any opera i would have expected, but the music was amazing, and it was just nice to be spending so much time engrossed in art and culture. I'm looking forward to returning to Liverpool and doing some more sightseeing type adventures. I would love to see some sights of Beatles fame and some of the older architecture, we'll see what happens before winter school is thru.
A couple of weeks ago, a much smaller group went to The Trafford Center shopping center in Manchester. Oh my goodness, it was so much fun to be at a shopping mall, after I got over the first reaction at the size of it, I began to feel right at home! Our first stop was a massive department store called Selfridges and their food court for wait for it, Krispy Kreme donuts!!! Katie and I got to hang out and shop all day, we had an amazing lunch at a place called Barburrito....an attempt at being like Chipotle and Rubio's, but just not quite the same. We were just so excited to be eating Mexican food that was actually tasty! So, we had such a blast shopping and searching for Christmas Banquet dresses and shoes that the day simply flew by without us even realizing it. After picking up a few more Christmas presents, we headed back to the car pack and loaded up the coach again and started off on our journey home. Katie and I were able to occupy ourselves both there and back listening to her ipod and singing along...our return trip was accompanied by the soundtrack of Grease!!!

An Update..pre-Christmas!

So, the last time I wrote was quite a while back, and since then life has changed...as it always does. Our fancy dress evening was such a blast and it was awesome how much everyone got into it, a lot of very creative costume ideas were produced! My roomies became 3 members of the wizard of oz cast along with a neighbor, an R.A., and another one of our friends! Andrew, a member of staff, convinced me to where a pirate costume that was in a costume closet here...apparently created for an adult, but realistically the size of a 7 year old, hello leggings! So after lots of photo's and a very entertaining tea, we all congregated in the lounge and played pictionary/charades in our particular themed characters...of course, hilarity ensued.
The weather turned very cold over the past weeks, and we even had a day of snowfall, which was very exciting even though it didn't stick to the ground, but to have huge snowflakes floating down from the sky was incredible! One of the days, Kendal, a town 20 minutes north of us, had quite a bit of snow that actually stayed and we took advantage of the bus going up there and got to enjoy slipping around on the mushy, wet ice/snow! Katie, and two of our guy friends and I hung out in our favorite coffee shop, Caffe Nero for a few hours and just laughed and enjoyed being out! Capernwray became quite the winter wonderland with all the frost that arrived each morning and lasted all day, it was really quite magical!
When the weather has been more forgiving, we have had some wonderful opportunities to hang out and enjoy eachothers company. One of our favorite places to do that is at a local pub in a little town called Over Kellet which is just about 2 miles away from Capernwray. For about a month straight, we were going every weekend, and it became a really great little tradition. Only once have we actally walked there, simply because of the horrible weather, but the taxi ride isn't too expensive when we split it up! We have pretty much given up on actually ordering meals, and stick to our usual.... several orders of STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING that are split between the table and of course regular tea for us all!! One of the greatest desserts known to mankind....whenever you make it out to the UK.....be sure to have it, so delicious that words cannot even describe this moist cake like creation that is then served HOT with amazingly delectable custard!!! Can you tell i'm drooling over here! So several occasions have been had at The Eagles Head Pub, we can never spend less than an hour and half in our booth, and have on occasion spent a good 4 hours chatting, eating, and playing cards!
So, all in all, even when the weather is simply English weather (and miserable) we still have the ability to enjoy ourselves and create our own entertainment and have our own fun!