End of Term

So, it's been a while, I know. But it's the end of term. Technically term ended Friday, but I handed in my one essay on Wednesday and have pretty much not accomplished anything else.

The 27th I had Thanksgiving with some of my friends. It was really fun. We went around the table and said one thing we were thankful for... it was funny to watch people who've never had to do it try to come up with something. One of my friends made the chicken (I know) and the desserts, another made mashed potatoes, another stuffing, and the rest of us contributed in some other way. If I had to miss Thanksgiving at home, that was a sufficient substitute.

On actual Thanksgiving, I live-streamed the parade and video chatted with my parents, also a lot of fun. That evening, after CaSSoc, which was good, when we were at a bar, I again went around a circle and had people say one thing they were thankful for. Seriously, it is really difficult for British people to do... and this isn't just me saying it. One of my friends, who went to uni with a lot of Americans (so isn't new to Thanksgiving and was my partner in crime), has done it before but said that she thinks its funny how hard the British find it.

This past Wednesday afternoon/evening I went into Betty's Tea Rooms with a couple of friends to celebrate one of their birthdays. You can check out my story and pictures at Eat.Stretch.Explore! If you don't want to read about it, here's the short version: it was really good and I had fun.

Thursday there was a drinks/social thing at King's Manor for Public History people and next term's placement providers sponsored by IPUP (the Institute for the Public Understanding of the Past). I met a couple women from the York Museums Trust. It turns out that I wasn't assigned the placement I thought I was. I'm still with YMT, but I pretty much get to choose which project I work on. So, instead of the trench/battle, I think I'm going to work on supply lines. The woman said she has a general idea of what she wants the exhibit to look like but none of the specifics... so that seems like more fun. (Not, I should make clear, that any research concerning WWI is going to be real "fun.") Obviously, I will keep you up to date about that.

Thursday evening was the last CaSSoc event of the term. It was a social with Christmas carols and mulled wine. I had a really good time--I helped play piano for the singing. It was really nice to get to play :) I discovered I like mulled wine better than normal wine. It was also a little sad. CaSSoc has been one of the best discoveries I've made about York, so basically a month without any Thursday night activities is a bit of a bummer.

That being said, I did go busking with CaSSoc on Saturday but not for the whole time because I'm a bit ill at the moment. On that note, I only really have a cold. But I've also been having problems with one of my eyelids (random, I know). I thought it was only eczema, which kinda sucked because I thought I was done with that bit of life. It turns out my eyelid got infected (idk with what... but it is), it's not too bad but I went to the health clinic on campus this morning. According to my mom (and the nurse lady), I should have gone in sooner. Anyway, I got a couple prescriptions and hopefully I am on the mend. I think I should be... whatevs. But, I mention this because it was my first NHS experience (or nationalized/socialized medicine) and I have really no problem with it. It worked well and, as of yet, I have not been traumatized by socialized medicine. (I add this observation as a note of how health care systems can work for people, even if they are government-controlled. It is only one occurrence but occasionally the US system is traumatizing after one occurrence.)

As the next few updates will be all about my holiday and the stuff I do during my holiday, I will conclude now with a few pictures! They are a bit out of order, but they are all from the last 10 days.

 This is part of the Christmas market in the city centre. The little houses are stalls for local people to sell stuff. (St. Cloud people, think Christmas lemonade fair) It's really pretty, but during the day it is really busy and there are a ton of people.

 This is St. Helen's Square, with the Mansion House and the Christmas tree. Its really pretty, especially at sunset (roughly 330).

 This is the Thanksgiving dinner I had with my friends. We had chicken instead of turkey, but it was really good and everybody had a really good time. For some it was their first Thanksgiving, for others it wasn't a new experience, and for the Canadian it was about 6 weeks late.

 We had a chocolate cake and winter spice macaroons for dessert. One of my friends baked them and they were really good!

 Apparently, a big thing here is the Christmas Coke truck... idk... but it was in York on Wednesday so I got a couple of pictures.

I could've waited in line to get my picture taken with it, but this is just as good (if not better).

That's all for this time! I'll have another update sometime next week hopefully!