Vince’s Thanksgiving in London

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well and had a happy Thanksgiving with your families!

This past week marked the beginning of the end of my time here in London, I currently have less than a month left before we leave on December 19th. At this time the entire city is decorated in Christmas lights and beautiful displays in stores and markets.

I went to several of these markets over the past week. Southbank Centre, Selfridges, and Leicester square were the ones that I travelled to with some of my friends that found them. Leicester square was the best out of these three, it was free entry and it had more stuff to do and see compared to Southbank and Selfridges which were mostly just food stands. I got my dad a Christmas gift there of a metallic poster of Muhammad Ali boxing, he is a huge fan of boxing so I thought it would be perfect for him. There are plenty of other Christmas markets in the city so I will definitely be visiting as many as I can before I leave.

I also went to a bookstore called Foyle’s that one of my friends recommended to me. It is a six story book store that is absolutely massive inside. It is very organized and specific about the books so it is easy to find a subject you are interested in. There is even a cafe at the top floor that is very nice to sit and read at or do work. I bought two new books that I have been reading over the last week. One is a true crime book and the other is a fiction book that my lit professor recommended to me.

Thanksgiving was a huge part of the week, there was a lot of prepping and planning things before Thursday. Everybody pitched in for the dinner, which we did at night on Thursday since most people were working in person for their internships during the day. I ordered the Turkey from Whole Foods, as it was fully cooked and I could simply pick it up and pop it in the oven to reheat for us to eat. I work virtually so I was able to put the Macy’s parade on TV, which I watch every single year in the morning, followed by the annual Dog show which is something else I watch with my family. Another weird tradition we have is that we watch the Godfather which is usually on AMC on Thanksgiving, so I did that here the night before.

The food was fantastic! Jane made a charcuterie board and pumpkin pie, both of which were awesome, Elena got dinner rolls, Amelia made sweet potato casserole, Michelle made mashed potatoes and gravy and also helped me make an apple pie, and Bella made a salad. There were seven of us who ate dinner together out of the 9 that live in the flat.

It was very odd not being home for Thanksgiving, I haven’t been homesick this entire time until now. It was the first time I ever missed being home for the Holiday and I missed seeing my family and friends, all of whom were back in my hometown for the week. However, I did have a lot of fun with my friends over here! They are like a family to me, we are all very close even if we don’t all get along all the time. I am going to miss them all when we leave, since I graduate after this semester I probably won’t see most of them again. It is unfortunate I never met any of them at Elon before we came over.

This upcoming week is going to be a lot of fun! Me and my friend are going to Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park that I have been looking forward to since the summer when I found out about it. My class tomorrow morning is exploring the courts at Wimbledon for a field trip, I love tennis and especially Wimbledon so I am really excited. My other two classes this week are also field trips, so it will be cool to be exposed to more places around the city I have not yet been to.

Attached below is a picture of the Leicester Square Christmas market, as well as my flat’s group photo for Thanksgiving dinner. As always, thank you so much for reading. I hope you have a great week!