Geishas, Gion and a Golden Pavilion.

Well Kyoto, you didn't disappoint. Especially since on the first night I arrived the star festival was taking place on the street outside the hotel, so there were kimonos, yukata and street food galore! That first night was a bit of a blur after travelling, and I had to wait for Izzy my roommate to arrive quite late. The next day we had a day to explore before classes started, so we grabbed some custard taiyaki and had a mooch. I'm also convinced I broke my toe that day by kicking my suitcase, since it turned purple within the hour and still hurts now. Either way, I should be doing nursing since my taping skills were on point. That night we headed to get ramen with Xiao, and what was intended to be a quiet night was very much the opposite after we ventured into a basement "cafe". It turned out to be a cocktail bar, that after ordering ramen and tempura, whipped out the karaoke machine for us, while providing wigs and sunglasses for us to wear whilst on the stripper pole. I'm not sure if they were laughing with us or at us, but either way we had a ball, and I'm 99% sure they took some videos of us singing which could be anywhere.

The next few days were filled with classes, which have been great because they're much more conversational speaking based than I'm used to back at home. KUFS is actually pretty strange too! It's much smaller than I imagined, and you can tell a huge divide between boys and girls at lunch, when all the girls are in the cafeteria and the guys are sat outside. Most days we spent the afternoons exploring around the many temples, shrines and castles that Kyoto has to offer. You could live here all your life and not visit them all, I'm not kidding.

One day after class Hitomi, a girl we know from Keele, visited and took Izzy and I to Yasaka Shine and Chionin temple in Gion. We saw so many people dressed in kimonos and yukata since the Gion festival was coming up! I was made up too since we stumbled across some geishas when we were walking around Gion, which was pretty surreal because I felt like I'd gone back in time. Afterwards I had my first izakaya (Japanese pub) experience, and despite the random 60's British rock playing in the background, had a ball trying all sorts of new interesting foods. Cheese mochi balls are my new favourite thing.

KUFS organised a day trip to Nara for us, which is about an hour away from Kyoto. The temples are filled with deer, I have no idea why, and it amused me how there were actually instructions located everywhere on how to deal with a deer attack. One got a little friendly with the cuddly toys on my backpack, but I got a selfie with another so I think that's a pretty good achievement.

We've gotten pretty friendly with some Americans and Costa Ricans so have spend a fair few nights bonding over sake in our rooms. Saturday was fun-filled with it being Xiao's 20th birthday, and we started it by heading to Kinkakuji, or the Golden Pavilion. It was weird, because don't get me wrong, it was impressive, but I think the hype was a bit much. Out of the many temples I've visited I could think of so many others that were much more impressive. We then headed to Kyoto Tower, and after resisting all Hello Kitty merchandise as much as possible, we headed up. While we were there a cute little Japanese guy was painting caricatures, so we decided to get one. It was actually pretty good and I appreciated the fact he included my resting bitch face.

To conclude the celebrations, we headed into Gion, found a rowdy bar and befriend some Irish and lots of Japanese before loitering around before getting the first train home at 5am. All in all, we had a great first week. And life lesson, alcohol may not make your Japanese better, but hey, at least you feel like it is.

Hajimemashite, Tokyo!

Tokyo was the final stop on my mini tour of Asia with Haruka, and what a much needed pre-uni break it was! I hadn't realised how much I'd done in both Hong Kong and Seoul until I finally got a chance to chill out at Haruka's house. Although I've met her mum before, this was my first chance to meet her entire family which I was super excited about! Her brother actually lives about 5 minutes away from my accommodation when I'm in Kyoto, so it's nice to know I have someone there incase I need it.

On the evening we arrived, after a traumatic bus ride from the airport (note to self: don't drink coffee, milk, orange juice, water AND tea all before getting on a two hour bus with no toilet), I was treated to what Haruka's dad called a traditional Japanese bbq. I have to say, rice on a bbq was a new one to me! After that I was surprised with a birthday cake, since turning 20 is a big deal in Japan as you're finally deemed an adult. However my highlight had to be meeting Mimi, my favourite little pug. She developed a liking for chewing the plushy toy key rings on my backpack and stealing my socks, but you can't hold a grudge against a pug that lets you hold her like a baby.

The next day we went to Shin Yurigoaka station, the train station Haruka lives near to. It baffled me when I had only known her a few months and she announced she was having a day out at the train station, but now it made more sense. There's a lot of stores, even some cute ones like Kiddyland (the best place on earth for the likes of me, who are too old to really like animated characters but do anyway) so I did treat myself to some Gudetama socks. Great first purchase in Japan, Caitlin...

After practicing my Katakana reading practice in the Mister Donut, we headed to Uobei sushi for dinner with Haruka's mum. This was pretty cool, because you use tablets to order your food, which then gets delivered to your table by a conveyor belt, by a racing car, space shuttle and a shinkansen (bullet train).

Shibuya and Harajuku were on the cards for our next day, and if I'm honest, it wasn't at all what I expected. You get the perception that Tokyo is full of crazy fashion everywhere, especially in Harajuku, when in fact I barely saw that many. Haruka took me to Shibuya crossing first, and I really want to go back there during the rain to try and get some cool pictures of the umbrellas from above. Afterwards, we went to an ichiran restaurant, a ramen place where you order your food from a vending machine, get a ticket to select your ingredient preferences and sit in a booth made for one. You don't even see the people serving you, as they are hiding by a curtain. That was a strange experience, but oh my god, hands down the best ramen I've ever had! 

When we headed to Harajuku, I bullied Haruka into taking purikura with me, those typical photo booths where they make you look super kawaii and Japanese. It was hilarious, because they made my eyes look even bigger and I resembled an alien, and it was more worrying how Haruka actually suited the plastic surgery like things it did to us!

I was shocked that across the road from Harajuku station is Meiji Shrine, which you would have no idea was there. It's so peaceful and is such a contrast to the busy streets that it was probably my favourite "hidden" place I've found in Tokyo so far. Harajuku is famous for its crepes, so of course that had to be eaten before heading home too.

The next few days were more relaxed with me getting myself prepared for Kyoto. We headed to Yokohama in the afternoon just in time to see the ferris wheel lighting up. Yet again, we ended up at another romantic date spot so I think Haruka is trying to suggest something subconsciously... That was a food filled day, with Haruka's mum giving me my first yakisoba, then we got okonomiyaki and monja when we headed to Yokohama. It was a cool experience being able to cook the food in front of us, and it was amazing. Okonomiyaki is sort of a noodle omelette pancake with yummy goodness, and monja looks so wrong but tastes so right and I can't even explain it. You just eat it with tiny little metal spatulas which is a selling point in itself.

Over the next two days Haruka and I went to Shibuya again to smash karaoke which was the funniest experience I've had in a long time. Weird seeing people going into the booths alone though, who obviously take themselves way too seriously! Once Jane arrived we went into Tokyo again to the skytree, although the weather was too cloudy to see the top and we didn't go up. For my last evening, the Hattori's took us for sukiyaki, which was similar to hotpot and was an all you could eat meat place.

I'm still getting used to how most things I expect to be savoury in Japan are sweet, but now I've got myself prepared for my time in Kyoto!

I probably won't blog as much since wifi is harder to get ahold of, plus I'll have classes to attend, but hang on for the next update of my uni experience! 

Oppa Gangnam Style!

By the time we arrived in Seoul it was pretty late, so once we'd found where we were staying we went for a walk around Jongno. To say we fell in love with the place instantly is an understatement! It was so different to Hong Kong, and after getting some super duper not-made-for-foreigners spicy kimchi stew, we discovered how the back streets of Jongno were filled with food stalls with people of different age groups socialising. It was such a welcome change from the craziness of Hong Kong, so with a banana milk in hand (which is very famous over there) we headed back to come up with a plan for our time there.

The next day we headed to Chamdeongung Palace which was right by where we were staying. It was huge! We barely walked through a quarter of the entire place and the architecture was so intricate you could have taken photos all day. After leaving we roamed round a few random streets before realising that despite our early start, Seoul doesn't really open until 10:30am. This was explained on our last day when we left for the airport at 5am and the streets where still full of people at the street restaurants from the night before.

We headed to Insadong first and did some serious damage in Étude House, where I found the holy grail of liquid eyeliners. Yay for Korean makeup! I spotted a jipangyi stall which I was so happy about. It's soft serve ice cream in a corn-puff cone, the difference being its J-shaped and about a foot long. Tasty but the most awkward thing to eat when it's melting from both ends. Later we carried on towards Myeongdong which I loved. Every shop was blasting different kpop songs and it was the cheesy bright Korea I'd expected to begin with. Although I restrained my singing and dancing for Haruka's sake, I did treat myself to a SHINee album (or two) because you're only in Seoul once, right?! On that note, almost everyone under the age of 25 looked like they could be an idol, so Haruka and I were very happy "people watching", even if it was just cute guys.

We both wanted to make the most of the street food too, so when we were there we for some tteokbokki and a very random combination of a hot dog, wrapped in bread and chips that was deep fried. After that we got the cable car up to Namsam Tower, and the views of Seoul were stunning in both daylight and night. It's always shown in Korean dramas as a date place, but I swear Haruka and I were the only people there not on a date. The first of a few romantic locations we accidentally visited together during our travels!

The next day was all about the kpop! I managed to drag Haruka along to Gangnam to see the buildings of two of the biggest entertainment companies there, SM and JYP. Lots of picture taking ensued, we even chilled in a nearby Dunkin' Donuts for a bit in hope of seeing someone famous, but no luck. We ventured into SMTown Atrium which was literally heaven for me, with 5 floors of  SHINee, Girls Generation, f(x) and even a themed cafe.

Afterwards we met Haruka's friend Jay for dinner before he had to go back to the U.S. Military base. It was great having him with us because we could finally go places without English/pictures on their menus, getting to finally try Korean bbq, soju and bingsu. Since we were in Gangnam, I did have to embarrass Haruka when we got a picture at the dance stand, however I didn't dance too much...

Day 3 couldn't have been any more different to the day before. I've been wanting to visit the DMZ (De-Militarised Zone) between North and South Korea for so long, and was super disappointed that the tours weren't running due to MERS. Even though we couldn't go to the Joint Security Area and technically step foot in North Korea, tours were still running to parts of the DMZ. We went to Imjingak which was so surreal, as the barbed wire fences and flags, accompanied with the bad weather made it seem very eerie. Bombs were also being detonated as part of a military exercise in the distance too which made it seem all the more real. Afterwards we went to the unification observatory and got a chance to be within 2km of North Korean land, even seeing some housing through binoculars.

Later that evening we decided to go to the Han River, since I wanted to see the rainbow fountain show at Banpo Bridge. Turns out we majorly misjudged the size of Seoul and the chill timetable of the trains, so totally missed the show. It wasn't all bad though, we fell in love with Seoul all over again when we walked along the river and just spent time watching the world go by, filled with lots of people hanging out and doing the same as us on a Friday night.

On our final day we met up with Dongho, a guy we met at Keele last year who's now doing his military service. That was a surreal experience for all of us since we never thought we'd see eachother again after he left! We went for hotpot and got to try jeon, before Haruka and I headed to Hongdae.

Since this is the university area, there were a lot more international students around, the only thing I didn't really like about it since they were very overpowering. However, I did love the fact as soon as we arrived a group of super cute college boys were dancing kpop group dances on the street, and also playing a song that reminds Haruka, Jane and I sooooo much of first year!

After a failed attempt at finding the Hello Kitty cafe there (I found its old location, but the directions to the new one were awful), we ended up walking the streets after a few drinks rather than going to the clubs like we expected. We stumbled across two buskers who were absolutely adorable, and after dedicating songs to us in broken Englih, we got a picture with them. Sadly forgot to get any of their information, but it was a perfect end to a perfect trip.

Even though I couldn't read any Korean, I've never felt more welcomed in a country. The people were unbelievable helpful, along with even being apologetic that they couldn't speak English, or for assuming I could speak Korean after using a few phrases. Five days wasn't nearly long enough, and I know I've only just scratched the surface. Haruka and I both said the night we arrived how we could move there tomorrow, and I think Seoul will definitely be our meeting point after uni is over, even though it's not exactly in the middle! So thank you South Korea, for being more than I ever expected you to be. Not being just part of my trip to "get it out of my system", but making me want to explore you more.

Turning 20 in Asia's world city!

I'd been pretty excited about spending my birthday in Hong Kong since the day I booked my flights, and the day was finally approaching. On the Friday, I went to an island called Cheng Chau with Corane, which was about an hour ferry away. I'd heard wonderful things from everyone about Cheng Chau and it didn't disappoint. It was a nice chance from the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong, since nobody on the island owns cars and the place is filled with bikes. Since there was an upcoming dragon boat festival in Hong Kong, we even got to see the teams practicing from the pier. I managed to try some weird foods too! Firstly, mango mochi, which Cheng Chau is famous for, and then an egg that had been boiled in tea. Surprisingly not bad once you get past the brown moulding look.
We then headed back to meet some of the other delegates from my past trip to Hong Kong for dinner in Mong Kok. I was totally surprised by the amount who turned up and made time in their schedules just to see me, so I was able to see a further five people during my trip which was more than I ever expected. We ate some interesting foods, most of which I still don't even know what they were, and then everyone surprised me with a birthday cake. I was so appreciative of the fact that even though I hadn't seen most of them for almost 3 years, and that sometimes our postcards and messages are lacking, they still came together as a family for me to celebrate while I was away from home!

Saturday was quite a chilled day since Haruka was arriving from Japan! This was going to be the start of our little tour of Asia before I head to Kyoto in July, as we're travelling to Seoul and then to her home in Tokyo. Typical, after picking her up our bus from the airport broke down, so by the time we got to Causeway Bay we went straight to a Taiwanese cafe for dinner which was amazing! Later we met Jane for dessert which was so surreal seeing them both in Hong Kong since I only ever see them in England.
Sunday was finally my birthday, a day filled with dim sum to the max. We'd been invited for dim sum with Jane's family in Sheung Wan in the morning, and afterwards the three of us visited Lan Kwai Fong for the first time. We went for "afternoon tea" too, consisting of pineapple buns and milk tea. They're not really pineapple, the top just apparently looks like one. Good timing too since a thunderstorm was brewing, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy. After almost two weeks of constant humidity and heat, my birthday wishes had definitely been answered. We began to head to Kowloon, but the rain was so bad we ended up camping out at an MTR station for 20 minutes singing to keep ourselves occupied.
Haruka and I ended up killing time before dinner in a random shopping mall that was pretty amazing, before heading to Austin to find the Hello Kitty Chinese Cuisine restaurant, a place that specialises in dim sum. IT WAS PERFECT. Everything had so much detail and it was the perfect place for me being such a fan, with me also treating myself to a super cute plush toy only sold there. We then headed back and I wanted to show Haruka both central of an evening and the ding ding, but after getting drenched we decided to call it a night. It was a very different birthday than what I'm used to, but I wouldn't have changed it for the world!

For our last day, we went around a few of the sights in central before heading to Aberdeen, where Jane lives, to go to Jumbo Kingdom, the famous floating restaurant. It was nice to spend some more time with her since we hadn't really got a chance too! Then we headed to Mongkok for a final market experience, with me severely restraining myself from buying lots of shoes on sneaker street! However, I can't wait to be somewhere were the heat doesn't kill me every time I walk outside, and on that note, Seoul here I come...

Hong Kong, it's good to back.

After spending a week here now, this has already been an entirely different experience to when I came here almost 3 years ago now. There's been something kinda nice about knowing a city just enough to get by on your own, but also have so many places you're yet to have been .
I've been so lucky in the fact three of the girls I met on the exchange, Corane, Connie and Crystal, have made time in their busy schedules to spend some time with me. My first two days were spent with Corane, exploring some of the lesser known areas of Hong Kong, which I really appreciated. Not only did she take me back to Sai Kung, a village in the New Territories which was hands down my favourite place I visited last time, but she also gave me some first time experiences on the Star Ferry, the ding ding (tram), along with a traditional HK style breakfast. This "local tour" really enhanced my experience from the word go since I'd never be able to go half the places she took me without a Cantonese speaker! Connie also gave me my first proper tour around the markets in Kowloon, before we were treated to a homestyle meal by Crystal. This was yet another side to Hong Kong,  as she lives in Kowloon City, by where the old Kai Tak airport used to be. Although there are still some skyscrapers in the area, it was nice to be able to get an idea what Hong Kong must have looked like back in the day.

Since I can't rely on everyone all the time,  I've made some lone trips to mid-levels, Stanley market, the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical gardens, Chi Lin nunnery and Nai Lan garden during my days. I also took a day trip to Macau, which with its Portuguese influences was totally different than what I had imagined. Very much two worlds: huge casinos and winding streets with bakeries selling egg tarts. I'm glad I went, however I think the ferry traumatised me a little too much.

The heat and humidity is a real killer, so I will admit I do occasionally take refuge in some of the many shopping malls around. I'm also embracing my inner Asian having bought a super cute umbrella to protect myself from the sun. I'm definitely to pale to cope otherwise! My mission to visit as many Hello Kitty themed locations is also going well, as I went to one in Macau and one in Hong Kong. Saving the best until last when it comes to the Hello Kitty dim sum restaurant! That's being saved for this weekend when Haruka, Jane and I are all reunited here.

The study abroad experience may have ended, but that doesn't mean it's not still with me!

In light of my impending travels, I figured I would make amends to my shocking blogging towards the last month of my semester at CSU so I am fully up to date. My trusty camera broke on the train back from San Francisco, so although there's not as many pictures, it's been fun-filled to say the least.

The last month was easily one of the best I had out there, as it was a time when we all grew closer since we knew our time left together was limited. I've mentioned "Team Commonwealth" before now, and a bunch of us from that group really bonded, As a result, we narrowed it down and began referring to ourselves as DELTA SIGMA WINE, or just Delta Sigs for short. This new 'fratority' consisted of myself, Leif, Caragh, Jack, Leni, Chrissie, Megan, Jonny, Robbie, Phil, Katy and Carly. We even took it upon ourselves to get some letters made, and we actually did convince a few Americans it was an International Sorority/Fraternity since there were that many of us with matching hoodies.
I couldn't make it to our original initiation ceremony (candle-lit and super inappropriate I might add), so mine was scheduled to be on the first night of our Winter Park ski-trip. We took the entire thing super serious, and there were "going to be punishments" if we wore our hoodies before that night...

The ski trip was an experience in itself. Day 1 started off with me, Caragh and Megan taking a lesson which seemed to go quite well. I definitely peaked too early, with my first wipe out happening when I was heading towards a ledge by a ski lift, then later in the day I got to the end of a run an had to get rescued by Leif after becoming entangled in a safety net.
Day 2 was even better. I got cocky and did my first huge flip early in the day that resulted me in smacking my head, both skis coming off and my goggles shifting to enclose my nose. At least when I fall, I fall. To top it all off, I managed to take a wrong turn and lose everyone, ended up at a dead end and my only option was to get a ski lift up another 2,000 feet. I wasn't amused since I had to make it to the bottom alone, while getting over taken by 4 year olds and almost having a mental breakdown. Never have I been so happy to see Leif's hat flapping in the breeze and getting myself onto flat ground. I mean I'm happy I went. but let's just say I would have happily had the entire weekend getting drunk in a hot tub and having a rowdy night in the hotel room like we did the night before.

The last few weeks were pretty hectic with finals coming up, but the entirety of Delta Sig spent so much time together revising, making forts and final visits to Sundance and various other food joints. That just made leaving this mad bunch so much harder, because we actually felt like a little family. We even took Christmas pictures because we're just that weird.
I couldn't have been happier to have gained such good friends, in Leif and Caragh especially. Having them back at Keele this semester helped so much with the "re-intergration" into life back at home. Even though the 12 of us have been split up for the past few months, worldwide skype dates are always on the cards, no matter how hard it is to organize. I'm so excited that during my trip this summer, I get to reunite with Chrissie, Leni and Katy when I go to Australia, and once I'm back home for third year, then entire English division of Delta Sig will be back on home soil ready for a tour of hometowns and unis. So with that, I think this proves that it didn't matter who I met or when I did, but the fact we all managed to find people equally as weird as ourselves during our time at CSU, and that made the entire experience all the more amazing. Watch out world, you never know where Delta Sig will make an appearance next!

Californiaaaaa

This post has taken me FOREVER to get round to finishing, so although it's a little late, please forgive this poor student with tons of work and appreciate the effort I went to to get this done :)

Last week was Thanksgiving break, and boy it was needed. I honestly don't think without it I'd have been able to cope with the last three weeks of school in the run up to Christmas.
A few weeks back Caragh and I had a little discussion of what our plans would be, so after a lot of pondering we decided we were going to get the Amtrak California Zephyr from Denver to San Francisco.  It was a little bitter sweet actually. My initial idea was to go to on Washington D.C. and for Aisling to fly over from back home and join me. Due to our change in plans, it wouldn't really have been worth it for her to spend all that money to just come for a few days. However, I've always wanted to go to San Francisco and it was one of the only cities I haven't been to yet that I really wanted to go during Thanksgiving. So although Ash's visit didn't work out, it's not that long until I'm back home anyway.

The first day of Thanksgiving break was actually Caragh's birthday, so we decided to spend the day exploring Denver before we got the train on Sunday. We visited a (very tiny) German market, and did the typical tourist thing of getting pictures at the mile high sign on the Capitol building. Maybe it was the time of year, but I actually wasn't too impressed with the amount of things to do in Denver. It's definitely one of those cities that the bar scene helps a lot. I also have a bad impression on the place since it was there I realized that my trusty Pooh Bear was still sat on my bed at CSU and wouldn't be making the trip to San Francisco with me.
Our day perked up when we headed to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner, one of the only birthday requests Caragh had from day one of the trip planning. The portions were huge, so we got garlic bread and split garlic noodles... failing to remember we were going to be spending 32 hours on a train and would probably be stinking the place out with garlic. Oh well. Disaster struck when it came to cheesecake ordering time, as after a 5 minute long decision making process, Caragh's choice of lemon meringue was sold out. Back to the drawing board she went, while in the meantime I was secretly plotting with our waiter for a little birthday surprise. The great combination of my accent and Caragh's impending approach led to him thinking her name was "mcaragh", thank god he checked with me on that one afterwards! After finally joining me in a piece of key lime cheesecake, I was rewarded with a look of death as hers was brought by singing waiters complete with a candle. What can I say, I had to embarrass her in some way!

The train journey really dragged since there was a rock slide in Rocky Mountain National Park, so we had to detour through before Wyoming before making it to Salt Lake City. It was a very welcomed change of scenery when we woke up to desert in Nevada, however that got boring quickly too, so it was exciting to near the end of our trip. It was a shame that because of our delay we didn't get to see San Francisco for the first time in the daylight, but both Caragh and I have never been so excited to see city lights for a long time! We spent our first evening at Pier 39 and instantly fell in love with the place.

The next day we did so much! We got up bright and early to try and get Alcatraz tickets, but it turned out people had been queuing since 4:45am and there were none left. Off we went on a little adventure walking the streets of San Fran... you know it's too early when even Chinatown isn't open. That first day we walked to Union Square, Chinatown, back to the Pier 39 in the day and were at the Golden Gate Bridge by noon. The views were so amazing when we walked a long it, and you really noticed what a strange city San Francisco actually looks like. It's strange to have such skyscrapers mixing in with what looks similar to a Greek town with houses perched on hill sides.
Afterwards we went to Lombard Street, the "crookedest street" which my roomie Liv had recommended to me. We were definitely grateful for the Colorado altitude when we got there, talk about steep hills! It was a shame because of the plants all the pictures I took you couldn't actually see how crazy Lombard Street was, but I'm sure you get the idea. We went to Fisherman's Wharf in the afternoon and headed back a little early since we were walked out and had a busy day ahead.
We decided if we were getting up early for Alcatraz tickets, we were getting up early. Major props to Caragh for going along with me on that one since she knew Alcatraz was a bucket list thing for me. So there we were, first in the line at 4:30am. I'm pretty sure she'll back me up when I say I had a cheesy grin on my face all morning during the tour and I'm soooooo glad I finally got to go! We did more walking around Chinatown (it was actually open) and I got my fix off my all time favourite spicy eggplant :D Sadly, the place with the best egg tarts in the city was shut due to vacation, very inconsiderate, but we visited the shop where fortune cookies where actually invented, hidden away in a back alley and smelling glorious.

The next day was Thanksgiving, and since we'd done pretty much all the tourist traps, we decided to take a day to relax. We headed to Golden Gate Park with the intention of spending the day looking around, however that changed when we realized not only how big the place was, but how badly signposted things were inside. Instead we headed for the beach and had a makeshift picnic while watching those Cali waves. Needless to say, typical clumsy me got caught in one of said waves, so while we waited for my jean to dry, we got to watch the sunset.

 Friday we did some Black Friday shopping upon the realization we were heading back soon, needed one last final break from work and hunting for something hilarious to buy Leif as a present. All in all, I loved San Francisco more than I thought I would and had the best first Thanksgiving I could have asked for. Also, after 10 full days Caragh and I didn't murder each other which is always a bonus.