2015 in review

2015 was an amazing year for me. Just looking back on it I have changed so much and done so much since the beginning of the year. I started 2015 off in Greece with my family which was a lot of fun. My mom, sister, and I also took a day trip to Cardiff, Wales after Greece. After they left I couldn’t wait to go meet them in the Bahamas later in January. After the Bahamas I was back in London for quite a while before I was going to see any of my family again. I started booking courses to fill my time besides volunteering at Brownies. I took several courses: photography, anthropology, psychology, book keeping, comedy of YouTube, and more. I met with my family friends and got to go to discos. I also hung out tons with my cousin in London. February was a bit of a bleak month for me after the excitement of January and going back to London with little to nothing to do. In February I went on a day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon as well where I made my first real friend since I had gotten to London.

When March rolled around things started to pick up. All of the courses I had chosen started in March. My older cousin who I never see decided to come to London to go to a concert. The three of us cousins met up one day and went for Sunday roast besides going to a market, doing some shopping, sight seeing, and going for drinks. During this time I learnt more about who my one cousin really is as I have only met him a few times and he is about 15 years older than me. Later that month my younger cousin and sister came to visit me. It was my cousin’s first time in Europe so I got to show him around London and when my sister met us we all went to Dublin, Ireland. We all got to hang out with my older cousin, who lives in London, as well. I also took my younger cousin to Windsor before he left. Mid-March I also got a little job dog walking. I got to walk this dog named Pierre 3 days a week. This gave me something more to do making me happier.

April was when things started to slow down a little bit and I decided I wasn’t happy with how things were going and how I was trying to put in effort to make friends and have things happen but I still only had one friend. This is when I decided I was going to move back to Canada at the end of May/beginning of June rather than wait until August. During this whole time (end of 2014 on) I was also helping my cousin with his business. I can’t remember if it was the end of April or early May but I helped him prepare and went with him to film his advert which was fun. The same day I went to my family friend’s house to have dinner and watch a movie. Those full days where I got to see people who I knew cared about me and who I cared about were the days I looked forward to most.

In May my friend and I went to Ascot besides planning a small weekend trip with 2 more of her friends to the Isle of Wight. During this time I also met another friend while taking a class. Her and I got on well and she liked to write and make films. I went over to her flat to make some short silly videos after her and I had gone to a play and after party put on by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her, I, and a friend of hers went around London one day taking pictures to scout locations for her new film. It was so much fun just spending a day with people like them, who are so creative and friendly. One weekend in May I also got to dog sit Pierre which was fun and filled my days besides going to a craft making class were I got to make creams, scrubs, and lip balm. Later in May my cousin and I spent the morning of my birthday together for breakfast before I had to take off to walk Pierre and go to Brownies. That day in Brownies I was put in charge and was hosting a Canada day to teach the girls about Canada. I was also going to make my promise that day. The weekend after my birthday was the weekend we went to the Isle of Wight. The day before that I had helped my cousin with his business again and got to see his new office. The day of the Isle of Wight trip started early: a bus ride, 3 train rides, and a boat ride away. It was fun though. We explored the whole island and 3 days was enough for the trip. The last day we hung out in Portsmouth and I had gotten sick. By the time I got back home in London I was exhausted and went right to sleep. I had family friends who were my age come down from Scotland for a weekend that I met up with. We went for lunch as well as to a couple of art galleries, one including the National Portrait Gallery. We explored London a bit more, had some warm drinks, and headed home. It was a lot of fun to see them and just get to chat to people my own age who knew my family for a day. My mom came to help me move at the end of May. Before we started the hard work of moving we decided to go to Vienna, Austria for 3 days. I was meant to go on a big Europe trip with friends but that never worked out so my mom said we could go to Austria before we went back to Canada. Vienna was a lot of fun and since I had made a friend in London who was from Austria she had told me everything that I had to see and try. We got to see the Spanish School of Riding which was something on my bucket list. After Austria I got to see everyone one more time before leaving. I got to go to one more film party and get burgers after, get a drink and dessert while overlooking the river in Kingston, have one last Sunday roast and watch cricket in the park, have dinner with family friends from Scotland and England, and have dessert with family friends.

I came home the first week of June thinking that once I came back I would be happy with lots filling my days again. This was not the case though. I was happy to see my family and cousins but I had lost pretty much all of my friends except for one on/off friend in Canada. I was also missing London so much. I was so happy to see my dogs but the lifestyle, independence as well as my cousin and everyone I had met in London I was missing. In June I got to go to a women’s FIFA game, Japan vs Australia, with my dad and two cousins. I also got to see Ed Sheeran and One Direction in concert which was amazing! I love both of them so much it just made my June. I was really waiting for the day in July where I got to go back to the UK even if it was not for very long. June kind of rolled by as I got settled back in and got to go horseback riding a couple times.

When July hit I was so excited to go back to the UK. My dad and I went to the UK because he had a meeting in Cardiff, Wales. We flew into London and stayed just down the road from my old flat. We got to see my cousin for dinner which made me ecstatic to see him again. The next day we went to our family friend’s house for a BBQ and got to have some strawberries and creme as it was around the time of Wimbledon. After the BBQ we were off to Cardiff for 3 days. I was by myself most of the time in Cardiff other than dinner time. I did a lot of shopping and exploring. We met with another friend of my dad’s from university who lives just outside of Cardiff, he hadn’t seen her for over 20 years. She was really nice and we had dinner. After my dad’s meeting was done in Cardiff we drove back to London to catch an early morning flight to Dubrovnik, Croatia. We decided that since we had gone all the way to Europe we would go somewhere else besides the UK so I chose Croatia. We were there for 3 days before heading back to Canada. While in Croatia we drove to Montenegro. Both places were really lovely.

August was when my whole family went to Orlando, Florida. We went for a week and got to go to Disneyworld, Universal Studios, the Kennedy Space Centre, and more. It was hot but a lot of fun. This was our one summer vacation this year that was all four of us. We also met my cousin and his parents there as our trips overlapped by a couple days.

After all of this travelling I was staying in Canada until Christmas. Things were slow again. I got back in contact with and old friend I hadn’t seen for about 5 years and we met up for coffee one day. During this time I tried to get a job but wasn’t very successful as I didn’t want a basic job, such as grocery store or clothing store, but I wanted something more. I wanted something that I could use to find my interests in for university. I once again did not go to university this year. End of September/early October I ended up volunteering at a veterinary clinic. I am still volunteering there. I love it. Through volunteering there I have learnt that I want to become a veterinarian and I love surgery. I never would have thought that I would love surgery or want this as a career choice as I used to be so squeamish about blood but I have gotten over that completely.

December was when I went to Cancun, Mexico on a family reunion. It was a week long trip where I got to see everybody. It was lovely seeing family who I hadn’t seen for about 2 and a half years again. I was also really happy to see my cousin from London again to update him on how I’ve been and see what he’s been up to. We came home from Mexico on December 31 so I started 2016 back in Canada for the first time in a long time.

I hope 2016 is filled with joy, self-discovery, love, wisdom, and ultimately happiness. I hope you had a great 2015 and have an even better 2016!!!

Leaving London…

Hey guys,

So here’s something sad: I’ve left London. I always knew this day would come but I never expected it to be like this. Ever since the Isle of Wight or just before that actually everything has been a world wind.

Since I decided to move back to Canada it has been a lot of phone calls to different companies. I’ve learnt just as much moving out as moving in. I have had to deal with electricity and gas companies, water companies, and the council to list a few. I had to clear the apartment and sold a lot of different things. I also saw a lot of different friends and family friends before leaving. I also saw my cousin for the last time for a little while. It was nice though. My mom, cousin, and I ended up going for Sunday roast with Yorkshire pudding the size of our faces. We then went to Regent’s Park and watched the cricket and just got to chat. Before seeing my cousin though I saw two different friends. With one friend we went to a film event which was interesting and then we went and got burgers which was very tasty. It was a fun night. With my other friend we decided to go for dessert and drinks. She found a German place and we got black forest cake and Radlers. It was so nice as we got to sit facing the river and watch the sun go down.

My mom and I also met with family friends in London before leaving. We had friends down from Scotland so we went to dinner with their whole family. It was a lot of fun though as they have twins that are a year younger than me. We also had a dinner at their grandma’s house before leaving as well as a dinner/dessert with 3 family friends (from London).

All in all this year in London has been amazing. I kind of wish it never ended. It was a slow start trying to find things to do and meet people but once it got rolling it was actually a lot of fun. London will always have a special place in my heart and I will most defiantly be back. I loved being able to become so much closer to my cousin there and meeting so many new people as well as experiencing so many new things. I will never forget this and how much it meant to me. Thank you for the awesome experience London!

Ashley xx

Isle of Wight

Hey guys,

So last weekend I went to the Isle of Wight!! This was the start to a busy couple weeks again. So on Saturday morning I headed off to meet my friends in Working and my other friend in Guilford to catch the train to go to Portsmouth. With my overpacked bags, as usual, I headed off to go on my first self planned holiday with friends. I had met two of the girls going on the trip once before as they were friends of a friend who was going on the trip with us. That day we booked our accommodations and made plans to go on this trip. The train to Portsmouth was not that long and we were able to catch the earlier ferry to the Isle of Wight and arrive there by 11 am. It was beautiful weather there when we arrived. We stopped to take lots of pictures on the way to the place we were staying as well as grabbing some groceries. It was quite lovely.

After we got settled in the house we were staying in we decided to go out and explore the Isle of Wight. We thought we would walk to the rail station in order to eventually catch the steam rail. We ended up getting lost though in a forest meadow type area. We could see the rail station from the forest area just were not able to get to the station as it was fenced off on the one side we were on. We ended up finding another station and caught a train which lead to the steam rail. We then took the steam rail all the way to the end of the line, which is the southern part of the isle. We then took the steam rail back up and got off at a couple stops before coming back to Ryde, where we were staying.

The next day we got up and went to Needles. We saw walked down to the beach and took the chair lift back up which was very windy but quite pretty. We also went into the glass blowing shop and got some sweets from the sweet shop. Needles is defiantly somewhere I recommend going. Its defiantly a place you want to go on a nice day though so you can enjoy it a bit more.

The last day we spent the morning in Ryde at the beach which was lovely. The rest of the day we spent in Portsmouth at the outlet shopping centre. We also walked around Portsmouth for a little bit before heading back to London. The last day is a bit blurry to me as I ended up getting sick and just felt horrible that day.

All in all though the Isle of Wight was a lot of fun and is defiantly something I will remember. I would totally recommend going as it is just so different from the hustle and bustle of London.

Ashley xx.

100 Happy Days extra (100+)

Day 101: going to a comedy class

Day 102: Hearing about my sister’s first day at work, talking to my mom, and getting my first car

Day 103: Getting mail from my mom and getting stuff from the body shop

Day 104: Walking Pierre and talking to my mom

Day 105: Talking to my mom, walking Pierre, watching White Collar with my cousin, going to Brownies, and getting a badge at Brownies

Day 106: Going to see a play with a friend and going to an after party

Day 107: Filming some sketching with a friend, talking care of Pierre, and getting Subway

Day 108: Babysitting Pierre

Day 109: Going to a workshop and getting ice cream

Day 110: Babysitting Pierre, taking to my friend, mom, and sister

Day 111: Meeting up with a friend, talking to my mom and sister, and seeing my sister use and like the present I got her

Day 112: Going to Brownies, making cupcakes, and talking to my mom, dad, and sister

Day 113: Talking to my mom and grandma and having a funny conversation with my sister

Day 114: Going shopping, making cupcakes, and talking to my mom and sister

Day 115: Going to Ascot, hanging out with my friend, getting a couple complements on my outfit, talking to my sister, hearing about my friend’s dog, and getting an amazing dessert

Day 116: Talking to my mom and sister, getting to sleep in, and start making plans to see my cousin

Day 117: Getting into my freshly washed bed, trying a hair mask, talking to my mom, sister, and cousin, and making a craft for Brownies

Day 118: Talking to my mom, sister, and friend, getting ice cream, and walking Pierre

Day 119: Going to Brownies, seeing the Canadian badges they are going to get, walking home with a friend, talking to my mom, sister, and cousin, and getting lavender scented candles

Day 120: Seeing Pierre, getting to use my new umbrella, and watching White Collar with my cousin

Ascot (Victoria Cup)

Hey guys,

So something super exciting happened last weekend. I went to Ascot to see the Victoria Cup!! I’ve always wanted to see a horse race and go to Ascot so when I knew I was coming to England for a year it was a must see on my bucket list. I had looked at races before but just had nobody to go with me. When I found out my friend actually wanted to go too but she had just never heard about it before I took the opportunity to go with her. We decided to go on May 9th (Saturday) as we both were free and it was the last race while I am still here. We met up a couple times before to pick out hats and make sure we had our outfits all together before we went to the races. When the day of the race came I was super excited. We both got all dressed up and met up on the train heading to Ascot. When we got there there were a lot of people as well as people selling and buying tickets.

We got into Ascot racecourse and it was like I had walked into a dream land. As a horse lover already this was like the top of the top for me. It was defiantly one of the top highlights of 2015 already for me. The grounds by themselves were amazing. We headed up to see the racecourse and I was just blown away. It was huge! It was so green and just more than I could have ever expected. The racecourse itself was massive to what I thought it would be. I had only seen a few races on tv before and was never a huge racehorse fan. I am defiantly more into the jumping side of things. Ascot just blew my mind though and defiantly made me rethink racing.

 

When we got there we had quite a bit of time to kill before the first race started. We decided to explore the grounds and just get everything out of Ascot that we could. We also decided that we would try to place a bet just to saw we’ve done that at Ascot as well. For the first race I placed a bet on number 10 and my friend on number 9. After that we went to the parade ring to see the horses before the race. We watched them walk around and the jockeys come in and mount their horses and head to the race. We went to the racecourse as well and the race started. It was once again amazing. When you are sitting there and there is such a competitive atmosphere and you are invested in the race it just takes the whole thing to another level. When you watch the race it seems like it takes forever for the horses to come close enough to the finish line where you are sitting and there is so much tension built up on which horse will win. It feels like time just stops while they are racing. After they cross the finish line and you look at the clock to see that it has only been about a minute and thirty seconds from when they started it just boggles my mind.

 

My friend’s horse she bet on won the first race so we went to collect her winnings and started talking to a couple of guys in line and convinced ourselves to try betting once more. Each time we bet we only bet £2 but it was just the feeling of investment in the race that just made it all the better. We both went for the same horse this time and the races started again. We didn’t win but it was still a sight to see. We also bet on the fourth race, the Victoria Cup, neither of us won again but it was a lot of fun. There were six races that day and after every race they would have the horses, riders, owners, and trainers all in the parade ring and award their trophies.

 

I don’t want to go on too much about this but it is something that I really love and have a passion for. This is defiantly something I am so happy that I got to experience. Ascot will be something I remember forever and have very fond memories of. Of my time here Ascot is defiantly one of my top five things that I’ve experienced since I’ve been here. I highly suggest if you are ever in England when there is a race at Ascot and you have the opportunity to go that you should take it.

All in all I had a wonderful magical day at Ascot and I wouldn’t change it for anything.

Ashley xx.

100 Happy Days (91-100)

Day 91: Getting ice cream, talking to my mom and sister, and making plans to see my cousin

Day 92: Getting a new vacuum, meeting with a friend, talking to my cousin and mom

Day 93: Walking Pierre

Day 94: Going to a class and making a new friend there, hanging out with my cousin ( watching basketball, having dinner, etc)

Day 95: Hanging out with a friend and buying a hat

Day 96: Working out, making chocolate chip cookies with coconut oil

Day 97: Getting ice cream and seeing my dog try my grandma’s dog’s new toy

Day 98: Going to Brownies

Day 99: Talking to my sister and mom and watching the last episode of Glee

Day 100: Walking Pierre, talking to my mom, having a dress I ordered arrive in the mail, and having my mom pick up things for a Canadian night at Brownies

100 Happy Days (Days 81-90)

Day 81: Spending the day in Dublin, seeing the sites in Dublin, and trying Guinness

Day 82: Going grocery shopping with my sister and finding mozzarella sticks

Day 83: Going to Windsor and Eaton with my cousin, getting Costa with my sister, getting Shake Away and dinner with my cousin

Day 84: Getting Costa with my cousin, taking a nap, and talking to my mom and sister

Day 85: Working out and talking to my mom and sister

Day 86: Buying flowers, buying an oyster necklace, and getting a caramel cream frappuccino from Starbucks

Day 87: Working out and talking to my cousin and watching White Collar together

Day 88: Making two new friends and seeing another friend, making pancakes, and working out

Day 89: Talking to my mom and sister

Day 90: Doing well in a class I am taking and talking to my mom

Year of a Lifetime

Hey guys,

Sorry I have been MIA for so long. March has been super super busy. To catch you up a bit I started a bookkeeping class at the beginning of March that is for 5 weeks as well as a psychology class that is also 5 weeks. I also got a little job walking a dog three times a week. The dog I am walking is a little jack russell who’s name is Pierre. I also went with the girl guide group I am volunteering with to Hyde Park, Imperial College, and the Science museum for them to earn some badges. I think at the end of that trip all of the leaders where more tired than the children. I also went to see “Focus” with my new friend that I made on my trip to Stratford-upon-Avon.

I also tried a Cornish pasty for the first time on Saturday as well as sticky toffee pudding. Since I have been here I have also tried a vegetarian percy pig for the first time as well as a jaffa cake. When I first came to the UK I also tried custard which I really took a liking to. Now that I have tried all of these new things I will be making my cousin try them when he comes to London. With mentioning that I am getting ready for my younger cousin to come to London in about a week time. I am trying now to come up with things I think he will really enjoy seeing and doing in London and the surrounding areas. It is his first time in Europe so I really want him to just experience as much as he can in the two weeks he is here. I also am getting ready for my sister to visit me in about two weeks time as well as get ready to go on a little weekend trip with them to Ireland!!

When my cousin and sister are here I am also looking into going somewhere for a day trip. I am not sure where we would go yet but when I was looking at a Buzzfeed article I was quite interested in New Forest, St Albans, and Canterbury. If you guys have any suggestions on where a good place to go for a day trip is then please let me know. I just want him to see somewhere beautiful outside of London that gives a very British vibe and somewhere that you would never see something like this anywhere else in the world. Also if anybody knows some really cool places in London to go please let me know. I am making a list of things we need to do and see but I am always looking to add to the list.

I think the past couple of days have been the busiest all month so far so I shall give you a brief overview of what has happened. So things really got busy on Friday. I walked Pierre on Friday then went to cousin’s house and ended up there for something like 7 hours I think. He is starting a business and needed some help with just scanning things. So I ended up scanning about four books and quickly learning you need to save them about every 50 scans in case something happens and they all get deleted… I also had to swap phones with his friend which I wasn’t too keen on as my phone is like my life. So we ended up swapping phones and my sim card went in her phone and her’s in mine. The next morning I had to get up at 6:45 to meet my cousin at 8:30 when he was going to start filming a commercial. Well I woke up at 6:45 and then was like I’ll just lie here for 5 minutes with my eyes open and then get up. Then what felt like 5 minutes later my next alarm to leave the house went off! I jumped out of bed and was also supposed to meet a family friend later that day so I checked my email, got ready, and was out the door. When I checked my email though I realized my cousin had asked if I pick him up some notebooks. So I frantically was running around looking for places open that sold notebooks on a Saturday morning and picked some up and was off. I was then a little lost finding the place where he was filming and he wasn’t answering his phone but eventually I got a hold of him and was okay. Later that day I had to go meet a family friend and needed a phone but the reason I swapped phones was because my cousin needed an iPhone 6 which is what I had swapped for so I had to leave the phone with him and he brought me an old phone to use for the day. The phone was okay but I soon realized that the date on it and time was way way off. It said it was June 6th 1980 and was about 6 or 7 hours off. I made it to meet my family friend though even though I was about 10-15 minutes late. Later that night my cousin was supposed to swap the phones back and pop by my house to drop my phone off as on Sunday I have my bookkeeping class and need it for a calculator. I never heard from him though and it was starting to get quite late so I messaged him and he told me he still hadn’t swapped the phones back yet and it was about 11pm. He then asked if he could just drop it off sometime tomorrow so we decided we would meet where my class is and just do a quick change off and I would keep going to my class. So I set my alarm for 8am and woke up the next morning and thought oh it must still be early as my alarm hasn’t gone off yet. Then it hits me… The phone says its 2 am and I check my laptop quickly and its 9am! This is when I was supposed to leave. So once again I book it out the door and make it to the station where my class is by 10 which is when my class starts. Lucky my cousin was there and gave me my phone back right away and when I got there I really hadn’t missed anything. I think they had just listened to an accounting rap song. Ya I didn’t miss much. The point of this though is just to tell you how hectic my last couple of days have been. I was so excited to just have today off and sleep in and stay in my pjs and chill.

When I was with my family friend we went to Pinner and drove around which was quiet nice. I always look at houses like those and just think about what I would have to do with my life to end up with something like that one day. I think it would include a lot of university and a number of years of slaving away at work.

In other news I’ve realized when I sleep with my heat on I have the weirdest dreams. I think I will make a separate blog post on that though. Today I was watching “No Camera’s Allowed” and have a lot of motivation to do something that is a once in a lifetime type thing. I am looking for things in the UK to do and just Europe in general that are once in a lifetime type things so that when I go back to Canada I can say I have done all of these things and have made the absolute most out of my time in London. If you guys know or have any ideas of things I could do or see that would be a once in a lifetime type thing.

Anyways I feel like I have rambled enough for now and I will defiantly be posting quite soon as I have still been doing my 100 Happy Days and need to put up.

Ashley x.

Stratford-upon-Avon

Hey guys,

I know I haven’t posted anything in a while but I’ve been quite busy. Last weekend I went with a big group of people to Stratford-upon-Avon. I was preparing the night before for this day trip as we had to meet and leave quite early in the morning. We met in London and took a coach to Stratford-upon-Avon which arrived there by about 11 am. I met a couple eau pars and sat next to them on the bus. I quickly made friends with the one eau par and spent the day in Stratford-upon-Avon exploring with her.

When we got to Stratford-upon-Avon the group walked through the city and saw the birth house of Shakespeare, the theatre, a church, and many more iconic sights. The weather wasn’t always in our favour as it would hail on and off but for the most part it was nice weather and so nice to see all of these buildings and landscapes. It was great to get out of London for the day for a change of scenery.

Around 1:30 the group split up for lunch and to have some time our own to explore. During this time my new friend and I went into Shakespeare’s birth house and walked through the house and garden. We were lucky that when we had lunch it was raining but once we were done and ready to go and explore the weather held up for us. We explored the town a bit and went into Shakespeare’s birth house but did not have enough time to see any of the other houses which was somewhat disappointing but we thought that we may just have to come back again to see the rest.

Near the end of our day trip we saw a shop which sold many Harry Potter items. In this shop you were able to send Hogwarts acceptance letters as well as other letters from either Hogwarts or the Ministry of Magic. We also spotted a Peter Rabbit store which brought back fond memories.

Around 5 pm we all got back on the bus to London, which was longer than I think leaving London took, my new friend and I sat next to a guy from Spain who we started talking to a bit. Coming back into London we arrived around 8 pm near Piccadilly Circus and the group was then going to go out to the pub. My new friend and I both headed to the tube station though as she had to meet with other friends and I had to be up early the next day to meet with some people. 

I think all in all Stratford-upon-Avon was a great place to visit and has so much history that you need more than a day to explore all of it. I do wish though that we had a car to go out and see more of the houses as only 3 of the 5 (I think) are in walking distance and the others are just outside of Stratford-upon-Avon. It was so lovely to just get out of London for the day and see something completely new that you wouldn’t see otherwise. It was an experience I will never forget and hey I made a new friend out of it.

Ashley xx.

100 Happy Days (21 – 30)

Day 21: Talking to my cousin over FaceTime

Day 22: Going to Brownies and talking to my mom and sister

Day 23: Looking into booking a trip with my sister and cousin

Day 24: Making red velvet pancakes with cream cheese icing 

Day 25: Waking up to an awesome dream

Day 26: Going to Greggs and getting a cheese and onion pasty

Day 27: Making plans to go to a concert with my sister and friend in the summer

Day 28: Talking to my mom, sister, cousin, and uncle

Day 29: Going geocaching with GirlGuides

Day 30: Making fries and mac and cheese for dinner