New York day 3 - 31.12.12

Last day of 2012 in New York!

We started by going to a diner called Galaxy Diner for breakfast. I had the horrendous decision between challah French toast or a stack of pancakes, and I went for the latter, because I can make challah French toast any time but pancakes made my Jocy are not the same as pancakes made in an American diner. I had my pancakes with a totally yumtacular fruit salad, and syrup too obviously :D



After breakfast we went to this thing called the Highline, which is basically a disused train line over New York that has been turned into a garden-type thing with lovely views and pretty flowers. As much as I still don't really understand what it was all about, it was very nice. Again the weather was perfect and the views really were lovely. There were also deckchairs which are always a hoot, especially when you can push the deckchairs down the train tracks :D





Then we all felt peckish so we went for a walk and dicovered Joe's Pizza in Greenwich Village, and it transpired that it's meant to be one of the absolute best pizza places in the city, and honestly I firmly believe that claim. There is something so WONDERFUL about eating a slice of pizza larger than your face out in the open. My only regret is only having the one slice, what was I thinking?!






We then went to Coffee Bean (grandpa's tea stop) which is basically a vastly superior Starbucks. I had the nicest drink I can remember ever having, it was a black forest iced coffee. I watched them make it and as well as normal mocha, it had solid chocolate and actual maraschino cherries blended into it, totally delicious!



The others then wanted to go back to the hotel for a rest before the evening, but Stuart and I decided to continue walking. We walked through Greenwich Village, Washington Square Park and then up 5th Avenue. Washington Square Park was incredible. There were people doing yoga, a group of men doing intense frisbee tricks, men playing card games, and even a man busking on a grand piano! The atmosphere was electric, and eclectic. I absolutely loved it. It was in that moment I think I decided that I was in love with New York City. I would do anything to live there for a while, and to be able to visit that park whenever I wanted. It was very special.









As we had to walk up 5th Avenue to get back to our hotel, it would have been rude not to do a spot of shopping. We went to Barnes & Noble which was just amazing, it was I think the biggest one in the world. A lovely man stopped and asked me if I was Australian though which was strange. This happened a few times throughout the holiday. I bought a lovely copy of To Kill a Mockingbird. I realise that I do not need another copy of it, but it's one of my most loved books and the cover was limited edition and gorgeous and it smelled amazing and I have no self control. We went to another Sephora (second of the day, I went to one in Greenwich Village too) where I bought some nail varnishes and some eyeliner, and then to Footlocker where I purchased some simply BARGAINOUS Converse. They were $60 reduced to $20 which is like £13. Mental.





Then, as it was New Year's Eve, I decided to put on my sparkly dress for dinner. We went to a restaurant called Viv Thai, and I don't usually like Thai food at all but I actually really enjoyed this. Especially my green dumplings :D My absolutely favourite part of this meal however was when my grandpa came back to the toilet wearing the Madeiran hat we got him in the summer. It is a silly tradition in my family that on Passover my grandpa will put different silly hats that we have bought him over the years on when no one is looking. When he came out of the loo with this on it was so hilarious and I will remember that moment for the rest of my life.




So after dinner we had to get ready for the New Year! The plan was that we would all go to my parents' hotel room where they had nibbles and champagne, and we'd all watch the Times Square coverage on TV and bring 2013 in together. But at 11.20 me and Stuart had a change of heart. We were watching Times Square on TV, and I suddenly realised that we were there. We were TEN MINUTES from there. Why were we in our hotel room?! So I told Stuart that even though we would never actually get into Times Square now (they shut the surrounding streets off to prevent over crowding), we were in no way staying in that hotel. So we decided to just head out and see what happened. Sure enough, the whole area near Times Square was absolutely packed, but by eavesdropping on the locals and asking a few helpful NYPD people, we managed to find a really great spot at 46th Street, just a few blocks away from the Square. It was packed out and absolutely buzzing, and when we looked up we could actually see the giant clock in the Square ticking down to midnight! We missed the actual countdown but we saw the fireworks and everyone was so happy and excited. Straight after midnight people starting pouring back in the other direction, so we moved forward and 10 minutes into 2013 we found ourselves in the middle of Times Square, with confetti still falling from the sky. We even saw the same man on the stage that we had been watching on TV less than an hour beforehand! The atmosphere was just incredible, and to be there at that time of year was a true once in a lifetime experience. We stayed in Times Square absorbing everything for about half an hour, but then we were both desperate for a wee so we had to go back. We went to say hello to my parents and grandparents and then we went to bed, ready for day 4 in New York City :D

New York day 2 - 30.12.12

Second day in the city that never sleeps!

We started the day by going to Dunkin' Donuts for brunch. Any place that we could not visit back home was on my to-eat list. I had a cinnamon and raisin bagel with cream cheese, and let me just tell you that the cream cheese you get in New York tastes like rainbows and happiness. I followed this with a jelly donut. Normally I'd pick a fancier one, but I wanted something that is quintessentially American, because I'm a full on tourist. It was amazing. Worth every single calorie.

Then we went to do the Circle Line boat trip. This was a huge boat trip all the way around Manhattan Island, so we got to see Brooklyn and of course the Statue of Liberty. Honestly, and this is bearing in mind that I have skied in -18 degree temperatures, I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO COLD IN MY LIFE. It was BITTER. It was also unbelievably windy, to the point that there is no way you could stand upright when a gust blew. But it was also just so much fun. The sky was bright blue, and it was so lovely and sunny. I had the best time. I managed to stay outside for all of it minus about 15 minutes, when I had to go indoors to warm up. I went in when we went by the Yankee Stadium because I wasn't too bothered about seeing that.







For dinner we went to a restaurant called the Blue Smoke, and it did barbecue food. Not gonna lie, I wasn't expecting to love it, but it was actually one of my favourite meals of the whole holiday. I had a beetroot and goats cheese salad (faaavourite starter EVERRR) followed by salmon with sides of sweet potato fries and the most glorious mac and cheese you can imagine, (yuuuum) and then I couldn't pick a dessert so me and dad shared a platter of ALL THE DESSERTS which is basically my ultimate Dream Come True. This consisted of apple crisp (basically a crumble), chocolate cake, sticky toffee pudding, key lime pie and banana cream pie. There is something about how pies are done in America. I feel sorry for Americans who come over and order pie in the UK.





After this we went to B&H, which is basically an absolutely enormous techy gadgety camera-y shop COMPLETELY RUN BY HASSIDIC JEWS. I thoroughly enjoyed this, as did my dad.

Following this, we met up with nana and grandpa (who had gone for dinner with their friends who live in NY that evening) and decided to go for a Spot of Tea. My grandpa absolutely loves stopping for tea wherever we go, and New York is no exception. Every year for about 6 years my family has had a huge meal at the Intercontinental in London, and we found the one in NY so decided to go there for our tea that evening. When I say the service was bad, I really mean it was so appallingly terrible that it was borderline hilarious. 40 minutes after ordering, nothing had arrived, and 20 minutes later when it did arrive it was all wrong, and then we had to chase (literally) the waitress to get her to sort it out and then at the end when the bill finally arrived they had put service charge on it! Grandpa was not amused. It definitely did not live up to the standards we are used to in Park Lane, but it was memorable in its own special way :P

New York day 1 - 29.12.12

This was our first full day in New York City. We started by going to Uncle Mario's for lunch, where we had some quite nice pizzas.



Mine was quatro formaggio, although I so nearly picked a pizza base topped with macaroni cheese. I also had a cherry soda that had about 200% of my sugar RDA in it. I would never usually touch full sugar drinks with a barge pole, but when in New York eh!



I think the most exciting part of this lunch was that whilst we were waiting for our pizzas...it started to SNOW! It was so exciting to be looking out the window onto 10th avenue seeing the snow falling! I was terrified that the snow would stop whilst we were eating and that we wouldn't get a chance to be out and about in it, but I didn't have to worry because it snowed all day. After lunch we made our way towards the Guggenheim, which meant we got our first glimpse of Central Park, in the snow no less! I was mainly excited because Mia goes to Central Park in Princess Diaries (you may notice reading this that a lot of my holiday was spent being excited about places Mia goes in Princess Diaries :P).





The walk to the Guggenheim was LONG, and it was really really snowing, and settling in areas. We got absolutely soaking wet, and freezing cold, but I genuinely didn't care because you can't care about things like that when you are experiencing New York for the first time ever :D After the Guggenheim we went to Grand Central Station to have a look, and honestly it didn't hit me that I was there till after we had left. I felt like I'd seen it before because of how iconic a place it is.



This was another recurring theme throughout the whole holiday; feeling like I'd seen things before. We also discovered the most amazing food market kind of underneath the station, and it hurt me inside that we were staying in a hotel and I was unable to buy and cook some of the things we saw. Some of the stuff that really stands out in my memory are the cheese stall, the salmon counter (particularly the delicious looking teriyaki salmon with sesame seeds, mmmmmm!) and the most stunning gingerbread houses I have ever seen in my life.



Then it was dinner time. Now, I make no secret of the fact that despite being an atheist, I am Jewish through and through and extremely passionate about my heritage and the traditions that come with it. So for this reason, Sammy's Roumanian will probably remain as one of my favourite dining experiences, ever. It is this unbelievably Jewish restaurant that specialises in shmultz over consumption, and from the second I saw the gloriously green Jewcumbers on the table I knew it was going to be wonderful. I had mushroom barley soup followed by salmon steak with latkes and apple sauce. Pretty much my dream dinner.



And then, my grandpa told the waitress that we were there to celebrate my 21st birthday, so later on she brought me out a plate of ruggelach (delicious Jewish sweet pastry pancake cakey things) with a candle on top!



So I told her that we had all come over to also celebrate my parent's 25th and my grandparent's 55th anniversaries, so the entertainer (think Bar Mitzvah singer, keyboard, Jewfro and all) played that "Start spreading the news, I'm leaving today" song about New York for us all. It was just so much fun.



Then, he started playing Jewish music such as Hava Nagilah and Hevenu Shalom Aleichem, so lots of people got up to dance the Hora, including my mum and dad! The best thing about it for me was that we had travelled to an entirely different country and were surrounded by people we had never met, but we all knew the same songs and same dances and loved the same foods. That is very special. Definitely my favourite thing about being Jewish; the global community and instant connection you have with other Jews. I was very proud of Stuart who coped very well with all the madness and what must have been a huge culture shock for him! But he ate a steak the size of his arm, along with 5 latkes, so I think he found it all okay! After the meal was over I quickly smuggled a Jewcumber into my handbag for later, because I just couldn't leave without one spare.



After we got the Subway back to where we were staying, most wanted to head to bed as everyone was tired out from the traveling the day before. I however was not going to sleep before getting a glimpse of Times Square. Luckily we were only a 10 minute walk from it, so me and Stuart decided to head over. I remember approaching it and being in such a daze that all I could really take in were lights, lights everywhere. I couldn't believe I was there, really truly THERE, in New York, in Times Square. It was just wonderful.



We started off by going in the M&M World, which to be honest was the same as the one in London. Then we went in the Disney Store, which was beautiful as ever. Then I had to go in Sephora (another thing that will crop up throughout these diaries, so many Sephoras!) because we don't have that in the UK and I had heard so much about them from watching beauty channels on YouTube. Then we went to Toys R Us, which was just INSANE. It has a BIG WHEEL in the shop! On the bottom level, but so tall that it goes all the way up to the ceiling, and you can really ride on it! And there was a sweet shop there too! And an entirely different sweet shop that only sold Wonka chocolate! It was just amazing!



We finished the night by going to Starbucks, where I ordered a frappacino. The lady in there looked absolutely aghast and said, "You do know a frappacino is iced right? You can't have an iced drink, it's snowing out, they are for when it's hot!" so I said to her, "I'm from England. If we only had cold drinks when it was hot out we would never have cold drinks!" She was so nice and friendly. Stuart and I then walked back to our hotel in the snow and settled down for a sleep after our first day in what would soon become my favourite city in the whole world.

The beginning of the end

Tomorrow I embark upon my final semester as an undergraduate at university, ever.

I travelled back to my uni house this afternoon, and was inconceivably happy to see Stuart and Ben and New Simon and Tall Simon. My love for my uni friends feels heightened suddenly, I think just because I am so acutely aware that we don't have much longer left all together.

After we all had a pasta bake together, the above minus Ben and I decided to play in the snow :D As I grew up in a rather secluded town, away from where the majority of my friends (and people in general) lived, I really don't have any experiences of being in the snow with a group of friends. Apart from on the ski trip. We wanted to make a snowman but the snow was far too powdery so we decided to go to the golf course opposite our house (well actually the boys decided this and I reluctantly went with - I was worried it was private property and a scary man was going to jump out the bushes and arrest us for trespassing) and we had a big walk and the boys played with large sticks and re-enacted scenes from Lord of the Rings and then they found a huge frozen puddle and they all kept edging closer and closer to it whilst I stood on the sidelines shouting at them to be careful. It was lovely. I know that come even next week, I won't believe it was a whole week ago, let alone when I remember back to this in 10/20/30 years time. After this we walked to the end of our road and went to the newsagents. Amazingly at it was still open at 11pm so we all bought treats. I got a Magnum and revelled in the fact I could eat it as slowly as I wanted without it melting, thanks to the subzero temperatures this tonight.

Ohhh I just can't believe it's so nearly over. I'm not ready to leave these people. It's gone too quickly. I knew it would, but no one could have ever prepared me for how it has flown by. I want to cling on to them and never let go. Though they might find that a bit peculiar.

Tomorrow I have my first lecture of the semester, and I am seeing Amy and we are going to make a vlog together and I am seeing Nasima and Emma and Lucy and I just COULDN'T be more excited!!!! I have missed them so much.

So now, all that's left to do...GET. A. FIRST. UGHIGJSDKFASMNDGMBMF
Good night! x

PS..New York blog coming soon

My 2012!

It's time for my annual blog about the past year. I've done this every year since 2007, which is scary because I remember when I first decided to do one and now that was 5 years ago which is a quarter of my life. I'M OLDDDDDDDD.

Anyway, 2012 was a good year. The first few months weren't anything amazing. I totally loved my course (as usual) and had a nice time at uni with my Media friends, but my self confidence was low and I was suffering from very bad anxiety. I didn't want to socialise and I felt quite lonely. It wasn't the best. However, when it got to June everything started looking up. I went to Madeira with my family and with Stuart, which was absolutely incredible and I got to SWIM WITH DOLPHINS which was a lifelong dream of mine! And not in one of those awful tanks either, it was in the sea in the wild! It was just incredible. Putting my head underwater and being surrounded by about 30 dolphins, and hearing their whistles and clicks was one of the most amazing moments. It was jut wonderful.

In July I got to move into the house with Stuart and the boys. This was immediately a weight off my shoulders and a great relief. Shortly after this were the 2012 Olympic Games. I volunteered at my university was which was Pre-Games Training Camp for the South African, Chinese, Japanese and Irish athletics teams. It was such a brilliant experience! It converted me from an Olympic-cynic into an absolute Olympic fangirl. I got to meet some lovely people in the form of the other volunteers, such as Laura, Emma, Dan and Abbie and of course the hilarious Charlie. The people who were running the Camp were amazing and we just had the best time together. Having the opportunity to not only watch these world-class athletes train, but to also get to know them was such a once in a lifetime, and it felt really special to know we were helping them prepare for the biggest events of their lives so far. I got to meet some unbelievably famous faces such as Caster Semanya, Maria Mutola and Oscar Pistorius. And then, to add the icing on top of the cake, to thank me and Stuart for all our efforts (we did 6 weeks of full time volunteering) we got given tickets to see the Athletics in the Oympic Stadium for free! So we got to watch Jessica Ennis do some of her Heptathlon events, as well as Usain Bolt doing his 100m!!! So incredible! On top of this it so happened that the cycle races and time trials went straight past my uni, so we all got to go and cheer Team GB on by the side of the road together. The atmosphere was just mind-blowing and it really touched me how the spectators cheered on ALL the cyclists and not just our teams. It was perfect. Another highlight of this time was watching the Opening Ceremony with all of the volunteers and coordinators in the Link Room on campus. We all got takeaway Nando's and it was such fun. Later on, in October, I also went to see the Paralympic Athletics at the Olympic Stadium with my parents, Stuart, David and my wonderful friend Becky. It was equally amazing, if not more. I was delighted to be able to absorb the atmosphere of the Games some more, because it really was electric.

In August I went on a last minute spur of the moment holiday to Kavos, Corfu with two of my best friends from school Sarah and Katie. We hadn't all hung out together in YEARS, but we had such a lovely time! Even though the hotel/environment wasn't entirely up our streets (clubby!) we made the best of it and had a wonderful week in the scorching sun. We swam and went to the beach and had ice creams and all got on so so well, it was lovely. I really needed some guaranteed sun so it was perfect, and a lovely thing to round off my summer with.

So this brings me to September, when I started the first semester of my final year of university. Honestly, this is when I feel like I really came into my own at university. All the modules I studied this past semester have been WONDERFUL. I did a module about Disney, a module about Digital Imaging, Online Broadcasting and also my Practical Dissertation. I really found myself in a proper friendship group for the first time since halls, and this time I am so sure they are my friends for life. We spent day in day out together and even though we had an obscene amount of work and had to be at uni for about 15 hours a day, 7 days a week, the people I was with made sure that I still had the time of my life. I was very proud of myself in regards to Digital Imaging, because in the first few lectures I struggled SO much and I was genuinely sure that I would fail. But I went home and practised and I did this until I wasn't bad at it, and I am extremely proud of my finished results. Disney was the best module I have ever studied in my life...and not only because we got to go on a FIELD TRIP TO DISNEYLAND PARIS!!!!!

This was one of the best weekends of my life, 24th November - 26th November. It has been a dream of mine since I was 10 years old and first went to Disney World with my family that one day I could go to Disney with my friends. And that weekend my dream came true. It was utterly perfect, I cannot think of a single way that it could have been any better. The people I was with were just wonderful, there was not a singly dispute between us the whole weekend, we just spent the whole weekend being awe-inspired and laughing together. I went on my first ever rollercoasters too and loved them! Something that was recurring throughout the weekend was the support system we all had for eachother. This began on the way there when a couple of people felt travel sick and everyone rallied to help make them better. Then, that evening, we were deciding whether or not at 8.30 we wanted to bite the bullet and go to Paris for a few hours. I began feeling anxious because obviously we don't know the area well, it was dark, it was late, I was worried I was going to get ill...and everyone was just so lovely to me. Rebecca was particularly brilliant, I remember her just looking at me and saying that we were all there looking out for eachother and that I have to ignore the anxiety and just DO IT because no one would let anything bad happent to me and that this was one of the times where we just have to DO IT or we'd regret it forever, and that in the end I'd feel proud of myself for it. Simon refused to leave us and came with, and he helped me find a toilet when we arrived and I was desperate :D Amy, as usual, looked out for me and we stuck together in a situation when we were both out of our comfort zones. All I can say is that Rebecca was completely right and that we all owe Jess and Ellie for just going and buying their tickets, otherwise I don't think any of us would have. It was one of the most special nights of my life, and even though we were only there for a couple of hours, it was a couple of hours that I'll remember forever. Even when it came to rollercoasters everyone looked out for eachother! And by eachother, I mean me :P I was the only one who had never been on one before and the first one we rode was the Indiana Jones ride, and it went upside down! Tall Simon held my hand the whole time and I kept my eyes firmly shut :P But I truly loved it and went on many others. I also had to hold Nasima's hand on the Rock n Roller Coaster :P The rest of the weekend in Disney was just unbelievable. All the feelings that I had when I went a decade previously came flooding back, and the fact that it was all Christmassy just added to the magic. It was just mind-blowing, I had the time of my life and I just cannot emphasise that any more.

The weekend after Disney my birthday celebrations continued. Stuart took me for a posh afternoon tea in South Kensington, and after this we went to see Matilda the Musical courtesy of his parents! It was brilliant. And then the week after THAT, something VERY SPECIAL happened. I finally, after waiting since 2006, got to see...AMERICAN IDIOT THE MUSICAL!!!!!!!!! This was first mentioned online in 2006, when Billie Joe said that they wrote the album as a rock opera and would like to see it performed onstage. Years after this, it went to Broadway and then toured America, and then years after that, it FINALLY came for a London tour! It did not disappoint, and sitting in the third row with Stuart, Megg and David was another dream come true. I still can't really believe I finally got to see it, at the age of 21 having been 15 when I first heard about it. What are the chances of that! And my parents came too and also loved it which was brilliant.

So really, this brings me to now...the end of December. And it's not over yet because the day after tomorrow I am going to NEW YORK CITY with mum, dad, Jake, nana, grandpa and Stuart!!!! Mum has always said she wanted to take me to New York for my 21st, so we incorporated it with celebrations for my parents' 21st anniversary and my grandparents' 55th anniversary. I just can't believe I'm so lucky to be going to NYC with my amazing family and my boyfriend!!!!! I really am living the absolute dream, and I am SO excited!!! I need to pack now actually. But before that, I need to complete my checklist of the aims I made for 2012 by seeing if I achieved them. Then I'll give a quick commentary of the things that I looked forward to for this year. Lastly I'll make similar lists for 2013. Here we go:


AIMS FOR 2012
- Continue enjoying my course
DEFINITELY. I love it more and more each week to be honest, because every week I become closer with my friends and every week I learn some more. I can't believe that this time next year it will all be over ): I wish I could continue studying Media Arts forever, part of my wishes that anyway.

- Get a 2:1 at the end of second year
Yep (: I got 67.3, which is 2.7% off of a First!!!

- Stay with Stuart
Of course (:

- Not have arguments
I didn't really have any arguments that I can recall. This may have been my downfall on some occasions though because I think some stuff happened that I should have called people up on but I didn't have the guts to. I need to strike the balance between non-confrontational but still assertive of my right to be treated nicely

- Lose weight
Dream on

- Keep my hair in good conditioning PARTICULARLY by not straightening it very much at all
It is SO MUCH BETTER! It's finally growing! And I didn't straighten it for about 4 months over the summer! Now I'm doing it about once a fortnight and I've stopped putting permanent dye on it too.

- Start thinking seriously about what I want to do after uni
I've applied for 2 jobs if that counts? :P I know what I'd like to do but am not pinning my hopes on one thing.

- Turn 21 in a calm and sensible fashion :D


- Do not get mature. That would be tragic.
As if

- Do something lovely with Stuart for our one year annimaversary (:
We went out for Italian food and had epic sized pizzas with amazing gelato

- Sort out my anxiety issues and just feel less ill and more healthy
Unfortunately not. I need to work on this a lot.

THINGS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2012
- Completing the second year of my course
It was brilliant.

- Going to Madeira with my family and Stuart and uncle Warren
Brilliant

- Michael McIntyre with Stuart and his family
Oh yeah! This was also brilliant.

- Green Day American Idiot musical!!!!!
BRILLIANTTT

- NEW YORK
AAHHHHH I HOPE IT'S BRILLIANT

- Losing weight
This would have been brilliant :P

AIMS FOR 2013
- get a First in my degree. Really I'm setting myself up for a 2:1, but if I get a 2:1 I know I'll be devastated, and I'm definitely aiming for a First.
- sort out my anxiety
- continue getting long hair
- after graduation, get a job that I love and that utilises my degree
- stay in contact with my brilliant lecturers
- I just got a text from Amy about an idea for a short film...so it is now an aim to make that short film
- vlog/blog regularly
- move out....this is ambitious and unlikely, but it would be great
- get on better with Jake
- stay with Stuart
- stay best friends with the wonderful Media Arts girls
- sing at the last SMarts acoustic night at uni
- do some travelling

THINGS I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2013
- starting the year in NEW YORK CITY!!!! I can't believe that when I go back to commentate on this next year I'll have already done this when right now it is still a dream!
- my Arts and Culture module
- doing my practical dissertation
- making my Online Broadcasting documentary
- going to our apartment timeshare in Portugal with family and Stuart
- hopefully entering the world as a graduated real life human and hopefully doing well in it and not having a nervous breakdown and quarter-life crisis

So that is my 2012. The latter half was unbelievably good. And it's not even over yet! I feel very lucky and would like to thank all the people who contributed to the brilliant times I have had. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I didn't get a chance to complete this blog and post it at the right time so here it is rather late and I will continue it but in the present tense shortly!

CHAPTER ONE: BIRTHDAY THINGS

On Tuesday night my parents took me and Stuart to my favourite restaurant for my birthday. It's a very fancy seafood restaurant and as a pescetarian, suits me perfectly. I had the most glorious starter which was warm goats cheese on beetroot salad. I was worried that the salad would be all rocket and I don't like rocket so was so happy when it was a mixture of normal lettuce leaves. The slab of goats cheese was incredible and as well as chunks of beetroot it had this delicious beetroot puree drizzled over it...mmmmmmm!!! And and and because I think there must be a Jew somewhere in the business, you get fresh challah rolls with your food! PERFECT. For main course I had baked salmon with hollandaise sauce which was DELISH. We ordered dauphinoise potatoes, gigantic chips and cauliflower cheese as side dishes and it was all just marvellous. For dessert we all had roasted pineapple with caramel sauce and coconut ice cream. Need I say more?

Last night I went for a lovely meal with some of my best friends on my Media course. Nasima's birthday is next week so it was joint for both of us. We went to Bill's which is another of my favourite restaurants. The food is yummy and quirky, and the decor is just adorable and eclectic, such a great atmosphere. Unfortunately I didn't like my risotto because it had CHUNKS OF SAGE IN IT which it transpires taste exactly like how toilet cleaner smells. But my dessert was one of the best I've ever tasted...lemon meringue pie cheesecake!! Layer of buttery biscuit base, layer of cheesecakey moussey cream, layer of lemon curd, scoops of frozen yoghurt and topped with marshmallowy blowtorched meringue! It was GLORIOS!

It was a lovely evening. I feel very sad that we have only just all become close, so near to the end. Typical eh? I only have myself to blame because I felt so low most of last year that I just didn't really talk to or socialise with anyone. So it's my own fault. I just want to make the most of my time with them till we graduate in the spring now.

CHAPTER TWO: DISNEYLAND PARIS