CHRISTMAS!!! I love this time of year. And as hard as it is, being away from home, there have been so many festive decorations in the city, and activities happening to keep me excited in these last couple of weeks here. Every year in Leeds, the month leading up to Christmas brings a German Market to the town square. Every night you can take a walk into town and indulge in some mulled wine or German truffles. You really feel like you've run away to some small Bavarian town when you walk around! In January, the market is replaced by a giant, outdoor skating rink! I remember seeing it last January when I visited Leeds after my graduation. This time I'll get a chance to actually skate on it!
A few weekends ago I went to London with some of my Leicester friends, and spent most of our time walking up and down Oxford Street - one and a half miles of all the shops and department stores you could possibly want. They had some really beautiful decorations up as well - the department stores like Harrods and Selfridges always have themed 'holiday' showcases. In hindsight, I wish I had taken more pictures, but the traffic on the weekend was life-threatening. And I'm not really talking about the cars - I mean the people! They were everywhere, sometimes I was at a complete standstill on the sidewalk, waiting for the crowd to shuffle their way forward and escape into one of the shops.
On Saturday, we ventured out to the Notting Hill district to visit another famous stretch of road called Portobello Road. It was very unfortunate that there happened to be a torrential downpour at the same time - and I nearly drowned in the rain trying to get there! Luckily though, once we got there, we came across a never-ending block of antique stalls. Turns out, on Saturdays Portobello Road turns into Portobello Market - the world's largest antique market! Antique shopping isn't really my forte, but it was still a different experience to visit some of the stalls and browse through all the bits and bobs (most of which cost more than my rent for the month!). Sorry there's only one pic, as you can tell by all the umbrellas and chaos, it wasn't the most conducive environment for photography!
Other than that, things have been normal out here - the PhD is going well. Unfortunately my TA duties are almost complete for this year (aside from the 40 papers I have to mark in the week before I leave!). I haven't found any teaching jobs for next term as yet. I know some of you have been asking what my research is all about - and I think I'll have to work on writing up a post about exactly what it is I'm studying here! The problem with that is, I'm still figuring out the best way to communicate it myself, it's an ongoing process, one that I hope to share with you in the weeks to come.
Hope you're all enjoying the holiday season - can't wait to see you in two weeks!
(I've got some leftover pics of Leeds and the campus that I never got around to posting, so here you go, enjoy!)
This is the Roger Stevens building - I pass by it on my walk to town and just think it's really pretty. :)
This is the Parkinson Tower, the landmark of our campus (you can see the tower from almost anywhere in the city - really good for people like me who can't navigate!). Inside is the Brotherton Library which looks exactly like a typical traditional English library you would imagine to find here)
Remember how I said churches have been converted into all kinds of other buildings? Well, this one is a nightclub called Halo. I've never actually gone to one of their events - but they do hold one called Midnight Mass on Saturday nights...really odd, I know.
This was back in October, in my friend's car on our way to Leicester. I thought it would come in handy when I need a reminder of what the sun and sky look like. Smart thinking...
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