I’m doing my best to ignore that yet another year has gone by (and the fact that despite my best wishes, the pandemic is still a thing), but this past year has been full of excitement and I thought I’d try and sum it up a little! Despite the pandemic, I spent 2021 in three different countries, and while I’ve documented a lot of it on here, I couldn’t help myself from summarizing it in a nice little list. In the past 12 months, I:
Spent the first four months working in Dijon, France
Baked several loaves of challah
Got my three doses of the Covid vaccine (and a fun sticker to go along with it each time)
Experienced record breaking 115ºF heat
Took nine nasal swab Covid tests, and way more lateral flow tests
Moved to London
Completed the Tower Challenge in York
Saw a handful of shows (fully masked)
Had a few successful TikToks
The sticker was (almost) more exciting than the vaccine itself
Okay, I know that when written out in a list, it doesn’t seem that impressive, but I’m super proud of myself for all of it (even the Covid tests, because that’s just been a part of this year). 2021 will forever be the year where I achieved my goal of moving to London, and even with the struggles that have come along with that, I can’t get over the fact that I actually managed to do it. When the year ends, I’ll have spent nearly four months here, and not only have those months been amazing, but I feel like I’ve managed to do a fair amount, even with the stress of moving and pandemic restrictions. Some highlights include:
Touring Arsenal Stadium (did I decide to support them purely because their mascot is a dinosaur? I’ll never tell)
Finding green spaces to wander (I personally really enjoy Hampstead Heath at the moment)
Watching Tower Bridge lift several times
Starting a new job
Consuming a ridiculous amount of Pret barista made beverages because of their subscription
Going back to the theatre (I managed to see seven performances in my four months in London in 2021)
All we’re missing for the perfect photo is Gunnersaurus!
I think that’s a fair amount to have accomplished in a small amount of time, don’t you? I’m so excited to see what future months in London have in store for me, and I’m even more excited to experience living somewhere in a permanent way, and all that entails (the longest I’ve spent in one place that isn’t where I was born was nine months, so I’ll be excited to pass that date in 2022). I still have a list a mile long of things I’d like to do in London, so I’m hoping that I’ll be able to make a dent in that as the next year progresses. I’m also just eager to see all the personal growth I’m sure I’m going to do, both from a professional angle, as well as a personal one.
2021 was the year London called!
I was re-reading my 2019 recap post (somehow I forgot to do one for 2020, whoops), and I wrote that “obviously the future isn’t crystal clear.” The irony that that statement is just as true now as it was then (and even more so now I feel) isn’t lost on me, and it almost feels silly to make any kind of resolutions or goals when we have no idea what 2022 might look like. Here’s to hoping the next year is a good year, nonetheless – happy new year!
Despite it feeling like I’ve just arrived in London, believe it or not, it’s been over two months and now I’m rolling into my first holiday season as a full time London resident! This isn’t my first holiday season spent in London, but it feels a little different this time since I’m not fully experiencing it for the first time. Since London is absolutely massive, there’s no way that I’ll be able to see and do it all, but I figured I’d document the season as I went along with some highlights and what not! I’ll admit that I didn’t get up to, or see, quite as much as I wanted to, but I still managed to get a little festive!
Even the roundels got festive!
Lights and Decorations
London goes hard when it comes to lights and decorations for the holidays. The places you can visit that are decked out are truly endless. I work in central London, so I end up frequenting Oxford Street on a lot of days just by virtue of it being on my commute. Almost all the shops have some form of festive lights, and then of course, the street itself is draped with hanging stars. Moving a little further on, you’ll encounter the angels at Regent’s Street, or the Kaleidoscope of Love with brightly colored butterflies hidden down Carnaby Street. I also stopped by Seven Dials near Covent Garden for their Winter Festival. I didn’t really find a lot of the things they had going on, but I did get to see the lights, and see it all decorated. Covent Garden put up a lego carousel display, and even had an hourly snowfall (which I’ll admit wasn’t super impressive in person, but still is a fun idea as something to have)!
With the sun setting around 3:50pm (I know, it’s ridiculously early now), I feel like you get more time in the day to admire the lights (which I guess is one perk of such an early sunset). It does help brighten up the mood a little bit!
An early morning on Oxford Street
Carnaby Street’s theme was Kaleidoscope of Love this year: filled with butterflies, rainbows, and bright colors!
Covent Garden’s Lego display!
Since I have a Historic Royal Palaces membership this year, I also went to the Tower of London for their “Christmas at the Tower” special. It wasn’t quite to the extent that Hampton Court Palace had been for Halloween, but they’d put up some trees, and displays of menageries around outside. All the exhibits remained the same, but it was nice to have some festive decorations up in areas where there normally wouldn’t be any! Sometimes less is more, as they say.
Outside the Tower of London with some festive displays!
Theatre
Being a theatre person, I couldn’t let these months go by without seeing any shows to mark the season! I started in late November with A Christmas Carol at The Old Vic. They put on a rendition written by Jack Thorne, and it was truly heartfelt, beautiful, and so joyful. If I’m being honest, I think it was the best night I had had since moving to London up until that point. I got seats in the front row *on* the stage, and I had the best time. The set was beautiful, acting was impeccable, harmonies in the Christmas carols were stunning, bell ringing was lovely… I could really go on about it because it was just that good. I believe it’s now an Old Vic Christmas tradition, so I might very well make it a part of my yearly plans. Audiences are also treated to a choice between a mince pie or a satsuma upon entering the theatre! Of course I had to go with a mince pie, and it was just the icing on the cake for the most wonderful evening. Being the person that I am, I did go see it again very shortly after seeing it the first time, and it was equally as good that time around. I was pleased to see that the joy it brought me didn’t go away on another viewing. If I could, I’d see it every night just to relive how happy I was in that audience (and to experience it again quite simply because it was *that* good). Truly 5/5 stars, and I think impossible to leave the theatre in a bad (or should I say Scrooge-like) mood.
The Old Vic’s marquee for A Christmas Carol
A big holiday theatre tradition in the UK is pantomimes, or better known as pantos. It’s hard to simply explain what a panto is, but they’re typically fairy tale based, filled with songs (sometimes modern day songs with adapted lyrics, other times completely original pieces), audience participation (the classic bits are a back and forth of “oh no it isn’t,” “oh yes it is” ad infinitum, or “he’s behind you” shouted at the protagonist as he runs away from the villain), and holiday magic. There are countless pantos in London, so of course, I had to make sure I saw at least one (oh yes I did)! They’re silly, and full of humor for both children and adults, and of course, you have to boo the villain whenever they’re on stage. The most magical bit of it is hearing the children in the audience scream at the top of their lungs, and get really invested. I know for many UK children, pantos are their first theatre experiences, and I hope that for at least some of them, it fosters a lifelong love of the arts, and continued theatre visits.
Hanukkah
Since I don’t celebrate Christmas, I do try and mark Hanukkah however I can. In moving, I don’t have a proper menorah with me, but I do have a window cling one, which does take pride of place on a mirror I have in my room (at least I know I’ve got fire safety covered). I did also make sure to head down to Trafalgar Square to see the giant menorah on display there! I only made it on second night, so I didn’t get to see it fully lit, but I will still say that it’s impressive (and I’d argue more so than the Christmas tree they put up there this year).
Mince Pies
I would be remiss not to mention my favorite holiday tradition in the UK – mince pies! Unlike what the name might imply, there’s no meat in them (yes, it’s mincemeat inside, I know), and they’re this fruity, heavenly pastry that I honestly could eat way too many of (and probably have). I made it my goal this holiday season to try as many different varieties as I could because unfortunately, you can’t get them year ’round (which is a shame, truly). In case anyone reading this wants a breakdown of the ones I tried, I’ll present to you my ratings, because yes, this was a very important thing to research!
Old Vic: 10/10. This one sits top of my list mainly because of the sentimental value attached to it, but also just because it was truly delicious. The design was beautiful, the filling was perfectly sweet, and as it was my first mince pie of the season, it automatically ranks fairly high!
Pret: 9.5/10. Another beautiful design, and bonus points for the sprinkling of icing sugar on the top. The pastry was so flaky on this one, and excellently thick. Not to mention that there was SO MUCH filling, which is all you can ask for in a mince pie
Sainsbury’s: 7/10. Again, good design on top, but it was very pastry heavy. It took a few bites to get to the sweet filling, and you want that filling to pastry ratio to be better than that (can you see I fully adopted a Bake Off persona while rating these?).
Coop: 5/10. Oof, these were not the mince pies for me. The design was sloppy, and for a mass produced mince pie, you’d expect something of higher quality. The filling was kind of depressing and not very joy inducing, which is really the real reason I eat mince pies so this one didn’t rate very highly for me, unfortunately.
Tesco: 7.5/10. The design felt a bit rushed, and imperfect, but the pastry was delicious. The filling was smooth, with a great taste and texture. Bonus point for the sugar sprinkled on top!
Delicious Sainsbury’s mince pies (as you can see, I’d eaten one already)
I feel like there’s something so special and festive about a holiday season in London that can’t really be beat. There’s just nothing like it elsewhere (that I’ve experienced). They’ve especially gone full out this year given last year had such a damper on it (not that this year doesn’t but when I started writing this post, things weren’t nearly as bad as they are now). Admiring lights and decorations never gets old, and I love how many opportunities there are to do just that in London! Not to mention all the other festive traditions (although I will draw the line at Christmas pudding). I didn’t get around to ice skating, although perhaps I’ll look into that in January. Happy holidays!
When I moved to the UK, boosters for the Covid vaccine were already starting to roll out across the US, so I figured at one point or another, I would have to navigate getting one in the UK. I couldn’t really find much out there about getting a booster as someone who had their first two doses abroad, so I thought I’d throw a post together in case someone comes looking (not sure I attract that much traffic, but hey, why not)!
Since I’m under 30, I was in the last age bracket to become eligible for the booster in the UK. That day came on Wednesday, December 15. Most people were advised to book their booster online as soon as they were eligible. Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t do that. Even though I have an NHS number, and have registered my first two doses with my GP, those doses aren’t registered in the NHS database. As such, when I tried to make an appointment online, it would only allow me to book a first dose (which then required you to book a second at the same time). I rang 119 (the NHS helpline for Covid) to ask about how to proceed, and they told me to go into a walk-in center. You can find walk-in centers near you by heading here!
When Wednesday rolled around, I rocked up to the walk in center closest to me at opening (which was still one mile away from where I live – about three tube stops and a bit of a walk), and the queue was already very long. I was glad to see how many people were trying to get their booster, but after about two hours, I was disappointed to learn that I was too far back in the queue to be guaranteed a booster that day (and it would still be about a four hour wait even if I was). The staff was very kind though, and suggested returning any other morning, but to be prepared to get there very early, and that’s exactly what I did. I went back to that same center two days later, and started the queue (I was first in line) 2.5 hours before the center even opened. I was alone for about 15 minutes, but by the time I’d been waiting around 90 minutes, I could no longer see the end of the queue.
Shortly before the center opened, they came out to check what dose we were getting, confirm when the date of our last dose was, and to tell us to have our vaccine proof out, as well as our NHS number (if you knew it – some centers don’t require an NHS number to get vaccinated. It just won’t get recorded on your registration if you don’t have one). When I got in the center, I sat in one of 12 plastic chairs, before being motioned up to a table where they took my full name, post code, date of birth, phone number, NHS number, and asked what dose I was getting. After I was signed in, I went back to waiting in the plastic chairs before getting called up to the second table where another worker took my details again, entered in my CDC doses (somewhere, but not in the NHS database), asked me questions related to my medical history, whether I’d had Covid in the last 28 days, a vaccine in the last seven days, if I’d ever had any allergic reactions, you get the gist… Once I’d gone through all those questions, I went back into a makeshift curtained stall with the woman who would be administering my jab. She confirmed all my personal details, asked about my first two doses (again, there’s no evidence of me having gotten them other than my flimsy CDC card), and in which arm I wanted the jab. She was absolutely so kind, and asked if I’d like to have her narrate what she was doing, or if I’d rather talk about something random. She administered the jab, and then gave me a paper NHS card with the lot number and date, which I’ve put into the plastic pocket I have for my CDC card. She also gave me an “I’ve had my Covid vaccination” sticker (although I did ask for one after seeing them on her desk).
Forever collecting stickers to celebrate getting jabbed!
Unlike in the US, you’re not required to wait for 15 minutes after getting the jab in the UK. That being said, I always mention when getting vaccines that I have a history of passing out from them (which is true, although it’s not happened recently). The woman who gave me my jab immediately told me that she wanted me to sit in the designated waiting area, and escorted me there. The staff there made sure I sat down, and even brought me a water bottle! I only waited for about five minutes (that’s all I need to know I’m good), but it was lovely to see their kindness and how they’re looking after people heading to the walk-in centers.
Other random observation, but in the center where I went, they didn’t use band-aids for the jab, but rather a cotton ball and tape! It doesn’t really matter either way, but I found it an interesting thing to note.
ANYWAY. That was the process of getting the booster! Not counting how long I stood outside queuing, the entire process took about 20 minutes, and that includes me sitting and waiting for a bit. It’s to be seen if I can get the Covid pass from the booster, or if it will show up in my NHS app, but that’s also something I can deal with later (ironically, they’ve just set up a foreign vaccination verification process, and I was meant to have an appointment next week for that, but they’ve cancelled it for me, ostensibly *because* I got the booster. There are now no appointments for that kind of thing anywhere in the country as there are apparently only a handful of computers that can handle that process). I’m just very grateful to have been able to get the booster, and for it to have been relatively painless (the process, my arm on the other hand…).
Long story short, if you’ve not been double jabbed in the UK and can’t book an appointment via the NHS, head to a walk-in center! The earlier you can get there, the better!
As a side note: I checked my NHS app 24 hours after my booster, and my vaccination was in my vaccination record. I also now seem to have a travel Covid Pass. To be determined if it actually works for travel, but it’s all updated and in the system! Now just to get my foreign vaccines certified!
Not Your Average Giraffe 