Lovin' Leeds

I know I've fallen behind with my posts, my apologies, I was keeping busy in Leeds this week!

I arrived on campus Friday afternoon, backpack on, looking like the lost little tourist that I was. I ventured in to a nearby coffee shop to sit and wait for Lauren to finish class, having a tea of course.
Finally my favourite Brit arrived, energetic and bubbly as ever, I had missed that lovely accent of hers!
Leeds Uni is beautiful, it has a nice sized campus, with student housing surrounding it- a lot like Queen's! We spent the afternoon chatting, sharing stories and catching up on lost time.
That night we went for some Moroccan food and a little vino at a nearby restaurant, continuing our gossip fest.
The next two days were filled with shopping, touring around the city and meeting up with some of Lauren's exchange friends from Edinburgh. We had a great meal on Saturday to celebrate one of the girl's birthdays, and of course ate it whilst watching X Factor! The rest of the night was filled with disco music and dancing!

The weather in Leeds was much like Canadian weather at this time of year, cold and windy. Unfortunately, the heating in Lauren's house does not always reach up to her attic room, so we had to cuddle with a hot water bottle all night to stay warm.
 Monday I spent a few hours wandering around the city, soaking up the beautiful Christmas decorations that were beginning to appear. Two of Lauren's Leeds Uni friends were coming to visit that night, Chloe and Naomi. We went out for a lovely dinner, followed by cocktails at a nearby bar. The final club we went to, Jake's Bar was absolutely dead, save for a few members of the band the Pigeon Detectives. (Apparently they are sort of a big deal in England, Lauren was pretty excited, I had never heard of them. They were great guys nonetheless.) We left the bar that night belting out Prince's 'Purple Rain'...great night.

Around this time of year, there are German Christmas Markets that are set up all over Europe. There happened to be a small one in Leeds, so we went there the next night to check it out. It seriously got me in to the Christmas spirit, as well as made me want to go to Germany for the beer gardens. They had one set up there and it looked like loads of fun. Soon...
Seeing Lauren was so great, and meeting her friends and seeing her part of the world was so exciting. We reminisced about Queen's, and made future plans to meet up, (hopefully I'm going to her family home before Christmas to meet her family, and possibly meeting up with Chloe in London for a night!)

I am now back in Thame, re-packing for my next adventure, CAMBRIDGE! Spending a few nights there visiting Renad and friends, cannot wait!

P.S As I'm sure you all know, Prince William has FINALLY proposed to Kate... It's EVERYWHERE. Poor Harry Potter...being outshone by Kate Middleton, not cool.
xx