Vamanos a Espana! (and a July Update)

Hola! Things have been seriously crazy around here lately. So much has happened since my last update! Mostly just dissertation work for me, at this point I'm five weeks out for turning it in so we're getting down to crunch time. I'm trying to manage my time though and still allow myself to have some fun while living in London. For example, I played hookie the other day and spent the whole day at Thorpe Park which is a super awesome amusement park. Instead of working on my dissertation I rode rollercoasters all day. I say it was a good trade off.

Oh, and summer finally arrived! And it hasn't been messing around. We had the hottest day of the year and it got up into the 90's(Fahrenheit) and we were all dying since this country doesn't seem to believe in air conditioning. Now it's super nice weather, lots of sun and pleasant temperatures, I'm in my happy place right now.

So what's new...

I went to Wimbledon!! I'm not going to bore you too much about it, but the two days I got to go were so incredible. I got to see some of the world's best tennis players up close and check this quintessential British experience off my bucket list. The first day I went was opening day and I was fortunate enough to have a free ground pass (thanks Jack!). The weather was incredible and we spent the whole day wandering around the grounds watching different matches. A few days later my friend Sarah and I decided to queue for court tickets, so we were at Wimbledon at 4am and sat there in the queue with a thousand other people waiting for tickets in the rain. It was super cold and miserable, but ended up being worth it since we got 2nd court tickets and actually ended up getting free centre court tickets for the last match of the day (thanks again Jack!). It was one of the most exciting times ever and I had the best few days. If you were to ask me in a few years what I cherish most about my time in London, Wimbledon will definitely be up there.

Sar and I after the Centre Court match!

Watching a match on the hill with the London skyline in the background. Perfection

Also, my flatmates and I had a 4th of July celebration because as good Americans you get very patriotic on this one day, and we went all out. We had bbqs, over 90 red, white, and blue balloons, lots of snacks and of course a little bit of alcohol... The night ended up being brilliant and I'm so happy we got to share such a fun holiday with the Brits. They were all very good sports about it, no hard feelings seem to be left ;)

Our patriotic kitchen (pre-party)

I also went to the Sky Garden, which is this garden on the 35th floor of one of the skyscraper in London. It was really cool with beautiful views of the city. After visiting I got lunch at Borough Market and wandered around Southwark for a while.

The Shard from inside

Tower of London and Tower Bridge from Sky Garden

Spain

And now to the good stuff! About a month ago Becca and I booked flights to Menorca, Spain for a cheeky four day holiday. We picked Menorca mostly because it was one of the cheaper destination, but also because it seemed to be less touristy and much quieter than its sister islands Mallorca and Ibiza. We left London Gatwick around 8 and landed around 11 local time, and were lucky enough to be picked up by our Airbnb host, who took us to her flat where we promptly dropped of our bags, switched into our bikinis and headed back out to the beach. The bus station was about a 15 minute walk and it was down beautiful, clean Spanish style streets. The sun was shining, it wasn't too warm, and I was incredibly happy. We ended up going to Son Bou, a closer beach to Mahon, the city we were staying in. The beach was very long with soft, white sand. There were lots of families lying about and splashing in the shallow water. Unfortunately, it was very windy that day, so we didn't have the best time, but when the wind wasn't blowing sand in our hair and ear, we seriously enjoyed sunbathing and splashing in the warm, teal Mediterranean ocean. That evening we walked down to the harbour and got pizza and sangria for dinner while watching the sun setting over the boats docked. It was incredible.

Our second day on the island was cloudy unfortunately (seriously, they get like 10 days of clouds a year. What are the odds...) but it didn't stop us from wandering all around Mahon, exploring small side streets and enjoying the architecture. We found a vegetarian restaurant where we got vegan tapas and I was honestly so happy. Usually it's very difficult for me to find food I can eat on holiday, especially since I don't eat meat or dairy and some countries usually only eat meat and dairy, so it was a big deal. The fried tofu fingers with bbq sauce were to die for! Also the vegan chocolate brownie was a delicious end to the meal.

The following day it was a beautiful, sunny morning. We caught a bus to the other side of the island to Santo Thomas, where we found a beautiful, secluded beach. The bus ride was about 40 minutes and went through some of the prettiest small towns. The island seems so secluded and untouched by modern day, it was so cool to see it compared to London.
It was about a 15 minute walk and we even had to walk into the ocean a little around some rocks, but found a small section of beach with some caves and the clearest, most beautiful water I have ever seen. I wish the pictures I took could do it justice, but there's no way to accurately capture the colour of the water. Becca and I spent the whole day sunbathing and swimming in the ocean. When we got too hot we would wander back into the caves for some shade. I'm not going to lie, I did get sunburned, but not as bad as I thought I would since my skin hadn't seen the sun for months since moving to England. It was a perfect day and one I will remember for the rest of my life.

After we got back and showered, we went and got dinner at the harbour again, this time we got some salads (and sangria) and watched the sun set and watched these rich kids party on their yacht. #holidaylife

The following morning it was already time to leave. I wish I could have had a few more days in Menorca because it was a truly amazing island. The locals were so friendly and our Airbnb host was incredible. Traveling around Europe makes me realise how truly lucky I am to be living here and how cool it is that I can travel to Spain in two hours. I just hope I am able to continue taking advantage of these opportunities to travel.

For the next few weeks I don't really have anything planned other than finishing my dissertation. After that I'm hoping to move flats and hopefully find a job here so I can stay until my visa expires at the end of January, or (fingers crossed!) a job I can get a work visa with so I can stay even longer.


That's about all I've got now! I'll check in after the dissertation is done. Then I've got Reading music fest and hopefully some other travel plans lined up. Cheers!