Road Trip Stop 1: Heidelberg Schloss

The day after my Christmas celebration in Michigan, my family drove me to the airport in Saginaw. I was heart broken to leave. Just completely heartbroken to miss real Christmas. But off I flew - to Germany. I arrived really early in the morning and Josh met me at the airport. We went back to his apartment and I quickly wrapped his presents. After about 2 hours, we went back to the airport to pick up David, who had flown in from Japan. We picked up a car from the car hire there and drove back home.

The next day we set off on our road trip across Germany and the Czech Republic. Our first port of call was Heidelberg. We stopped at the castle - which was situated on the top of a hill - and we took the cool cable car type thing up there. We didn't pay to go into the castle

- but we did go around the grounds. Although it was a little rainy, we still had a good time. They even had an apothocary museum which we went into - mainly because the boy's dad is a pharmacist. It was actually really interesting! We stopped off after the castle in the town, where we had a great traditional lunch at a place which was recommended by Josh's college. Super yummy!

My family at Christmas

After we cleaned up all the paper from all of my amazing Christmas presents, we had some nice lunch and then I insisted on taking some photos. Usually, it is me taking all the pictures on Christmas Day morning. And generally, all my photos are of other people! Since I thought it would be nice to have some memories of my first "Pre -Christmas" I collected Mummy, Grandma and Grandpa all together and we took some nice photos. Getting my family to take a photo is so hard because they are always talking!

I actually don't have many photos of me and my grandparents since I was a little kid - and if I do - they always have someones mouth open! I really like this one of me and my grandparents, and I even got their cute dog, Jackson in the photos too! He was feeling a little left

out while we were opening presents, so we brought him into the living room for photos. The poor dog also got to wear my Santa hat. He looked adorable, but he certainly didn't look happy about it!

My Christmas at home.

Way back in October, Josh and I decided to spend Christmas and New Years in Central Europe this year, meaning that it would be my very first Christmas away from home. The closer and closer it got, the harder it got. Grandma and Papa had set up the tree, but didn't decorate it yet. So one night, Grandma and I unpacked all the bulbs and decorated the tree together. It was one of the nicest nights of my life - just chatting with her and Papa about their lives and past Christmases.

It was so lovely. Last year, the day after Christmas, we went out and bought a 7 foot tree instead of the 10 foot tree which they have had most of my life! We went out and did some Christmas shopping, and went all around town collecting things on people's Christmas lists. When my Mummy came to Michigan a few days before I had to leave to go back to Europe - we got prepared for my Christmas, which we celebrated the day before I left. We had wrapped up all the presents, and put them out in front of the tree.

In the morning, it was just like Christmas morning. It was just Christmas without anyone there! But between Mummy, Grandma and Grandpa, it was such a nice Christmas. I got tons of lovely presents - lots of lovely clothes from Zara, and a cute Grumpy Cat plush toy,

and the coolest thing was my ballet DVDs and gym equipment. After I had opened all my presents, I had to leave and get ready for the airport, and my final present arrived on the Fed Ex truck - my Ballet bar, which attaches to the door. Now I've got it in London and it's pretty amazing! I love the big mound of presents under the tree. It didn't feel quite the same as the magic of Christmas morning, because I wasn't with my family, but it was wonderful none the less, and made me really appreciate how wonderful my family is!

Seeing Rachel

I got to take a lovely detour on my trip to America via Frankfurt. Josh picked me up at the airport, and we got a whole lovely evening together, complete with yummy tonkatsu sushi rolls. The next morning I headed home to Michigan. My grandparents came all the way down to Detroit to get me. They had to

wait 2 hours for my delayed flight, and then drive through a snowstorm home! But I was so happy to be home. It was just such a relief. I didn't have long back at home, but I was thankful that Mary and Rachel were able to come and have a Christmas style dinner with us at Cracker Barrel. I haven't seen Rachel since California this summer - and since it would be the first year of almost my entire life that we will be apart for NYE, I was so thankful to get to see her!

Skating at Somerset House

I'm not sure since when, but I have always wanted to go to Somerset House and skate on the ice rink that they set there every Christmas time. I think because of my love of ice skating at University, I have really missed it in the time since. Because I was leaving for America the very next day after term ended, I knew my classmates and I had to get ice skating before I left. After we had handed in all our paperwork into the University, we walked our way over to Somerset House.

We were so lucky to get the very last spot they had avaliable that evening! Cara, Maria, Frankie and Lewis and I hung around the shops they had nearby, and then got our skates on. I was a little nervous after having not been on the ice since I was in Seoul, an entire year ago! Somerset house has such a pretty setup - we were there right when the sun was setting and it was incredible as the lights all turned on. The site is actually sponsored by Coach

- the handbag designers - and it had a giant Christmas tree and all these pretty lights along the side, and a pretty SKATE sign right at the top of the building. We had a great time skating. It was Lewis' and Maria's first time skating - in their entire life - and it was so great that by the end of our time slot - they were doing pretty well on their own away from the sides!

I had such a wonderful time skating around fast with Frankie and Cara - it was so nice to be back on the ice - and it was such a nice, Christmassy thing to do - and quite a wonderful way to end my time in London for the year, and to start off the Christmas celebrations in style!

Finishing up our first term at King's

Going back to Uni certainly was an adventure. Not quite on par with Japan - a lot less fun and a lot more hard work. But my classmates are really, really lovely. There are 12 of us on the Space Physiology course and 12 on the Human and Applied Physiology - which means we are all nice and close.

Right in the last couple weeks before Christmas, we had three huge, huge pieces of work - I was so thankful to hand mine in a week early - and then the sense of relief to be done with term was just such a relief!

A surprise trip to Ireland!

Last year, I surprised Josh with a trip to Seoul, South Korea - one of the coolest cities on the planet. On the Friday, I went up to Osaka, and surprised him with tickets for the following morning. Needless to say, he's often said it was the best surprise. This year, I knew I had to do something pretty cool to compete with such a cool trip last year! My planning was pretty laid back for a while, and I had a lot of work on - so Josh decided to go to Dublin to see our friends from Japan - Abel and Sinead. He thought I was busy, and, I was, but I booked

a last minute flight with Ryan Air. I actually got in early on Friday morning, and got to see my bestie from Japan, Mikaly, who now goes to university in Dublin. While he had class - my cousin Amy and her daughter came out and spent several hours with me in Starbucks, chatting - which was so nice. Then Abel and Sinead picked me up and drove off to the airport, where Josh was well and truly shocked when he got into the car and saw me!

We had such a nice time wandering around Dublin - we walked through parks, and went around the Guiness factory - and ate so, so much Japanese food! I loved the Japanese food in Dublin! On Sunday we spent all day hanging out and playing Wii and playing games together - it was so nice to just hang out and be there!