Patriots Game!!

So one of the outstanding things on my 30 before 30 was to FINALLY see a Patriots game live and in person. With all the rumours about Tom Brady possibly leaving  – I’m writing this in August 2020 – he has since left and I am still in such total and complete denial, I don’t even know what to say. He’ll be back? In his prime? The dynasty will live??! So much denial – we knew if we wanted to see Tom Brady’s Patriots, the window might be closing.

Luckily we were spending Christmas 2019 in the states with my family, and the Pats had a home game on December 29th. Though tickets were quite expensive, we splurged and THANK GOD WE DID. TOM BRADY I WILL ALWAYS MISS YOU.

My dad has a friend who works at one of the pregame tents and full disclosure we went, were given like 15 free drink vouchers each, and got wasted. And that means I took very, very few photos because I was busy screaming at everything because we played like shit.

Though not our best game, I will be forever grateful I got to see Tom’s last regular season game plated with the Patriots – in Gillette. Basically, got this one done just in the nick of time.

Also I like watching at home better than at a stadium. I miss the slo-mo, reply, commentating, etc. You miss so much by being there live!

Glacier National Park

Masters of Public Health Update

I am halfway through my MPH!

Due to COVID the format of this year was really different. It worked out really well, actually. I had to take four exams and do two papers. Last year I had three exams and it was brutal, doing four would have been rough. However, this year the exams were open book and we could take them anytime in a three week window. Once downloaded, we had 48 hours to upload the completed exam. Being able to spread everything out, focus on one thing at a time, and split the three questions over two days was amazing. 

So I likely have two years left. In those two years I’ll have to do a project (apparently the equivalent of 300 hours of work), three more exams and four more papers. Though I don’t love the online format (I love a classroom), and if I had taken a year off from work I could have gotten it done in just a year, having the end anywhere in sight is such a fantastic feeling. I being able to progress in my career whilst obtaining my masters is really invaluable. I honestly feel so lucky flexible learning like this is an option!

Louvre, Paris, France

BLOG UPDATE

So disaster struck and I lost my old blog. My domain/hosting expired in April and with the COVID craziness I didn’t realise it wasn’t set to auto renew (or was but the card I had given years ago had since expired).

COVID, especially at the start, was crazy busy with work. I support sexual and reproductive health service delivery in developing countries in Asia (China is one of my countries, as is Afghanistan where capacity to handle a pandemic is extremely low). I didn’t even think about my blog until June, when I discovered it was down, and then had a terrible realisation that it was lost. I was exceptionally sad.

Somehow I lost the domain name the exact day I tried to buy it back (seems suspicious?), so I’ve moved to a .co.uk domain. Seems an appropriate way to end my 30 before 30 blogging journey by losing everything right after turning 30.

Luckily, the way back machine has most of the content still up. Nothing after August 2019, so I’m recreating my engagement, flat buying, promotion celebrating, decade reliving, and European Christmas marketing from scratch. However, for most other things, I was able to recover the text, and after a few days of just being sad, decided to put in the work to rebuild. I love this blog. I’m sad because I’ve lost literally all the comments, which I so enjoyed, and my few followers – but most had followed for years and years and I’m sad that little community is gone.

However, this blog has always been primarily for myself – basically a diary to look back on and see where I was at in life in 2015, where I spent my 26th birthday, etc. As such, I’m not editing anything really as I repost (minus the photos, which I have no record of so will have to be selected by 2020 Kristen). It’s hard sometimes, because I read things from years ago and feel I sound so young and naive in certain places. But that’s part of the journey. Anyway, I’m not sure if anyone will ever see this as my years of promoting my blog are probably past, but if you do stumble upon this, please bear with me as the further back you go, at the moment, the more of a WIP the blog is. One day it will hopefully be as close to restore to its former glory as possible!

Flat Tour!

We moved into our flat back in early November, but due to engagements and 30th birthdays and the holidays, we are really only now getting properly settled in. Our sofa arrived just after we got back from the states, we ordered a dryer(!) and are trying to figure out how to make the kitchen more our style (TBC).

There’s so much work to do, but here is what we’ve done so far!

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Thanksgiving 2019 / G’s 30th!

This year the Saturday of Thanksgiving (when we celebrate in the UK as it’s obvs not a holiday here) and Gareth’s 30th birthday fell on the same day. We had very recently moved into our new flat and gotten engaged – so there was a lot to celebrate!

We still didn’t have a couch, so we brought some gym equipment from The Yard and fashioned a giant table and fit most of our closest friends in. Other than an oven that broke just when all the pies went in, it was perfect. The food was amazing, after eating we went to the park and played football, a friend had pre-made Gareth’s favourite dessert, so we were still able to sing. Then we stopped into a new craft beer place next door that just opened, got pretty drunk, and played games all night. Perfect.

   

We Put a Ring on It!

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A few weeks ago, on a random Wednesday night when we were home painting the living room, Gareth asked me to marry him. It was very sweet and homey and low key and perfect.

We drank some wine we’d been saving since our trip to South Africa a few year ago and spoke with family and friends and celebrated for most of the night.

Because I convinced Gareth he has terrible taste while selecting decor for our new place, he bought me a place holder ring so we can design one together. And though he has terrible taste in home décor, the ring he chose was perfect. We’re going this Friday to meet with a jeweller to select the permanent one, but the one he proposed with will be something I wear and treasure forever.

Now onto planning the wedding!

Christmastime in Europe

If you know me, you know Christmastime is my favourite time of year. I try to go to a Christmas market or two each season – though Christmas was a bit different last year!

This year, as we are running out of locations we haven’t yet been in Europe, and because we are broke, we bought the cheapest flights we could find – and will soon be heading to Sibiu, Romania! It’s meant to be a gorgeous market in one of the most picturesque areas of Romania. G and I have wanted to visit the country for a while, and £50 flights to one of the supposed best Christmas markets in Europe was impossible to pass up!

As we get ready to head out (trip is still two weeks away), I think it’s time to start a new section on the blog – European Christmas markets!

I’ve already written about Berlin, Prague and Amsterdam – however I’ve yet to write about Sweden, Finland, Norway, or Poland, and that is a travesty. So to kick off December and celebrate the lead up to what I hope will be a wonderful Christmas season, let’s look back on celebrations of years past!

We’re also doing as much as we can in London this year to get into the holiday spirit. We’re going to see the lights at Kew Gardens on our 5 year anniversary later in the month and after seeing the Nutcracker in 2017, this year we’re going to see White Christmas.

And honestly, everyone thinks you need to visit Europe in the summer, but I truly think there’s nothing better than a December spent sipping mulled wine and looking at local/handmade crafts. If you get the chance to visit in December don’t pass it up!

Reindeer, Helsinki, Finland

A Weekend in Helsinki at Christmas – with Reindeer!

During the Christmas of 2017, a year after going to Prague and Poland together, and after almost a year of living apart, I travelled to Helsinki to meet up with my roommates from when we lived in Spain. At that point Shaina had been living in Italy, getting Italian citizenship, and Vera was spending another year in Spain, this time in the Granada in the south.

Helsinki, Finland

I’ve heard Helsinki is boring and there’s not much to do in Finland. I can’t speak for other times of the year, but we did something awesome in Finland – we went to see the reindeer.

Reindeer, Helsinki, Finland

Reindeer, Helsinki, Finland

An easy half day trip from Helsinki, you can get to Nuuksio Reindeer Park. It’s about an hour on public transport, and so worth the trip. I’d never seen reindeer before, and the environment in Nuuksio feels so magical and Christmasy.

Getting there:

You can take commuter trains U, L, E from Helsinki Railway Station to Espoo (8 stops/25 min) and then bus no 245 from Espoo to Nuuksio. The bus stop at Espoo is right next to the train station. Ride the 245 bus until the Punjobsuo stop (27 stops/23 min). Walk a little bit forward and turn right after the crosswalk – you’ll see a sign advertising for the Reindeer park!

Reindeer, Helsinki, Finland

Getting back we had a bit more trouble as we had looked up the 245 bus schedule and obviously written it down wrong. The bus doesn’t run very often and we were waiting in the cold for about 45 minutes. I’d suggest asking the people working at the reindeer park to advise on the next bus, so you can avoid this.

Reindeer, Helsinki, Finland

The park itself is small but so lovely. When we went it was just the three of us and one other small group. You can feed the reindeer, pet them, and there’s a candlelit traditional Finnish tent with a fire pit where you can warm up and enjoy some warm cider or mulled wine. I recall being given some chocolate as well.

If you have more time (and money) than us, I would have LOVED to stay on site in one of the two iglu huts. These handcrafted huts are made from natural materials and look so cosy. You can feed the reindeer right from your window – there is a national park trail just around the corner that is meant to be a gorgeous walk as well. If I ever go back to Finland in the winter, I’ll definitely do this as a night in nature would be so wonderful.

Helsinki, Finland

The rest of our time in Helsinki was spent wandering around and taking in the city slowly. We went to MAJOR SHOPPING AREA, as it was quite festive and I bought a few decorations from SHOP that I look forward to putting out every year. We ate at Restaurant Savotta and spent an afternoon wandering around the stalls in the Helsinki market where there were tons of adorable handcrafted items.

Christmas Market, Helsinki, Finland

Where to eat:

We had dinner at Restaurant Savotta, which was delicious and the place was adorable. It was like having dinner in someone’s house – traditionally decorated with Finnish furniture and rya rugs and the table settings were perfect. I wouldn’t miss this place on a return trip!

We also had dinner at Café Engel, which had great food and was perfectly located just across from Senate Square – where the Christmas Market is.

For breakfast, going to Regatta Café is basically a requirement. Traditionally Finnish and is right on the water, full of decorations, a fireplace, candles and is possibly the cosiest café I have ever been to. Go here and get the cinnamon roll – you won’t be sorry!

Cafe Regatta, Helsinki, Finland

Cafe Regatta, Helsinki, Finland

Logistics:

We stayed at Eurohostel, which was a cheap and cheerful option with a free sauna in the mornings. It’s a five minute tram ride to the city centre, and the trams are so easy to use in Helsinki it made getting in and out super easy.

To/from the airport: This is really easy as well. It’s one train that takes about 30 minutes between the city centre and the airport. Two trains connect the two: Line “I” train: Runs via Huopalahti to Helsinki Central Station. Line “P” train: Runs to Helsinki Central Station via Tikkurila. See their schedule here.

Though we only had two days in the city, we packed in so much and had such a lovely time getting in the holiday spirit. One thing we didn’t have time to do but wished we had was visit the Winter Garden. It’s meant to be a bit of an oasis in the middle of the city and we were sad to miss it.

Reindeer, Helsinki, Finland

Devastatingly, I haven’t seen Shaina in person since then, PROBABLY TIME TO SORT THAT. Instead of Africa 2020 maybe London-for-my-wedding 2020?

We Bought a Flat!

Back in June, right after my first year of exams for my masters, we started looking at flats for sale. Since I came back from Madagascar in April, we had been living in a pretty small flat with a friend from university. She was very gracious to let me move in unexpectedly, but I think we were all looking forward to having a bit more space and being able to live alone with our partners. We saw five or six properties, but from the time I saw our flat listed, I knew it was the one. We rushed out to see it, and on the drive home put in an offer. It was exciting! It was terrifying! Would they accept?? Was it a mistake? Buying property is a huge and scary financial commitment! The next day we were asked to up it a bit, and then it was official! We were in the process of buying a flat!

What I quickly learned is that buying in the UK is very different from the US in a few ways. Mainly, there is nothing quick about it. We were in a bit of a race to close before Gareth officially inherited his mom’s house, because here you pay something called stamp duty, which is a tax on all property bought. It goes up based on the cost of the property and it goes up significantly if it’s a second property.

Another big difference is that being under offer is not binding. Either side can pull out at any moment and there’s no consequence. In the US, being under offer is a bit of a reassurance – it’s unlikely it will fall through and you can feel okay about spending time and money on a solicitor to handle the purchase, do the inspection, etc. Here, someone could come in at any point in the process and put in an offer above yours – this is called “gazumping” and is really common. Our offer was contingent on the flat being removed from all the websites.

The last major difference is that here you buy property in a “chain.” In the US, you buy a property and sell your property independent of each other. Here, we weren’t selling, but our sellers were buying a new place, putting us in a chain of three. Us, our sellers, and their sellers. We all had to exchange contracts on the same day. So though our sale was ready to go through, we had another week of delay because there was a problem with the sale between our sellers and their new property.

On average the whole process takes about four months, and the fact that anyone can pull out at any time, someone could be gazumped, or an issue further down the chain could disrupt the entire process means that about one in three sales falls through in the UK.

Knowing this made it so. hard. to. wait. We really wanted this place, and after a few months we definitely didn’t want to have to start over or to have to pay for any of the many costs that go into buying a place again.

Luckily, we came in right at the average! It took us about four months, and we closed November 4th.

Golden Palace Monastery, Mandalay, Myanmar

Work trip to Mandalay

This summer I spent two weeks in Myanmar on a work trip. It was pretty jam packed, and a truly wonderful experience (and so lovely to meet so many colleagues in person after having worked together for so long!). I spent the weekend in Bagan, which was stunning, and my second week in Mandalay. After finishing work early one day, my wonderful colleagues took my sight-seeing. They were amazing tour guides and took me to some incredible places. See the photos below!

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