Goodbye Sweet Tea. Hello UK!: My Adventures as of Late

Although the weather has turned quite icy and cold here, I have still left my cozy room a few times to experience winter in London. I have braved the streets of London to try to do some Christmas (mainly window) shopping... Oh yes, and I discovered something about shopping in London. Usually, I would feel completely comfortable out and about in Columbia shopping in whatever clothes I happened to be wearing, but in London shopping appears to be quite a big outting and something you want to look nice for. I was getting quite discouraged at my outtings to try to find Christmas presents, so I decided to put on a nice outfit and "put some color on" as us Southern Ladies would say, and shoulders-back I set off to wander through the expensive shops like I belonged. It was quite an entertaining social experiment, and felt very much like the infamous shopping scene from Pretty Woman (minus the hooker apect, "Big mistake.. HUGE!"). Alas, I still was not very successful, but at least had a nice day of it :)
I also braved the ice with my friend Pauline to go to a Dutch celebration for "Sinterklaas," in which we got a free glass of wine and free chocolate, and I was able to learn about how Pauline's family celebrates the holiday in Holland. Tonight we also went out for Chinese food and a Children's Christmas Choir concert that we happened upon at Goldsmiths. Aaand last week I was able to meet up with some NHSMUN friends for a glass of warm cider... it appears the holidays are in full swing in London :) I will include some pictures here followed by my next post of Christmas/Thanksgiving in London with Mark this weekend!