The not-so-depressing visit update =p

[nicole]

I've had my day in my pit of depression and slowly crawling out of it, so I decided I would write about my SO's visit while it's still at the front of my mind.

My Adventures started December 26th, when I asked my dad you drive me back to Manchester (where I go to college) so I could pick my SO by myself on the morning of the 27th. I think my parents were secretly pleased with this plan, as I was bouncing off the walls and being annoyingly hyper all morning I got to Manchester and got my computer set up... aaaaand what's this? My SO was online! I thought I wouldn't be able to see him as he was setting off so early, so I called him, and we talked for an hour till his taxi was due to arrive, which, if anything, made me even more hyper. He left for the airport and I spent the day blitzing my flat as my roommates, though they protest the place is messy, don't clean up after themselves. I didn't mind though, it kept me busy. I made cookies as a special reward for him passing his big engineering exam too. I could barely sleep, so I watched TV all night until it was time for me to get ready and leave.

I chatted to my taxi driver the whole way to the airport- he had 8 kids apparently, I crossed my legs at the thought of that I had got to the airport stupidly early, so I got a drink and breakfast whilst I waited, playing games on my ipod. I was excited because the boards were saying the plane from Chicago was getting in earlier then expected, so logically, I thought I would be seeing him sooner- WRONG! People were coming out of the arrivals gate in drips and drabs, and verrrrrrry slowly. The butterflies I had been feeling once the Chicago flights status changed to 'In Baggage claim" were fading, as over people found their loved ones and left. One American girl was meeting the guy standing next to me- she said they had kept her in customs for half an hour and they had pulled so many people they couldn't all fit in the room Great, I thought, he'll be the last one out of all the people they had pulled.

I waited ANOTHER half hour, and he was there The irritation I had been feeling towards him for making me wait so FREAKING LONG left me, and I ran over to him and kissed him. It was so amazing, to have my arms wrapped round him again, his arms around me, his lips on mine. I kissed him all over is face, which made him laugh, he kept saying he couldn't believe how skinny I had got (I've lost a few inches since I was in America). We stood and just held each other for the longest time, it was so surreal; it felt like I was dreaming the whole thing. I broke away, still clutching his hand, and we went to the information desk- I had taken a taxi in the morning, but I didn't know if the stupid rail strike had gone ahead, so I wanted to see if we could get a train back to my flat. But the guy was taking ages and I was getting impatient to take my boy home, so we just left and jumped in a black cab- screw the expense!

We finally got back to the flat, and errrrm events occurred and we just lay on my bed for a long time, staring at each over, clinging on to make sure it wasn't a dream or hallucination. I finally got up when his stomach started growling and went to make him his first bacon sandwich- which he loved and met his expectations, as I kept telling him they were magical I had planned to take him into Manchester for a date, but he was so tired, I decided we would postpone the date, and we just vegged out on my bed and watched TV and movies until it was time for dinner. I made him his favorite Indian food- chicken Jalfrezi, with rice and naan bread and we sat and ate holding hands He was all tuckered out, so I put a movie on and we snuggled up in my single bed and fell asleep

I will be back with the rest, there's so much to write down! Day 2 is when I started taking photos- we took 193 in all?!

[blankita719]

Sounds like a pretty awesome first day! Can't wait to hear more and see some pictures!

[Luisina]

I love your writing style! - fun to read and your excitement and joy is so evident
sounds like you're starting to feel (a little) better - I'm glad to hear that.. from now on, it can only get better

[agentholli]

sounds like you had a great time! I can't wait to see pictures

[cody92]

Sounds like an amazing time! Can't wait to see pics

[nicole]

thanks guys, I meant to continue, but it seems my SO is on English time and got up early today, so I got distracted. I shall continue!

Day 2

We had a very lazy morning, I knew he'd be jet lagged to hell so I purposely didn't get up till 10, we watched a movie- Up!-I recommend it if you haven't seen it; it's a new favourite of ours now Then we went out in the rain to go get groceries- my SO was walking round the store poking everything, exactly like me when I first went to America. I got him some Scotch eggs as another English friend had told him they were awesome (they are not, they are gross), and he was walking round with eyes the size of dinner plates asking me what things were (you only have 2 flavours of pop tarts?!)- I honestly didn't think our food was that different but whatever anyway, after he had dubbed all English food "weird" we walked around the shopping center, got new toothbrushes as I had made him wait an extra week on replacing his so we could buy matching ones- sad I know, and we walked back to the flat with our purchases.

We ate more bacon sandwiches for lunch and had a few more lazy hours and exchanged our christmas gifts. He loved his bento box I got him, and he bought me a digital picture frame which he had loaded with photos of us both on So sweet! And as my birthday is in January, he gave me my birthday presents too- a beautiful sapphire and diamond necklace, I need to take a close-up of it, I love it, I haven't taken it off except for bed time We messed around for a bit:





Then we went into Manchester for our date- surprisingly, between my going back home for christmas and returning to Manchester, a circus tent and vintage fun fair rides had been erected in the city center. The lights were so pretty and there was a street performance band playing so we stopped to watch:



Then I took him to Chinatown; I was worried because we had so much fun in the Chinatown in Chicago, Manchester's is a lot less impressive- only one square and a few chinese lantern strings. But I needn't have worried, we had a blast We went to a little japanese restaurant with a rotating sushi bar, I made him laugh because they were playing Japanese music which I listen and knew all the words too, so I was singing over my Udon and using my chopsticks for emphasis



We had a great time, it was like we had never been separated for the past 5 months; I must admit I had been worried about that. The only difference is we talked about things a lot more, and the subject matters had changed too like we've grown more comfortable talking about marriage and children etc. It was nice, I was afraid I'd talked about those things on skype because of the whole "internet balls" thing, and I'd be too shy to talk about it in person, but again I had worried for nothing- the talk was so natural, it didn't really register as potentially weird till I thought about it later. We got back to my flat and started packing for Day 3- the train ride to my home town, and my SO's worst nightmare: MEET THE PARENTS!

dumdumduuuuuuuuum! cliffhanger! lol I will be back tomorrow with the rest, this post is already really long and I am sleepy!

[cody92]

I love the pics! And I like how you talk about his trip there. Can't wait for more! haha

[milaya]

Hey. Glad to hear that you sound like you're slowly getting back at your feet again. Thank you for sharing about your visit. (I will read the updates ) Really nice pictures. A bit envious, since my SO and I often forget about it. So I always just have 10 or something after a visit. Hoping to take more this time.

And extra points from me... for the "singing along to Japanese songs" part. A+ haha... <3 I always mime along, at least when I'm in restaurants or shops in Japan. My SO is like "seriously... do you know every Japanese pop song?!"

[nicole]

@ cody92- I'm glad you like them!
@milaya: haha I couldn't help it, when Koi no ABO comes on, you just have to dance like a spaz, even if you are sat down in a restaurant! thankfully my SO knows I'm crazy and embraces it =P

Day 3!!!!!

I booked the train back to my hometown for later in the morning, so my SO had another sleep in to get awake for meeting my parents. He was so nervous, primping and asking if he should take his tongue piercing out and being very melodramatic (what if they hate meeeeeeeeeeeeeee?!?!). No amount of reassuring would appease him (Your hair is FINE, leave your piercing in, they a totally nice people, they will love you!) so I just distracted him by taking more pictures- sadly they were on my phone and I lost the cable to connect it to my computer =/ but I now have cute wallpapers for my phone! I then scared him by calling my parents at the stop before ours so they would be there to pick us up from the station, and I realised my dad was NOT at work, and was coming instead of my mum to pick us up.... my Dad was who my SO was most scared to meet. oops.

So my dad met us at the station, he shook my SO's hand and took our bags. My SO lived up to his word and went all quiet and awkward (not like him at all, he is the chatterbox out of the two of us) so I was babbling away, trying to make the situation less painful. My dad was doing his usual "driving like a lunatic and cursing everyone else on the road" thing which lightened my SO up; the fact my dad was swearing in front of him within 2 minutes of meeting him was pretty funny lol

We got into the house and within a minute my dad was offering him beer- at 2 in the afternoon?? My dad isn't normal... My SO was so scared because I had told him how much alcohol my dad had bought, and he didn't want to get drunk and make a fool of himself. I saved my SO by saying he was still dehydrated from the plane and all he need was water for now... 2pm really dad.... I introduced him to my mum, thankfully my sister was nice enough to not be staying at the house until New Years (we do NOT get along) and then I introduced him to my very excitable dog, Max:



My SO had got him that orange space hopper- he still carries it around everywhere and wont let anybody touch it lol So my SO got Maxxi's approval, which is good enough for me, who cares about the parents right? My SO also bought gifts for my parents, so I sat and watched the present exchange. My mum had got him a "become a lord" gift set which he loves- he's changed his name on facebook to "Lord Adam" now! We hung out with my parents till dinner and then went to the pub my parents own to meet my oldest friend who I have known since I was 7. They got along really well, so I was pleased as my friend normally pretty awkward, but he behaved himself lol I think it was because my other best friend wasn't around to tease him... We spent a couple of hours there and walked home holding hands. It was so pretty- we don't have many street lamps so we could see all the stars really clearly, so nice and romantic! Everyone was asleep by the time we got back, apart from Max who got up and tried to come sleep with us, I had to leave my SO and put the naughty puppy back to bed lol

Day 4

My dad was at work and my mum went out before we got up so we had the house to ourselves for a couple of hours.... Then I took him for a walk into my hometown. I think it's crap- we only have one main street and that is pretty much it. So I took him from one end to the other and showed him our oldest building, the church:



I was suprised he like my town so much, it's not very impressive at all! But I got him a steak pastry- his second love now so he was content looking around and eating! We stopped by the grocery store on the way back home and got some writing icing- I had received a dinosaur cookie cutter for christmas and we wanted to make a Christmas gingerbread dinosaur instead of a gingerbread house:





We lazed around again in the afternoon- our favorite pastime. I felt bad not doing much when he's come all this way, but he said all he wanted was to see me, and cuddling up watching TV was one of the things he had missed the most. ME TOO! So I felt better after that! We then went to an indian restaurant and met my best friend there. She talked the most, I think my SO got nervous again, and was just concentrating on his food mostly. And so ends day 4. I will be back with our trip to my favourite city in England and New Years eve

[blankita719]

That dinosaur cookie is the cutest thing I have ever seen!!!! Can't wait to read more - so glad it seems like such an amazing time with your SO!

[nicole]

blankita: Thank you! it's adorable isn't it?!

eeek I meant to finish this yesterday, but exams have to come first =/ So it continues Warning: alcohol is consumed in liberal amounts in this post:

Day 5: NYE

It was a Friday so both my parents had the day off and wanted to spend the day with my SO and I. I had wanted to take my SO to York by myself- it is one of my most favourite places in the world, but my SO also wanted my parents to like him and get to know him, so I had to sacrifice our private time for that. Not too happy but wouldn't let it ruin our day. We set off and got to York before lunch time, then wandered around with my parents for a bit. Then I realised there was something good about them coming with us: Photographers!

One of my new favourite pictures, taken at Clifford's Tower:





We then went and got proper Fish and Chips, not one of my SO's favourites out of the "Awesome English Food" list he had in his head, and then my parents went off to shop and left us alone. Happy Nicole! We wandered round the shops and the little medeival streets (the reason I love York so much- it's OLD), I got my SO's sister a pair of Celtic knot earrings, but I couldn't find ANYTHING for his parents! We shopped a bit for my SO, he came all the way to England, only to shop in H&M... really... And then I took him to York Minster, my trump card of coolness for my geek engineer!



The cathedral was too big to get it and both of us in lol But he loved it! We didn't go all the way inside- saving the pennies for later, but he was impressed by what we could see, so I was happy. He turns into proper engineer nerd mode, it's adorable, and I have no idea what he is talking about most of the time, but he's geeky happy which makes me happy! We walked down the shambles, one of the oldest documented streets in England then met my parents to go home:



Once we got home, chilled out a bit, got showers and got ready for New Years Eve. I was so happy because the necklace my SO had given me matched my dress so I got to wear it!:



My mum and dad's oldest friends came round to the house and this was when my Dad and Larry kidnapped my SO in the kitchen, plied him with beer and I didn't see them all for a few hours. I was jealous and itching to go in there, but I figured my SO needed some man time with my dad, so dad would let him have me lol After 2 hours of sat with my mum and her best friend, I decided to down my drink so I could venture into the kitchen on the pretense of getting more.... sneaky, but I missed my boy! I stayed in there with the guys until my sister arrived home. I'm glad I had my SO to hold my hand, because she immediately gets my hackles up. We do not get along at all. All I could to was pray I would have minimal contact with her so I would turn nasty in front of my SO. I chose to ignore her most of the night and sit on the opposite end of the table when we went to the restaurant to eat, yet she still managed to irk me some, but thankfully, she dragged her poor boyfriend to a club right after eating so I didn't have to see her anymore! My poor SO was getting really tipsy by this point, everytime he was a quarter way down his pint, my Dad's friend would buy him another.. poor kid!

We then went on to a pub named "The Fleece" which is the first pub my dad ever owned, and the place where he met my mum. It was a bit strange when people were rearranging me and my SO into the positions that my parents were in when they first met lol I was like "no no this isn't us, you should be doing this to mum and dad" but know one would listen, dubbing it "sweet". It was good my SO was half drunk at this point or else he would have probably started freaking out! I drank about a quarter of my drink and my dad and his friend had forced my SO to down his when we were ready to leave to the pub my parents own, where we were going to bring in the New Year: photos were taken:




and it was time for the count down! My SO and I retreated to a corner of our own whilst everyone was crowding together. and I got my first New Years kiss!!! It was so sweet and I was so emotional, I ended up crying I was so happy! I pulled away and my SO's eyes were tearing up too. We hugged and kissed some more. Then my dad ruined it all by pulling us apart and kissing the both of us O_O Life is cruel....

We stayed for a few more hours, my Dad and SO drunk... It was pretty hilarious. They were shaking hands after nearly every exchange and putting the world to rights, whilst my mum and I sat and shook our heads at them. My SO kept turning and puppy dog staring at me and calling my beautiful the whole night. At first I thought he was being sweet, but then after the hundredth repitition, I knew he was a bit intoxicated lol at least he's a cute drunk? I blame my father and friends for getting him in that state! We walked home leaning on each other, my SO spouting the most perfect nonsense to me about camels in casinos... I left him to go to the bathroom, came back and he was sat in the middle of the bed trying to open the remote control helicopter my dad had bought him for christmas. He got all grumpy with me for taking it off him and putting him to bed! He passed out mid sentence though, sprawled over the bed so I had only a triagle of space to sleep in. But all in all a successful New Years Eve! My parents were both completely won over, I got my New Years Kiss and I had no hang over New Years day! lol

I will be back with photos from out trip to Ireland!

[milaya]

@milaya: haha I couldn't help it, when Koi no ABO comes on, you just have to dance like a spaz, even if you are sat down in a restaurant! thankfully my SO knows I'm crazy and embraces it =P

Haha... yay Koi no ABO. Well when NEWS comes on you're excused from every sort of thing... at least in my opinion.
Nice update. Good thing your SO and parents got time to bound. Think that is what I miss at times (and know my mother does too)... that my family could talk with my SO, but they don't know English and my SO don't know English. Awkward.

[nicole]

grrrr I meant to try wrap this all up yesterday, but I had a major meltdown (school/future related, but was probably fueled by his departure) and wasn't in any sort of mood to do the visit justice... where were we???

Day 6: New Years Day

My dad was working, so he was up and gone by the time everyone else got up. I was the first up- the most annoying thing when I drink- I get up stupidly early, then get hit by the hangover sledgehammer sometime in the afternoon. I curled up on the sofa watching Top Gear with my dog till everyone came down- my SO being the last, which didn't suprise me, poor boy looked like death. I made him and my sister's boyfriend some breakfast, as she is rude and didn't offer to make any for her boyfriend and we all lay in a heap for most of the morning. My SO and I went up to the bedroom again, stayed in our pjs till about 3 in the afternoon watching Psych. New Years Day was pretty quite, but nice I guess, I can't really remember much at all.

Day 7:

We got up at a normal time and were just planning on hanging out until lunch, until my dad randomly came upstairs telling us he wanted to take a photo... strange man! We went outside and it turned out my dad had got his motorbike out and wanted to take pictures of my SO on it. I would post them but all the photos have my mum in them too so yeah.... We had a MASSIVE traditional English Sunday dinner.... roast buffalo, yorkshire puddings, mashed potatos, roast potatoes, roasted squash.... god I am drooling! I LOVE sunday dinner! and I think that is one tradition I will be bringing over with me to the states, I don't think he would mind at all! My mum had some christmas crackers left so we pulled those and told the stupid jokes that come out of them:



Then we packed up our stuff and hopped on the train back to Manchester. We made korean food that night- Bulgogi- one of my most favourite foods in the world! We've never made it at home before, but it turned out great thank goodness! Then after yet more hanging out, we packed our bags for our next day- next stop, Dublin!

Day 8:

We had an easy morning, as I was smart and booked an afternoon flight, we had a bit of trouble with our tickets- they would scan, so we had fun running through departures printing new boarding cards and running back to security, where we were both set the metal detector up and got felt up by security officers. The place was insane! I didn't complain, I'm a firm believer of the new heightened security, but I must admit- that made me uncomfortable.

We couldn't stop to eat because by the time we got through, our flight was being called. So by the time we got to the gate, there was already a line. And then we both had our first experience of discount travel with ryanair. Now, for the price you can't knock it- I payed 30 pounds stirling to get us to and from Ireland, but it comes at a cost. It's a scramble to get on the plane- as they don't assign seats. We were very lucky to get seats together, considering how late we got to the gate. The flight took all of 40 minutes and then we had the fun of navigating ourselves across a city neither of us have been before. I made the decision to buy a 3 day- pass, which payed for the airlink bus, all buses around the city and use of the tour bus- I think that was the best decision I made, though it didn't seem so at the time. We hopped on a bus to the city centre, then got a bit lost and I found another bus that would apparently take us to our hotel. My SO got first hand experience of how much I panic whilst travelling. I was so worried about getting us lost! But we were lucky in the fact that our hotel was directly opposite the last stop: here's where we stayed:



Coolest castle ever! It was so pretty on the inside and our room was amazing! We were starving and walked into the village, but we had no luck, we ended up eating in the banquet hall of the castle instead- Irish stew of course! yummy! The travelling had exhausted us so we took a bath () and had an early night, ready to explore the city the next day.

Not many photos taken =/ But we took lots the next day so stay posted!