December 10, 2010

The phrase tall, dark, and handsome described him quite well. He was muscular, a giant in comparison to those around him. From where he sat above us, we knew that he was going to play hard to get. It was too late though, we had our minds made up, and our hearts set on him.

This is the story of H.

There were four friends, Kaitlin, Sam, Sara, and Will, who set off on a wintery Saturday night to attend one of the greatest events San Diego has to offer:

December Nights

This incredible event takes place during December in Balboa Park , a place that deserves it’s own moment of recognition.

Balboa Park is one of the gems of San Diego. Ranked as one of the best parks in the world, it encompasses more than 1,200 acres of land, has been the home to two World’s Fairs, has over 16 distinct museums, and houses the 12^th best rose garden globally.

Needless to say, the only thing that could make Balboa Park any better is if it was decked out head to toe in Christmas cheer.

Cue December Nights.

For one weekend every December the city of San Diego shows its gratitude to the city’s residents by opening the doors of every museum for free. The entire park is filled with Christmas trees, shining lights, vendors, performers, choirs, and volunteers.

The international village, a portion of Balboa Park which includes houses modeled after the common styles of over 30 different countries, becomes one of the centers of activity. Every house serves authentic food from the country it represents, with volunteers from that nation working hard in the kitchen to produce INCREDIBLE treats.

Hot Chocolate from Denmark.

Apple Pie from the United States.

Swarma and stuffed grape-leaves from Lebanon.

Potato pancakes from Israel

Crepes from France.

The only thing I wished was that for once my eye’s weren’t bigger than my stomach, and my continued taste-testing would take me around the world culinary-style .

Unfortunately, my list of the foods I tried only consists of the above (yes, all of it….)

Luckily, I have two more Decembers here in San Diego to make my way through every country.

(Quick must know fact: In two nights over 325,000 people visited December Nights! Meaning, there is A LOT of traffic on your way there! Luckily, after moving one mile an hour for 45 minutes, deciding to give up and go back to USD, accidently turning into a military access only building and parking structure, and then realizing Sara has a military ID, we found parking right by the park. Easier route: just leave early!)

Now, in my passion for Christmas, free museums (I’ll include a link to all of the ones the park has to offer – some of them are SO interesting to visit!), and amazing food, I seem to have led you astray from the original reason for this story.

Who, you may ask, is H? Who is that certain someone who stopped us in our tracks as we journeyed through this Christmas wonderland?

Meet H.

Unbelievably gigantic, without a doubt too big to fit inside the compact car we drove in, and the most outrageous souvenir to bring back to our dorm room, he was perfect.

As four intelligent, driven, and logical college students, we met the challenge, and claimed our prize.

Well, sort of.

Meet our not-as-impressive-or-attractive, but the only-monkey-we-could-win-without-spending-more-than-twenty-dollars-on-the-game prize!

While everything didn’t exactly go as planned, we had an amazing time, and got quite a lot of high-fives from people on our way to the car with our bounty!

Enjoy the holidays – Love Kaitlin, Sara, Will, Sam, and our new giant friend.