Wednesday 8 February 2012

2012 is going to be a good year!

2011 was definitely one of the best years ever, travelling and generally loving life but I can feel that 2012 is going to be even better!

It's graduation year which is scary as hell but really excited too! After a long weekend in Paris at the end of January, I am even more encouraged to return after uni. My 5 months stay in 2010 was just not enough! But what to do....?
I've applied for a few things so far, all involving teaching English in Paris, but it's all a waiting game until April :S eeeeek! I've also applied to do a course for teaching English abroad in the summer, to open up even more opportunities....hopefully!!

This week is first week back in lectures and the workload has piled up already...wish me luck!!!!

Dum dum duuuuum....final year!


The prospect of a new house and new housemates lessened the dread of coming back for final year, a year that everyone deems as 'hell'. I'm now living with 6 girls from my course in a house-come-flat. We all have our own en-suites but the 7 rooms are spread across 3 floors, it's pretty shweeeeet considering all bills are included, so perfect for freeeeeezing cold Sheffield in the winter months!!

So...where to start?
Freshers week was amazing and exhausting! From day one, as a house, we were all getting on amazingly which is still true today!
HOWEVER, final year really is a bitch, do believe what they say about it! Work, work,work, lack of sleep, more work and some evil essays to do aswel! But sharing that / moaning with your housemates and course mates who are all going through the same, makes it all a bit easier. God knows what I'd do without my uni mates...yer, probably go insane!
Apart from uni, a few crap things happened last semester, my friend not being very well for one, which was hard, you can't help but worry and want to just swish your wand and make them better again. But I'm glad to say that she is all well and good now :)
In November, came some good news!! Apart from FINALLY receiving my student loan (thanks for that one, Student Finance....saracasm definitely intended), I somehow, miraculously, got myself a job as a part-time sales assistant for the xmas period. This did mean a very short 4-day Christmas break at home with my family, but also a nice 'few bob' in my pocket. And even more miraclously...they've offered me a permanent job!

Christmas 2011 was possibly one of the best, and yet shortest, Christmases that I've ever had. The Bartlett sisters were reunited as my sister returned from Oz and obviously, we stook to our Christmas eve tradition of getting drunk (this year maybe a bit TOO drunk) at the local pub. But, after all, that's what Christmas is about...family and getting very drunk with them.
New Year was also a good'un with a few sheff and scouse friends, not to mention, a Parisian visitor :) The night involved cocktails in Revolucion de Cuba (my new favourite bar!), Ring of Fire, lots of party poppers and David tonguing every girl in the room at midnight. Not to forget Caz falling over en route to the Harley at 3am...bless her! Even a very hungover New Years Day consisted of Nandos and cupcakes. 2012 had a great start!!


Final year has kept me away!!

Oh how I have abandoned my blog!

The past few months have not been short of travel, drama, new beginnings and being a busy bee.

Since my last blog, I've returned to the motherland from Peru and it was definitely a shock to the system! Despite it being so hard to leave Peru as I was going to miss my host family and the friends I had made there, 6 months without my family and friends had been tough, as was life without galaxy chocolate!!

But the travelling didn't stop there, two weeks after my return I jetted off to Barcelona, a place me and my friend Megan had been wanting to visit for years but had never got around to going.
It was even better than expected!! From mojitos freshly made by slightly odd Spanish men on the beach, to tonnes of sangria and my first ever Paella, all accompanied by some beautiful sun and a little top up of my South American tan. It was exactly the cheapest holiday but it was worth every penny. Getting accidently caught up in a street festival is always fun after a few too many mojitos in a Cuban salsa bar!
Early September I returned to my love, Paris for a week. I got to see my friends, eat cheese, drink wine, the usual Parisian treats. Then I jetted off to Portugal with friends from my old workplace in Paris...but my god, getting back into speaking French after 6 months in South America was TOUGH!! We stayed in a villa by Lagos, the villa of my friend's family and it was UNREAL. 4 double bedrooms, each with an en-suite and a private heated pool, we couldn't have asked for more. With a rented minibus for the week, lots of cheap supermarket alcohol, sun, beaches and our own pool, we has SUCH a good time. However, alcohol means drinking games, which meant a few skinny dips in the pool and embarassing dares for the majority of us. We were staying up til 5am in the pool and soaking up the sun from 11am, returning back to England for Freshers Week, I was already exhausted, but I had a CRACKING tan... see above ;)