Y1-17: Weeks 29 & 30, last classes of my Fresher year!

On Sunday after coming back from home I was super tired so all I did was basically sleep, unpack, sort out my things for deadlines and coursework and all that jazz.

During W29, the weather was so good! It was sunny, warm, summery and, to be honest, the last thing I wanted to do was to study. I have procrastinated quite a lot lately, but I do get my things done in the end, so it is not that bad (although I really have to follow my study plan from now on). Weeks 29 and 30 were my last two weeks of class before revision weeks and the exam season, so I took them as a sort of “vacation” and concentrated on doing the work for the different classes, tests and presentations I had before the actual revision period. But, as I was saying, the weather had been lovely. Sunbathing, BBQ and Pimms season. All sorts of flowers had sprung and the cherry trees had blossomed and it was lovely (only downside is that my room is on the opposite side of the building, so no sun shining in in the afternoon…). 

On Monday I watched the first episode of the last Game of Thrones season, which I had wanted to watch forever. Although the four first episodes were available because they had been leaked, I decided to watch them weekly instead than all together and having to wait another month until the fifth came out… It has turned out well because I use GoT as a treat after studying so I have something to watch. Another program that I have been watching lately has been LOST, which is weird. I have seen all the episodes but now that I am re-watching it it’s like the first time (fish-memory, thanks). I also watched ‘Pulp Fiction’ at some point in preparation for an essay, which was really, really good. I can’t believe I had never watched it before, I enjoyed it a lot.

Apart from studying and working on the ‘Postmodernism’ group presentation with Hannah, Imogen and Millie, other things have been going on. On Monday I went to a Gender Equality meeting about men being involved in Feminism. We were separated in groups and handed some questions to debate between us, and then we finished by giving our conclusions to the rest of the groups. It was interesting. Some views were quite radical but, in general, we agreed with each other. On Tuesday we had an Italian Lab test, which was fine, and then in Speaking class we ate a Columba Torta, which apparently is a typical Easter dessert in Italy. It tasted like Panettone, so it wasn’t my cup of tea, but it was really nice that Elena brought it from Italy for us to try. I also went to a Department Seminar about Podemos. I didn’t think was extremely useful towards the actual title of the seminar, because the lecturer would get carried away and he ended up running out of time. But I don’t think it was a waste of time either, I did learn one or two things and a lot of people showed up, what evidences the interest. I want to be able to vote in November, but I have to enrol at the Embassy so I have to see how to go about that… If anybody knows exactly how to do it, please let me know.

On Wednesday I did some shopping in town and had lunch at Guildhall Market. I had an English breakfast, and it was really good to be honest. It was the first time I tried hash browns, which were not amazing but they didn’t taste bad. The only thing I would’ve changed was the fried bread for a toast, way too much oil. In the evening I Skyped with my family, I miss them lots, even more now that I have to spend more time on my own because of exam preparation…

I had my last official lecture on Thursday, and also a French grammar exam which I have my results back and went really well! It is weird to think that my first year at Uni is almost over… I won’t be a Fresher anymore… I have no idea where time has gone.

 I had my stitch removed on Friday, and now I’ve left the ear to its own thing but it’s a bit irritated I think, I hope it’s nothing bad… We got our card re-loaded with credit that day too so now I don’t have to cook anymore, but I am not sure I will finish it all before I leave. It makes no sense to have extra credit now when I could’ve used it when I needed it back in January…Then in the night we went out. We went to Bridge, and really early because we were on the guestlist. It sucked to be honest because the club was really empty; the only good thing was that they actually played one or two Spanish songs. I miss that music, never thought I’d say that.

On Saturday morning I went into town and bought a suitcase, which is very weird thing to do but I needed an extra one to put my things in when I move out of the University accommodation. That day the bus was really packed and it was funny because a group of thirty-something year olds got on the bus and apparently they were former University of Bath students who had met up to visit the Uni again. They had studied here between 2000 and 2004. It was a weird feeling. Is that what it will be like for me in the future? In the evening I cleaned while listening to the radio my dad gave me, and I felt like my mum… I have no TV, but at least I do have a radio.

During Week 30 the weather was also really good until the weekend, when it started getting chillier and even rained (although now it is sunny again but cold). It was my last week of class which was strange: my last seminars, our last French oral class with Aurore, Speaking class in Italian (we had to practice for the Oral test last Monday),… And the last Italian grammar class. It is sad because apparently next year we will be in different groups depending on what our optional unit is… I liked our group though. Enrico brought cookies to share and we took a picture together – all girls. I procrastinated quite a lot during the week, but still got work done, either in my room or in the Library (now extremely packed). Amélie came back from France, I chatted with Lara on Whatsapp, we had our last volley training which was nice because we just played some games together. After that I went to explore the east side of the campus; there is a small path on the border and there were cows and I met Indre and Gaia there so we just hung around and walked. The sunset was so pretty! Other boring things that I had to take care of now that I am independent was to sort some Student Finance issues and call O2 to arrange my bills,…nothing too interesting really. Independence is also boring and tedious. 

On Thursday we had a talk about our Year Abroad. It’s so exciting! We have to think about what we’d like to do over the summer because by October we have to have it all more or less figured out. Sadly, I think I can’t be a teaching assistant because I am not British, which totally sucks, but I still have to check and be 100% sure it is not an option for me. I would love to do it though.

On Friday afternoon I decided to do the laundry and that became Hell. First, my card would not work and by the time I had fixed it, all the machines had been taken. So I had to wait for over half an hour to get a free one and watched Modern Family in the meantime. Once I came back to pick the clothes and put them in the drier, I found out that the frikin’ machine hadn’t turned on properly so I had to wait another 45min for the laundry to get done. And afterwards I was really frustrated and angry, but fortunately the drier did work. I cannot wait to have our own washing machine.

During the weekend I got kinda depressed but I did some work and study, met up for the seminar presentation, and Skyped with my family. When I feel down, I just watch Tyler Oakley on YouTube. Seriously, he always manages to make me smile.

Y1-16: Weeks 27 & 28, chilled Easter break at home!

I never thought I’d be writing a blog post at 3:00am being at the airport, but here I am. I am very tired but I will do this (at least attempt it).

To be honest, my nearly-two-week break at home was quite chilled. I mean, I did do things but it was not half as interesting as the Christmas break. I had done most of my work, so I had time to laze around and since the sun had come out (intermittently), all I wanted was to sunbathe and try to get some colour on my insanely milky white skin…

So, I was going home on Tuesday. After a relatively bad sleep night (due to me being worried about the bus to the airport not arriving/leaving on time and me missing the flight #obsessivegirlproblems), I got up at half past three and got ready for a long trip ahead. The whole thing was pretty straight-forward. There was a lot of wind that morning but there wasn’t as much turbulence as I would have expected and all my transport arrived and left on time, so I actually had time to even have some pancakes for breakfast before boarding! The trip was fine, I had a teen and his grandma sitting next to be, both from Wales and quite nice. The small talk was welcome on this long flight. Once I was finally in Tenerife, I was picked up by my sister and my mum. I had missed them a lot so it was great to see them. I saw Dad later on when I arrived home and you could see it on his face that he was really happy to see me too. The rest of the day was pretty chilled, considering I was really tired from the whole trip. I spent most of the afternoon and evening napping and watching TV lying on the sofa, and then we watched ‘Criminal Minds’ while having dinner. Back to the comfort of my family, the sofa, my bed, the television and home food. If you are also living on your own in halls, you will know what I mean ;)

On Wednesday I clearly slept until late in my comfy and spring-free bed. Then I went to the Club Náutico with Mum and Dad, planning on going for a swim. I ended up just sunbathing though because there was a cool breeze which dissuaded me from getting into the water. We had lunch there – fish and “papas con mojo”- and then in the afternoon I met with Lara and went for a walk while we caught up. I took a shower (without having to use flip-flops or carry my stuff in a bag from my room - thankgud) and had a quiet night-in.

Thursday was not that interesting either, I again slept in and spent the morning switching between lazying around and doing work (although I’d finished most of it, I still had some reading and studying to do so I wasn’t completely spared from coursework during the break). Then Mila and Co. came over for lunch which was nice (Andrea and Javi have grown up so much!) and I spent the afternoon working until my (again) late quiet night later.

On Friday I got up early to walk with Lara. The plan was to go to La Punta and go for a swim but the morning was fairly cold so we decided to limit ourselves to the walk. We went to San Juanito and back in less than two hours, which was great. It reminded me of the time when we were studying for the PAU and went for workouts in the mornings. It was good and I was tired but happy afterwards. After taking a shower I re-folded and re-discovered my whole wardrobe and we had some tasty tuna cannelloni for lunch, not the junk they serve at Fountain Canteen. I spent the afternoon doing work and that night I watched ‘Inception’ with Erin, which I hadn’t seen in a while. The joy of having a television (I love my laptop, but it’s not the same).

On Saturday I was able to watch Cold Case while I had breakfast. Honestly, I really miss TV (and had forgotten about the show, which they show too early for me usually anyway haha). That morning we went to Decathlon and I managed to get a Go-Pro style camera. On the cheaper side so the quality is not great, but it is definitely good enough for me to take pics and record underwater. And then I went shopping with Erin in Alcampo, but I didn’t buy anything really… The four of us had lunch in IKEA, as is to be done when you go shopping in that area ;) In the afternoon, I basically chilled. And when I was about to get ready, Molly and Mingo paid us a surprise visit. They stayed over for tea and Molly gave me some French books (thanks!) and then I had to get ready because I was going to have dinner with the girls. Lara and I made the bad decision of taking the tranvía rather than wait for the bus at the station...massive fail…by the time we got to El Meridiano we were late (although, may I say, not the latest…). We were a good bunch and despite the shopping centre being packed, we got a table and had pizza for dinner. Afterwards, we had some bubble-tea (only place open by the time we finished) and then Claudia showed us her driving skills by acting as chauffeuse… It was great to catch up with them all, I hadn’t seen them for ages! Lara stayed over that night but we didn’t gossip much because we were really tired.

The next morning we got up really late (well, I did anyway because Lara was already awake by the time I woke up), and so my dad had to drive her home because it was so late… The rest of the day I spent pretty much lazing around, having Dad read me ‘A Clockwork Orange’ out loud and doing some other work. In the night, we watched ‘Modern Family’ together, although I have pretty much seen all the episodes by now.

On Monday I had planned to get up “early”, but then thought about it better and decided to sleep. I mean, why would I have to get up anyway? I was on holidays! When I eventually did get out of bed, I spent what was left of my morning doing some coursework and then helped Dad make an omelette for lunch. In the afternoon, I went to La Laguna to see the dermatologist because one of my ear piercings got a cyst (why Life?!), so I had it partly removed but have to have it checked and probably operated again when I come back. Anyways, I went shopping for other stuff that I needed in La Laguna with mum and unexpectedly met Jorgix while I was there. We also went to Rosa’s house to pick up some tools before coming back. It was ‘CSI Las Vegas’ time that night.

On Tuesday morning, the weather was horrible. Not that it was cold, but it was raining and you literally could not see the mountains near my house because of the mist… Anyway, I met with Moni to go to my old high school and visit out former teachers. They honestly have to be fed up of us going back…but we still love them! And the hsc is a lot more packed than ever, which is a lot omg Once I got back home, I was planning on doing some work…and ended up TV-binging on the sofa (holidays, can’t blame me!). After lunch, the sun came out, but I spent the afternoon and evening studying and reading.

My purpose on Wednesday was to get up and go for a run, but when I woke up, it was too hot to do sport. So instead I got my pool stuff ready and –while I was trying to find my card to go to the Club Náutico- my CPE results went online. So I stopped everything I was doing and checked them up… I GOT A GRADE A! YEAH! Highest English certificate, check! In the meantime, Dad arrived so we both went to the pool. The weather was gorgeous and the sun was actual sun, not like the British stuff. “Picón”, like we call it. The pool was appetizing but the water was so cold that ten seconds in it and you didn’t feel your limbs anymore… But, we tried out the new camera. We certainly have yet to master it, but we got some really funny shots nonetheless! Lunch was good, with quesillo, garbanzos and melon. And then I studied in the afternoon before heading to Lara’s house for the night. A normal sleepover, which we hadn’t done in a while. The cocks in the morning though… Honestly wanted to shut their beaks off once-and-for-all -.-

The next day we got up “early” to go to the University. Mostly to do some work in the library and so I could meet some of Lara’s new friends and classmates. We met Tami in the library and I read for a couple of hours. Then we got the bus back. I was meeting some of the girls for lunch at the Chinese Restaurant in Tegueste. We literally had so much fun! So much gossip omg They made me laugh until I nearly cried. Oh, and we definitely ordered too much food…But it was all goooooooooood! I said goodbye because it wasn’t likely I’d see them before I left and then the rest of the day was pretty laid-back: I got my stuff back from Lara’s house and then went back home. We watched ‘Pride’ that night, which is a really good film about the gay movement, set in Britain in the 80s, which I totally recommend watching.

Friday was my last full day at home. In the morning, Dad took me to the hospital to get my ear checked (and we got told to come back in June) and then we did some shopping in Mercadona. After lunch I suntanned a bit while I read and then I started sorting out my stuff to pack my suitcase (including some booze bottles because, oh man, alcohol in the UK is so expensive!). In the evening us four went with Lara for a walk around the town and had some treats at Melita. We laughed a lot and the sunset was gorgeous. These are the times that I miss when I am here alone in the UK…

On Saturday I slept in as much as I could since I was really not going to get proper sleep the rest of the day and said farewell to my lovely bed and mattress. I miss you, babe. After breakfast I managed to finish reading ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and then in the afternoon I packed my bag, took a shower and chilled until it was time to leave. But then Dad’s cards were nowhere to be found,  so he had to stay looking for them and it was Mum on her own who drove me to the airport. I said good-bye to Erin and Dad and left. In the airport I had some coffee with mum after dropping my bag and said good-bye to her too before heading to the security check (where I was literally forced to unpack my whole bloody bag because of the tech, gosh, you have X-Rays for something man!). The journey was alright overall though. The plane left nearly an hour late because its arrival at the airport got delayed and then they had to get five people off the plane due to staff-passenger proportions or something, but the flight was fine and I didn’t really mind about it being late. I tried to sleep during the flight but all I really managed was to rest a bit. Once I got to Bristol Airport, everything went fine. It was about 2:00am by the time I got my suitcase and everything so I had to wait two hours at the airport for the first A4 bus to Bath. I got some tea and had some packed dinner. And then – as stated at the start of this post – attempted to write the entry. As you can probably tell, I was too tired to do it so I gave up mid-way (more like, in the first quarter) and just let the time go by. Once on the bus I and listened to catchy music so as to not fall asleep, and in Bath I called for a taxi – literally at 5:00am there are no cabs patrolling the streets anymore. Like, zero. It was six in the morning by the time I went to bed, and I got to see the sunrise through my window before sinking into my sheets and dozing off to a much-needed-and-deserved sleep.

The end.

 PS: Soz that the post is so late, I just hadn’t got round to finish writing it. The next posts will hopefully be shorter and less of a list-type of story. The overall of my week  rather than day-by-day. Talk soon bye.

Oh, and please, if you read my blog thanks a lot for the support and DON’T FORGET TO *FOLLOW* IT TOO!