Adventure Time!

I know, I know...it's been over two months since my last post and I'm not sure that I have an acceptable reason. Afterall, so much has happened. The main points are that I have been skyping with the family that I chose to au pair for and that I have done my assignments and exams and moved out of my house. I went to Finland on the 26th of May after staying in England for the weekend to visit Jenny and grandma and have my eyes tested. The weather wasn't very nice in Finland most of the time but when it was, it was really warm and beautiful! I went on a few cycle rides and went to the cinema twice with mum to see Maleficent and Grace of Monaco, which were fabulous! At the end of the second week, we went camping in Naantali near Turku which was really nice in the archipelago. On the Thursday following, it was mum's birthday so I surprised her with presents, cake, dinner, spa and a movie. She really enjoyed that, even though it was raining that day. The World Cup 2014 football started that day aswell so I watched that (23:00!). Mum left on Saturday morning so I had the house to myself for a couple of days, of which consisted mostly of watching the football. Spain was completely slaughtered by The Netherlands (so now I don't like The Netherlands) and England were not doing so well either. On Sunday, France was playing and they did really well, so I might have to start cheering for them...

On the Monday I took the bus to the airport and got on a flight to Stockholm. Sofia met me at T-centralen and we walked to the apartment from there. We spent the next two days cycling around Stockholm (which was beautiful when not raining), and we also went to the cinema to watch X-Men: Days of Future Past. On Thursday, Sofia drove us and P.O. to Örebro, the first time I've seen her drive (she's been able to for 4 years!). We watched more football and the following day was Midsommar (which is a HUGE deal in Sweden). We drove into the countryside to some friends of the Nyman family (minus Oskar who was in Copenhagen) which was just beautiful! There were 25 other guests who were all Swedish of course but they were very friendly. There was another girl our age who brought her Canadian friend along so I wasn't the only one who couldn't understand anything! We had a great time making flower garlands and dancing, playing competitive games eating lots of fish, and lots of chatting. We were there for a good 12 hours before Sofia and I decided to leave in the Saab. I felt queasy that night so I had to spend an hour by the toilet bowl. I think it was the fish. The following day Sofia and I cycled into town and realized all the shops were shut because it was a holiday. We decided to go to the cinema and watch 22 Jump Street. Amazing! But obviously not QUITE as good as the first. The following day Sofia took me to the train station and I made my way back to Stockholm Arlanda Airport. Tim and Mum came to pick me up from the airport and two of Tim's friends were at home. We had dinner and had a ping pong championship. I opened my presents from mum and dad. Two eyeliners and a Sekonda watch! Just what I wanted! It was so nice until I put it on...it was two small! We spent around 2 hours trying to fix it and in the end it fit and I was so happy with it! I went to bed at around 2am.

I woke up the next day at 7am and had a shower. Had my breakfast and did the rest of my packing. I got ready for the day. Tim's friends Tanzee and Chris woke up and Tim followed after. About an hour after their breakfast, mum made lunch and had to stuff it down our throats before Tim, mum and I dashed off to the airport. Mum came in with me and we checked in my bags and got my boarding pass. I gave her a big hug and said our goodbyes. I got on the plane soon after that and hadn't realized the diversity of the passengers...all ethnic groups! I found the spanish flight attendants to be quite sassy but it didn't bother me. The flight was really long! 4 hours and 10 minutes...I found it hard to keep myself occupied. The landing part was the worst experience I've ever had on a plane. We were practically falling from the sky and not only was I scared (which I never am on flights) but I felt terribly sick and got very very sweaty. Anyway after 20 minutes of finding somewhere to park the plane we made our way (on the bus) to the main building to get our luggage...that was a further 25 minutes and I was starting to worry whether the family would still be there waiting. I finally got my suitcase and came out into the meeting point. The whole family was there! Jacinta was a lot taller than I expected and the kids were so cute! We came out of the airport and made our way through the car park, Angel holding my hand. The dad (also Angel) came from home and Jacinta came from work so they had two cars to pick me up.

I went with Jacinta and Ester back home and on the way Jacinta was telling me about a 19 year old student who lived on a couple of floors below them and how he was always asking when I would be coming (!!). I think I will meet him later. We went past the inevitable Santiago Bernabeu stadium which was showing the match at that time (Spain vs. Australia) just outside on a big screen. We had to ask Ester to read what the score was and she said it was 0-0. We got home and I had a tour of the apartment...very modern! I got my own little room and en-suite bathroom next to the kitchen, exactly like in Aberystwyth! Not long after Angel was asking whether I needed a new sim card to which I replied yes. They were very helpful and we actually went on a hunting spree around the neighbourhood looking for the best deal (which happened to be from Movistar) but we eventually had to go to 3 different branches since the others did not have that sim card I needed. The third branch we went to took us a long time to get served...about an hour! We finally got the sim card and we made our way back to the apartment, stopping to get bread.  When we got home I played a card game with Ester and Angel in which had pictures and you had to make a short story using what was in those pictures. Ester started and I told her that if she does it in English then I would do it in Spanish. I had a lot of difficulty and it turned out that my Spanish was about the same level as Angel's English. We had dinner soon after (22:30!) which consisted of some delicious anchovies in garlic vinaigrette, with some different types of ham, bread and cheese. We cleared up and said goodnight to the kids. The parents told me about what sort of things I could do the next day, what to make for breakfast/lunch and when to make them. Soon after I said goodnight to them too. I unpacked my bag and got into bed. Turns out the internet doesn't work in my room...

Today I woke up at 8am. I realized the dad was still at home and the mum was at work. I asked about the shower and he said that if I were to have a shower I should wait until the kids are up. I had a shower anyway after he left, thinking I could make it quick, but I heard a knocking at the door halfway through. I put my clothes on half wet and attended to Ester. She wanted to try my clothes and makeup on so I let her. I took some photos aswell because the clothes looked so funny and big on her! Angel was occupied with my laptop playing How to Train Your Dragon and Candy Crush. They didn't have much in the way of breakfast and they didn't want lunch until quite late (2:30ish). They watched TV for a few hours before that and I had to rush them through lunch since their dad would be home at 3:30 to take them to the dentist. It was quite hard to get them to eat their food, but once I threatened them by taking their melon dessert away they settled down! After they left I had a few hours to myself so I skyped Mum and Sofia and told them what's been happening. Jacinta will be home soon, but I will write what happens next in the following post. I don't know when that will be.

Me on Midsommar with my flower garland

Sweet Home Helsinki

I'm back home in Helsinki, and I've had an interesting week so far. Last Friday morning I took 3 trains to Manchester airport where I had a three hour wait. I flew to Stockholm and then to Finland. I was so incredibly excited as I would be coming home to not only my mum, but also Jenny, Sofia and Jenny's boyfriend Chris. I landed at half midnight local time and Jen, Sofia and my mum came to pick me up. We stayed up a while before we went to bed and ended up only getting about 3 hours sleep. The next morning, Sofia, my mum and I went to play badminton. My mum then dropped us off in Helsinki centre to do some shopping. We went to Stockmann for some lunch and saw some people outside with a donkey handing out balloons, leaves and singing carols. We took a picture with the donkey and got a free balloon! We then went to Zara and Sofia bought a shirt. We went to H&M and Monki too. At 3pm, we met Jenny, Chris, Roos and her friend Naomi at Tennispalatsi to watch The Book Thief. We all cried only when the little boy Rudy died since he was our favourite character and such a sweetheart. Everyone came home and Roos' family came soon after for dinner. We talked about university, nightlife and funny stories. We also had a challenge on who could frown and smile at the same time and it was very funny. The end of the night consisted of having a ping pong tournament.

The next day we said goodbye to Sofia and in the evening Chris and I baked some delicious cookies. The following day, I helped Jenny with her packing and we took her and Chris to the airport aswell. I felt sad for the rest of the day but mum and I played some games to cheer up. The following days consisted of baking, shopping, sightseeing, cooking, cycling and going to the Flamingo spa on Friday. My mum had a day off so we decided to treat ourselves to a lovely (yet expensive) spa day. The spa was incredibly posh: 6 different smelling saunas, 2 different smelling steam baths and 2 mineral water swimming pools which had underwater music playing. We also paid a little extra for tapas and wine and for a back, shoulder and neck massage which was really invigorating! When we felt relaxed enough we also went to the waterpark next door, which was included in the price. On Saturday, we drove to Jarvenpää with the bikes and cycled around the lake. It was a warm and sunny day, and the atmosphere was showing the first signs of spring.

Last Saturday outside Stockmann 

Sightseeing in Helsinki

My favourite bicycle route in Helsinki

View of the local beach

Some lovely flowers outside the house

View of the lake from our cycle route in Jarvenpää

Me looking at the map

Working Hard and Hardly Working

Hello all, so it seems a new pattern is emerging from this blog writing experience, one every two weeks. Last week wasn't particularly eventful or worth blogging about apart from my driving lesson on Friday, and another one this Wednesday. I've not really been doing much these two weeks, just going to some lectures and finishing my last essay due this side of the Easter holidays. Izzy's friends from Manchester came down on Tuesday evening and lots of people turned up to celebrate. While everyone else went out continuing on from predrinks, I went home for an early and sober start for my driving lesson the next morning at 9:00am. In the past two lessons I've been learning to reverse into a bay parking space and my instructor even let me go into the countryside and go all the way to fifth gear (after I asked him of course). I'm really enjoying my lessons and although I have stalled a couple of times, I think I am becoming a lot more comfortable and relaxed when driving. I used to be scared at the thought of driving as I felt that I couldn't feel in control of the car, but after a bit of practice I've started to feel it is the other way round and eases the experience.

After my lesson I went for a stroll to the north of Aberystwyth and went to Boots to stock up on some make-up. I later went home and soon after was surprised by Izzy, Matt and Jess' (Izzy's friends from Manchester) visit. We went up to the union for a game of pool and on our way down stopped by the field behind the Biology department building to watch some people playing medieval live action role playing games and killing eachother with their swords. It was quite funny, and we took some not so conspicuous photos of the event. They went home and I went to Iceland to buy some Cactus Jack's for later, had a shower when I got back and got ready for the night. Since I always straighten my hair I thought I would try something different and curl it, just as an experiment, but turned out a lot better than I expected so I kept it. I went over to Izzy's and we started drinking and playing games, even though there was only four of us. We left the house fairly late and met their other friend from Manchester (Jess O.) who is a fresher here. We stayed a while until we decided to go to Yoko's (my first time this academic year). We had loads of fun and met some funny drunk people. We stayed till the end, at around 4am and Izzy came over to mine so we went to spar to get some snacks and watch Eastenders. The following day, I was a little hungover but in the evening I did some washing and a little bit of packing. I went to the Castle hotel pub and met Izzy, Matt and Jess for our last drink together.

Some exquisite architecture on the Promenade of Aberystwyth

The cliff railway up Constitution Hill

Some broken stairs from the storm in January

This made me smile while I was on my walk

The medieval live action role-playing, I'm not sure what the guy is doing by the tree in the top left

My first attempt at curling my own hair

Two Steps Ahead

Once again, I find myself in need to explain my absence and owe you (and myself) an apology for not reporting the events for the weeks that have passed. I have kept up with the events in writing, however my camera ran out of batteries so I didn't have any photos to back up my story. Nevertheless, here's what has been happening:

Friday 14th was the most prominent day of my week, better still my year, as I had my very first (official) driving lesson. I've had a couple of lessons with my mum last year in Finland but that was obviously off the record (and illegal). So it turns out that I am getting to grips with my moving off and stopping and I am starting to understand the meaning of the clutch and not hating it so much anymore. I did however have a problem with my steering, of all things. Although I can steer in a straight line and round a corner, I wasn't very good at driving in the lane. I tended to drive in the middle of the road because I have no point of reference to tell me where I am except for the middle lines (which I couldn't see anyway). Another factor affecting my driving was stopping at a junction. I stopped three meters away from it, and my instructor even told me I was half a car away from where I was supposed to stop. We got that cleared up in the end and I managed to park perfectly into a bay next to another car, the owner of which was hesitantly watching me...

I haven't given much thought on my dieting, as it is pretty much non-existent at the moment. However, I have started to do some ab workouts everyday for the past 3 weeks now (2 pack coming along) and am trying to clear out foods that give me stomach flab. Some other exciting news is the 10k run that I conquered last Sunday (23rd), which I was initially really scared for. After all the preparation at the gym on the treadmill I was a little anxious that I might give up. All the support from random strangers on the run was extremely motivating for me. Although I collapsed on passing the finish line, the feeling of finishing, receiving a medal, and going to the pub for a celebratory drink on a nice day more than compensated for the agony of the run.

This week I have been finishing an assignment, and on Thursday and Friday I had 2 more driving lessons. My lesson on Thursday was a surprising progress since the first lesson, as my instructor allowed me to drive all the way home from the car park, going all the way to 4th gear on the main road, and squeezing through the buildings in the centre of town. On Fridays, lesson we didn't even go to the car park, but I drove immediately from outside my house and into the country side and up lots of hills. It was slightly scary/embarrassing when I stalled twice in a row on a roundabout and causing a lot of traffic, but my instructor told me the importance of relaxing and not rushing (which I then found out is absolutely true). By the end of the lesson, he told me that my level of driving was way above average, considering it was only my third lesson and I am driving all over town, up hills and at high speeds.

My medal and running number (which I put on my chest)

my driving progress sheet and some homework for next lesson

Going The Distance

Last week I ran out of space to write the events of the following days after my trip to Cardiff, so I thought I would write about it in this week's blog post. Last Wednesday I woke up at 5am and got ready for another 3 hour bus journey, to Bangor. I thought it was about time to visit my brother Tim who's in his last year at university there. Tim and I are very close and we share a variety of similar interests. When I got there I was welcomed by his flatmates and was made pancakes followed by a much needed nap. In the evening we planned to go to the cinema but since the train was delayed stayed home and spent a few hours playing the Sims 3. On the Thursday, we had a lie in and while Tim went to the gym and I played the Sims 3 again. In the evening some of Tim's friends came over and we all went to the cinema (again) to watch The Lego Movie. I loved the film and I think that the unlikeable yet prejudiced remarks I have heard upon on the film were somewhat justified, only in that the trailer did not do the film justice. It was a sweet, light-hearted comedy that was funny for both young and older audiences.

The following day Tim and I went to the high street and I did some shopping in H&M where I bought a gorgeous blue blouse and a black skirt. Tim headed over to the gym soon after and I played the Sims once again. That evening, Tim's friends came over and played board games, while I was on the computer. The following morning Tim took me to the bus station and I headed back to Aberystwyth. In the evening I went over to Izzy's and gave her her birthday present - twister. While everyone left at midnight, I stayed in since I have given up alcohol for lent. The following days I spent doing my assignment.

On Tuesday, I met Chloe, Toby, Izzy, Tom, Rachel and Milly at South Beach in Aberystwyth at around 4 in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm, so I brought my camera out with me to share some of the gems I took. Listening to music, drinking a smarties milkshake, throwing pebbles into the sea, playing badminton and baseball, burying Toby in the sand, it was definitely a good day.

All waiting for me

burying Toby

Beautiful sunset

Stand up paddle surfing

Into The West

This week has certainly been both an improvement and a change of attitude for me. I gave myself a break during the weekend, so I spent the time watching a lot, and I mean a lot, of movies. Since this week is reading week, I would normally have the week off to do what I wanted. This year however, they have given us a module enrichment day which is compulsory attend and usually takes up the entire day. For my module 'cultural diversity in education' we had the opportunity to go to cardiff by coach and visit a synagogue and a mosque, respectively.

We left from the university at 7:30am on Tuesday morning and made our way toward Cardiff, which in the end took 3.5 hours. We arrived at the synagogue and we were given a very insightful lecture on judaism from a rabbi. I learned a lot of interesting facts about the religion that I had not known before and I developed a newfound respect for their traditions and livelihood. We made our way back on the coach and headed towards the mosque only to arrive too early. In the meantime I headed over to Cardiff Bay and took lots of photos of the lovely view. At around 1pm, we went to the mosque and were asked to take our shoes off and headed into their prayer room. We had another interesting talk on what we already knew about islam and what we wanted to know. I learned a lot about the religion and understood the peacefulness of their intentions and how the media does not portray islam in a particularly favourable light.

We were then given a few hours to ourselves in the city, in which case I went shopping for some new trousers from Zara. I also went to M&S to buy some food for the journey home. At 5pm we left Cardiff and made our way back to Aberystwyth. Sitting on the left hand side of the coach, I had the pleasure of watching the sunset in the west which was an absolutely beautiful view. We arrived back in Aberystwyth at 8.30pm and I had a quick meal and went straight to bed.

Sunrise on the trip to Cardiff

Bute Street, Cardiff

View of Cardiff

Cardiff Bay

The Roald Dahl Plass and Wales Millenium Centre

Doing some last minute shopping on Queen Street

The breathtaking sunset on our way back to Aberystwyth

Opportunity Is Everything

Hello all. I remember mentioning something about blogging once a week, but again, have found myself lost for enthusiasm and ideas. I've spent the past two weeks going to lectures and going to the gym/swimming pool to train for the 10km run for Sport Relief.

This week I've mostly spent my time looking for things to actually help me get a life, for example jobs, work experience and driving. I have booked my first driving lesson for the 14th of March and since I have not had any experience of driving in the past, the instructor has allowed me to have a two hour lesson for the price of one. In terms of jobs, there are countless jobs that I have found but have later been disappointed with upon inspection as they will require either being able to speak welsh or having previous experience which I lack. I have although had some good news which is that I have found an opportunity to teach English in a South African primary school where I will have teacher training as well as amazing excursions to do in my free time. The duration of the trip is either 4 or 6 weeks long and is from the beginning of August to mid-September. I have contacted the volunteer company and they have guaranteed a place for me should I choose to go.

The company name

The Southern Drakensberg, the area of the volunteering