Hi everyone!
So this is just going to be a short post (I hope) summing up basically the last month or so and my current situation with regards to most aspects of my life really. If you’re reading this blog purely to know about my travelling, please skip the following 2 paragraphs… thanks!
Okay so uni is as tough as ever. My workload, alongside my commitments to societies, my job and maintaining a house (you know like cleaning and doing food shopping etc) is piling higher as days go by. In September, I felt I could do extra reading considering I wasn’t studying an impossible course this year and I’d be able to keep on top of everything as long as I stayed focused and organised… ahahahahaha what an idiot. Exam season starts next week and I still aren’t through my mountain of flashcards that I need to be able to regurgitate within a matter of days; one of the many “joys” of being a student. Also, due to the fact the study abroad program at Leeds decided they wanted to send Sam and I to opposite ends of Japan, even though I didn’t apply for a place at the university they want to send me to (and they are only sending me there because there’s a link with the linguistics department and they’ve never been able to send someone from linguistics to Japan through the scheme, not because the university is a great match for me in any way), we have both had to look, apply and do tests for internships during a placement-year starting in September. On the bright side, at least we’ll be earning money next year and spending our time in Japan during the summer doing things we actually enjoy like spending time with friends and seeing sights rather than studying.
If all of that wasn’t enough, Sam and I booked our wedding for what is now only 15 days away. Luckily, I have 3 wonderful wedding organisers that have reduced the pressure dramatically, especially when it comes to the day before and I don’t have to do anything really apart from bring the stuff in a box and then spend the rest of the day in the spa and eating good food (oh and I’m having a mini hen party that night too, so that should be fun). The last of the wedding-related things arrived today, so we’re all set, just in time for me to start freaking out about how fast the holidays have gone and how I don’t know enough conjugations for all the irregular Italian verbs I’m supposed to know (yey! what luck!).
Christmas has been really fun though, if you remove my current health issues and the workload, as Sam and I have been to Beligum, come up with plans for our next travels and spent time with loving family. Our trip to Bruges was on 17th December. It was stunning, wintery, christmasy, the food was good, we got three days away from everything and best of all it was cheap. It was the first time Sam and I had been on a cruise-ship as well and it really was lovely having all the entertainment and stuff whilst travelling so all in all, the holiday could not have been better.
With regards to the next 8 months or so, Sam and I are going on a spa break after the wedding, we’re going to Ireland at the end of March, Germany in the middle of June and then back to North America for a month or two starting from the end of June/beginning of July (depending on these placement year jobs and when they want us to start). During our America visit this time we will be obviously spending most of it in Ohio with our friends again, but we’ll also be going Chicago. We also wanted to do a couple of days in Banff, Canada, to have some time to ourselves in the mountains as a late honeymoon kind of thing as well, but unfortunately, we just don’t have the funds to do so right now.
That’s actually all I really wanted to put in this post. I have talked about future travels in my other posts, but they have been kind of contradictory in places so I wanted to collect all of those ideas and write it in one update. I also wanted to put a post of images from Bruges and therefore wanted to mention that trip in here too so at least I’ve fitted them both together. I did want to put in some new years resolution-style things on top of that, hence why I waited until the 6th to post this New Year reflection thing, but still can’t think of anything substantial really, so I might just write that at a later time… it might even end up as late as the summer who knows, but I’m not usually reliable with blog-posting activity so I won’t put a date on it. Basically I just wanted to outline the direction my next few posts might take if you wanted to read them.
As usual, I’ve tried to answer everyone’s questions either on here or through messenger, but I am rather busy so I hope that I covered everything if I didn’t get back to you, if not, just message me again and I’m really sorry for not saying something sooner. Thank-you so much for your attention if you made it this far through the post. I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and that your 2018 is the best year yet! Love you all!
-Alice Johnson xxxx
(I put my surname because this will probably be my last post before my name changes – how exciting!)