punched that exam right in the face

that went so well! the delicious steak & couple of pints in the pub afterwards really hit the spot, too ♥

roll on the next eight.. eek!

he vuelto!

THAT’S RIGHT, MY LITTLE FRIENDS

i’m back from two tentacle-tastic weeks in spain - climbing mountains, cleaning pubs out of ceverza & sidra, and gorging ourselves on octopus and chorizo! luarca was a lavely fishing town in which we perfected the art of cider-pouring (you have to do it from a height into the glass to make it fizzy), swam in the river that runs through the town (much to the amusement of the locals), and sang some epic karaoke in the bar on the last night. the hotel was sweet but the food they provided wasn’t too great - pure carbs every evening really doesn’t do you any good! all we had was chips-and-battered-questionable-meat for a week - so on the last night we had a gander around the local restaurants and ended up having a lavish meal of ox steak and vegetables, which was essentially the best thing in the world. in the daytimes we carried out various tasks along the coast, making friends with lizards & feral cats, checking out a bunch of sweet folds and sketching like pros. aw yiss.

the second week was even better; the hostel in cistierna was gorgeous, with plush rooms and incredible views of the mountains! we spent the daytimes producing a geological map of the peaks and valleys, through wind, rain, sun, snow, hail and lightning storms - and spent the evenings chilling out with a few beers and mucho banter in the bar before bed. each day in the mountains we were followed around by a huge labrador-bear-dog called gunther, and found some amazing limestone caves to have lunch in when it rained. the food at the hostel was so much better - a buffet set-up, with choices of soups, pasta with sauces, stews, vegetables, calamari and the most delicious chips. the best part was definitely getting to know even more people on my course a lot better; everyone’s just hilarious! in all, hard work but great fun. me gusta ♥

my silly little digital camera decided it wasn’t going to work half the time so i don’t have a lot of photos, but i’ll pop the ones i’ve managed to scavenge in another post!

got wifi!

which is pronounced “weefee” here, amazing. this hostel is GORGEOUS - we’ve got the big room at the back with a view of the mountains, big comfy beds and the lushest ensuite! it’ll be so nice to come back to this plushness after every single day up in the rainy, snowy mountains. this week in luarca was absolutely brilliant and hilarious - free wine with every meal, becoming pros at pouring the local cider and an epic last night with delicious ox steak, loud karaoke with the locals and copious ceverza. just the most wonderful place! this next week’s going to be really tough, but we’ll still find a way to have funtimes. viva españa! ♥

just realised that this time next week i’ll be snoozing in a hotel bed somewhere in luarca, españa

ohh my giddy god’s pyjamas. for somebody like me, who never gets to travel and hasn’t even been on a plane before, this is a pretty big deal! ♥ now if only i could actually get to sleep in my own bed, since i have to be up in four hours..

FREEDOM!

i’ve just finished my second year of uni! gadzooks, that flew by. i’m taking a nice few days off now before i start hardcore studying for the summer exams, and preparing for my fieldtrip to spain in a month! eeek ♥

blisss!

i have absolutely no work to do tonight, for the first time in three months! i can finally enjoy my yummy bolognese dinner and immerse myself in a good book without having deadline nags in the back of my head. i’ve been doing so well with my grades this year, and my tutor’s really inspired me to do a PhD when i graduate with my master’s - which i’m completely on the right track for, eee! ♥

smokin’

after today’s lavely fieldtrip left everyone in the mood for summer, my friend organised an amazing impromptu barbeque in his garden with home-made burgers, kebabs, sausages & bacon butties! it’s still really chilly here in cardiff - only about 7°C (45°F) at best in the evenings - but there’s nothing like sitting round a hot, crackling barbie with a bottle of cider and lots of friends! everything smells of smoke now, haha - so worth it! ♥

going to the south of france for five weeks in summer with my fave uni crewww!

so exciteddd! we need to book flights/trains/ferries soon - might even be roadtripping it! it’s not really going to be a holiday, because we’ll be doing work the whole time - the twelve of us have to spend every day up in the hills at various locations in pairs, mapping, filling up field notebooks and sketching - but at least we’ll have amazing weather for it. c: we’ll also be camping the whole time, to keep costs down; luckily we know the campsite is really nice, in a beautiful village nestled at the foot of the pyrenees, close to a town with everything we’ll need. we’ll be cycling everywhere, so i’m going to return so fit, haha! open-air cooking, banterous nights around the fire, long walks in the sunshine, cheap easy living, weekend trips to the beach.. it’s going to be one incredible experience! ♥

I’M DOING SCIENCE SO HARD RIGHT NOW

working on my latest assignment; dinosaur speeds! we have to investigate into dino locomotion and have made a ton of fossil trackway measurements, so we can calculate how fast the dinos were moving and how tall/heavy they were. my course could not be better, haha! ♥

gotta give a presentation to 90 other students tomorrow!

i could be a nervous wreck, but instead i’m just going to get up there, talk loud and clear, laugh it off if i get my mords wuddled up, and generally boss it. ♥

thank zeus for three-day weekends ♥

my first week back at uni’s already over - and ohmygiddygod’spyjamas, it was utter madlibs. twenty-two hours of lectures and pracs, extra reading and note-taking every evening until bedtime, and the earliest starts. i need to nap so badly right now, but if i get my assignment and today’s notes out the way tonight (and make a pasta bake, mmm) i’ll have the next couple of days totally free to spend with mah boy. yes please! ♥

the “christmas tree fairy” (a.k.a. mum) has brought me a dinosaur finger puppet for my palaeoecology lectures this semester

GET IN! ♥