“At the weekend I try to escape to any nice pub in South Wales’ mountains (in the winter). In the summer, I try to find any nice pub (again!) as close to the sea as physically possible. My daughter and wife normally follow me in this quest of finding the best pub in Wales.”
words of a true geologist
yesterday we essentially spent our fieldtrip feeding cute duckies and geese in the name of science
there were flamingos too
and in three weeks i head to cyprus, plus at the start of next year we’re probably going to naples (or an equally fab mediterranean location)
geology rocks you guys
the rest of your life’s just beginning, and it’s going to be amazing ♥
this year’s flown so quickly, and so many people have made it amazing - the house parties, the fieldtrips, the nights out, even the lectures & pracs. i’ve made so many more great friends, only had one trip to the hospital, drunk my weight in beer, achieved the best grades i could have hoped for, and have finally been on an aeroplane!
now i just can’t wait to spend six weeks of my summer in the gorgeous south of france with the geology crew, and come back to a much nicer house here in september. it’s so hard to believe i’m already half-way through my degree.. i don’t want it to end! ♥
just absolutely destroyed my palaeoecology exam! one question was about sea urchin bumholes.
six down, three to go! the yummy weather better wait around for us to finish ♥
seriously, our house came with a mangled pub umbrella, a tyre, a broken table, a wheelbarrow and a ladder (through the window of the shed). it must be our landlord’s old stuff, or just things that have been thrown over the walls - other peoples’ gardens are even more of a scrapyard! i propose we use this to our advantage, form teams, club all our garden-tat together, and hold a student-edition scrapheap challenge in the park. let’s do this, cardiff!
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!
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! ♥
it’s hard to be excited about a fieldtrip which starts at 4:30am on monday morning, is costing us all a lot of money and taking away from our study time (we have nine exams straight after we get back) - but who knows, it could be a larf!
catching up with my favourite tellybox shows tonight, sleeping in until midday tomorrow, answering all my remaining messages on various sites and double-checking everything before pulling an all-nighter to make sure i don’t miss the coach! eeek. i’ve put some fun things in the queue so my tumblr won’t dry out while i’m away ♥
i’ll be dragging my suitcase to meet caroline so we can wait up until half four in the morning, then go get the coach with everyone to landaaan! none of us can really be bothered with this trip, but we’ll make it fun somehow ♥
i had better put some new posts in the queue to keep my tumblr fresh while i’m away licking rocks and fist-fighting bears.
..with a first, which is the highest classification you can get - and i even got 84% in the exam i thought i’d done badly on! OHMYGIDDYGOD’SPYJAMAS i am going to eat cake and drink and be merry ♥
i’ve finished my first year of uni now, and i documented it all on my other tumblr: diaryofafresher. if you’re not already following it, and would like a taste of what life as a uni student is like, please check it out! click here to go right back to the beginning.
if you’re thinking of going to uni soon - or are starting this year - and have any questions about any aspect of life as a student, please click here to ask them! if you want to be anonymous, go through my formspring.
i’m reading back through it all right now and reminiscing on the year; it’s been amazing. enjoy! ♥
a little tribute to all the nights we spent in live lounge, going crazy to all the classic rock anthems, knocking back the disgusting £1 glasses of rosé, refusing to stop until they closed at four a.m. - grabbing the ritualistic cheeseburger from maccy d’s on the way home as the sun started to rise, bursting in drunkenly through our bedroom doors and falling asleep to the dawn chorus.
i miss uni already! ♥
