We're Baa-aaaack

After an almost 3 week break which absolutely FLEW by, I am back in Bangor and gearing up with exams (unfortunately, these crazy Brits still think it's a good idea to have final exams take place after Christmas break rather than moving them to before it like us brilliant Americans do). Being back here feels almost like normal. Almost. I can't say I'm perfectly happy here, but I'm definitely happy to see my friends again. If I didn't miss Bangor, I most certainly missed them.

Since this is a blog to recount my thoughts and experiences in Wales to everyone at home while I'm away, I took a break for the few weeks I was on break. It didn't seem to make sense to keep it up and write about my time at home when the people reading it would be the people with whom everything occurred. Nothing short of silly. However, due to this little holiday-based hiatus, the few days between last post and arrival home fell through the proverbial cracks of blogging. Not that they were necessarily all that gripping, but there were some fun things for sure

 We had a little Christmas/Goodbye party one night after everyone had turned all their work in so we could relax together and see each other off. This was most important with a few beloved Erasmus students who were only here for the one semester. Thursday was my lovely Parisian's departure, so I met her for coffee and a snack in the morning and hung out til a couple of us walked her to the train station to say goodbye. Not cool, but the best excuse I've ever had to get back to Paris! That night I was invited out with the other Erasmus girls to a "Silent Disco" for their last night out, which I couldn't even think about turning down. Here's the concept: you go to the club, pay a cheap deposit and get a headset, said headset has 2 (or more) radio channels on which the DJ plays different music. Inside, the club is silent except for the sounds of people singing along and dancing to different songs. This sounded weird to me at first, but turned out to be one of the most fun nights in Bangor thus far. Not to mention the fact that it had snowed a little while we were inside, so high street was a clean white wonderland when we came out. A day or two later, the girls decided to have an "everything but the kitchen sink" dinner, so we all brought together the last bits and pieces of groceries and had a fun night with very random assortments of food, and sad goodbyes at the end. A bittersweet few days, to say the least. But I promise that's not the last I'll see of them if I can help it. Sunday was my day to head to Manchester where I had a hotel for the evening and a flight to catch the next morning. Lucky for me, a friend and his roommate were heading to Manchester for the day and allowed me to tag along with them to the Trafford Center (a big schwanky mall) and home with him to meet a bunch of family and be fed a delicious home cooked Indian meal (absolutely AMAZING, I might add). And that was it for me in the UK. I caught my flight the next morning out of Manchester despite the weather on both sides of the Atlantic trying its best to make things difficult, and I finally made it home.

 

Photo lovingly stolen from Zoe. I will miss these girls very very much this semester. Bangor will not be the same without them!

Fast-forward a couple of weeks through some very busy, very fun, and very blurred times with family and friends and we arrive back in Wales and heading into exams. To be honest, I didn't really want to come back. There have been some real ups and downs with this whole experience. Most of you have heard at least a little of my gripes. Don't get me wrong, I'm still happy with my decision to come here and I still very much think it is worth it in the end, but there are a lot of things that made me, in a way, dread having to return. Some of that we'll put down to classic lazy student syndrome since coming back meant studying and exams and then papers and whatever else. The rest, well, I've probably vented to everyone enough times to not have to worry about explaining it again here. Doom and gloom aside, now I'm trying to forget about what makes me unhappy and instead focus on what's good and just generally be more positive about everything. It's going to be a long 6 months if I don't!

So now I'm back, I've had one exam already (today: Quantitative & Qualitative analysis- it went alright, about what I expected), I have an assignment due tomorrow which I actually completed ahead of time (shocking!), another exam on Thursday for Marketing Strategy, and then my third and final exam on Monday for Consumer and Applied Psychology. It's going to be a busy few days! By Tuesday I will most likely be some combination of tired, brain-melted, giddy, and relieved. That blog entry should be interesting. Stay tuned!