Cookies! (& christmas things!)

This is my current facebook photo. This was also last years photo. It still makes me laugh even now!!!

The Cookies...

When I went to Oxford we had a wonderfully twee pre christmas weekend, where we made mulled cider, and had mince pies, baked reindeer cookies and watched the Christmas Carol in bed, and went to the christmas show at earls court and went around all the department stores and looked at the lights on Oxford street. And I've remade the cookies as my contribution for my shared leaving lunch tomorrow. 

First week is over!

13 more to go!
I have successfully navigated my way to and from work, and survived both the Stratford centre and the Westfield. I have enjoyed every day of placement and am settling in well (placement entry will be written tomorrow). I think I avoided getting mugged. I got on the tube by my self (yay). I had a night out in Stratford, I found a pub called 'goose' (an in joke) and I witnessed Ben and G's synchronised dance moves. Oh and won a limbo competition. I've seen Big ben and the sealife centre. I've watched the paralympics in the park on the big screens on my lunch breaks. I spent my first weekend up here with Ben, and I ended my first week up here with a day in Oxford with Katie and Tracie.

Today was lovely. I was brave and got on the tube on my own, turns out it's fine. As long as it's not busy. I somehow arrived an hour early to meet Katie, but that was ok and we started our mini road trip to Oxford early. En-route received a text from Michael about an open day an Oxfam House, so we went via there and had a nice time looking at the exhibitions etc. And it was lovely to see him too!
We met Tracie's sisters lil dogs which I creatively named 'cat dog' and 'afro dog'. We had a tour around our future home, and loved it. Dined al fresco in the garden, and went for a walk in a nature reserve. It was lovely.

We've planned a night out to celebrate my 21st. Super excited!!

xx

Back in Oxford!!!

For my second semester of year 2!!!
I think my placement dates are March 12th - May 18th, but will confirm when I get definite details!
Also will update the dates at the left hand side, to events occurring this month.

My first day went ok, it was rather intense and left me with a headache, but I'm glad to be back, and it doesn't feel as if I had left at all!!


xx

Today in a lecture...

...my lecturer said:
"...When you will be applying for jobs in 18 months time!"
Woahhhhhh!!! Oh my gosh, it feels so close now I just can't wait to qualify!! Nearly half way through already, now that is scary!!!
Just finished and marked my statistics work book - which I was pleasantly surprised about as I got over 90% correct, and the practice MCQs was over 60%. So not too concerned about that exam, which takes the pressure of it, and the revision (a little bit!); I can spend more time on my EOP2 exam revision and prep then, which is good.
Just going to do a practice exam for EOP 2 once I've posted this - just to gain some insight as to what areas I need to work on.
Oh, and I want to make an appointment with the OT clinic so I can 'gain experience and understanding of assessments and interventions' which only sounds like a good thing!

I really can't get my head around how quickly uni is going, I mean we're already in our 6th week of teaching, and I've been in Oxford for 7 weeks now. That's just crazy!

xx

First night out in Oxford- and it was a quiet one!

I did a bit of shopping yesterday, so got up early to try and avoid the crowds that the city centre always attracts on a Saturday morning! It was busier than usual due to students enrolling? and graduating from Oxford uni, the same weekend as last year when Ben was up with me.
Paid my first 3 months rent, and will pay the rest of when my loan comes in, that way I know any money I have after that can be used, and I won't have to worry about finding the money for the rent - So glad I worked and was able to save a lot towards my rent this year!

So I met Katie at the Sainsburys (a convenient meeting place as its literally a 30 second walk from where I am), as she lives about a 10 minute walk away. We walked into town and went to The Grand Cafe, I love it there, it's so pretty, and a great place for people watching! Had a Cosmopolitan in there, which is Katie's favourite I think. As much as I like them, I don't think I could have more than one as they taste too dry for my liking, probably due to the cranberry juice. Then we heading further into the town, but as it was a Saturday night it was very busy out, not full of students, but of every other person that lives in Oxford, weekends aren't student nights, as they aren't cheap! So we struggled to find anywhere to go as it was so busy, so pondering the idea of going to Freud's we headed towards Jerico. Instead we stopped at a place called The Eagle and Child, apparently J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and fellow writers met here. It was pleasant, and had a proper 'pub' feel to it, I liked it save the strange man who asked to sit at the other side of the table, we soon left after he decided to grace us with his odd, and rather drunk presence (you know when you're drunk, and despite how hard you try, you still sorta slam your glass down on the table? He was that kinda drunk!).
And finally we headed back along Cowley rd (which I had never really walked along last year as I had no need, but I have found all sorts of fun looking places to try out already haha), and we popped into Cafe CoCo, home of the £4 cocktails from 9pm onwards! I had Peach Bellinis, which are probably my favourite - I like the bubbles, and the sweetness of them! And Katie had a 'limonada moya' I believe, which was also rather tasty. Looked at the menu and it sounded great, nothing too complicated, and the prices weren't at all expensive; there were pizzas, pastas and salads, all the things I like! Additionally there was nice sounding breakfasts, and the desserts sounded equally yummy!

So I had a fab night and found some lovely places to go, places I'd be happy to take friends or family, rather than your usual student dives!

My new place in oxford.

I love it!!! The house has such a chilled out feeling to it, I think I'll be able to stay nice and calm and avoid stress compared to last year!!! It's small and cozy and it has a place for everything! Will post some pics of the kitchen/bathroom/garden at some point!!!

Desk, wardrobe, bed. (I think I took too many clothes, oops).

My bed!!

The desk, and my heater.

My staircase up to the room.

The bed as a sofa and my 'coffee table'.

My new room, taaadaaaa!!

My last weekend in Oxford. (photo heavy post)

Ok, so I'm going to post the photos from the weekend before the main body of the post.

Apologies if they take a while to load! :)

 

 

Aren't they just amazing?! All Handmade in the covered market at Oxford Cake shop.

The top one is of the royal wedding, it's quite amusing!!
I love the wedding cake with the two men on it! How brilliant!! I can't get over the amount of detail in the castle shaped cake!!

Ahh Our Saturday evening spent in The Four Candles. The photo on the Right is of Ben stood next to his shrine on Jasmin's door.

I saw a painting today that was of this little bridge thing (photo on the Left). Shame those people ruined my photo! haha.

Beautiful buildings are everywhere in the city. If only it had a beach, and a few more shops in the town, and better parking it would be the idea place to live!

These are our 'Tourist' shots. I rather like them haha!

Shame about the weather this weekend, it was grey since Friday, and eventually rained today :(

I think I took a photo of the building on the Right when I first got up here, so I took a photo of it again in the spring, with the pretty blossom.

This is us in a coffee shop in the Covered Market, just before ben had to leave :'( I had a very yummy Carrot cake!! It was an old building where nothing was square; the floor was uneven, and the walls were tilted.

I've had an absolutely wonderful weekend! And it just seemed to go too quickly!! :'(
Ben arrived earlier than I thought and we managed to walk different ways, so missed each other, haha. After finding each other eventually we popped into Tescos, brought a few bits and got the bus to mine. Ordered a curry and watched a film. It was called 'devil' and it's about people being trapped in a lift and being possessed by the devil.. A bit predictable, but still quite good.

Saturday we had a nice lay in, yay! And then spent all day in the city centre looking around the shops and sat out in the square and had lunch.
There was a 'chocolate festival' in the town, which we had a little wander around. Lot's of chocolate, and one lonley mexican food stall!
We Went into The Four Candles for a couple of drinks, and had diner there aswell. By the time we left it had got quite busy as it was full of people on the beginning of a night out. Got back and watched a couple of films

Sunday we woke up late. Gave mum a ring, happy mothers day!!!! Glad she liked my card!
We headed into town for lunch, had a Burger king! It's been ages since I had one... Turns out I don't like them as much as I used to :(
I found a shop that sells some lovely jewellery, it's not that expensive either!! Would make for great presents - So I mustn't forget it! We then ventured out of the town centre to the cobbled backstreets and through the University grounds along the river. If the weather was nice it would have been perfect for a picnic. We took a few photos, and did the obligatory tourist shots. Ben made friends with a tramp. 

It was a lovely weekend, I can't believe it went so quickly. And that it was my last weekend in Oxford! That's just crazy!! I think during the summer I am going to miss the city!!!

xx

Exploring Oxford city

Today I got the bus into the city with Jas. We walked along the main high st where there's lots of posh and expensive shops; every other shop was a Oxford outfitters. We then walked the back streets, where there's the cobbled streets, and the amazing architecture, so pretty!!!
We eventually found the more 'high street' end, with the shopping centre, and covered market. I couldn't see many places advertising work though, which is slightly concerning!

I think I have pretty much sussed the buses out, which is very handy. There's one bus a day, well it's in the evening (Mon-Fri) that goes to the Tescos in the business park, gives you 40 mins to shop, and then goes back to the halls. It runs twice a day on a saturday.
I got lots of food, although I did forget a few things, I pretty much stuck to my shopping list. It was alot cheaper than I expected at £24. I bought a lot of stuff too. I need to get some mugs...Hopefully Mummy will bring up my Grumpy mug when she comes to see me?!

Got to have an early night tonight as I am going to 'roll on' :P, or in other words, enroll, tomorrow. And it means getting up and ready for the bus at 8:45ish.

I love my little room, I'm pretty much settled in. :)  xx

First post...

It's Wednesday, 3 days until I leave for uni. I'm mostly packed, except the few bits that have to be packed the day I leave. It's weird to think my whole life is in boxes.
11 days untill my birthday.

Photos, I have lots of photos. And they will be the first thing to go up!! I have all my kitchen stuff (thanks mother) and my bathroom and bedding stuff, all blue, (again, thanks mother! and nan, :) ). I have a suitcase of clothes to take..although my shoes don't fit in!! A few bits from my room I wanted to keep, and a box full of text books; heavy, expensive text books. I have a 1TB harddrive full of music(and photos) courtersy of my 'friend' Jac. So it'll be unpack, chill with the music...hit the freshers event?! :-D

I'm looking forward to having a new place to explore, new things to see and people to meet. It's like a fresh start, a new adventure, where hopefully I can escape the small mindedness of most the people living on the Isle of Wight. Don't get me wrong I think it's a lovely place to live, if your old, or a sheep.
Pretty in a simple, natural way; lots of grass and trees, peace and quiet....I imagine I'll look forward to coming home to find that peace again, as it's a far cry from the busy city I'm moving to.

I think I will miss the comfort of having my family so close, but I don't think I will get home sick. I won't miss Liv, only because of last year I got used to not seeing her much; will miss my drinking partner on a Thursday night; my Tuesday evenings with Ben; and my cat. I'll miss him a lot.
It's scary to think that this is the start of 3 years that will, hopefully, change, and shape the rest of my life.

BSc (Hons) Occupational therapy at the School of Health and Social Care at Oxford Brookes. Wish me luck...

xx