A Weekly Catch Up

I had a feeling that when uni came back around I might find myself struggling with keeping up the blog - I like to make time for it within all the work but I'm afraid my life at uni as a fourth and final year just isn't quite as exciting as it once was!

I'm back in lectures and classes at full force now, with plenty of work to keep me occupied - last Saturday's tapas night seems like a distant memory... So along with work, work, work, I had a grammar test for French; luckily it was just diagnostic, so I decided to wing it sans-revision to see exactly where I'm at after a year... translating set sentences is harder than just saying what you want to in French.

Working Hard

I also have a new found love for dictionaries, kind of... Everybody is laughing at me for it but I set myself up in one of the cubicles in Hallward library with the French dictionary Le Petit Robert, an English-French dictionary, an English dictionary and English thesaurus. Fingers crossed that my other translation work I handed in yesterday will be fantastic due to such high dictionary usage.

Getting my geek on!

I was warned in one of my lectures that if we get Seasonal Affective Disorder we should spend some time in a light box before we head to the lectures and seminars as it's pretty depressing stuff. Sounds right up my street... given the rain falling outside and the cold air, after a year in Cannes it wouldn't surprise me if I do pick up some form of SAD, though I shall try my best not to!

On top of all my work, I have been doing something I like to call 'Operation CV'. We had a careers talk during the week, which enforced my searching for graduate schemes even more, and my CV has been spruced up adding all the experience I've gained in the past year. I've got my eye on a particular grad scheme but am going to keep that to myself for now, don't want to get my hopes up too much. If you need to know where to start with grad schemes and want to get yourself on one, get talking with your university, and get your hands on an up-to-date copy of the Times Top 100. Don't believe the £20 price, they should give it to you for free! Don't be scared and put off by it, have a think about what you do and don't want to do, and don't write anything off without having a look at it first, ok yes I'm writing off law, but that's because I know it's not for me, given I haven't done a law degree and have no interest in it, but a lot of companies offer a whole range of choices, so you can do pretty much anything in most companies.

My bible of the week

Things that have got me through this week?
I eventually got hold of some ripe avocados in Sainsbury's, so my Monday night dinner was chili, guacamole and tortilla chips, yum yum.

Home-made Mexican

Tuesday night was a quick blast at the gym, I still don't love treadmills but pop me on a cross-trainer with some fun songs (mostly from my Zumba CD, that keeps me motivated) and I'll be happy until my legs fall off.
Wednesday night we settled down in front of the Hairy Bikers Bakeation; they were in France and so the three of us, as French students, loved it. Though we were all complaining that we wanted to go back to France for daily fresh baguettes and yummy food... anyone fancy a road trip?!

Thursday, Thursday... I grabbed a hot chocolate on campus. Does that count? I am living off hot chocolate at the minute, it makes me feel warm and snug when it's so grim outside. Pop it in my pink Contigo travel mug, and I'm a happy bunny to take it with me wherever I go, and then I don't have to buy them on campus. Or just in my cute Tinker Bell mug, which always makes me smile. Add a shake of cinnamon and yesterday I tried ginger, and it gives it a great kick of flavour.

Working... with hot chocolate!

Friday night, final year style. Hannah and I decided to brave a spin class at Virgin Active Nottingham, which Hannah then told me she hated me for, as it was 45 minutes as opposed to the 30 that she thought it was... whoops. But who needs a night at Ocean when you can do spinning?! Dark room, colourful flashing lights and pumping music, almost takes your mind off the fact that your legs are dying. Finished with a glass of white and a night watching a re-run of Miranda and The Ugly Truth, and that ended my week nicely. Plus I have painted my nails sparkly blue, so they make me happy whenever I see them.

Finishing off the week!

How has your week been? More exciting than mine I hope!