(Con)Graduation!

So, there we have it, four years later and I graduated last Friday! It was a really lovely day, with a morning ceremony, photos, drinks and nibbles afterwards, packing up the house in Notts and handing in our keys, and dinner with the girls and their families too. Plus it was a real celebration; obviously the ceremony is meant to be formal but we were clapping and cheering all of our friends as they went up on stage to collect their degrees, and I felt so proud of all of them!

Strike a pose!

I thought it was prime time to share some snaps from the day.

A Long Overdue Catch Up!

I am sorry to say, that my life has really not been very exciting recently due to January exams therefore very little of a social life! My life is, as it often is, a case of university, cooking and the gym. Unfortunately my recipes have all come from books as well so posting them on here for you would be a bit naughty.

I tidied my room at the start of the new year before going back to uni (I took a couple of very large bags to the tip, tidy room, tidy mind!) and managed to find a £10 book token, with no expiry date wahoo! So I took myself off to Waterstone's and eyed up the recipe books, and have since cooked a couple of great dishes from The Higgidy Cookbook.

Haricots Verts

Happy Hour Cocktail Crawl!

Given that we now feel old at university, Sophie and I decided we should at least do something on Friday night, but couldn't handle 'a dip in the Ocean' so had our own, quieter night. We did still hit the town, just not quite as big, or as late, as everyone else would have done. Home by 10:30 was perfect!

We got our glad rags on, heels and makeup and hopped on the bus (the best transport around Nottingham when it's still early!) in to the city centre. We rocked up at Bad Juju Tiki Bar (twice in one week, and I said we don't go out much) for their happy hour. Unforutnately as it was Friday Mario Kart was replaced by a DJ set so we didn't get to try that out. I went for a raspberry daiquiri and Soph picked the ginger mojito, which turned out to have quite a kick and not because of the alcohol.

YO! Sushi and Cocktails - Classy Girls!

Something that the three of us in our house absolutely love is sushi. So to get our sushi fix we head out to YO! Sushi in Notts. Unfortunately Sophie couldn't join us, she was learning how to salsa, but Hannah and I were so game for Blue Mondays. It's a great discount day where many of the plates on the menu are put to the cheapest price, which are the dishes which come on blue plates priced at £2.50 each. They also offer a 25% student discount for other days of the week, but we haven't tried that. I mean, what better way to cheer up a Monday with a conveyor belt of sushi?

YO! Sushi

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

Tasty Tapas - Our Spanish Saturday Night In

Partying clearly doesn't really happen in our house! We had a sociable Saturday night in with girls from our course, and as three out of the five of us (not me) study Spanish, what better way than a tapas night? We decided we would put together a dish per person, so we each had something to make/bring.

We checked out Hannah's 'Little Tapas Book' for some ideas, and decided on patatas bravas (potatoes) and a tortilla (Spanish omelette) with aioli/allioli/garlic mayonnaise/whatever you fancy calling it. We also had garlic prawns, chorizo, queso manchego and some lovely bread. We didn't need anything else!

That Friday Feeling

So I've now been back in Nottingham for two weeks, and it has been exhausting. There has been so much to get my head around and people to see, things to do and classes to attend, and now I have a long list of work to get done (hence last week I made the most of not having any work to do!).

Everybody I spoke to seemed to be heading out to Ocean to dance the night away, the queue at the SU office to collect tickets was pretty long, so I think most of the uni must have been headed for. But we didn't want that in our house... after two long weeks getting ourselves back in to the flow of things, plus I had a surprise 'diagnostic' translation from French thrown at me in my last class of the day, all the three of us wanted to do was have a nice evening in. (But who knew a trip to Sainsbury's could take so long? Hannah and I were in there for way more than an hour... oops.)

My view during dinner

Back to Nottingham - #FinalYear!

So I moved back up to Nottingham a couple of days ago for my fourth and final year. So far, all I have wanted to do is annotate everything with #Notts #UoN #FinalYear ... having been away from uni for so long, it's surreal to be back. I was going through the list of meetings and talks I have to go to this week before lectures and classes start next week and have to double check which building they are all in, fingers crossed I'll find them! (I will, I'm just unnecessarily stressing!)

I have a touch of pink in the kitchen too

My Third Year Abroad in Cannes - Looking Back on Life!

To quote one of my favourite films, Grease (note to self, I haven't seen this recently enough - find DVD when home!):
"... is this the end?"

"Of course not; it's only the beginning."

Sophie and I, 29/08/2013

I have now spent a year and a week exactly in Cannes, with about a total of a week in days spent in the UK, and when I wasn't on the Riviera I was skiing, and now it's time to say goodbye.

I can't believe that so much has happened in a year. There have been highs and lows, ups and downs, but I wouldn't change any of it.

Autumn Awaits: My Autumn Wardrobe Wants

So the summer is coming to an end and I'm heading home from Cannes relatively soon, and I really don't know what to expect of the weather! I've also reached the point that I'm a bit bored of summer clothes and my summer wardrobe - it's too late in the summer now to buy more clothes so I'm thinking of the next season. I don't want to wish the summer away but can't wait to snuggle up in warm clothes!

Post Numéro 1!

Recently turned 21, I am approaching the end of my third year abroad in Cannes, France. In September I fly back to the UK and leave the French Riviera to return to my fourth and final year at the University of Nottingham. Which I am slightly excited about, but think I will definitely miss the sun and sea here! I mean, who wants to return to rainy Britain? (And cold, especially when the daily temperature here is around 30°C). Onwards and upwards though! I still have a couple of weeks to enjoy Cannes life, and I have my 21st birthday present to return to at home. My Raspberry Ice KitchenAid - possibly one of the most exciting presents I can remember receiving! It's pink, it's baking, it's me summed up!