All Human Wisdom Is Summed Up In Two Words - Wait And Hope

Day 12 - That Time I Realised That When You Are Meant To Be Busy It Is Easy To Find Distractions But When You Have Nothing To Do It Is Impossible To Fill The Day

I quite literally have nothing to do.

I could fly home tomorrow if I wasn't quite so sure that I will have to do a re-sit. All I am doing is waiting for exam results and, if they are published saying I passed, I could have gone home yesterday.

It is very frustrating.

I have taken to perusing dress and shoe websites which is only causing more frustration and depression when I realise that there is no way I can afford them.

Excuse me while I go and drown my sorrows with Earl Grey.

&&Fin.

Art Is Never Finished, Only Abandoned

Day ?? - That Time I Updated To Avoid Cleaning My Room

So I have been really busy over the past few days. I went out on Wednesday for cocktails and had a Long Island Iced Tea for the first time. Which may have been an error because now I fear Wednesday Cocktail night may have to become a ritual.

This is not conducive to a healthy working environment.

I realised the other day that this was meant to be a photo blog and it's actually turned into me ranting and raving a lot. But hey ho.

The last few weeks have been insanely busy. 2 exams, a 15 page paper and a 4 day trip to Milan.

It was a great trip although there were a few things that could have gone better...

First of all, the trip there is exhausting. We left to catch the bus at 2am which would take us to Bremen. We arrived at the airport in Bremen at 4am (ish) then tried to sleep till 9am because our flight was at midday! It was such a long time to be travelling.

When we eventually got to Milan we got on a tram and didn't realise you were meant to buy tickets before you got on so we rode it for free! My blood pressure was through the roof the entire way. I honestly thought we were going to be arrested at any given moment by the imaginary conductor.

Terrifying, I tell you.

Then when we got to the hostel we had booked 7 beds in a private dorm. Turns out that didn't count for anything and he decided to put 5 of us in a private dorm and 1 of the girls in a separate room. (One girl unfortunately couldn't come with us. My maths skills aren't that bad.) So we grumbled a bit but it was fine.

We then decided to walk into town. I feel we would have re considered this decision if we had known how far from town we actually were. It took us probably 2 hours for all us girls to get to the centre by which point I was so hungry that I was ready to eat one of the smaller ones. (I could have taken them. Maybe.) So we picked a restaurant that was close by and not too horrifically expensive.

Bad move.

Only two of the meals were enjoyable and only 4 were actually edible.

We were in Italy and the food was bad.

Need I say any more?

Probably not. But here's the rest of the weekend anyway.

• Wandered around for 5 hours on Friday night after travelling all day. This wandering did not end in alcohol. Hence the disappointed tone.
• Saturday went to find Top Shop only to discover that it does not exist in Italy. Duh.
• Got laughed out of a hotel when we asked for directions to the mystical Top Shop.
• Panicked that I wouldn't be allowed in to the Duomo because of my short, inappropriate skirt.
• Cursed the fact that this was the one day I decided not to opt for jeans.
• Friend was pick pocketed in the train station on the way to dinner.
• Went to a restaurant to find it packed and had stopped the buffet.
• Pick pocketed friend is (justifiably) very upset and now just wants to go to McDonalds as this is the only thing she can afford.
• Find a nice family restaurant and have a lovely meal. Pay for pick pocketed friend as a gesture of friendship and kindness and possibly restoration of humanity.
• Drink copious amounts of wine.
• Get ready to leave then decide more wine would be better.
• Laugh at French toilets. 
• Get told off at the train station for making too much noise and for starting an escalator that has been switched off for the night.
• Get a train one stop and are told to get off because the train station is closing.
• Discover we are an hour away from home.
• Walk.
• Walk some more.
• Get home to find a bit of a party going on. 
• Go to sleep. (Have to don socks and a hoodie with the hood pulled up in order to fend off the cold temperature threatening to seep into my bones).
• Wake up to the sound of some puking. (Have I been transported back into University Halls? Nope. Still in my freezing hostel room in Milan).
• Wake up to the sound of a hair drier.
• Wonder how students can consume so much alcohol and not feel rotten in the morning.
• Buy an umbrella from some guy in the train station. Pick up one which is 2 euros but then spot a rainbow brollie for 6 and decide that is a bargain).
• Climb 250 stairs up to the Duomo roof. 
• Take nice pictures.
• Go find somewhere to eat for lunch. Devour the best lasagne ever.
• Go to Milano castle and explore the museums. (See a Leonardo Da Vinci painting and the last, unfinished Michelangelo) 
• Go to dinner.
• Have amazing Happy hour.
• Head back to hostel. Have been moved into a different public dormitory (Fffffuuuuu...)
• Decide to have a fairly early night. (Am sharing the double with a friend and this is just a happy excuse to snuggle for longer)
• Wake up to the lights being switched on and the hostel owner shouting 'WHO HAS DONE THIS?'
• Discover that our room has flooded. Decide that laughing may be better than crying.
• Get out of the hostel as fast as we can the next morning.

I think that's basically it for the Milan trip.

And now that I've typed that I'm officially all blogged out. Although lots has happened since that fateful holiday. 

I shall save that for another day.

Ciao.

&&Fin

Life Is Either A Great Adventure Or Nothing

Day ?? - That Time I Booked Another Holiday

Before I get into my ridiculous spenditure I have to make a point about my dinner yesterday. I was freaking out because it's Sunday and we all know, dear readers, what happens on Sundays; everything closes. I didn't even have any milk. Well...none that wasn't expired and lumpy anyway. So I had no idea what I was going to cook for dinner but I managed to find some noodles and a jar of sweet and sour sauce. I chopped up my remaining vegetables (half a red onion, 2 spring onions, half yellow pepper, half red pepper, handful of sugar snaps) fried them for a few minutes then added the sauce and allowed to simmer whilst the noodles boiled. It smelled foul and I just knew it would taste even worse. I dished it up in the saucepan that I had used to boil the noodles because I wasn't going to get another plate dirty for this monstrous effort of nutrition.

Best. Meal. Ever.

Honestly, I think it's the nicest thing I've cooked since I moved over here. Even better than the vegetable curry I insist on having every other day. And I thought I had cooked too many noodles but I ate it all. Every last piece of vegetable. It was that tasty (or maybe I was just that hungry..hm). And this morning I went to lectures and came back to find that my room smelled of it and, far from it being that horrible morning after yuck smell, it made my mouth water.

Seriously. Left over cooking is the best.

Anyway, on to my apparently bottomless pockets.

As some of you may (or may not) know I have booked a long weekend to Milan because I have Fridays, Monday and Tuesdays off (at least I will in November) and why not travel whilst I'm on the continent. Besides it's a £28 round trip.

However, I have also now been persuaded to go to Faro in South West Portugal at the end of November. I jumped at the chance and then was reconsidering later.

Until I learnt where we were going to be staying.

It's called an eco-lodge and it looks amazing. The bed is below a window that looks straight up to the stars.

I have booked my flight.

I worked three jobs over the summer so I figure I can afford this since it's 30 euros for 3 nights and only costs 35 to fly there and back.  I literally cannot wait to go to this place. I have never been anywhere like this before and it looks incredible. The only thing I am worried about is that we might need to hire a car (kind of negates the whole eco thing) because it's a little out of the way and we want to explore.

Nevertheless I will return as a militant eco-warrier I'm sure.

So you better get your recycling up to scratch.

&&Fin