so, things that have happened to me since my last blog post:

- started back for my final year at warwick
- it was the christmas holidays. snow, champagne, new years fun, etc.
- I completed two TEFL courses (teaching english as a foreign language – the second was a booster course that specialised in teaching english to young learners. I passed with full marks yay =])
- I quit my job at the library
- I moved into a different halls of residence at uni to be with a close friend. this was probably the best thing that happened to me in the university year
- I applied to be a teaching assistant on réunion island and got the job, hurray =]
- it was the easter holidays. chocolate, coursework, revision, more coursework.
- it was exam period. my final year was fairly crappy for lots of reasons and work suffered as a result, so exams did not go so well and I didn’t get the results I had hoped for. but nevermind eh =]
- I graduated, despite the rubbishy exams – hurray. got to wear a silly hat etc.

things that are coming up over the next few weeks/months:

- going on a little caravan holiday in wales with uni friends. this has become an annual thing in the past few years, should be good fun =]
- family holiday to the norfolk broads
- hopefully some kind of summer job, no luck so far though…
- moving to la réunion, EEEEEK

so another reason for me writing this blog was that I’m going to be away for a pretty long time, chilling on my tropical island, and I would love to see everyone before I go. I’m planning a kind of mega-super-duper-hyper-massive london meet-up of both home and uni friends, which is going to happen on a weekend at some point, date undecided as of yet. it would be loooovvvvvely if you could all make it, especially those of you I haven’t seen in over a year!! I’m going to do a facebook event for it eventually which will have more details, but for the moment please could you let me know which of the following days would be best for you =]

Sunday 21st August

Saturday 27th August
Sunday 28th August
Monday 29th August (bank holiday)

Saturday 3rd September
Sunday 4th September

I’m thinking it will be a hyde park based gathering with games and picnic and drinks, and then moving on to a pub or going for a meal if people fancy it (or just sit in the pub all day if it’s raining). so yeh, please let me know if you can do any of those days, and which ones! =]

I think that is all the news/announcements I have! hope everyone is fine and dandy and enjoying life.

much love, s
xxx

so peru was awesome :] I was basically helping out on a conservation project that was running lots of different research projects in biodiversity, mammal studies, bird studies, insect studies…etc. I learnt a lot, including a teensy bit of spanish which I’m hoping to improve by starting spanish lessons at uni this year. I’m hoping to go back to south america at some point to live there so I’m gonna need it :]

there’s a cute photo of a frog from a night walk in the jungle. :] it was an awesome place. the project centre was a ten-hour car journey from cusco along a mountain track, then a boat ride down the river. it was on the edge of the amazon jungle so you’re constantly surrounded by the sounds of monkeys and birds and all sorts of awesomeness. it still feels really weird being back in quiet little amersham.

monkey ^^ at the end of the volunteering time, we went on a four-day expedition and stayed for a couple of days with a native community. they told us all about their customs and traditions, showed us all the medicinal plants they use, we did an archery competition (I came a close second ) and then went rafting down the river on this traditional raft which was basically just a few planks of wood and you just had to cling on through the rapids then the next day we went on a proper rubber raft. so so so much fun.

so yeah, it was the best month ever. :] it’s nice being back though, and I’m looking forward to getting back to uni (though it would be nice to have another couple of months for more travelling…).

so that is my life currently. :] how is everyone else? if you wanna see any more peru-y photos then there’s lots more on faceyb and a few on my dA page.

over and out! S x

what are everyone’s plans for summer? I think we should have some kind of a gathering, so write on here to say when you’re free. :]

I’m working weekdays at the mo as a cleaner at a school in penn, which is as fun as it sounds. howeverrr, in two weeks the school breaks up for summer so no more cleaning for soph. :] then I’ll be going up to warwick to sing at the graduation ceremonies (rosie, this means you get to hear us chamber choir lot singing the ‘warwick fanfare’ – it’s horrendous and has fake latin in it, so enjoy that!), then I’m free for a week again, then I’m going caravanning in wales with a group of uni friends, thennnn I’m free again, and thennnn I’m going to peruuuuu!

which is VERY exciting. :]

I’m going over there for a month (catching three separate planes to get there, which is the part I’m most nervous about currently :S), to do conservation work in the amazon forest. should be pretty great. :] I also get to do a little nip over to machu picchu while I’m there, which is equally exciting. so, I guess I’ll do a blog about that when I get back! I’m sure there will be lots to say and squeal about. like monkeys and parrots and pumas and things.

in the meantime, I’m keeping myself busy reading about a bazillion books for next year, and doing this online course in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (ie. TEFL). I’m hoping to be able to use the qualification I get from that to go and teach abroad after uni. fingers crossed. :]

so, that’s all my news really! let’s do summery things like picnics and barbeques. discuss.

over and out x

So yeah, everything’s fine so far and that’s all there is to say really ^^ I have no internet in my accommodation but we’re doing our best to sort something out… most practical solution would seem to be buying a key (?) so that we can access the school’s internet ( or I think that’s what it does anyway…). If anyone has any advice about this, that would be awesome. COUGHJohnCOUGH. Unfortunaely we can’t get a router because our accom is actually within the school and apparently it’s not allowed. And there’s no wifi. So yeah, help please would be grand if anyone can suggest anything

France is HOT. I know I’m on the mediterranean and everything but I really didn’t expect it to be quite so summery here in October! It’s great, I’m getting a tan already! The town I’m living in is very nice, though a bit quiet and there’s not much to do in the evenings (though there is an Irish pub!). I think we just need to explore a bit to find out that kind of thing. During the day it’s very nice here, there are plenty of shops with everything you might need – although it turns out the French really don’t like to work that much. Absolutely everywhere (apart from cafes etc) close for lunch between 12:30 and 2pm, and on a Sunday nothing is open at all apart from, again, eateries. But the people at the eateries seem to like to make it very clear that they do not want to be there, and can be quite rude. That’s the French I suppose!

I haven’t started teaching yet, and don’t really know yet anything to do with my timetable etc. I have about a week of observation and then I think I begin classes sometime next week or the week after. And then a few days after that it’ll be half term – whey!

So, I should pop off now. Hope everyone is having a great time doing what they’re doing :] A bientot!

In other news, is anyone around next week for a meet-up? I was thinking maybe we could have a re-match of the London game or somesuch, because that was fun. I don’t know when’s best for most people regarding week days or weekends, and who’s where and on holiday and when and whatnot, so…let’s organise.

Ooh and in OTHER news, my dad has just walked in and told me that my grandparents have sold their house, which is really good news because it means we have the last bit of money to finish the building work for them to move in with us. They’ve been trying to sell it for ages, so celebrations ahoy now. Yay!

A bientot (:

So, most of us are going into our third year of university soonish (omg, WHAT), and for me that means a year out in the Merde, teaching English to French school kids. I’m not gonna lie, I’ve not done much to prepare myself so far. Because of this, I’m feeling pretty nervous about the whole thing and haven’t really got excited about it yet… but hopefully once I’ve sorted out a place to live, got over the trauma of going out to France all on my ownsies to move in with foreign strangers, and managed to deal with all the legal housing/bank account stuff that I can barely understand as it is in English, then I’ll settle down and have a great time.

I’m going to be teaching in three schools: my main one is a lycée (kind of like a sixth-form college but there are three year groups), and two collèges (secondary schools). They’re in a really nice area, in the south of France near Aix-en-Provence which is a lovely town I’ve visited quite a few times, and also near Marseille, so I’ll be quite close to the coast. My friend Amy (who I think everyone has met?) lived out there for a while and her mum lives in a town very close to where I’m going to be, so it’ll be nice to have a contact out there in case of disasters.

All in all I’m pleased about where I’ve been placed and the schools I’ve been assigned to. Although working in three different ones seems like a lot, I think it’s quite common to be placed in more than one, and one of my friends who was out there this year found that even though the kids in one school were a load of chavvy French brats, the kids in the other were much nicer. Hopefully mine will all be nice, but even if not, in all the different year groups across three schools, there’s got to be at least one nice set of students. I hope :]

So, yeah, I just thought I’d tell you a bit about what I’m going to be up to next year. As I said, I haven’t found housing yet, which is kind of my main worry, but it’s very common not to have that sorted out until a couple of weeks before, when you actually go over there, stay in a hostel for a bit, and visit estate agents and stuff. Some of my friends have been provided student accommodation by their lycées, but I wasn’t lucky in that respect Fingers crossed it’ll all work out for the best, anyways.

Onto more general stuff, I was really sorry to miss Quasar the other day because I was feeling poorly Hope you all had a great time, and maybe we can meet up for coffee or a picnic or something soon? Let’s plan things! *puts on planning hat*

My holiday has been pretty good so far… I spent a couple of weeks away with choir – we went on tour to Cornwall for a week which was loads of fun, and then came back to campus to sing at the degree ceremonies, which was also awesome. We did ten ceremonies across five days (paid ) and the rest of the time we had the whole of campus to ourselves, went out for pubbing and clubbing and curry-ing, etc. Funnnnnn times (although a load of people went down with swine flu, which was sad times but I wasn’t one of them, luckily for me).

Next week I’m going to Wales with some friends where we’re aiming to squeeze ten of us into a six-person caravan, which should be interesting…then I’m going to Wales again at the end of August with the fam. It’s clearly the place to go, eh John?

That’s pretty much all my news! This was long, so I think it’s best to end it here before I bore your socks off (sorry if this has already happened). Hope you’re all having a great summer and hopefully see you soon.

Peace! x

I’ve broken up for the Easter holidays now which is a big yay, although despite having 5 weeks off I sadly have no time to rejoice in this newfangled sunshine business, but instead have to get down to writing lots and lots of assessed essays (four of the buggers…that’s 15,000 bloomin’ words in total!). Bad times. But it’s good to be home, and away from a certain nauseatingly smelly housemate who doesn’t wash or cut his icky hair or shave his stupid face or pay his rent or bills. But that’s a story for another day (and my other four housemates are lovely, so it’s all good). So I got back home last night, and this morning I went to the dentist, where I saw Robyn – yay! So we had a good old catch up, and then I went in for my check-up and the dentist said my teeth were very good, and then cleaned them, which was HORRID and felt like she was trying to grind them down with some sort of machine that made my head feel wobbly. But my teeth are now very clean so I’m sure you’re all pleased about that.

Quoi d’autre… I’ve just generally being doing lots of music as usual, had a few concerts in pretty good venues – London and Birmingham this term, oh and a very little one in Cambridge which John came to see, so that was loveleh. I had a little solo moment in it too, yay. I’m doing more solos generally this year and really enjoying it. ) My next one coming up is at the beginning of next term in a choir concert in Oxford, which will be another fun road trip. Oh and if anyone is interested, *boasting-about-my-brother-moment-approaching-nnnnnNOW* Henry’s musical pursuits are going fantastically as always, and he’s going to RAM with a scholarship next year, woo!

I’ve just been called for dinner so I better skip off, but I think that was all the news I had anyway…hope everyone is well and hope to see you all sometime soon!

xxx

I’m in week three of term now and everything’s going pretty well…I’m not liking the huge amount of work we suddenly seem to have as second years, but managing to get by. I’ve had a few musicy things going on – did a concert last week with the symphony and wind orchestras, which went reasonably well. My french horn is at the doctor’s at the moment because the trigger is broken but my lovely friend Michael has been lending me his in the meantime. My friend Genny, who is a very busy and important lady, president of the warwick drama society and directs lots of shows, is directing an Opera this term (Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas? Anyone know it?). Anywho I thought it might be fun to try out something knew with singing, and all my best friends here are involved in it in various ways too, so I auditioned for that on Monday (not for a principle part or anything, just chorus). I’d unfortunately lost my voice on the day of the audition, but luckily the musical director is a friend of mine too from choir, so he’d heard me sing lots of times before and said he could offer me a callback based on that… so I did my callback on Thursday, and this morning I found out that I got a part in the chorus :happy: So that’s snazzy. The show will be at the end of November in various venues in Leamington, Warwick, Birmingham, and it’s also going to the actors’ church in Covent Garden which is quite exciting. So if anyone’s around then do come and watch, Genny’s got so many awesome ideas for it so it’ll be accessible to all – opera-fans and opera-newbies! Also, it’s Purcell, so it’s in English!

In other news, my good friend Ingrid who I met in France and went to visit in Barcelona over the summer is coming to England to visit me and Joel in ten days’ time! So that’s really exciting For those who don’t know (I can’t remember if I wrote about it in my blog about France), Joel does French at Warwick but I met him in France on our vacation residence. So this afternoon I went round to his house for tea and biscuits and to plan our week of awesome funness with Ingrid :happy: We’ll hopefully do a day trip to London, an evening trip to Birmingham and take her to all the good places around here. There’s this cocktail bar that Gen told me about that I really want to try out…it sounds weird but apparently it has this open-air section with beds that you can lie on and look at the stars…hehe!

Other than that I don’t really have any news…it’s just been the usual work, library shifts, music and various nights out. Some really good ones actually. Wootzorz… oh yes, and the new house is pretty good, we’ve had some hiccoughs involving a leaky roof and general broken stuff, but all has been fixed. There’s an alarm that’s been going off in the hall since Thursday but our landlord said we have to wait for the battery to run down so he can replace it, which is proving quite wearing! I really love my room, which is nice and big this year. I’ve taken some photos but it won’t seem to let me upload them, so just imagine quite a big room with a frame around the bed and lots of photo collages on the wardrobe. Yay!

I better get on with that work now…hope everyone is well, enjoying the second year / fresher year (noob!) / work and college! Over and out :happy:

At our most (the majority of the volunteers were there from 1st July – 1st August, like me, but some came and went), we were a group of 18. We worked from 8am to 1pm, doing things like digging a big long trench for a water system, building a wall, collecting rocks from the mountains (for the wall), some woodwork, creating campsites, and cooking for people who were staying at the hostel. The workcamp was at a renovated farm which is now part campsite, part hostel, so we did have French guests coming and going all the time and I got to practice speaking with them a little. In the afternoons we would often have a little siesta (actually it sometimes stretched to a few hours), or sometimes we would walk down to the nearby river. We were around 1000m up, and surrounded by mountains, so you can imagine how beautiful it was. I’ve tried to upload some photos but it’s being a bit strange so I’ll leave a few public links to my facebook albums at the bottom of the post, and you can see it all. :happy:

The weekends were obviously free time, and we did lots of fun things. One weekend we went camping at the Gorges du Verdon, which is the second biggest canyon in the world. We went shopping, swimming, sunbathing, hired pedaloes…it was such a good weekend. :happy: I made particular friends with a British guy called Joel (who actually also studies French at my uni – crazy ain’t it?) and a Spanish girl called Ingrid, and the three of us went camping together one weekend, which was really really good. We went swimming in a big man-made lake which was actually quite dirty, but filled with the cutest little frogs that could sit easily on one finger. We made friends with one and called him Fred.

For our last weekend, seven of us decided to hitch-hike to Briançon, which is the highest city in Europe. It was quite a way away, and it took us a while to get there. We all met up half way at a town with lots of pretty views, and then set off again. Three were going by car because one of the volunteers brought his van with him, and the rest of us had split into two teams of two – me and Ingrid in TEAM AWESOME, and Joel and Galya in ‘The bitch-hiking team!’ (name invented by Joel…you have to do that finger snap thing on the word ‘bitch’). We all arrived in Briançon at around 6pm and set up our tents, then went out for the evening. The next day we had a look around the city, which was filled with really cute little shops and lots of sight-seeing spots, and then we set off for le Fai (the workcamp) again. So I survived my first time hitch-hiking. :happy: It’s actually quite good fun, you get to meet lots of interesting people. And I got to practice my French. So all was good!

It was really sad saying goodbye to everyone on Friday. I made some lovely friends, some of whom I’ll never see again. But on the (very very) bright side, I’m going to stay with Ingrid in Barcelona for nine days starting from Wednesday! Wheee! So there shall be another blog from me after that adventure, I’m sure. (:

Hope you all had a good July, and are enjoying your August. Over and out!

Click here for album #1
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Click here for album #4

I’m coming home for the summer next Thursday, and leaving again a few days later to go to France for a month. As part of my course we have to go to a French-speaking country for four weeks some time in the holiday to do voluntary work / paid work / a language course. I’m doing voluntary work in the Alps, which is a little scary, but also exciting. :happy: So I say we all meet up at some point between the 27th and the 30th. Picnic/BBQ/bowling/meal?

Loves! xxx