Home, Sweet Home.

I finally made it back to Britain for the Easter break.......and rather than being 5 days, it's been extended to 2 weeks, so lots of stuff to do and people to catch up with.....

Well, in short.....Bruges was pretty amazing.

I admit I'm not exactly a huge fan of the film myself, but I fared better than those who hadn't actually seen it, you know when the comments of 'oh, look, that's where Colin Farrell got shot' were flying about.

We obviously climbed up to the top of that tower. They tell you that it's three hundred and odd steps, but not that it's get really narrow and suffocating towards the top, I was a bit scared going downwards, poor Gethin had to take care of me most of the way down. I didn't even think I was all that bothered by confined spaces, but turns out I am, especially when I had to try and get past the people on their way up, which involved walking on the super narrow part of the stairs amidst mutterings of 'ah, zij is bang' from the Belgians. Yes that means 'oh, she's scared'. Felt a bit daft, needless to say.

Of course there was a great deal of drinking involved. Dropping glasses in the hostel bar got the group into trouble with the barman, but it was alright cause the manager was on our side :)

Chris, hostel manager, nice guy....who didn't mind that we had lots of alcohol in the room or broke half of the bar's glasses. I spent a good deal of the weekend chatting at him. Looks a lot like I'll be going to work for him in the summer, which is really exciting. Certainly saves me sitting on my arse doing nothing. Hopefully I can work there before doing the course in Leuven and then I'll head on home for September before uni. Hoping to be quite advanced at Dutch by then too.

I did learn however, that I speak Dutch like a German.

Let's get this straight.....I constantly get asked if I'm from Holland when I speak German, so I speak German like a Dutch person and Dutch like a German person. Marvellous.

So unfortunately had to cancel the trip to Italy, which is a gigantic shame.

Lately I found myself in a situation which seems to have escalated without me actually noticing, a situation which from what I can tell has arisen from a lot of misunderstandings. It's difficult to know sometimes who understands you and who doesn't. It's definitely been a time of reflection on who my real friends are and where I really want to be. Needless to say I didn't have to look very far, but it's a real shame that things have turned out this way.

In light of this I decided the best thing to do would be to stay at home for the whole holiday. As I've already mentioned at least a million times, I really do love this city, and the people in it. I love the feeling of being home, with all the comfort it brings. Although since I've been home (got here on Thursday) I haven't been able to keep my eyes open! Haven't felt this tired in such a long time, and even with full nights' sleep I've needed naps. I suppose after all the stress and having to sleep in my uncomfortable German bed I've been able to relax and actually get some good sleep in, which is great because sleep is one of my favourite things in the entire world.

In short, it feels amazingly good to be home, and I honestly wish I didn't have to go back to the 'Scheid, still, only 9 weeks left and then it's all over. Strange how my feelings keep changing about the ever approaching end.......

Only 12 weeks left? Surely you jest......

For the most part things are very very good.

The sun has finally made an appearance in the 'Scheid and therefore everyone seems to be in a much better mood- me included.

I've actually realised in the last few days how little time we've all got left here. Now that the people on short contracts have all gone off home or to their second countries, we all noticed that we've only got three months left.

This makes me sad. I don't want to go home. Only just starting to feel at home here. It really is going by far too quickly. So much so that I feel like I need to start making plans for my return. Things like which car I want and which mobile phone network I'm going to go with. Seems really stupid when I do have a few months left, but since the last 6 have actually flown by, I know that they'll be over before I know it.

Lots and lots of stuff to look forward to though. Going to Bruges next weekend for Ciaran's 21st Birthday. Totally excited to finally be doing some travelling outside of Bundesrepublik, and although I've heard that the place itself isn't all that good.....the people that are going to be there mean that it's going to be epic. So excited.

Then home in 2 weeks for a few days, then straight after off to Italy! For some odd reason have chosen to fly with Ryanair on the way out there, even though it's incredibly unpleasant. And I have to figure out how to get into the centre of Milan on a bus, by myself. I don't speak Italian. Bit concerned to be honest. I'm hoping it'll be a case of 'follow the crowd'. I am British after all.

I've also found a Dutch language course in Leuven, Belgium for a month. I've decided the last thing i want to do is sit around and do nothing for the summer again, so this seems like the perfect thing to do, since I'm struggling to find a Dutch course in Brum for when I return.

Actually do feel like I'm looking forward to getting back to uni and finishing off my degree, but that's more a feeling of finishing, getting out of Birmingham and getting on with my life.

Teacher at school has also put the idea in my head of going to Japan when I finish uni.......decisions decisions. Never actually considered going to that side of the world before.

Started on my year abroad project too. Been reading quite a lot and it's not the worst topic in the world. I've basically given myself the excuse to spend the next 8 weeks reading children's literature, which isn't entirely unpleasant. Also incredibly chuffed that I got my feedback for my essay plan and it wasn't a complete fail. Only negative point was citing references, which I already knew I was bad at......so not too shabby at all really. I really would appreciate some help with the referencing thing though. No matter how many times I read that bloody guide they gave us I still can't get it right. Frustrating.

I've also decided to stop making serious Facebook statuses. They only get me into trouble. Nothing but foreign language banter and sarcasm from now on. That way I can't be blamed for anything. People will have to find another way to convince themselves I hate them when I don't.

Although for the record....I don't really appreciate being called a whore by people who have never met or talked to me. I find it very confusing. Stop judging me for no reason, get to know me, then call away. Then it's just banter. There's a difference.