Exam Season!

I realised I haven’t blogged for a while.  My life has been a mêlée of revision and exams, mixed with keyboard playing and a little writing every day to keep me sane.

I’m beginning to think beyond my final exam next Monday.  It’s extremely exciting.  I have an interview for a company called ‘Babylangues’ on Wednesday, which, if I get the position, may see me back in Nantes (where I spent my first semester of the Year Abroad) for a couple of months.  I’ve been applying for other jobs here and there, with differing levels of language usage.  I’ve had a couple of rejections, but that’s okay: the Olympics will last several weeks and it’s a long time to wait for a member of staff.  And teaching French kids English would be fun!

I’ve been doing a little research about Venezuela in my spare time in preparation for July and August.  The more I learn the more excited I grow.  I’m waiting until my Spanish exam is over before I look more into the differences between Latin American Spanish and Castilian (Spanish) Spanish and their different customs and idioms are.  I know there are some subtle differences, and something said innocently in one can be offensive in the other.  I don’t want to cause an international debacle! 

I’m finding the pressure of everything lifting a little as my degree completion bar looks more and more full, and I’m definitely starting to feel like myself again.

I’m starting to find ideas for post-exams – and, funnily enough, they’re all creative.

The list so far:

·         Write.  This is my passion (outside languages) and something I have missed doing since I finished a novella called The Conscription last summer (which is available on request!).  Luckily I’ve helped my longing by writing short 100-250-word flash-fiction in the evenings (which is also available!).  It’s been like nibbling on something when all you want is a big three-course meal: it just makes me hungry for more!

·         Cook.  Okay, so I can cook well enough to survive and feel good about what I’ve eaten every day, but I want to broaden my horizons a little.  Be able to cook something special.  I received a French Cuisine Cookbook for my birthday last month, and I want to learn to make tapas, too.  And desserts.  I love making desserts.

·         Sew.  I want to learn to make clothes.  I started to take the first steps last summer, but for some reason time sort of ran away from me.  My mother used to make my clothes when I was little and I’m still in awe of her.  I have a couple of patterns for tops I want to make.

I also want to make Spanish and French into a pastime.  It’s so much a part of who I am, and I want to enjoy it again.  I mean, with the amount of music I listen to and movies I watch I’ve never really lost that love.  But it’s always been part-enjoyment, part-studying.  I just want to be free to love it!

By the end of the summer/ my unemployment (whichever comes first) hopefully the creative juices will be flowing and I’ll have something awesome to do in the evenings and weekends!  I can’t wait for a life where I don’t have to worry about work after 5pm.  Of course, I am well aware that I am possibly speaking too soon.  Oh!  The delights of the unknown!

The unknown’s on my doorstep.  It’s so exciting!

Anticipation

4 exams down, 5 to go.  It's been a bit of a mix.  One terrible (apparently I came out looking pale), two good and one I feel great about.  So on average pretty good, I think.  Last night almost resulted in disaster due to our next door neighbours’ partying antics at 4am, but this morning’s exam turned out to be the best so far.  I think this was partly due to the desire for some form of (very) passive revenge, and, of course, mostly because of my excellent study regime!  And tea.  The importance of tea can never be forgotten in times of need.

At this moment in time I just can’t wait for the exams to be over and for the rest of my life to begin!

Tomorrow following my exam I’m back off to London's East End for my fifth module training for the Olympics.  This is the big’un, when I find out which continent and then country I will be a part of during the five and a bit weeks I’m working there which until now has been kept as a big surprise.  I’m really excited.  I don’t really mind who I get.  I just can’t wait to represent this country the best I can, and to be unofficially a part of another.  

I return to London to get my sexy Games Maker Uniform (including bag and the all-important umbrella) and Pass on Friday as well, so it’s a big week for me Olympics-wise.  Everything seems to be stepping up a gear, which is wonderful as it makes it become so much more real and gives me something to look forward to.  I booked my driver training for after the exams so I don’t have to freak out either thing anything more than I have to.

I’ve also applied for a couple of jobs – one in London, one in Nantes and one in Hastings – but I’m not really holding much hope because of my commitment to the Olympics.  Except perhaps for the one in Nantes because that wouldn’t start until September.  Plus, I mean, it’s Nantes.  If I could live in Nantes or Oviedo I think my life would be complete.

In the meantime, music, writing, friends and family are helping my plough on through my exams.  I can’t believe I’m so close to the end!

Tah-dah!

In a moment of respite from my studies I changed the design of my blog in an attempt to make it more personal.  Surprise!

I took the photo on my twenty-first birthday.  My parents were visiting me in Asturias (Northern Spain) for a week and we decided that to celebrate my birthday we'd go for a drive around the East of the region, stopping in many coastal towns.  I believe the town we were in at this point was called  Tapia de Casariego, and I think at the time I wanted to live there.  This would probably be more feasible if the trainline wasn't just a single track.  Nevertheless, I'm not going to ever say never on that one - it's so beautiful.  The whole region was: it was difficult to choose a photo!

The completion of exams and essays is starting to become one month-long release.  Sure, I'm still getting nervous for examtime, but it's really just getting closer and closer to a time when this sort of pressure will be just a distant memory.  Unless I do a Masters...

In the meantime I've applied for a couple of jobs here and there.  I feel so grown up!  I mean, I've applied to jobs before, but those were just for saving money for Uni and travelling.  Now it will have to go towards things like mortgages and cars and other grown-up stuff I didn't have to worry about before.

Other than blogging and writing flash fiction (I'll come to that in another post) I've found a wonderful release in playing the keyboard.  I've had the pleasure of being able to play music since I was 7 years old, and it just fills me with joy every time.  I got a Disney book through whilst I was away for Easter, which has been fun to play through, as well as some older books such as Keane, Les Miserables and Wicked.

Alas, back to the grindstone I go...