Back to the Bubble 2.0

Although I was sad to be leaving Austria and my life for the past 5 months behind, there was definitely one thing at home that would soften the blow. The day before I came home we had picked up our new PUPPY! I use the term 'puppy' loosely, however, as Archie, the 6 month old Border Collie was already fully grown when we got him. Unfortunately he'd been moved around a bit due to different family circumstances, and we were already his 3rd home. However, he didn't take long to settle in and in less than 24 hours had even claimed 'his' spot on the sofa. I've really missed having a dog at home, and loved Ronja, the family's dog, in Austria, so coming home to Archie definitely perked me up. He has so much energy and such a good nature that I fell in love with him immediately. Here are some photos so that you as well may bask in his cuteness!

I had a short but sweet evening at home with some classic trashy bristish tele, including highlights such as Miranda, and Take Me Out. I also, of course, fitted in time for my favourite tomato and lentil soup before catching my 7am train  (it was the cheapest... despite working all year I'm definitely still a student at heart) up to Durham. My train got in at midday and Steve met me at the station. We dropped my stuff off and then went into town for lunch. I had a duck wrap at Chapter's, and although it was nice, I think that I will always remain loyal to Cafe Continental, for their extremely extensive menu and amazing cakes, if nothing else!

We then went home, got ready for the Boat Club Ball. We went to the Swan and Three first, for a couple of drinks with everyone. It was nice to see everyone, including some who had graduated last summer that had come back for the Ball, but also weird as it felt a little like I could just slot right back into life at Durham as if I'd never really been away. After some drinks we went to the Three Tuns, for the official drinks reception and the meal. It was all lovely and in the awards after the meal Steve and I were awarded Best Boat Club Couple for the second year running and were given a big tube of Lovehearts as a prize. Steve cleaned up in the raffle though, and managed to win a free iPod shuffle!! The ceilidh afterwards was very fun, although the poor musicians had quite a hard time of it at the end trying to teach everyone the dances as the alcohol consumed throughout the evening started to take effect and everyone's attention spans rapily diminished accordingly. I got to fit in lots of chats and dancing before the night ended, so I'm glad I could make it up to Durham for it.

There was a race on Sunday morning which Steve went to, so I spent the morning watching more catch up TV, and then we had a nice relaxed evening once he'd come back. On Monday, we had another lazy morning before heading to Newcastle for the rest of the day. I always forget how close it is on the train, less than 15 minutes, and have resolved to break out of the Durham bubble and go there a little more in 4th year. We had a nice day shopping, even though Steve was more successful than me (this never happens!), and then went to the cinema to see Les Miserables. We'd seen it in the theater the Christmas before, and although the stage version is much more impressive, I actually found the overall plot easier to follow in the film, and we both came away with all of the songs stuck in our heads for the rest of the week.

On Tuesday evening we walked up to college to meet everyone as I'd arranged a small bar crawl that night to see everyone and catch up. It turned out we hadn't picked the best night for it, however, as there was a football match on and so the bars were full with people watching that, which didn't leave us with many seats. Luckily towards the end of the night, as the match ended, there were more spaces avaliable and we were all able to sit down together in Hatfield Bar. We started playing Paranoia, a game which is hilarious when played right, and it was very funny. We continued the game in Jimmy's, before calling it a night as lots of them had imminent essay deadlines. I was shocked by the prices in Jimmy's, as £1 for a vodka and mixer is a far cry from anything I've found on the continent in the last 8 months! I very much wanted to take them all home and pack them in my suitcase to go to Spain with, as missing friends and family has got to be one of the hardest things about the Year Abroad.

On Wednesday, Steve and I went to the Krispy Kreme cafe, something we'd been wanting to do for ages. We got 3 delicious looking doughnuts and I happily took a huge bite out of my chocolate and sprinkle covered doughnut. A few second later Steve looked at me strangely and said, "Didn't you give up chocolate for Lent?" I definitely had, and so from then on was only able to eat the underside of my chocolate doughnut, and had to hand over the best part of it for Steve to finish :( That afternoon we went on a walk down by the river and up some hills, and had a lovely view over the city. Although it's small, it really is stunning, and I imagine there's a lot of it I haven't seen properly yet. I'd also managed to arrange going out for dinner with two of my best friends, Katy and Chloe. We went to ASK and I finally got to have the goats cheese salad I'd been craving for weeks! It was lovely to catch up more one on one with two good friends, although the highlight has to be Chloe (who is almost a year older than both Katy and I) forgetting her ID when we ordered a bottle of wine to share, then citing the law (putting her degree to great use!) to use Katy and I as her guardians so that she could have a glass with her meal. Great stuff!

The offending bite!

Chloe with her legal guardians, Katy and I.

Thursday, my last full day in Durham, came round far too quickly and Steve and I were already planning where to eat for our last meal together. We decided to go British, as I have enough foreign cuisine in my life at the moment, and went to a lovely little local restaurant called The Cellar Door. The actual restaurant is below street level, but there's plenty of windows so you still get a nice view over the river and it's very light inside. We both had delicious meals, and treated ourselves to the classic sticky toffee pudding for dessert. Divine.We went home and watched a really good film (although I forget the name of it now!) which is a real life story about an American basketball player, before going to sleep.

I got my train the next morning, meaning that we had to say goodbye again. Another negative about the Year Abroad is that it involves too many goodbyes!! However, I did have Archie to greet me again at the other end of my long train journey. I had another short day at home, where I was busy packing for Spain and playing with Archie. I also managed to fit in a cheeky trip to get my belly button pierced, as I'd wanted to do it for ages and figured that this would be the only time in my life I was about to move to live by a beach in Spain for 5 months so took the bull by the horns and just did it. I won't lie, it definitely hurt, but more so as as soon as I got home Archie jumped up on me and of course his paw landed right on the spot. Ouch. I'm glad I did it though, and looking forward to whipping it out on the beach later in summer.

My week at home had absolutely flown by, but I was glad to have had a break, albeit a quick one, as my 24 hour turnover between Paris and Salzburg had been a bit of a whirlwind. Although I knew that the next part of my Year Abroad would be difficult, especially from a language point of view as Spanish is by far my weakest language, having studied it only for two years, I was motivated to make the most of it, and sure that the next part of my journey will go just as quickly as the last!