A Month Back Home

Last I wrote here, I was preparing for exams and now I'm DONE!
I've been done for a while, actually. And a few things have happened since then. During exams I got my ears pierced, which is very exciting for me, but most people react by saying something along the lines of  "wait, you didn't already have them pierced?" I also got to experience my first Eurovision. I watched the two semi-final shows and the final event with my friends and It was so fun! I really wanted Belgium to win, but I really like Sweden's song, so I'm not too upset.

I did eventually finish all my exams and I passed them all, so I'm officially done with my first year! It was a really stressful month of studying and taking exams, and after it was all done, I got to relax...and pack everything I own into a small number of boxes.

I had about three days to get all my stuff put into storage, and then I left to go back to the US.

I got to spend a month at home with my family. There were several days where I didn't ever have to leave my house/room/bed, which was exactly what I needed after the previous month(s) of insanity. But I didn't just sit around all month. I actually did a few cool things.

I went to see Tallest Man on Earth in Durham with MK, which was an amazing show.

I went to see my family in Davidson, NC. I got to see more of Davidson that I ever really have, even though we go there all the time. The college campus is really pretty!

We also went to the art museum on campus, which was really cool. They even had 2 Picassos, which was particularly interesting for me, since I just went to the Picasso museum in Malaga.

Also, they had this statue made up of letters and characters from a bunch of different languages, which I obviously thought was awesome.

I went camping with two of my friends that are both named Chris. It was a bit confusing, but it was so fun. I really like camping, but it can be hard to find people who are willing to come with me. We went to Stone Mountain State Park, and I would definitely go back. There were some pretty good waterfalls for swimming and lots of trails for hiking. Not to mention good views.

The day after I got back from camping, I drove to the beach with MK, where I spent my birthday at the beach with her family. I wish I had gotten to stay longer, but it was a great place to spend my birthday!

(Oh yeah, I got glasses)

The day after my birthday, I left the beach at 7:45 am and drove four hours back home and then immediately got in the car and drive five and a half hours to Atlanta. The best part about driving to Atlanta is stopping in South Carolina for peaches!

When I wasn't in the car, I had cookouts with my friends, snuggled with my dog, and spent time visiting with my family.

 My family also had a really nice southern dinner with all my favorites. We had fried okra, turnip greens and beans, black-eyed peas, cornbread, and corn on the cob. For dessert, we had homemade peach ice cream made with the peaches from South Carolina. It was amazing!

On one of my last days home, my mom and I went antiquing downtown, which was so much fun. We also went to our favorite Thai place for lunch.

After all those good times, it was time to go back to Edinburgh. Being back in North Carolina was so nice, and I'm glad I got to be there for a whole month.

I am now back in Edinburgh moving into my new flat, sorting out summer jobs, trying to start studying languages again, and getting back into the habit of going to the gym. It feels good to be getting back into my old routines. I've also enjoyed seeing my Edinburgh-based friends again. We've already been to IKEA, made some really good food (pulla, Chinese steamed buns, and a nice Italian-ish meal), so it's like old times.

Speaking of old times, Nikki is back! Nikki was my flatmate in the first semester. She was just in Edinburgh for one semester, but she got a grant to come back to Edinburgh for 6 weeks to study the life of Mary Queen of Scots for the one-woman show she is going to write and star in (so cool, right?). I can't wait for her to be my flatmate again so we can eat risotto and watch Outlander together! Hopefully we'll be able to go to some castles together and we'll definitely be going to the Tattoo in August. So I'm sure our adventures will be on the blog at least once this summer.

I'm excited for all the things that are happening this summer and hopefully I'll be blogging more! On that note, I'm leaving this week to go to Finland, so stay tuned for a post about that!