Bye-bye Scotland!!!

Hi guys,
Just a quick one coz all the batteries are going to die and there's no free wifi! I'm At Glasgow Airport waiting for my plane!! I'm so, so sad to be leaving - I've had such an amazing time! But at the same time I'm really looking forward to seeing all you lovely people back in Australia!!
The past 7 months have gone so fast I can't believe it's almost Christmas and New Year and all that party stuff!! (Guys! What are we doing for NYE, by the way?! I'm thinking city, but then there's all those annoying drunk people ...)
It feels really surreal that I'm going home. I don't think I'll quite believe it until I'm curled up in my Marshmallow bed eating curly fries, and even then it might still feel like a dream!!
I got the email with all of my enrollment stuff yesterday. That's a whole other jar of crazy!!
I guess it feels particularly weird because when I came over here it was a whole lot of unknown - no job, no house, no friends. It was like starting a new book: no expectations and no idea what it will be like. Where as going home is like picking up the sequel to your favourite book in the world: You know the characters and the world inside out and you love them to bits, but you know everything will be a little bit different than how you remember, besides, you're different too. And this time you do have expectations and hopes and predictions about what will happen in this story, but really you have absolutely no idea.
Anyways, not long until boarding starts!!! And a little over 24 hours until MARSHMALLOW BED!!!!
Love you all and can't wait to see you!!!!
xo

On the train back to Scotland ...

I can't believe it's been a week since the Contiki tour finished. For that matter, I can't believe I've been away for over six months!! In five days I will be getting on a plane home!

I had an amazing time with Ruth in Paris! Here are a few pictures:

Me and Ruth in Paris

Repetto is a fancy Ballet shop. I bought new shoes and a gorgeous dancing bag!

Can't wait to try out my new shoes for reals! 

This Chocolate Eclair had chocolate cream in it!!

Pretty Paris just before sunset!

 After Paris I spent a few days in London shopping and seeing shows. I saw this musical called Looserville. I'd seen posters on the tube saying "If you like Greese/The IT Crowd/The Big Bang Theory/etc. you'll like this". It was fun, but not fantastic. The beginning was really great and funny. But then they kept telling the same jokes over and over and over and over again. I might do a review of it sometime ... but that might turn into a rant about how not all "Geeks" are obsessed with - or have even watched - Star Trek, especially the original series.
I also went to see The Perks of Being a Wallflower which was much better than I expected it to be. Still not fantastic, though.

Now I'm on the train back to Scotland. It's 5 hours of really boring so I made Monkey Moo a Facebook page. When I get back to Stirling I will add picks of all the new clothes I bought her. Check it out guys coz she's adorable!!

Til next time
xoxo

Birthdays, Europe and the Next Crazy-Awesome Adventure!!

Hey Crazy Kids!!

I'm off to Europe in about two weeks. First I'll spend a few days in London and then head off one this tour. It's 12 days and goes through Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and France. I'm super excited!!
I bought a coat today to keep me warm and dry as it is getting very cold and wet. It's the middle of Autumn, but the weather is more like the middle of Melbourne's Winter ... with more rain! It's amazing seeing all the leaves changing colour. I know SOME trees at home lose their leaves for winter, but this is ALL of them. It's so pretty!!

Autumn in Stirling

I'm still working in the Careers Centre at Stirling University. I was supposed to finish last Friday, but they want me to keep doing a few hours this week while the lady I was covering for settles back in from being on sick leave. It's only two hours a day but it's something to do that's making money rather than spending it. YAY! Money!!

Last week was my 20th Birthday. It's kinda weird not being a teenager anymore, but I'll probably get used to it. I guess I'm supposed to act kinda grown-up now or something ... Naaaaaah!!
It was the first birthday that I can think of where I haven't had some kind of super-awesome party. That was really strange. It was kind of nice in some ways ... no obsessive planning for months, no rush to get ALL THE THINGS baked and pretty-fied, no searching every $2 shop for random decorations and costume-type things and then realising that Dad won't let them in the house because they have a tiny speck of glitter! All that is my second favourite part of birthdays (my favourite part being when all that crazy planning falls into place and  have an awesome day (or four) with my favourite people in the whole universe), but it was a nice change. (Don't worry guys, I'm already brainstorming ideas for my 21st! I don't know how yet, but it WILL top the Disney party ... wait how do I top that cake? That cake was a masterpiece in amateur cake decorating! Anyway ...)
It was a nice, quiet birthday. We went out to a restaurant a few nights before for Tapas (My parents used my birthday as an excuse to go out for Tapas, so we decided to do the same. Ours was nicer.) It was so tasty but there was so much food!! We managed to get through all of it, though!
Ralph was out on the actual day, so me and Mairead went to a little Italian place for dinner. It was a nice restaurant, but nothing too fancy. And that was basically my birthday.

Except for one tiny little detail that completely blew my mind.
But before I tell you about that. LOOK! It's Pinkie Pie singing the Nyan Cat song ... FOREVER!!

Okay, so now I've tortured/adorabubbled you to tears you are probably close to the emotional state I was in when I woke up on the morning of my 20th birthday, read all the lovely birthday messages everyone left for me on Facebook and, before rolling over and dozing for a little while longer, casually checked my emails.
And found that Swinburne had sent me an email offering me a place in the Arts degree I applied for a few weeks earlier.
On my birthday.
I got accepted to university. On my birthday.

So, yeah, I am going to university next year to do Arts at Swinburne. Which means I actually have to physically be in Melbourne. So I'll be home before Christmas (and there will be cupcakes).


I will write a post soon about what led me to this crazy decision to apply for uni, why the whole idea terrifies me a million times more than the idea of moving to the UK with no job, no accommodation and enough money to last about 4 days and why I'm still gonna do it anyway!!

Love you all!!!
xoxoxo

Some stuff that has happened ...

Hey everyone!!!
I know I haven't posted in ages ... I'm terrible!!!!

Things have been pretty crazy since my last post in July!!! I'll try to write it all - in order - for you ...

Sometime around my last post my two Lithuanian friends found out they had to go home in August to go to uni. They started the same day I did and were also expecting to stay until October, so it was a real shock for everybody!
The day before Nora and Tomas left we got two new staff and were expecting another girl a few days later. The first week without them was possibly the hardest week of my life. I took over doing breakfast from 7.45 to sometime after 9 for the B&B residents (which Nora had been doing). You all know what I'm like if I have to be conscious before 10am, right? Somehow I actually managed to wake up and be there on time, although I skipped a couple of breakfasts and in order to get enough sleep I skipped dinner a few times as well because we finished packing up the restaurant after 9pm. In total I worked about 69 hours across 6 days.
Which is basically why I got sick.
Not quite two weeks after Nora and Tomas left the two French staff were due to go back for uni as well. They'd come in July for just two months. That two months went so crazy fast and was so much fun!!! So it was really sad to be saying good-bye to them too.
Just before they left I took most of a day off sick. I had a fever and felt nauseous and dizzy and just plain awful. I had been fighting colds for the past few weeks but this one was a really nasty one. I took lots of tablets and got a little bit better each day, but I had barely any energy and a really painful cough that, when it got really bad, made me retch quite violently. It was really not fun.
Work was insanely stressful as we were short staffed (one of the part-time waiters had appendicitis), still training the new people and the restaurant was quite busy. And of course, being sick was just making it so much harder.

So that's basically why I left.
I've been staying with Mum's step-dad in Stirling for a little over a week. The doctor put me on antibiotics for a chest infection and I have mostly gotten better but I still have a small cough.

I registered with an admin recruitment place and they found me a temp job at the University, which I started yesterday. I'm doing the reception for the careers advice centre which is a pretty interesting place to work. Everyone's really nice and I really love being back in an office (which is kinda sad), doing dull tasks like cutting cards and putting them in envelopes (which is possibly sadder).

I miss everyone in Pitlochry and everyone who left before me to go to their respective homes. It was definitely the right thing to leave, though. My health has improved and I am generally much happier. I don't know how long I will be doing the job I'm in as it is to cover sick leave. And I have no idea what I will do next!!! But that's okay :)
Love you all!!!
xoxo

PS. I have slightly a lot more time now, especially on the weekends, so if anyone wants to skype/IM please let me know and we can organise a time! I miss you all and would love to hear what you've all been up to!!!