Wifi on the Train!

I'm just on the train on the way back for a weekend at home so what better time to write a little blog post for you all. And added bonus I have free wifi!

I wanted to air my observations on the difference between placement and being back in lectures down in Southampton. I don't think while I was away I ever really appreciated not only the cultural change (which was pretty obvious when you are in a different culture) but also the genuine and more generic 'lifestyle' change which I was having to adapt to. 

I'll just sum it up in a few short words, I was only ever busy with work. Back in Southampton I have so much more going on, be it going to gym classes, organising meetings or social events, I always have something I should be preparing for or something fun in the diary for the next couple of days. There are also plans for the weekend, trying to make dates match with friends or, like this weekend, fitting in a weekend at home. I didn't have any of this whilst I was in Barcelona. And in hindsight it might have been more than the culture and language I was getting used to. 

Now don't get me wrong, I meet some pretty amazing people whilst I was away, and I was head down with lab work to keep me occupied, plus exploring a new country. But it wasn't the busy life I have got used to over the last couple of years at uni, the lifestyle I like and have chosen. Anyone who knows me well can appreciate how bad I am at doing nothing, let's just say my morning shower and brisk walk up to campus is enough 'me time' for me.    

Selfie with Rosie. She still hasn't mastered looking at the camera YET. 

It's got me thinking about where I want to work when I have finished, I need a varied job which lots going on. I want to live somewhere where I can make a life which is busy. Basically I still want to be a little bit hectic sometimes!! I guess that's a start with the job search, it's slow process when you aren't 100% what you want to do or where you want to go. 

I guess now I should fill those of you who are still interested enough to be reading in with what I have been up to in this self-proclaimed busy life of mine (obviously not writing blog posts). Embarrassingly I finally made it to Winchester after three and a half year, and I can't wait to go back to visit in the summer, it's such a lovely little town so close but so different to Southampton. I have also been salsa dancing which was so much fun, and I want to make sure I keep up going regularly, and it's such a transferable hobby - everywhere has a salsa club (forward planning I know)! I have also had nice catch up with a number of friends, and feel quite old as a cheese and wine night now has so much more appeal than a night in jesters (think I'm finally out of the cheese coma!)

A pretty awful, but a photo, none the less, of Winchester Cathedral. 

Found a lovely spot down by the river watching all the ducks. 

Dinner with Rimini. So much food. So much wine. 

And SHOCK HORROR I have FINALLY about five years too late started DRIVING lessons!! I'll keep you all posted on this because let's be honest I'm sure it will throw up some funny stories. And any tips on how to make this process as pain free as possible will be much appreciated!!    

Back in Ann's Tea Room!

Also, slight side note, there is the funniest lady on the train who has just proclaimed because she is Northern she talks to everyone. I want to point out she is the only person (minus the young children) chatting and laughing in the whole packed carriage. Maybe moving to the North would be fun! 

*Update, she's getting slightly annoying now.

A sometimeslightlyoverdramaticandstresssedout chemistry student....

I just had a quick look and I can't believe its been nearly two whole months since I last had time to sit down and write a post. I haven't even to had a chance to half write one which is sitting in drafts. Not that surprising as I've packed up my little life in Spain, written a 10 000 word thesis, presented said thesis, moved into a new house, and celebrated Christmas during this time. Lets just say this feels like the first weekend I have had 'off' in a lonnnnnggggggg time. And lectures for the FINAL SEMESTER of my degree start on Monday 9am so it'll be all go go go go again. No rest in masters year.

Family selfie on Christmas Day. So much food! 

There were times when I thought I would never make it through them 6 months away, and I couldn't in-vision the day in which I would stand up to present in front of my peers. But I did. It has really shown me that with a little bit of 'grit your teeth and bare it' mixed in with being surrounded by brilliant people you can pretty much achieve whatever you set your mind too. (Although I haven't got the results yet so lets wait and see!)

But now back in Southampton, the 'holidays' over, and it's the final push to finish my degree.  Lets just say it feels like my love affair with chemistry is coming to an end, so the only thing motivating me to finish is the idea of graduating. It's funny though, a number of people who know me pretty well would have said I'd be the one doing a Phd a couple of years ago. Even I thought I would probably end up in further research after my degree but I know at the moment I just don't have the motivation for three to four years more of chemistry. But that means one scary thing, getting a J-O-B.

So this really is a what's next for me and what's next for this blog kinda post. Oh the excitement of the unknown. Not knowing where I will be living, not knowing what kind of job I'll be doing, and I 100% don't know what ridiculous stories I will be writing. But one things certain, I am sure there will be plenty of highlights to report along the way, the probability of awkward encounters in my life has increased 10 fold since I have moved back to Southampton.

So maybe this is where this blog is heading, a sometimeslightlyoverdramaticandstresssedout chemist's search for a graduate job. The title of the blog doesn't really fit anymore but 'Online applications and too much wine' just isn't as catchy so I think I'll stick to rambling away on this page for now. Maybe I'll get even more into writing this blog more regularly now I have a bit more unstructured time to fill. I would also be happy to take any advice on how to even start a J-O-B search when you don't have a clue what you want to do. (that unintentionally rhymes, maybe I am going to become a rap star...)

25 Things I am looking forward to going home for.

Blah Blah Blah, lists aren't proper writing, blah blah.... I couldn't think of a better way of presenting this post so I just wrote a list of reasons why I am looking forward to going back to the UK! There is an equal, or maybe even longer, list of things I will miss and why I don’t want to go back. But this will make me far too depressed about the fact in 3 weeks’ time I will be on a flight back to the UK so I won’t write it now.  

In no particular order, I am looking forward to: 

1. Food. I could probably name 25 different food items and meals I am looking forwards too but that would be dull.
2. A proper cup of breakfast tea. I haven’t had anything other than green tea in far too long.
3. Quiet. Spain is loud. But then I am going home so there is unlikely to be any peace there.
4. Not having to use plug adaptors. Hate them, hate them, hate them.
5. Pounds. I have given up trying to convert the cost of things in shops, so I will probably be able to budget a bit better back in the UK
6. Probably should add something about seeing my friends and family…
7. Fluffy warm towels. It’s the simple pleasures.
8. Which brings me on to radiators. I miss being able to make things, including myself, toasty.
9. I am so looking forward to being reunited with all my shoes. 2 pairs on rotation is not cutting it at all.  
10. ROSIE CUDDLES
11. Being rid of the vpn to watch iPlayer. Or any TV in English come to think of it! Dubbed telly drives me mad.
12. No longer nearly dying every time I cross the road. Thank god for the green man as I can’t get used to looking the wrong way when I cross the road.
13. Not sounding ‘posh’ compared to every other single person I meet. Yes I have a British accent, no I’m not from Downton Abbey.
14. Lined paper. What is the obsession with squared paper?
15. Not being charged at every cash point which is not your bank. So much effort. So much thinking ahead.
16. Shops being open on a Sunday. Nope still not used to everything being closed on Sundays.
17. No longer having to master a Spanish keyboard. Typing on a computer at work takes nearly double the time! Who even knew they were different?
18. Understanding things. I still don’t really know how my phone contract works, I just go into the shop and point.
19. Not feeling weird for wanted to eat dinner at 6.30. It is not the afternoon, its tea time!
20. Ann the tea lady. Nuf said
21. Having a haircut. I am far far far to scared to go here. Probably irrationally but I am way to fond of my hair to let something happen to it.
22. Not feeling so young all the time. Who knew that in most places they think you are crazy for doing your masters at 21…
23. Phone Calls. Facetime and Skype are too much effort for me and I have never been a fan!
24. My fluffy blanket. And a double bed. Not that my bed at home is a double but I am sure here is a seriously small single.
25. Not having to do lab work. I have realised I am much too emotionally unstable and over dramatic for lab work. I think undergrad teaching labs taught me that, but working here has double confirmed that I am way too nervy and on edge to work in a lab full time. It’s not good for my health!

That blue sky! Just one of the things I'll miss. Overcast isn't going to cut it.

Also: Every single thing on this buzzfeed is right - especially the one about boredom - weighing out 25 vials on a Friday afternoon makes the whole weekend seems more fun!!!! 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/floperry/ways-being-a-science-student-changes-you-forever

What's the big deal?

I was just sitting on the bus the other day and I suddenly thought 'why is being here so different?' and it made me think. Really what difference does it make that I am in another country? It shouldn't really should it? I can still pick up the phone and talk to my parents. I can still probably get home within about 5 hours. I can still go to the shop and buy food. I can still pretty much do all the things I did when I was living in Southampton.

There is clearly a difference from living at home with my parents, but why is it different from living at university? Loads of reasons. That's why. And its more than just a new flat.

Sometimes when you are just in your own little world its hard to know why living away from your home country is so much harder then living in a new city within it. You wouldn't have your old friends there, you wouldn't automatically know what bus to take to work, you wouldn't know what time the local shop was open until, you wouldn't be able to remember the names of all your new flatmates friends... the list of similarities goes on.
But the point is in your home country; the place you grew up; the place where you have lived all your life, you know how to find these things out.
You take so much for granted in your own country. You know where you can go for a cheap dinner. What shop on the high street you will be able to by plasters in. You vaguely know what time the bank will shut. You know the the nearest supermarket will be a Tesco/Sainsburys/Asda. You know that you will be able to look up all the train times on national rail. That you just need to search for a post office to send a letter. Little things you don't even know you know.

Obviously I live in a Country with a language barrier. But I don't this would stop all the problems. Yes, its genuinely tiring to keep up whilst listening to a foreign language all the time until you actually switch off completely. You stop even trying to understand what the people around you are talking about let alone what they are saying. But that's not the real issue. The issue is everything is new. Sometimes I wander around a shop looking for something as simple as a notepad before I realise there is no way the local supermarket is going to sell one. They would in the UK. I could go to Tesco express and buy one within 5 minutes of my house.

The cultural differences are always there as well, and I am only just starting to really notice them. People eat at different times, people have a different work life balance, TV shows are on at different times, appropriate clothes are different. For example in the summer here it all revolves around family but once the summer starts to leave it all becomes much more work orientated. Not that that's a bad thing, but its something which is different. And I couldn't go much further without mentioning greetings. I WILL FOREVER BE AWKWARD WITH THE CHEEK KISSING. FULL STOP. This might just be an ingrained part of my personality or it might be that its just so different from the UK I never learnt as a child what you should do. But I have a strange feeling I will have to stop myself trying to kiss everyone when I come back to England; here you kiss the person you have just meet when you are saying bye. But you don't kiss work colleagues in the mornings which I have come to understand you would do in France. Oh and I think the German's go for one kiss, and Romanian people have more of a hug involved. The list goes on. Good job I am used to awkward moments.

So why is it harder. It's harder because you have to think about everything all the time. You wonder if the person next to you on the bus is offended you don't speak the language. Its a constant battle of trying to 'fit in' without making it feel alien. None of these things are an issue in your home country. But it's not bad, it's a challenge. It has also made me realise I am willing to go for a job anywhere in the UK because at least I will be able to have a propa cuppa when I sit down at the end of the day in my strange new scary flat.

Next time I promise I will update you on what I have been doing! But for now here is a nice picture of Catalonia's independence day 'celebrations'

I cannot even begin to explain how crazy this was... I felt like the only person not wearing red or yellow on the streets. (I wasn't, and it would have been even more weird wearing the colours if I am not even sure if I support it or not) Quite a site really.