Lazy blogger that I am...

Since October time has gone so fast. I started my MSc which I've nearly finished half of. Ridiculous. Strange to think this time last year I was running round the lab trying to finish my undergrad thesis experiments!

I think doing the MSc has taught me a lot. I'm actually able to work to deadlines and complete things on time and my exams aren't as a bad as I thought. With the majority of my modules being 100% exam assessed I even bought a book on how to successfully pass exams! I think it helps to realise how you learn and what methods definitely do and don't work. So I know that I learn nothing by reading or listening to it! I have to write it down or it just doesn't stick. Cramming is not for me. Also, I can't structure my day exactly. I don't enjoy routines. If I have a list of jobs I need to get done then I will do them but most likely not in the order I say I will!


I have my first PhD interview on Thursday. Quite excited and nervous. I've been debating about what I'm going to wear for the past two weeks but have finally decided on a suit. Well, the bottom half of a suit and a cardi for my top half (and a nice top).  So far I've just been reading about the labs research in my spare time!  I had so much work this week - a presentation and a big bit of coursework in. Submitted the coursework this morning and it felt AWESOME. Bioinformatics is definitely a struggle, I enjoyed it but found it very frustrating going on to various databases and not really being sure what I was looking at!

So yeah, hopefully the interview will go well so I can do a PhD and become a top epic researcher in Immunology :)

View from my flat. I miss snow!

Pictures from summer til now

My lil brother

Turkish Delight eating face :(

Me and Thomas at comedy night

Ann and Timolo

Pretending to be a lampost

Master pigeon!

Being all scrimpy and creative

I made my own washing powder/gloop this weekend. I followed the mixture from Claire's blog who is on Channel 4's programme Superscrimpers. I decided to give it a go, it doesn't look exactly like Claire's and is more of a solid mass but other people seem to have that too. I washed towels with it but couldn't smell the essential oils I had put in so may I need more gloop in it.

On Saturday we had a friend over for dinner, made a lovely roast chicken (which is now currently entering the land of chicken stew) and I made earl grey cupcakes afterwards. I got the recipe from Primrose Bakery via another great blog and it makes tasty cakes. I added an extra tea bag to the milk and I think it really makes more like 16/18 cupcakes. Mine were definitely over filled but still tasted nice!

Wahey! cupcake and mug of knowledge

Poor sickly basil plant :(

Had a bit of a whoopsie with the piping bag, it basically split. That's what you get for buying a piping set from poundland... the icing was also rubbish I ran out of icing sugar...snowflakes make everything look alright in the end.

Last weekend we went "climbing". I say it in inverted commas due to the lack of climbing I did! Definitely not a cold person climber! Hands and feet were numb from the start so I decided to watch and take some videos. Nice little coffee van in the car park was also discovered so not entirely a waste of time!

Timolo climbing something horizontal and hard

This is the river outside the flat. I'm quite glad we're not on the ground floor and have a floor barrier between us and the river.We're not even in a flooding area.

Glad this is not my building

Months gone by...

Well, I'll admit I am a horrendous blogger and terrible at keeping in touch with people when travelling. Timolo and I actually got back from Eastern Europe in September but have been on the go since then.

Firstly, Eastern Europe (plus Venice) was epic :) I really miss travelling, especially now in October when its getting dark at half 4 and all I want to do is sun bathe and go swimming in the sea. I think some of the best places were Belgrade, Serbia; Zabiljak, Montenegro and Split, Croatia.

Belgrade is a little bit mental, it doesn't really seem to stop and everything seems open all the time! Unfortunately Timolo became ill but we were able to stay in Marija's apartment til he got better. Its handy having friends who have husbands for Dentists in Serbia!

Zabiljak was such a contrast, we got a night bus there, kinda comfy. I wish I could just sleep anywhere would make night buses a much better option! Its a sleepy summer town just for hikers, rafters (don't know if that's right) and climbers! Great place and the accommodation is a bargain! So beautiful, mountains all around and the black lake which is really clear and everyone swims in it.

We also went rafting in the Tara? Canyon which is the deepest in Europe...possibly. It was a good experience as I never done rafting before, made my hands hurt though! The water was freezing and the instructor loved getting us splashed...I guess with that many tourist boats you have to amuse yourself.

Split was the second place in Croatia we went. Initially, we had gone to Dubrovnik and I was MASSIVELY disappointed. So touristy and busy it just spoilt the place. The increase in prices was a bit of a shock as well, you think Eastern Europe is cheap, then you go to Croatia and its twice the price of Montenegro and Serbia.

However, by this time we wanted to stay in a hostel and meet some people...go out and sample local booze essentially. I'd already had rakia in Belgrade, my god. It burns all the way down! Nicest discovery was apple beer! On the hunt for cider, I finally decided that if Dubrovnik didn't have cider (Somersby Cider, Carlsberg is not cider.) then I wasn't going to get it! We went to  enough Irish bars trying to find some! So the next logical step was apple beer. Pretty damn good. Now I have cider in the UK but no apple beer!

Split is a great town with a balance of nightlife, friendlyness, things to do and a great beach on the edge of the park.  We also went climbing, lovely views over the sea and a more local beach than the park had. Climbing had a range of routes and lots of cacti! Those needles get absolutely everywhere as we found :(

We decided to finish our travels by heading to Venice as Timolo hadn't been and I had been a few years ago but didn't remember much. It all came flooding back! It rained a lot. We seemed to have caught the start of the rainy season, when the UK turns dry and everywhere else rains. Its a rare season.