At this moment in time armed with a hot cup of tea, sitting next to the fire with my twin brother and parents as we watch the end of My Kitchen Rules I would describe life as easy going.
Without study life is a lot simpler and undoubtedly there is a lot more time left to do other things that have been neglected and cast aside as the going got tough last semester.
What is one to do with so much time? Truth be told I’ve been on holiday for two weeks now and I feel as though I’ve just started, at the end of last semester I kept thinking “I have such a long holiday coming up, I’ll be able to do this and I’ll be able to do that”….
The list went on and on of things I thought I was going to get around to doing this break but it turns out that 4 weeks isn’t really that long and I am one of those people who tend to seriously overestimate how many hours are in one day to the point that I will triple book myself for activities with different people. And thus the last two weeks have passed in an absolute blur and I cannot explain everything I have done so far.
The highlights so far would have to include visiting one of my good friends house in Cambridge where we visited Mt Manganui and the Blue Springs. Last weekend after months of wanting to go, I finally made it to the Blue Springs. It was a bitterly cold typical Winters day but with a bit of reckless courage we did swim and yes it was the coldest swim of my life so far to the point that I found myself questioning whether it was safe to put my head under the water “surely there must be a limit to what your body can handle?“. It really was that cold and all of the tourists gathered there in their puffer jackets, beanies and track pants had a great time photographing the four girls who clearly didn’t get the memo that winter had arrived in full force.
Following the Cambridge adventure, I went to see Finding Dory. I have to admit that to this day Finding Nemo remains my favourite movie and so after waiting 13 years I could not wait to see the film forcing one of my friends from Uni and my twin to watch it with me.
After a glorious 7 hour bus ride I arrived home in the Far North last Monday where my days have been spent catching up with my Oma and Opa (thats Dutch for Grandma and Grandpa) friends and family, attempting to catch up on sleep (still working on that but the Eurocup is getting in the way), and spending alot of time at the beach.
The cold weather here is seriously making me question the phrase “The Winterless North” because man oh man it definitely feels like Winter is here and yesterday we found ice in our goldfish pond. Despite this, I have been to the beach everyday and seen some outstanding sunsets. I think the weather here may be slightly bipolar as this morning was frosty and freezing but by midday the sun was shining so much it was possible to wear shorts and get some sunshine on my extremely-white-almost-transparent- legs.
I leave home early on Wednesday to go skiing with my family before starting semester two. Whilst I am extremely excited to go skiing I am not sure if I am ready to leave home, the beaches, the sunsets, the sunshine and the people just yet.