Returning To The UK

Although I'm not going to write here about the actual details on this weekend, I am going to share the experience of going back to the Motherland after spending 6 weeks living here in Prague.

So I got off the plane and it was warm. Whaaaat? I then entered Manchester airport and was welcomed very warmly and Britishly with a 25 minute queue. Welcome to Britain.

My friend picked me up at the gate, and when we went outside, I'm not going to lie, but I had no idea which way the traffic was supposed to go. In the UK we drive on the left, on the continent (and most of the world), you drive on the right. It had taken me about three weeks to get used to looking the other way in Prague, and even so I'd look both ways just to make sure I was looking the right way. So imagine my confusion when I had to start looking the other way. Again, I just looked both ways to make sure.

When you live in a foreign country, you also get used to not understanding a single thing that is going on around you, so you end up living happily in your own little world. So obviously, when you hear someone speaking English your ears are immediately picks up on it. This happened to me, in England, I'd be walking down the street and my ears would be hearing English being spoken and I'd then think "Oh! English speakers!" and then my logical thinking would follow with "of course its English, you're in England." That took around 24 hours to get used to.

Normality. I walked into College where I have studied for the past two years, and it was all so normal. And nothing had changed. But at the same time everything had changed. This is difficult to put into words, but I happily went back into my own habits and sat on a sofa in the refectory and chatted happily to those who walked past. I mean, who wouldn't? I looked around and it was as if I had never been away. It was all so familiar. And normal. I mean, this was my normal, right?

It's also difficult returning to somewhere after being away, where life has gone on without you. I went to the college Halloween party. Despite everyone being dressed up and me not having a single clue who anyone was, I felt like a total outsider. It was as if I shouldn't really have been there. Did I belong there? Technically I should. I studied there for two years. I am a registered student there. I have my friends there. But yet, I didn't really belong there.

I think for me, the strangest and hardest part of going back to the UK was the constant questioning of what is normal? College and being around my friends felt so easy, it was as if I had never been away. But yet, landing back in Prague, and hearing Czech being spoken, and getting off my local metro station and walking back to my flat, It felt so normal and familiar. Prague is my norm now. This is where I call home.

But what if I never again feel at home in the UK?

A Month in Prague

So I have officially been lucky enough to call this beautiful city home for a just over month now! 

Happy monthaversary to me.....

The time has flown! I have already visited so many places, and the list of places I'm planning on travelling to just keeps on growing. 

Winter has arrived here. It arrived overnight, literally. Three days ago I was walking in a strappy top and sunnies, and now I'm huddled in woolly clothes, a coat and wishing I can take my blanket with me everywhere,

Autumn is stunning in this city. As there are quite a lot of trees on various islands in the river and parks around, they have been changing everyday. I can highly recommend visiting at this time of year, and I just hope that the rest of the year will be equally as beautiful.

It still feels like I'm not really here. I don't quite know how to word it... I'm living my fairytale. Yet, it doesn't feel real. Although I am living here, and have a bank account here, and have a Czech phone number, and I walk to school everyday, I still feel I'm on this working holiday. I don't know if any other Erasmus students feel the same? 

The way of life over here is much different too. People aren't afraid to go out to a restaurant alone, people take their dogs for a walk at all times of the day or night. This city never sleeps. I have been awake at various hours of the day, and it is never quiet. 

There are days when living alone in a great big scary city where all you can say is "Good day" is very hard, I think in the month I have been here, I have had two of those days. The amazing days completely outnumber and make the crappy days worth it. There is so much to do here, and so much of the city to explore that I never ever have a reason to say that I am bored. 

My friends here are great, and I'm having the best time of my life. I need to pinch myself almost every day to prove that I have done this completely amazing thing, which I will treasure for the rest of my life. A year ago, this was only my dream. 

P.s. I don't know what I'm going to do when I have to go back to the UK and pay more than £1 for only a pint of beer, not have Becherovka in every corner shop, and no proper Milka. Seriously, the food/drinks here are amazing!

Travels | Home - Stonehenge - Bonn - Leipzig - Prague

We had a mental 4 days of travelling to Prague. It was somehow decided that we would have a family roadtrip. After days and weeks of planning, a route was formed.

However, it had been discovered during a family conversation around the dinner table that I had never been to Stonehenge. My parents were shocked that I'd never been and were surprised that I hadn't had a school trip there or anything. So it was decided that we'd stop there on the way.

I'm not going to lie, the place seems like a massive tourist trap. I mean, I am fascinated with how they got there and why were they built, but so many people seemed to go just to say that they had been, get me? I think it would be a really magical place if there weren't coaches and coaches of tourists. There was a really big visitors centre there, it looked like it had been built there fairly recently. I couldn't help but to wonder, if they hadn't made a big hoo-ha out of the place by building this fancy visitors centre, then would there be a big hoo-ha about the stones?

My parents said that when they went (about 20 years ago, mind) there was only a little shack there and it was free to go in and you could just happily wander around the stones and then return to the car that you parked in a field.

obviously I had to have my own tourist photo though.

Next stop was Bonn, Germany. We stayed over in Gatwick before having an early morning chunnel train to Calais. This was the day that we drove in 5 countries in one day. It was a spectacular performance. UK, France (for half an hour), Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany. It took about 5 hours, I believe.

We stayed in a little hotel between Cologne and Bonn, so we umm-ed and aah-ed for a while about where to go have a meal, and we decided Bonn, as that was the birthplace of one of my favourite ever composers (excellent grammar there, truly great) Beethoven. The museum had closed by the time we arrived, which was disappointing but ah well, I have stood outside the great composer's first home!

Another tourist photo: Beethoven's birthplace!!

Our third and final stop before arriving in Prague was Leipzig. Yes there is another musical connection here too (can you spot a theme yet??) Bach's grave. We drove through Germany for another 5 hours and we arrived at our hotel which was so lovely! We headed into the centre in the hope that we would be able to see the grave, but as it is in St Thomas Church right in the centre of the city, and we arrived in the evening....it was closed. Which was a shame, but I am hoping to head back to Leipzig for a weekend, maybe, and try to see it. I've visited this city twice now and not seen the grave so hopefully, third time lucky?

Luckily there's a massive statue outside the church for my tourist photo!! Ha

The next day we arrived in Prague and moved into the flat. I live on the third floor, and there's no lift, so I felt that I had done probably about a weeks worth of exercise just moving into the flat!!

Leave in the comments if you've been to any of these places and what you thought :)

xxx

Remember Me? I live in Prague now.

Yes, Hello. You guys remember me? Some people have still been reading some pages...so hello to you!

#dailycommute

I haven't posted in over two weeks *SHOCK HORROR* but in all fairness, I have been trying to get my brand new shiny life working over here in a strange new city and country.

I live in Prague now, and every morning I wake up and can't quite believe that I live here. I have the most beautiful view ever on my daily commute to university and I am so very lucky.

I have my own little flat. There have been Ikea trips and almost daily trips to the homewares department in my local Tesco. (YES WE HAVE TESCO AND I AM SO EXCITED.)

I have picked up my ISIC card, so I am officially an international student. It's crazy to think that this is going to be my home for a whole year!

I am planning on doing so much travelling, but I'm still figuring out the logistics of it all..!

Ok so this was a brief catch-up, I promise there'll be more blogs!!

Write in the comments if you've been here or if you have anywhere travel-wise that you recommend :)

Daily Diaries | Manchester, Ceilidh and Packing

Credit: RNCM freshers photography

Saturday I arrived at my friends house, and we stayed up late gossiping and eating.
Sunday I had the most beautiful American breakfast with 3 of my best pals - I now love love PB&J. I then headed over to my old flatties new house and ordered dominos, watched bad TV and chilled.
Monday was the ceilidh!! So much fun!! I danced the night away, said goodbye to all of my dearest friends and I even felt a little sad that I won't be in college for the next year!
Tuesday I felt a little fragile and had a 5 hour train journey home. When I got home, I curled up and watched an entire disc of Gossip Girl.
Wednesday was the beginning of packing up all my stuff. We then went to a posh new restaurant thats opened near us (this is a big deal cause we don't have many new places opening....especially not posh ones). I had pork rillette, fancy fish fingers and a creme brulee pudding. YUM!
Thursday and Friday: Packing. I am exceptionally bad at packing. I can't do it. So naturally, there have been many raised voices between me and parents. Oh joys....

Daily Diaries | Flats, Physio, Hair and Camera

So I thought that I'd join in the Daily Diaries link up over on The Lotus Creative (one of my fave blogs to read) just as a way to summarise my day-to-day life that one may overlook when thinking of things to blog. So every friday I'm going to just give you guys a compact summary of my week :)

So this week there has been a lot of changes in my life. I have a flat! I have somewhere to live when I move to Prague! It's a massive flat, right in the centre of the city, only a 20 minute walk from college and I can't wait to make the place my own.

I have queer feet. That's right, there's been a reason why I get shooting pains up my legs while I run. My feet are out of alignment, so my leg muscles have to work extra hard in order to get the momentum to run. I have some exercises and stretches to help, as well as a few brands of trainers to look at investing in.

My hair's a different colour! It's a dark brown-y, red-y sort of colour. Finally the horrible gingery blonde caused by faded colour is no more.

If ya follow me on Instagram I'm sure you'll have seen this. (@nghazzie)

This morning I went into town and invested in a lovely new camera for my travels next year. I can't wait to go outside and try it out.


 

Returning from the Undead

I know this title is a little exaggerated....but that's what it feels like!

I mentioned over a MONTH ago that I wanted to blog more..... that totally happened didn't it.

Life happened. Life got in the way. I've been away on orchestra. I've been working. I've been exhausted. I've been sorting my life out before I pack it all up and move to Prague.

It's been difficult. And scary.

I've been coping in the usual ways; you know, eating lots of ice cream, going to the gym and burying my head in the sand and pretending nothing is happening. All very healthy ways of coping with stress (not). But seriously though, things are beginning to come together. I have a flat to live, I'm speaking to people who are also going, and I'm slowly but surely learning the language.

I'm scared, but it's ok to be scared. Good things happen when one pushes themselves out of their comfort zone. And that's what I'm doing. Good things will happen and I will learn a lot.

I've missed writing on here, and I actually wrote when I was feeling at my most down and most stressed out, but I decided against it. I strive for positivity on here, in my writing and in my life. I was feeling anything but, HOWEVER, I feel like I've come out the other side feeling stronger and more determined for a challenge than ever.

Lots of love to you all and thanks for being so patient with me. xxx

I'M MOVING TO PRAGUE!

As most of you guys know, I am going on an Erasmus exchange next year. I'm going to be studying at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague!!

The application process was vigorous, with so much paperwork to fill in and audition tapes to video...if any of you guys saw me in February, I was not a very calm bunny.

I was lucky enough to be offered two places (I haven't head back from the third, but I'd like to get the full set ;) ). One offer came through right at the beginning of the Easter holidays, and I sort of kept it on the DL, apart from my closest friends, as I didn't want to start telling people until everything was finalised and sorted. By the time I had been offered a room in a student halls in Bergen, Norway, it started to look very official that it was there I was to be headed. 

HOWEVER. There was one awful day in college, after a number of pretty bad days, and I decided to go home for an undetermined amount of time. The morning I was set to head home, my ipad dinged the email ding at the unsociable hour of 07:43. I grumbled, got up to see what it was expecting it to be some sort of Amazon newsletter or something, and saw it was an acceptance from Prague! I just thought "huh, look at that" and went back to bed.

So my nice relaxing break at home ended up with me basically sat at the kitchen table deliberating between the two different paths my life could venture. I was weighing up the pros and cons, and consulting my friends, parents and the cats for advice. Eventually, the night before I was due to come back up to college in Manchester, I made the snap desicion. Prague it was.

It was one of the hardest desicions ever. Do I go for a country where everything was already organised and ready to go, a university place with the opportunity of meeting people who study other things, and where I had already planned my life and traveling for the next year, but basically didn't allow me to have a summer holiday and give me constant money fear? Or do I go for the city that I had loved for years, very accessible to the rest of Europe, 88p beer, but yet have no idea on where to live, and no clue how to speak a word of Czech (apart from "ahoj!")? These thoughts just kept going round and round and round and round my head. I know there are much, much, much worse situations to be in, I mean the Oh-No-I've-Been-Offered-More-Than-One-Erasmus-Place isn't exactly a life or death desicion, but it's still going to have a massive impact on the Rest Of My Life. 

Anyways, a whole new life with new experiences, new friends and new opportunities is just around the corner, and I am SO EXCITED. Of course, I'm worried that I'll leave College now and everyone will forget that I exist, and I worry that maybe some of my friendships won't be as strong as I thought to keep going while I'm living on the continent. I hope not. Obviously, I'm going to be blogging my way through my journey in Prague, so you can keep up to date with what is occurring while I'm out there.

Have a photo of Prague. It doesn't really capture any of the city's magnificent beauty, but it is the view from the castle, which is just a little walk up from where I'll be studying! 

Also:

On the subject of blogs, I would like to change the name of this one, if anyone has any ideas, please let me know! 

One of my Best Friends, Mia, and I have started a blog together. It's still in its early stages, but it's more of a lifestyle, chatty type blog where we basically write to each other. If you're interested, you can see find us here: http://twolittlebricks.wordpress.com

AND FINALLY another one of my Best Friends is doing an amazing thing for charity. She's shaving off her hair. And if you know Beth, you'll know she has an Afro!! If you don't, scroll down and you'll find some photos of her, but I'm so so proud and excited to be a part of this journey that she is about to embark! If you would like to donate, you can click on this link right here: https://www.justgiving.com/Beth-Davis2

I appreciate that this post is a little news-y, and quite different to my other posts, but there are a lot of exciting things happening at the moment and I just wanted to share them all!