May 29th: Relocating again

Well, once again it is entirely too late to be writing a blog post, but I can't be bothered to go to bed so I've started the mammoth task of packing up my room instead. So far I've filled up two suitcases and there's no visible difference (unless you look in the drawers and cupboards, of course), which kind of indicates a) how much of a mammoth task this is, and b) just how much crap I've accumulated since I moved here. God knows how I'm going to manage to fit everything in one suitcase when I move to Spain!

One of York's many beautiful parks

The last couple of weeks have been perfect. The weather's been gorgeous, York is as beautiful as it always is in hot weather (and indeed any other type of weather) and the time I've spent here since my exams finished has passed in a blur of days sunbathing in various parks, social gatherings and the odd trip t'pub. It's been just like being on holiday and it's been such a wonderful end to my first year of university that right now, I never want to leave.

But I am. I'm leaving on Saturday morning, which suddenly seems very soon. But I've been making the most of the last few weeks I have here; last week Zoe came up to visit me and we spent many days chilling in the sun and having picnics. Friday was our summer ball, which was amazing. Everybody had really made an effort, getting all dressed up and ready to celebrate the end of a really amazing year. It was weird to think, as I stood there at uni amongst the festivities, that this time last year I didn't know any of these people. I've only known them for eight months at the most and been friends with them for shorter - because it takes time to cultivate friendships - but it feels like a lifetime. I suppose that in a way it is a lifetime, because this is a whole new chapter of our lives; a whole new place, a whole new group of people. My life before I came to York feels like a million years ago, and yet just yesterday... it's very strange to think that wherever you go, despite how alone you may feel in the beginning, you'll eventually find a new group of people you fit in with, and they'll become the people you live your new life with. But that's also an incredibly comforting thought; leaving people behind is always scary, but maybe we should think of it more as an opportunity to meet more people; to make more friends. The world is our oyster, and the more of it we see, the more we'll find people who are just like us.

It will be very strange leaving this one behind! She 's the person I've spent the most time with here at uni and after I leave, I probably won't see her for a year and a half (she's going to study in Poland while I'm in Spain). Throughout the last eight months we've had many a deep conversation, boogie to foreign songs (before I came to uni I was worried that I wouldn't have anybody to listen to Danish music with and then I discovered a Dane (i.e. Louise) on my course and immediately thought "Going to be friends with her. She has no choice in the matter.") and a hell of a lot of red wine, which has meant that my tolerance for alcohol has risen an alarming amount since I moved here. Ah, but I have so many amazing memories of stuff I've done with Louise and I'll really miss her over the next year and a bit. Bring on third year!

Molly x

May 9th: Hope for the future

I know it's been a while since I last posted here, but alas, it's exam time once again and I must say that this year I am actually working quite hard for my exams - not that it'll make any difference; I probably still won't do brilliantly, but I blame that on having four exams in 6 days (including a weekend), plus an entire twelve weeks' worth of Spanish portfolio I've left until the last minute AND a 2,500 word essay. You'd think I'd have learnt by now, but no, I remain the Queen of procrastination (or just the Queen, according to my friends at uni. I fear their mockery of my 'posh' Southern accent will never cease).

I have my first exam tomorrow, and it's a Spanish oral exam. I'm only a beginner at Spanish, so the whole thing will be over in ten minutes, and I have to say that though I despise oral exams with every fibre of my being, I feel quite sad at the thought of my Spanish lessons coming to an end. They're not stopping permanently, of course, because I'm moving to Spain in four months and it's compulsory for us to take Spanish there (and I would do even if it wasn't, because I'd quite like to be able to converse with the people in my new home).

I seem to be taking quite a while to get into this post. At the moment I'm too busy to sleep or eat (ironic, isn't it, that just when one needs sleep and food most, time and other factors dictate otherwise?), let alone write a blog post, but here I am. I felt the urge, and as all my writer-y friends, pretentious or otherwise, know, one does not ignore the call of the urge. So I'm sitting listening to the 'Spanish' playlist on my phone and musing on the fact that a year after my life changed completely drastically, it's about to change all over again. Life is hectic and life is crazy, but I suppose the one thing my life can't be described as is boring. And that's a good thing. But it's also a completely overwhelming, amazing, terrifying thing that I have yet to get my head around even now.

There's a reason I haven't shown you guys my room here in York yet, and that was that I found it highly irresponsible to post such things on the internet, but I want to remember this. I'm happy, you see. After eight months here I have finally got my room the way I like it, and I've kind of got my life the way I like it too. I can't make up my mind whether it's a good thing, when one reaches this stage, to keep things the same until they reach a sort of stagnation, or to quit while one's ahead; to change everything up again to stop that staleness from setting in. So far I've found that if you don't shake it up every once in a while, life sort of has a habit of doing it for you (and usually just when you've got everything the way you want it) so in my opinion it's best to choose a new path to take before life deposits you on one you might not be too keen on following.

My - what I call - 'wall of awesomeness'.

Sorry about the mess - too many Spanish notes!

Some PostIts my friends left on my mirror on my birthday. I thought that was the most adorable thing ever!

Life in York is a routine now. It's become my home. I love it here and I don't want to leave, but the wonderful thing about not wanting to leave is that you know you've got something wonderful to come back to one day. And I will be back, and in the meantime there's an incredible adventure waiting for me and now I've actually seen Tarragona, it's all suddenly become a lot more real. It's no longer some far off unreachable place, it's real, and it's about to become my home and my life in just the same way that York has, and right now, I see no reason to be afraid of it. Right now, in this moment, I feel only hope for the future.

Molly x

This is where I'll be living come September. You jealous?