A Weekend Away

The end of semester two. Cue the Hallelujah chorus. Actually, that would be a tad premature because when uni starts up again, I'll be subjected to three more weeks of teaching before lunging into exams, but yes, Easter break is a relief. Not because I can spend three weeks in bed binge-watching TV shows, because let's face it, Easter break basically means cramming a semester's worth of work in the space of 21 days, but because uni has been keeping me on my toes since January exams. It's been one assignment after the next, deadline after deadline, so much so that it's been hard to keep track of what's been due when - and in-between working at Specsavers and prepping for summer exams, I feel like I haven't had space to breathe. So these next few weeks - or this first week at least - I'm going to just wind down and have a breather before getting back into the full swing of things.

Three weeks feels like so little though! When I was at Leicester Uni, we'd have seven weeks of Easter break before going back just for our exams. And before you all jump to the inevitable conclusion that seven weeks of holiday is the dream, I'm going to cut you off right there and tell you to snap out of the illusion because it really wasn't. I mean, it was the dream, but in the sense that we had seven weeks to solidly revise (and by revise, I mean teach ourselves the entire degree). So yeah, Easter break was always one to look forward to. On a serious note though, I can't help but think that Leicester Uni had the right idea because three weeks is virtually nothing. I'm going to struggle adjusting. And I just know that it's going to fly by and by the time uni comes back around the corner, I'll be as unprepared for exams as I am now.

Speaking of time - I can't comprehend how fast it's going. Yes, yes, we all say that "time's flying" and "where has the time gone??", but seriously guys. Where has the time gone?!? I'm struggling to wrap my head around the fact that I'm prepping for summer exams of first year already when this time last year, I had handed in my dissertation and was knuckling down to revise for finals. It simultaneously feels like just yesterday, and yet a lifetime ago. Almost a whole other life. I feel like my life is divided into two, like I'm split into two halves that are mutually exclusive. There's the me pre-optometry, and then there's the me post-optometry, and the two are disjointed. Two detached lives that I can't bind together. And boy, do I miss the old one.

I kicked off the holidays with a shopping, lunch and movie date with two of my friends. We went to Marco & Carl which is fairly new and only just opened so we decided to make a date out of it and see what the hype was about. It's pretty deserved actually! The food, ambience and service were all on point and I'll definitely be visiting again soon - so any of you in the Midlands, I'd make a point of visiting it!

Then we went to watch Allegiant, which for those of you don't know, is based on the final instalment in the Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth. And ohmyword, what an awful film. Seriously the dumbest film I have ever watched. I feel sorry for anyone who watches it without having read the book. Or who watches it, period. The only highlight - and I truly mean this - was having Theo James on screen and being able to swoon over him for the better part of 120 minutes. It lacked plot and depth, the visual effects were downright laughable, and the acting was mediocre. Aside from Miles Teller whose quips made the movie bearable. But God how is it a film?! I have never been so bored watching a film in cinema, nor have I have ever been tempted to walk out of one (and I was so close to doing so...). The best part of those torturous two hours was laughing uncontrollably with the best friend at the comically awful scenes. And you know what the sad part is? It does no justice to the book because in my opinion, the books are pretty great. They've just done a bloody horrible job at translating it on to screen. They should have just stopped at the first film. And why they decided to make the third book into two films is beyond me. There was absolutely no need. They could have wrapped it up in one, and after this horrendous part one, they should just be done with it and call it a day.

I think I ranted about it for like, half the journey down to Gloucester that night. So that was my hilariously bad film experience, but then my trip to Gloucester was fun! I love going to visit the grandparents because it's home - sometimes, it feels more like home than home-home. And withdrawal hits when I leave. But I got to spend time with the uncles and little cousins too which is always lovely. I slyly set up Tangled on my laptop and got the kids into it so I got to watch my favourite Disney film with no one judging me whilst simultaneously keeping them entertained. Win-win! Then I did a spot of baking for them (I made them Frozen cupcakes) because I haven't baked in so long and it was the perfect excuse to whip out the baking trays and funky decorations. And then we did dessert night because really, you can never have enough of the sweet stuff. Ultimately it was a weekend where I did nothing but enjoy good food and good company, and I loved every second of it. Honestly, weekends in Gloucester are some of my favourite weekends.

And I have a last piece of news for you guys - my little brother got a place for Dentistry! Which is super exciting and I'm so mega proud of him. He'll be moving out to London though. In like, six months. I'm going to miss him like crazy. But I'll leave that emotional stuff for another time in another post. Until then - happy revising folks!