Greetings from Amsterdam and Christmas holiday warning.

Hello again my beautiful people, how are you all? Good, I’m glad. I myself are shattered to b honest. I got back from a long weekend in Amsterdam last night and now spending my day working. Needless to say, I am tired.

Amsterdam though was really cool, the people, the city, the drinks.  It is quite amazing how much Amsterdam as a city differs from that of London. For example, there roads are split into three, one for bikes, one for trams and buses and the other for cars. Bike is by far the most common form of transport and pretty much every single person has one. It’s the easiest and most convenient  way to get around the city. If only London adopted a Dutch attitude to cycling, it would make my life easier and not to mention safer! I and my friends did go to the Anne Frank house, which was very interesting and moving, very surreal as well. We also went to the sex museum which again was interesting but also very, very strange. We all also ate a lot of cake and drank a lot of coffee.

I am quite happy to be home though; my European travels have worn me out. However it is slightly depressing that now I am home I have to work and I still have a 1500 word assignment to do! How depressing, eh? It gets even worse; I still have the majority of my Christmas shopping to do… That I am sure will not be very pleasant nor fun and somewhat quite expensive.

With all of my blog entry’s, I always like to have a useful message, which as of late they haven’t. So Carney’s (yes I did just refer to myself in the third person) useful tip or warning if you take it that way, is o make as much use of the Christmas holidays as possible. Yes it is nice not being at university or school, but make use of the time. While it is always nice to have a lazy day, I am very looking forward to having one on Saturday, it’s also important to be proactive. So perhaps for ever lazy day you have, have a day of work. Or as I like to try to do (and normally fail) is to try and do something every day, whether or not it’s a blog entry like this or replying to email’s, just make sure you do something and not fall into a slum!

And finally, no blog would be complete without a Eric update. He is growing strong and healthy and developing well. He’s tired and stressed as we all are and can’t wait for the university to close for a good few weeks so he can get a nice rest and get some sleep. Hopefully someone will still feed him…

Look below for some pretty photos + Eric.

See you all in 2014, have a fantastic Christmas and a unrememberable New Year!

France and Belgium Battlefield trip!

So I got back from France last night, I spent a few days there and their neighbours Belgium. Despite the hours on the coach it was actually a really good trip. I think the worse part would definitely have to be the singing on the coach, after two minutes it became tiresome and dire, I compensated with putting in my iPod and blocking the world out.

The first day was spent in Belgium and we went to the Mein Gate, followed by the night and two days in France. We visited several memorials and graves, ranging from German cemeteries to British, to French and to Anglo-French cemeteries. We also visited the National French memorial, where over 40,000 people are buried, and an incredible amount of fallen soldiers. It was all an incredible humbling experience and some of the memorials are breath-takingly pretty, however their beauty is bitter sweet given the purpose of them.

We were also able to go the site of the Somme, again that was incredible but we were also able to go into persevered British and German trenches and it was shocking to see how close they actually were to each other!

It was also very interesting, the difference in the memorials and the cemeteries. For example, the difference between French and British cemeteries, the length and the effort the British went too, to honour their dead despite harsh opposition and a troubled economy.

In the night we went for meals, I had some mussels, they were nice. They hotel was also nice and the drinks cheap. I was very happy. Not as happy as when we went to the local French supermarket and I was let loose on the BN’s, Lays and the ridiculously cheap alcohol (it’s the simple things in life).

All in all it was an amazing trip, and one I would recommend. It was organised by the History department, for a reasonable price. It was a complex itinerary and must have been a hell of a trip to plan. However to all of the lectures and staff credit it was a smooth and very slick operation. I would just like to say how grateful I am for them organising this trip and giving me the opportunity to go and to be able to see how amazing and humbling things that I would not be forgetting in a hurry.

Tomorrow I go to Amsterdam! This time with friends, not the university, if you, my glamorous readers can control yourself until my return I shall give you the pleasure of another blog.

Have a good weekend. 

Assessments.

So I’ve been pretty snowed down recently, with work, university, more work and trying to have a social life, it’s all been pretty packed!  It’s quite frustrating that all my assignments have all seemed to come at once but that’s just life. It’s even more frustrating that I’m in my second year now so it does all actually count towards my final degree!

But things are going well though! I am looking forward to Christmas, just chilling out, relaxing, not actually doing anything with myself… Should probably start shopping for presents for my family…  Any suggestions for presents for my Mum or Sister please in the comment section below (like seriously, I have no idea!).

But I did go and see the Hunger Games: Catching Fire a couple of days after it came out and it was awesome! It was even better as I saw it at the Sky Superscreen, which is massive! It was sooo cool and the movie was sooo good! And really looking to the next couple of weeks as well, Belgium next week and then Amsterdam not a few days after, should e really good! (Albeit devastating to my bank account, which again might seriously affect the quality of my Christmas presents…).

So as ever in all my blogs I like to offer a bit of useful advice, not that I ever take my own that is.  But I would just like to say in terms of assessments, coursework etc, it’s always better to be on top of things. Don’t be ignorant or ignore the amount of work you have to do, be realistic and force yourself to sit down and do it! The hardest part of it is making yourself start, once you’ve done that it will get easier.

Sooo yeah, that’s pretty much it, will blog again in a couple of weeks with pictures from my travels!!

Bye bye!

P.S. Eric update: Eric is currently alive.