The Celinde to My Carrie

I had my last (and second, but still...) exam yesterday! It actually went surprisingly well. I think the first two essays were actually quite good (for exam essays, that is) and the third one wasn't terrible. And in any case, what matters most is that they're over! I'm officially a junior/third-year in university which is absolutely crazy.

Yesterday ended up being such a fantastic day because I spent ten hours with Lucy. I'm honestly not even sure how we managed that. Lucy's been such an important part of being at St Andrews, as you can probably tell from this blog, and I'm going to miss her so much. She's the Celinde Schoenmaker to my Carrie Hope Fletcher. (Video of Carrie and Celinde below so you can see what I'm talking about.)

Because of some errors with the hotel when my family was here in March, I had money to spend at the Best Western so Lucy and I had afternoon tea! The food was so yummy and it was nice because we had the fancy room to ourselves. 

Once we were finished, we were reluctant to part and it was raining so we went and hung out in the Catholic Society building. Then we decided it was time for a "cheeky Nandos." 

i'm going to miss this place

After that, a friend of Lucy's needed her to be in his photography project. He let me be lighting assistant (I've never lit a photo shoot with a lamp before...) and it was so great to work on something creative again. It made me realize just how much I've missed being a communications student....he also told me I have a great eye for lighting, so I was chuffed. 

We decided that the only way to celebrate a good photo shoot was cosmopolitans at a cute bar. We're prepping for life in a big city, clearly. 

We ended up walking up to the cathedral while singing musical theatre songs...and then Lucy had to have her Sound of Music moment. #littlecatholicthings

My Celinde and the Jack to my Davey

Then we went back to Lucy's house to watch a movie and sing some more (we did a stunning performance of "Bop to the Top" from High School Musical). It was basically the perfect end to a very stressful three weeks of studying! xx

One Day More

I had my first exam today! It went...not so well, but at least it's over. And only one more day of work and then I'm completely free. xx

sallies quad

indian food for dinner

one last study session

One Day More

Today was my last day before my exams start. This morning I got up and got ready and took some stuff from my room (pillows, etc.) to Lucy's house. I imagine I was quite a funny sight wheeling my suitcase through town! We ended up going to Sainsbury's together for groceries and then having a cup of tea at her house. It was so good to get to spend some time with her; I'm going to miss her a lot.

I've spent the rest of the day studying but also trying to relax a bit. I figure that after three weeks of studying, I'm not going to learn anything new. My exam is tomorrow afternoon so I can do a bit more cramming in the morning.

I also managed to edit and upload my Primark haul from my journey into Dundee on Friday. xx

Once Upon a Dominos

Another long day of studying, laundry, and packing up some things to take over to Lucy tomorrow. However, I did take a break for dinner and to watch last weekend's season finale of Once Upon a Time and eat pizza.

I also took a break later in the evening to go have tea and say goodbye to some of my JSA friends who are leaving in the next few days. It's so strange that this is coming to an end and that I leave St Andrews one week from today. What a crazy journey it's been! xx

Last Trip to Dundee

Today was a much-needed break from revision! Christina, Ali, and I went into Dundee to do some last-minute shopping. We went to Primark (of course!) and then after Ali had to go back, Christina and I went to Topshop and had lunch at McDonald's.

Cheeseburger, mozzarella sticks, and British-candy McFlurry 

We saw someone walk by with a Disney store back so we went in search of the Disney store too.....I might have had a little bit too much fun on Snapchat. I also bought my first Tsum Tsum!

All my friends tell me I am Princess Anna

Meet Sven! 

It was such a fantastic day and I'm so glad that I took the time off from studying to go. I bought some wonderful things (I'll be putting a haul video up soon!) and made some great memories xx

Studying, Studying, Studying

The past two days I've been--you guessed it--studying. Not much exciting going on, though I did purchase myself a box of croissants that I've been having for breakfast! Okay, worry not, tomorrow I'm going into Dundee one last time so I'll have a much more exciting post for you! xx

pretty breakfast

one last proscuitto mac & cheese at pret

Revision Woes

Revision is starting to get to me. You know that point when you've been studying for exams for two weeks and you're stuck in a place where you either care too much (and thus are too nervous and panicked to achieve anything) or care too little (and can't bring yourself to do anything at all)? That's where I'm at. I'm used to having one day off between classes ending and exams starting back home. I'm currently going into my third week of revision and I think I'm losing my mind.

There's also the fact that I have no idea how to study for exams like these. I've not taken an exam of this type since my last year of high school. I honestly have no idea if what I'm doing is effective or if I'm going to completely fail my exams, which is quite scary.

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, but I'm afraid these revision posts are getting a bit repetitive so I decided to put yesterday and today's posts together.

yesterday's lunch at rector's cafe

an elon colored teapot! 

i will miss these mint chocolate frappes 

today's lunch at the gateway cafe

my dinner of kidney beans and rice with cheese

Accidental Shopping

I'm afraid to report that today was not a very interesting day. I went to the library and exchanged some books and hung out at Starbucks to make more flashcards. Starbucks was overcrowded and my favorite hair clip broke. 

So what do you do when you're having a rough day and you're sick of studying? You go shopping of course! Don't worry, Dad, I only went to Boot's. I'd been meaning to pick up a red lipliner since I've been wearing red lipstick so much and all the Rimmel products were "buy two, get one free" so I had to pick out three of course...

Retail therapy is real and it works. After going through my flashcards and cleaning my bathroom, I finished packing up one suitcase. I weighed it with the handy gadget my parents left me and finally got it to (exactly) 23 kg. I decided that it would be a good idea to get one bag entirely ready to go so there's less packing stress while I'm dealing with exams. That suitcase contains all my formal dresses, my Wellies, a couple of books, my sweaters, two pairs of jeans, and all of the gifts I have for people, amongst other clothing and shoes. I feel so relieved knowing that's all packed up! 

One more week of revision before exams for me. Exams officially start this week...unfortunately both of mine fell in the second week. Here's to another week of studying xx

Breakfast for Dinner

Today I accidentally overslept my alarm and woke up at...1:15pm. I guess my body really did need the sleep since I'm still sick, but it was a bit disconcerting that I lost that much of my day! However, I managed to recover and get a fair bit of revision accomplished.

Today was the last two shows for the original Miss Saigon London revival cast, which made me quite sad as several of my favorite performers are leaving. So tonight, I made myself breakfast for dinner and listened to the cast album the whole way through. I started it at 7:35, when the show starts and paused for interval...so I was basically listening at the same time as the show. I'm a dork, I know. xx

Farewell Reception

Today, Christina and I attended the Study Abroad Farewell Reception. It was much more low key than I expected to be honest (although perhaps I'm simply spoiled by the University of Sussex's farewell reception which included a multi-course meal, contests, and guest speakers). They simply asked us what we enjoyed about our time at St Andrews and implored us to spread the word about the program at our home universities. We did get free t-shirts, pens, and mints so I suppose I can't complain.

My outfit today felt very Jane Bennet-y

Much more exciting than the Farewell Reception: today I had to laugh about the irony of the fact that I elected to watch last night's episode of Reign while eating breakfast instead of doing reading and then when I did the reading...it was about the Protestant rebellion in France following King Henri II's death, which is also the topic of the current season of Reign. Naturally, I tweeted about it and Alan van Sprang (who played Henri on Reign!) retweeted it!

After the Farewell Reception, Christina and I decided to grab some food at Dervish. While it was absolutely delicious, I have to admit that I've felt icky since then! I guess my stomach wanted healthier food. xx

Pizza and Cheesy Chips