Blogging Vacation is Over!

Canterbury

"It's been a long, long time...."

Wow, this can't possibly be happening!!!! Kayla back to blogging!!

Yes! I have come out of my hibernation and am back to typing furiously about my not-so-exciting life!

I suppose you all deserve to know what has been going on my life. Well first off, I had been working 3 jobs. One of which with M&S, I happened to love. The others, bar-tending in a club and waitressing were quite stressful. Not so much of being afraid of making mistakes but of the owners.

Then in April '15 I left London and moved to Canterbury in Kent to start my nursing course.

It's only been a little over a month into my course and it's interesting in certain areas. Some of the basics are a little droll to hear but it has to be done.

I consider myself lucky to have the house-mates I have because I had a bad enough experience with College house-mates back in Ireland. I live with five girls and all of which have different personalities. Two of the girls I get on really well with. You'll find that we go to church together, sing in the Christian Union together and watch our favourite movies together. Homesickness doesn't seem to be a big deal as I've been living over here since 2013.
There are days when I'm awfully bored but there's always something new to look forward to. For instance I have my bestie Edel coming over in June. Lots to show her and also lots of movies to get through.

Canterbury is perfect for me, with its cafés, library's and parks. I love to walk in a unknown direction and get lost. I'll end up finding hidden gems, like craft shops or old, historic buildings.

My friend Claudia and I like to go for some tea and cake and have a long chat about our interests and stories.

This little park is one of the pretty places I get to stroll through while walking into town.

Canterbury is a very expensive city to live in however, so as a student I have to give myself a set budget per week on saving money. I admit that I take care of myself first because I'm the only love in my life, so a treat is allowed once a week, for example that could be going to the cinema or for a meal.

Getting back to blogging will be hard. If you could ever believe I have more free time now than I did when I was working, so perfect time to be getting back into it.

And another nice thing I get to do today is giving myself the time to catch up on everyones blogs... well the favourites that is, with a nice subway.

Lots of love,

Canterbury | Roaming the city & a Uni interview

 Greetings bloggers from far and wide.

I myself got to travel to Canterbury last Friday. First time visiting Kent and it was a beautiful experience.

So at 5am I had to get ready to take a bus and two trains for Canterbury. Why all this effort you ask? Well I had a scary day ahead with tests and interviews. But thankfully I made it out alive. I met quite a good few people from Ireland and it was lovely talking about home and the weather (sounding more and more like my parents.)

I was interviewed by a version of an even smaller me... AND-I-AM-SMALL! And then by another lady who was dressed in her uniform, resembling Miranda Hart from 'Call the Midwife.'

I got the chance to get a tour of the campus. Their students union was in a complete different building, as well as their library, which was ginormous by the way.

We were so lucky to have a beautiful day for seeing Canterbury. It was very nerve wrecking though, that we were told 'after' the tour whether we got the interviews or not. It was as though they were teasing to those who didn't pass, "This is where you could have lived."

I said this to the interviewers and thankfully they giggled, otherwise --- *awkward*. Let's hope I got bonus points for making them laugh.

Interviews are such a stressful time. Why is it that some interviewers make it so difficult on the student. Some make you feel so anxious with even answering a simple question like what is the most challenging thing you've ever done? The student has to be honest, there's no other way around it.

These interviewers explained how they just wanted a chit chat and they did! Gratefully, I was been asked questions by the Miranda Hart twin. So at times I did feel as though I was talking to a celeb... Haaa!

Walking up the cute little lanes to the University was a lovely start to the day. I would walk by a dainty shop and remind myself that I would call in there later on.

When entering one side of the city I had to walk under this castle. Not how I usually walk into cities, but hey, I felt pretty royal... "Make way for Michaela, hopeful future Nursing student of Canterbury."

I only snapped a few photos because I felt as though I was the only tourist there. Like I took a picture of a stream and some guy from outside the pub probably thought "poor girl has never seen a stream before" or "she's had enough of the booze".

I just loved how both the old and new were joined together in this welcoming, homely city. It's as though they have every shop I love and have squeezed it in.

The door of this place just reminded me of Bilbo Baggins' house (Lord of the Rings reference... yes, I am a fan)

The 'Food & Craft Market' was just a place I didn't want to leave.

I loved how the centre it was in was so modern looking as well.

In this little shop, that contained food, jewelry, clothes, everything handmade, I bought a few little purchases for some friends.

Even though I didn't take any shots, I did make my way into 'Lush'. I bought my Mum a little something, just to make her smile in a surprised postage delivery to Ireland.

I love taking my camera around with me to new places I visit. I just love travelling. Come next week I will be taking gazillions of pictures of my time spent in Mauritius. My passport has arrived so I'm happy.

I can picture myself living here. It is situated pretty much around a lot of the countryside and me coming from Ireland well... it fits. The city itself reminded me of two towns we have back home, Galway and Westport. Brighton would be perhaps the closest I would compare it to, that most of you would get a general picture of.

If any of you have been to Canterbury and have come across any must-go-to shops please inform me in the comments. I will hopefully spend a day down there in the summer. It has sooooo many cafes and me sitting out there with a latte and wheel-barrow of shopping bags, well that image sounds perfect to me.

Also if any of you have been anywhere that's easy distance from London that's worth seeing, put that in the comments as well. I love discovering and experiencing new places.

Thank you so much guys for reading this post,

Lots of crazy giggly-lovin',