Easter at home and back to Oviedo

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I arrived back in Oviedo on Thursday after two wonderful weeks at home. The holidays absolutely flew by, and now that I'm back here and going to lectures again, it feels like I never really went away. It also feels like I have spent half my time over the last few months on planes or in airports.

The journey home was something of a stressful one; getting to the aiport and the flight itself was fine, but then we had to run to catch our trains on time. Things were calm for the 40 minutes from Stansted into London, and then it became hellish. Hitting the underground at 5:30pm on a weekday is never going to be fun, but when laden down with huge suitcase and a couple of bags, the whole process is a nightmare. There are steps everywhere to negotiate, then dragging everything on and off packed tubes while the crowds of people around you, who never break their stride for a second, seem to be out to make your life more difficult. Eventually, and I'm not sure how, I was in Waterloo station and finally, on the train home. I was glad to get there!

My mum and Rory met me at the station, and 15 minutes later, I was at home, back in the warmth, chaos and cacaophony of two rowdy boys, a football game going on the xbox, cats showing off because I was home and dinner on the go. Once I had unpacked, sorted the post that had arrived for me and had dinner, I curled up on the sofa and watched TV avidly, catching up with programmes I'd been missing, and marvelling that the adverts never go on for longer than 5 minutes and are never more frequent than every 15 minutes. And of course the BBC with no adverts!

On the Friday, I met up with Becky and Rosie for a drink and we chattered away, catching up with news and excitedly making plans to book flights to New York for our summer holiday together. After fending off the unwanted attentions of a group of neanderthals on the pull, we went over to Wetherspoons to join Gary and some of his friends for his 21st birthday celebrations. We even went to the Chapel, the most horrendously awful nightclub in the entire world, and after an hour in there, we left Gary and the others to it, unable to stand another second of cotton-eyed Joe. We went on for a final drink and more gossip before heading home. It was a really good night, despite the Chapel!

The following Monday, I was on the train back to London - but this time with Becky, and nothing more than a handbag for a girlie day out in the capital. We wandered along by the Thames for a while, then took the tube to Picadilly to get a bite to eat. Going into Starbucks felt like a guilty pleasure, but it was brilliant, being able to get a decent cappuccino, never mind the mochas, lattes or frappes. In this part of Spain, you can get a cafe, or a cafe con leche, both served in the tiniest of cups. Refueled, we got another tube across to Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. We had a wander round and then decided to take a city cruise back down to Westminster. It was a great ride down the Thames, with an unbelieveably cockney crew member providing a funny commentary as we went. Once off the boat, we headed to Covent Garden where we watched some of the entertainment and browsed happily in the market, enchanted with the antique telephones and old books. Eventually, we made our way back to Waterloo and home. It was a lovely day.

A few days later, the three of us sat in Rosie's flat and booked our flights. We celebrated the moment with chocolate and sparkling wine. It was fabulous - and I can't wait for our transatlantic trip in September! The travelling just doesn't stop!

I was so lucky with the weather while I was at home, it was mostly warm and sunny. We made the most of it with a picnic in the New Forest and a barbecue in the garden. On the day before I left, my mum, Rory and I went to Monkey World, a favourite place of ours, in part because I 'adopted' one of the monkeys there for my Mum, and she's continued to renew the adoption because we're all in love with Monkey World in general, and with Ash, 'our' young chimp, in particular. There was a really nice moment at the end, when we went to the Ash's enclosure; we hadn't seen her at all that day, and we spotted her playing with another monkey on the other side of the enclosure. But as we were standing there, Sally, the adoptive mother monkey for the baby chimps born at monkey world, gave Ash a piggy back, and they came up to the window where we were standing as if to say hello, before going off again. Rory then went off to monkey around in the play area. Our genetic closeness to monkeys really cannot be denied once you've seen monkeys and children playing simultaneously!

The next day, I had to pack my things again, and I got the train to Stansted in the evening and stayed overnight in a hotel before my morning flight. It definitely made the journey a lot easier, and getting across London was less stressful; someone even helped me with my case, which is a first on the underground!

And just like that, I'm back in Oviedo. We spent one evening over at Jo and Sarah's, and another out in Gijon, which was an experience, but I didn't get the hype and the fuss everyone makes about it. It's not exactly amazing, and I prefer going out in Oviedo. But I guess you have to try these things. Next weekend, we're going to Madrid to meet up with some of the people in Perpignan and I'm looking forward to that. I'll make the most of my time here, but the year abroad is getting a bit tiresome. I enjoyed the holidays so much, and I think the strange thing is that in Perpignan, when we came back from the holidays, we had two weeks left. This time, we have ten. On one hand, I hope the time goes quickly, on the other, I know I'm living an experience that a lot of people only dream of. I have to be thankful for that.

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