the future

so right now I'm sat in my new room at my house in Oxford...I say my new room because as of august (actually from now really) I will be sharing a room with Teresa. It almost halves the rent for both of us and makes much more sense. She's going to be on placement alot of the year so may not be here all the time and I am not at the point yet where I am staying in Oxford regularly. So both being here part time and sharing a room makes alot of sense.
Our landlords said it could be a 4 bedroom rent but we wanted to keep the living room rather than turn it into a bedroom so this works well and our rent doesn't change either way :)

I haven't heard about placement for next year yet but I've realised that I'm actually hoping that my placement is in Oxford as it will give me a reason to stay here more often. Assuming that happens then my plan is to work up to being here maybe three nights a week which feels like alot but I'm hoping to work out how to make this place more comfortable and homely...basically what do I need here that will make it easier to stay?

The reason I'm thinking like this is because I only have one year of uni left (which is actually very scary!) and I've started to think about what I'm going to do after uni. My ultimate plan is to find a place to live in Abingdon...it's my hometown and I think being a few minutes away from home will make it easier to properly move out.
There's a probable plan that Alice (a new, very good friend from CU) will be doing the Social Work Masters at Brookes and so will be sticking around for a few more years and she's said she would be up for living in Abingdon with me :D which makes me very happy.

But I am thinking that this will be the proper move out...taking pretty much everything with me and being there full-time. It'll be hard, I'm under no illusions about that...but I'm actually excited about it. I will cry alot I'm sure, but it's a good thing.

Part of preparing for that is staying here in Oxford slightly more regularly, so I hope my placement is here and I have a reason to stay. Because if my placement is in Abingdon then it's not more convenient for me to stay in Oxford. I'm trying to trust that God knows what is best and whatever happens will be right for me.

I am enjoying just hanging out here though...there's no-one else here and the only reason I'm here is because our landlords might be selling the house (don't worry, it won't affect us for the next year!) and the estate agent is here taking measurements and pictures! Teresa and Claire are out at uni/placement and Caitlin is at home...so I offered to be here.
I don't often just hang out here, because it's just silly to drive 20 minutes just to chill out here when I can do that at home!
But it's nice to have a reason to do that :)

I have realised through writing this that I'm excited about the next few years...final year placement, dissertation...both going to be tough work but enjoyable I hope. Graduating, getting a job, getting a house in Abingdon...scary to be growing up but hopefully I'll find a job I enjoy and living with Alice (or whoever) in Abingdon will be fun.
So bring on the next few years :D I'm ready for it all!
Much love xxx

Figuring out the balance...

Although I'm now off uni for the summer I'm still exhausted and haven't quite figured out the balance of this lifestyle yet...

Now that I'm free I'm packing lots of things in with my friends (I hadn't realised how much being on placement had limited my 'hanging out' time with them) but equally I'm staying up later but not sleeping much later so I'm still busy but with less sleep...hmm that doesn't quite work!

My problem is that alot of my uni friends go home in a few weeks so I want to see them as much as possible...but I think I need to take some time to just sleep and relax at home, otherwise I'm not actually going to recover from the crazily busy year I've had!

I just want time to watch films and spring clean my room and sort out my photo frames (they need updating!) and just chill out...and I'm starting to lose that time as I book things up so this week I'm trying not to do quite so much stuff!

Other than that life is good...I'm enjoying being at home with my family more (not that I wasn't here during term time but I was so preoccupied with work that I didn't really take the time to enjoy it)

Following a conversation with a friend I'm appreciating how close my family are, I'm very blessed that we all get along (most of the time) and that I actually enjoy spending time with my brother and that my dad will take the time to go to London with me, and that my mum is usually the first person I call to tell something...I'm very blessed.

Speaking of London, I went to my appointment at the US embassy and my visa's approved so the america trip is looking good (although mum isn't going to be able to join me and there is another round of volcanic ash at the moment...always makes things interesting!)

This week I'm going to go to bingo (I'm excited haha!), going to a guest lecture at uni (because apparently I just can't keep away), hopefully going to see Wicked in London (my favourite show!) and trying to take some more time to just chillax.

Think that's all I need to say for now...will try to blog more, just not alot to say!
Much love xxx