SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I didn't go straight home, the USA had to deal with me for about a month more!  And I packed stuff in, well I did the first week. As soon as we finished Mary, Sam, their niece Ayla and I went to Disney, Orlando, and we drove the whole way down and back!

The first day we spent about 13 hours in the car and got to just north of Savannah, Georgia. It was tiring, so we took Ayla to the pool for a little at the hotel for behaving so well. The next morning it was up early and we headed to Savannah to have a look around, it was beautiful and hot! Savannah is one of America's historic towns and it was very pretty. So here are some pictures:

Then we kept driving until we reached Disney, and everyone was extremely excited! Thanks to my parents, we had a lovely room which could have fit a lot more than just the four of us. Regardless we loved every second. And the magic bands we were given were very fun, they had our names on the inside and were impressive.

Day one we spent in the Magic Kingdom, we arrived when the park opened and went on a lot of rides, but could still have spent so much more time there. Everyone enjoyed watching parades and seeing characters though. We left after the fireworks, which were amazing!

Day two we had a lie in, we stayed in bed until about 10:30am, which was really needed then headed to the pool at the hotel. Ayla, Sam and I had fun playing in the pool and with the slide! Then we went to Downtown Disney to take a look around, and then to the Boardwalk Bakery to get a cake. Finally we cooked dinner in the room and ate it in the pool area watching Tangled on a big screen.

Day three we went to Epcot, and went straight to the big golf ball. We went on a couple of rides there and then looked at some of the Flower Festival plants, which were impressive! Sam and I went round the world at Epcot and then watched the fireworks which were beautiful.

The next day it was up early again and we started to drive back, thankfully we stopped in South Carolina for a night, making the first day not too long. We did however stop off at the beach in Florida, which was great and warm!! Then we decided to go see some of their family in Cincinnati, Ohio so we took a slightly different route and stayed at their Aunt's house. Finally making it home to their house a week after we left. All in all we were in 9 States over the whole week including Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee.

The next three weeks I spent time around Bowling Green, it was nice hanging around, doing odd jobs for people. Sam and I went on a couple of motorcycle rides which were fun too. We also took Ayla to the pool, which is outdoor and lovely. Another day Sam, his brothers: Tom, John and James, John's friends Jen and I went to a local lake and swam in that. Which was beautiful and warm. So much fun!

Sam and I took a day trip to Delaware, Ohio too, where we met our friend Emily for lunch and spent some time with her, which was great fun.

And all too soon and yet not soon enough it was time to head home! Which is always nice, just to see family. However, before I finish for this year I would like to say a huge thank you to the Weinandy family for looking after me all year long and making me feel at home with them. I have been very blessed to get to know you all and can't wait to see you again at the end of July!

And just like that we are done!

Well those last two months went past quicker than I realised...I feel like I've been running on overload the whole time, but I have had good fun with my friends.

Most of April and the first week of May were taken up with work for Finals and so on. The amount of work seemed to get a little more than before, which was annoying but that's what I'm here for so I can hardly complain. Thankfully I had some great people around me to keep me sane and not working ALL the time!

I continued on the radio, enjoying every minute of it, except once when I couldn't work out why the signal wasn't transmitting - problematic. I also went to the WJCU banquet, for everyone at the end of year and won a mug, exciting... Unfortunately our station manager was leaving so it was sad to see him leave because he was always very helpful and friendly.

My leadership friends are still my closest friends and they are the kindest people. The best thing is that there is a total of 13 of us, with some more from time to time and so no matter where you are, normally at least one other person is there too. Sam and I did another round of cookies and milk with studying just before finals, which was fun and made studying for my biology a little better.

I decided to take psychology online over the summer while I'm at home, which should be interesting but I'm looking forward to it, very thankful to Sam for letting me borrow his textbook from when he did it. This, by the way, is an excellent strategy for books, especially for intro classes because most of your friends will eventually take the same classes so passing around textbooks is money saving. I also have a killer schedule next semester, bio and bio lab 3, general chemistry and general chemistry lab 1, economics 101 and sociology 101. We shall see how that goes, right now I have a 3.87 GPA so as far as I'm concerned I just don't want to lower that too much (Chemistry really isn't my subject...).

My RA job looks like it's working out well, I seem to have a good staff to work with, some very close friends already, some newer faces but I'm sure that won't remain that way. Excitedly though I got told training was Disney themed which is perfect because I love Disney so that should be fun. I have been placed in Campion for next year, which will be great, just not looking forward to the extra walk in the snow.

I also had to pack, and that means finding a place to leave stuff over the summer which was interesting. Thankfully my lovely roommate Rachel offered some space and the rest went back to Sam's. So I'm very grateful to both of them and their families. This is probably one of the most annoying things to deal with so far because you are stuck begging for space from friends or anyone who could take anything. The next bit is to pack belongings in a way that you decide what items you are OK not seeing for 4 months, what you need to take home with me and what you may need access to at some point. It's strategical packing, which takes time, a lot of time! But I managed it in the end, even though I am convinced I mixed up some stuff, but never mind, it's only things, I have the important stuff!

So my wise words for the end of this year - Be grateful for the friends and family you have, make as many friends as you can (some may not stay but that's life), they will always be there for you and that is the most important thing to have in life.

As such, thank you to all those friends, fleeting or stuck with me, for all you do and my family for helping me be where I am today and having this adventure.