The Grind.

Back in Cambridge after a whirlwind trip home. Although it was pretty exhausting, both mentally and physically, the unexpected joy of seeing 100% of my mom's immediate/extended family was pretty great. After the grueling study schedule I'd been keeping, an escape was both needed and welcome. The more time I spend with my family, the more I realise how awesome they are. Their presence was just what I needed.

The only issue was the state I found myself in after arriving back in Cam yesterday. Running on who knows how little sleep, the transition from being surrounded by 20+ loving relatives to being back alone in my room with nothing but impending exams to keep me company was tough. I went to bed at 8pm yesterday (English time - my body is so confused..) and feel better after a good solid sleep. For the past few weeks I've been so stressed falling asleep has been tough, even though I've been sleepy. I think it all finally caught up with me. I also had my last lectures of term, and thus, of my undergraduate career. A pretty bizarre concept really.

Now all that's left are the exams themselves! Yay. I have my Arabic listening exam tomorrow afternoon, and Arabic speaking/conversation on Friday afternoon. I'm pretty nervous, but at this point there's not much else to be done. The benefit and drawback of language learning is that cramming doesn't help much. There is always a bit of extra vocab to learn, but again you can only stuff so much in your brain.

For now I'm sitting back, doing a bit of light reading about the 'Abbasid caliphate, and planning on another early night. Tomorrow I'll do some more revision, and spend the day with BBC Arabic in the background - looking forward to 5pm tomorrow when I can take my new running shoes on a spin around Cambridge! (more on them later, but as a teaser - they're bright blue!) Tasty Kakes and tea are sustaining me, as is the thought that all of this will be over in less than three weeks. Totally doable, right?

This sounds really grim - I'm sorry! Things are not as bleak as this post makes them seem. Positive things: my parents sent me back with a suitcase full of food. And I mean literally full. American staples like Reese's Cups, Tasty Kakes, Peanut Butter Puffins, Sunflower Butter, M&M's, Love Grown Granola, Luna Bars, chocolate from the one and only Abington Pharmacy which has been a family staple for years, etc.

Plus, our trip to Philly included not only much needed family time but some delicious eats! First of all cheesesteak, of course from the classic destination, Jim's.

On Saturday we took the entire family to Ralph's - our family's traditional gathering place in South Philly. We've been coming here for as long as I can remember, but I'm not sure we've ever made it with all the aunts, uncles, and cousins at once.

We are many..

A toast, to an incredible group of relatives!

Followed by incredible eats - the classic mussels in red sauce -

I tried Chicken Sorrento for the first time, and man it was good - drenched in cheese, butter and white wine cream sauce. Om nom nom.

Some more tasty things..

And finally.. a cannoli. Apologies for the horrific photo, light was getting bad this late into the meal :)

Driving through Center City/South Philly is always fun too.

On Sunday the parents and I set out to do a little more exploring in South Philly. I was feeling pretty awful - tired and hungry, but the aforementioned cheesesteak cleared things up. Plus this guy made me smile.

We explored the old part of the city, which I loved. History nerd! :)

We visited a convenient store to stock up on the goods - Tasty Kakes! A Philadelphia staple.

I was equally excited to finally get to try the craze that seems to be everywhere in America, but no where in England - frozen yoghurt!

This was A.mazing. Cake batter, chocolate, peanut butter cup, and watermelon flavour yoghurt; chocolate chips, raspberries, mango, peanut butter chips, gummie bears, reese's cups, and more that got buried on top. So amazing.

Overall, not a bad way to spend a few days in the middle of Cambridge exam term, if I do say so..

Sad Face

That title is a little dramatic. I'm sorry. I'm not actually sad, but this post is a little less upbeat that usual. This is simply because of the E word. Exams.

Cambridge exams are a beast unlike any other really. The entire degree structure is different, and exams occupy the central position. Throughout the year we do receive assessment, but it's all unofficial feedback to prepare us for, you guessed it, exams! What this means is the official academic result I will leave with is the product of five written and one oral exams over the course of a week in June.

I'm sure you can imagine how unpleasant this is. The entire year's material - three hours for each exams, three questions, one number, one result. That's it.

In the last three years I've been here I have pretty much come to terms with this system. It's not great, but that's how it is. So the sad face isn't really accurate. I'm working a lot, but finding it pretty satisfying to get the chance to consolidate everything I've learned. The only issue is we're still being taught new material, for the next three weeks. (This is a complain against my faculty, not the university. Most courses have already stopped teaching. Grr.)

Anyway, the point of this rant is to apologise for my blog absence. To be honest, there is nothing interesting happening in my life. I've decided not to row this term, as it just took up too much of my time at bad times of the day. I'm now in the groove of lectures, library, classes, eating, running, sleeping. That is pretty much all I do, but I don't really mind. I've been pretty much cooking for myself and living in my room, but I'm enjoying being completely independent and not being accountable to anyone except myself for how I spend my time.

So that is the situation. The 'sad face' in the title is not related to my work, but rather the holiday coming up tomorrow in the US, Mother's Day! We already celebrated 'Mothering Sunday' in the UK, and it happened to fall on the day I went home, so I did in theory get to spend a mother's day with my mom. However, that doesn't make me much less sad that I can't spend tomorrow with my most marvelous mummy, who I love very much. (I think she knows this, but just in case: Hi Mummy, I love you!)

And just on the subject of awesome women - I was lucky enough to have the two best grandmothers anyone could ask for.

Happy Mother's Day!

The Green Mountain State, Part One

Friday afternoon we set off for Vermont. We got to enjoy Atlanta traffic on our way to the airport. Joy.

After cutting it very close, we managed to get our bags checked and were on our way to the plane.

Good plane provisions.

Ah, JFK. Lovely place.

We managed to find a tasty dinner during our New York layover, supplemented by piles of my baked goods.

As we boarded our plane to Burlington, somehow we were there first ones on! I'm not sure I've ever seen an empty plane before.

We arrived in Burlington around 11, and met Dad whose flight from Cleveland had landed slightly earlier. We headed straight to our hotel near the airport, and crashed hard.

The next morning we loaded into our little rental car..

..oogled the snow..

..got provisions..

..and were on the road!

We arrived in Middlebury.

We arrived at Nana and PopPop's cottage, said hello and visited for a little while before heading to the grocery store for lunch goodies. Bertolet family staples:

A shared love of mine and PopPop's.

After lunch, we went back through Middlebury to visit Otter Creek Brewery.

We got a sampler to taste the goods.

After a brief stop at our hotel for a nap, and grocery stop number two, it was back to Nana and Poppop's, where we made dinner (Jamie Oliver's Broccoli & Anchovy Orecchiette, along with Aunt & Uncle.

Finished off with carrot cake! (I had to bake something..)

And some of Vermont's finest..

Further update to come later!