Interiors

 Can't help but resist looking at the student houses for next year, I've been constantly thinking about interior design and what I want to do with my room next year. I love being in halls, but once you've put up a couple of posters and hung some fairy lights, there's not a whole lot else you can do to it - seeing as the furniture is glued in.

 Watching my parents move to their new country cottage and slowly pour their lavish taste into the building has really whet my appetite for the indoors. Next week when I visit I will have to take some photos of what they've begun doing to the house. Nothing inside is on trend in anyway, which makes it completely timeless. There's a real feel from my mum's side of bringing nature into the house. I'm not just talking about plant pots. I'm talking small dead branches with fairy lights woven into them, lampshades made of dried twigs. The lot.

 I would love to have a bedroom like this:

Nothing better than that shade of purple.

Not a huge minimalist fan, but I do like those bedrooms that are quite low down too, like beds on low wooden crate slats. This was an image I've kept for a while, it's a little colder than I'd like but it's a basis of a theme within the space.

Till next year I have to keep on with my room, dark wood and all. I do miss having a window without a netted curtain but it feels like home to me.

Here's an old draft I found... 2013

Here is my post it board of stressy things. I am currently working my way through "Tidy Room" but it doesn't seem to be going well...

To commemorate our final day tomorrow, I thought I'd do one of those imaginary posts about a made up day. A typical day at South Wilts.


  "POPPY ARE YOU UP?" I groan as I here Dad yelling and realise I am devastatingly late for the 6000th time. Fucks sake.
  "Yeah" I yell convincingly back as if I've been doing yoga for 3 hours.
I know exactly what is going to happen now. I will roll over, see that it's five to eight, panic, smash into the mirror sit up and see my face, get annoyed at my face, fall out of bed, put on an outfit which is going to make me feel cool until I step out the house. No breakfast. No lunch packed. No make up.

  And am I right? Of course I am. This happens. In amongst this are texts from all the "Harnham Crew" checking if I am walking. I am in a foul mood.

  Emily arrives at my house five minutes late and we reach James who is even later. We reach Rosa who is panicking that we've walked on without her. I am grumpy. So I ignore everyone else's optimism and just complain about how shit everything is. We get to Emma at the bridge, and accurately in this time I've managed to be a bitch to each one of the walkers. So now it's Emma's turn to hear about how fucking annoyed I am.

  We get to school with seconds to spare, hold all of Rosa's stuff as she ties up her laces and wait for Emily to pull her skirt down before we walk past Stamdawg. She scolds us for being late and we all give her death looks.

  I go up to registration and manage to convince my tutor into letting me off going to assembly. 'If any higher staff come in, I'll look sad and we just tell them I was having an emotional melt down?'

  Get to my first lesson, if I have one. Basically I'm either asleep on the desk or on the common room sofa. My class civ teacher thinks I've got problems because I keep sleeping in her lessons. Really it's because I was up till 4am last night doing an essay for her.

  Try not to annoy anyone over lunch by walking into the wrong social circle... god forbid I should get the South Wilts bitch face thrown at me again. I'll eat a packet of crunchy nut from Waitrose next to Bex and Ollie and catch up on the gossip or just take ugly pictures of myself on their phones when they're in the toilet.

  Trundle through whatever my last lesson is of that day and then walk home, normally by myself. If I'm not by myself I'm going along with my iPod in and head down in case anyone else wants to walk with me. I don't think anyone else needs to handle my mock sarcasm for the rest of the day. I've learnt that if you say how you really feel but do it in a sarcky tone - people laugh.

 Arrive home to an empty house... I don't know where my parents are as per. Which means I get to watch tv and eat nutella pancakes as quick as I can before they're back.

Downer

 Coming back from travel has been the weirdest phase of my life. You've spent five months trekking across the globe. You've learnt to use sunglasses as tweezers and what the best way to wash your pants in the shower is. You're meeting the most inspirational go-getters from every country in the world. All you want while you're out there, is to run back into your families arms, have a bath and eat something with good cheese in it. And then it's completely not how you expect.

 For the last two weeks of my trip, I was incredibly ill and exhausted. I had been on antibiotics for 4 days for a reoccurring problem over three and a half months, followed by a 22 hour bus journey that made me throw up all night, and then I arrived at altitude and got the worst altitude sickness I have ever had. This was just before my 4 day trek up to Macchu Pichu, which meant I was sick during my time and it made it very difficult. The fabulous landmark and the optimism of my team was a huge lift - I forgot for a minute that the only thing I can eat without being sick is crisps - the view was phenomenal and my group were the most positive people I have ever had the pleasure to spend time with.

 Then it was my last country, Brazil. I was chuffed to see an old friend, but counting down the days, desperate to get home. I went into a Macdonalds and tried to order a chicken burger in Portugese - I came out with a Mango Smoothie. It was going well. It got to the point where I was counting down the minutes and minus-ing off each minute that passed. All I could do was play the image of coming through the gate and seeing my parents and my boyfriend again. With my birthday the day after my return it was hugely exciting to be so close to the end.

 One eleven and a half hour flight back, I was crying at one point I was so excited, I was constantly looking out my window and checking the time. Then I arrived, and I ran so fast I overtook the 1st class people from my flight just to be out first. After the big collapse into them again I was so shocked, it felt surreal to be back with them again.

 It's funny how crazy that moment seems and then ten minutes later you're discussing what's going to happen next Tuesday to the dogs and it's like you've never been gone. You're expecting people to ask you what happened and to tell them everything about it and they don't. Because everyone has been getting on with their own lives, no one is really desperate to hear about your story.

 I'm not annoyed at all, but it was the weirdest thing. Life descends back to reality and after a couple of days of feeling like you've missed out on loads it's just the same as it always was. The sad part is I came back with so much zest for life and I was so excited to get stuff done. That all faded away when I was back. It felt very draining. But now I am at university and I have made such good friends already. I feel right at home and my course is going to be great fun, so I am happy now. I just found that side of my return very interesting; how quickly we acclimatise again, and you aren't an individual to anyone but yourself really. Hell can you tell the difference between people who took a year out and people who didn't though... at least I have that smug maturity.