The post-settling-in and pre-holiday slump.

A weekend of rain caught me by surprise. It's the first rain I've seen in over a month, but I still moaned. Can't take the British out of the Brit. Of course, I managed to go for a walk in Geneva while it was bucketing it down, got thoroughly cold and miserable, then came home and had a bath before I caught hypothermia. On the up, I discovered that my ski jacket is indeed as waterproof as the label claimed. And I did spend a wonderful hour in the bath. So, not a complete waste of a Sunday.


It appears that I have hit what I have declared is the post-settling-in and pre-holiday slump. This is the time when you start to realise that this is now your life. You have found a routine (hurrah!). You notice that only having enough clothes to last you 7 days means that you wear exactly the same thing every week. The security guard in Carrefour starts to recognise you. You've developed a taste for Brie and therefore you miss cheddar slightly less. Of course, not all of these things are bad, but you get sick of other people expecting you to be photographed next to ridiculous tourist attractions just to prove you're on your Erasmus year having the time of your life. And you start to think, a bit of normality wouldn't go amiss, which makes you think of the most normal place in the world, which has to be home. This isn't being homesick, this is being ready for a holiday at home. Quite a different thing. 


Oh I am having the time of my life, believe me! I just feel I could have made more of an effort these past few weekends, I can almost feel the contempt people possibly have for the girl who lazes around on a weekend instead of running headlong at most of Europe. I can hear the 'I wish I had the opportunity to do that...'s lining up right now to batter me about the head.  


However, luckily I don't give two hoots what anybody thinks. Unless you've been through this, you quite frankly have no right to comment or tell me what I should or shouldn't be doing. Neither do I care that your second-cousin-once-removed travelled and had the time of his life and worked as a barman on the Costa del Sol and got fluent in Spanish overnight. No he didn't, and even if he did, why do you think that is the perfect model of a YA? Remember the phrase 'hindsight is a wonderful thing'...


Anyway, enough of me moaning (sorry, it happens when you decide to blog when you should be snoring away). Instead of filling my last free weekend for a while (due to visits, a trip home, and more visits) with wearing myself out, I have taken the very wise advice of Winnie the Pooh: 'Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering.' Wise words Pooh. Especially abroad. Other countries have different sounds, different smells, a veritable ambiance which is different. And as such, I do not believe I have wasted my time at all, rather soaked up the culture and my beautiful surroundings, not to mention caught up with sleep and got all this week's work done.


And in fact, we have done some things, they just happen to be what we want to do, and not things that people expect us to do. Today Claire and I discovered that we're right on the edge of the countryside, with a farm and little village which very much resembles the outer edges of Galgate, and there was a wonderful heron and another bird which Dad has identified as a Black Kite swooping about. Now if that isn't lovely, I don't know what is. Simplicity is soul-restoring.


Right, I'm going to shut up and go to bed now. Phew. Feel better for that though, I think I've been wanting to say this since September! Next time you hear someone's going to spend some time abroad, here's a list of things not to say:
1) You're going to have the time of your life.
2) You should make the most of it.
3) Oh can't be bad, going to live abroad for a while! Wish I could get away.
4) A year-long holiday! Lucky you!


Till next time blogeurs, when I shall have a very wonderful set of visitors to write about! Yay! 
Loves xxx