So, after a rather uneasy start to things, i finally feel like i’m just about settled back into my life in Manchester. My room is sorted, i’ve just done my first week of lectures, and i’m feeling good! 

Not sure that i mentioned that i’m taking a formal french class with the uni. Hopefully this will speed up my french basics, and get me speaking more coherently. I think it’ll mostly be helpful with my accent, which is a bit painful to the ear for anyone who actually knows french :P seven years of spanish will do that to you i suppose. When i can’t say something in french i usually end up speaking spanish instead by mistake, which is mildly amusing yet frustrating. I’m sure with more practice i’ll be able to draw more of a line between the two in my mind. I will hopefully be going to Paris in the spring with Luke and his family :)

Meanwhile, i just had my riding tryouts this past week. I got stuck with a tough unresponsive mare for my trial which was disappointing, but i ended up making the development team. It certainly is better than no team at all, so i’m quite excited for training to start this week! There’s still time for teams to be shuffled around, so if i prove myself over the next few weeks i could be moved up. i wouldnt be upset if i stayed where i am though. Means things will be more relaxed. Also i know a couple of my teammates pretty well already so i’d be happy to stick with them :) Another girl that is in the riding club has invited me to ireland to come try cross country riding on one of her ponies. I’d really like to work that out with her, if it was only for a weekend or something. How amazing would that be!!

This past weekend my lovely boyfriend came for a visit after an unfortunately long two weeks of separation! It’s his birthday tomorrow so we celebrated it while he was here, as you probably will see from the previous post. I got him a vinyl copy of an album he very much enjoys, and i will post the album art here for everyone to enjoy-

Which he loved more than i anticipated :) Now to think of what to get him for our anniversary next week…. 

I also made him a vegan cake which you can see in one of my previous posts (we’re both veggie and he’s working on being more vegan :P leading the way) And a card, but i always do that :P

We had a really great couple of days! Friday we went to see the one and only Sam Duckworth (Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.) which is ironic because we saw him on exactly the same date last year :) And that night was the night when it started to become clear that we were going to be more than friends. And there we were a year later, a week away from our first anniversary! awwwwww we’re so cute :P

It was a really great concert, my only complaint being that the three opening acts kinda ate up most of the night and we didnt get that much time with actual get cape :P when he was on though it was amazing as usual, and he played some new songs which will hopefully be on the upcoming get cape album! Also, the most awesome thing happened when we arrived. After being grilled by security and the ticket window people (Luke didnt bring ID and it was an 18+ thing :P)  we strolled into the venue. It was completely dead. But then, a guy walks past us, and it was no other than Sam Duckworth himself!!!!!!!  He looked at me briefly, and i was just like :O i never imagined myself to be the star-struck kinda girl, but i was in shock for a moment. Took Luke a bit longer to notice but when he did his reaction was similar xD

Yesterday we enjoyed the unseasonably warm Manchester weather for a little while before checking out the Whitworth Art Gallery. I’ve been meaning to visit it for the past year or so, but never got on with it. I’m sure we ended up spening a couple hours in there, cause  it was fantastic! There were some undescribably cool interactive pieces, as well as some trippy short films, strange abstract pieces, and more straightforward amazingly detailed works. A few that particularly caught my eye were some abstract pieces which we found out were pictures or prints of radioactive materials left behind from the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. There were three of them i believe, all of them very minimalistic and seemingly meaningless until you read the title. They were really beautiful, and i thought it was a great tribute to the disastrous event without being graphic and overstated. The Artist was Elin O’Hara Slavick, and i’ve just looked it up and found a couple photos of them.

It was a great experience overall, and Luke enjoyed it much more than i ever imagined he would. As far as i had known he was a bit skeptical of this ‘art’ business, and i think rightfully so in some cases (especially with the more abstract pieces. It’s hard even for me to take that seriously at times and try to see any depth). But after exploring the Whitworth we are both eager to explore whatever else is on offer!
 Sadly Luke had to leave earlier than usual as he was going to head home to spend some time with his family. It felt good to see him again though, and has really refreshed me. I think the week will go by quickly :) I can’t wait to go visit him in Sheffield and see the city! It sounds pretty amazing if i go off what he says. I think i’ll also be meeting his flatmates, which is a nervewracking yet exciting thought. Finally, there’s a mod night every saturday night which i’m looking forward to checking out with him eventually :D i’m looking for my very own 60’s mod dress for the occassion. I will of course, post a photo when i procure such a thing.
that’s it from me for now! :) 
peace 

here’s my guy on the hamster wheel at whitworth park…being amazingly strong as usual ;)