Not Long Now!

July 31, 2016February 1, 2018Leave a comment

Three weeks until I go to Nice? That’s crazy! I cannot believe how quickly it has come around!

My flights are booked! My accommodation is sorted! And I’m now on the countdown to leaving! My mum, dad and my sister are coming out to Nice with me to help me move in, which will be a great help! It will be good for them to see the neighbourhood in which I will be living!

I still need to pack. Pre-organisation is not my strongest point! But I still believe I have ‘plenty of time’! It will be completely different living so far away from home! But I am sure that I will settle in no bother! And the reassurance that I have is that my parents will be on the other end of the phone, or a quick flight home for the weekend!

My modules for university have been confirmed and I have recently been sent a calendar for the term! When I paid the deposit for my room, I found out that I will be staying with two girls from Britain and one girl from Germany. I am so very excited! It is all becoming so real now!!!

Am I Still Going to Nice?

July 24, 2016August 1, 2016Leave a comment

On Thursday 14^th July, Nice suffered an attack during Bastille Day celebrations. A truck drove into a crowd of people on the Paisage Anglais killing 84 people, including 10 children and injuring 300 more. (a full news story on the BBC can be found here). At this time, it unknown whether or not the attack was carried out by ISIS, but it is believed that the driver was a supporter of the terrorist group. The driver was shot dead at the wheel by police.

I have had numerous friends and family ask me if I am still planning on travelling to the city. This made me sit and think about my travels, and reflect on what this would mean for me and for my family. I have come to this outcome:
Although terribly shocking and such a tragedy. I will not let what has happened in Nice alter my wishes to study in this magnificent city. Being quite a head-strong person, I have decided to try and look at the situation in this way; ‘I cannot live my life in my house for fear that something may happen while I am out. I could fall onto the road by accident and be hit by a vehicle. Touch wood that it never happens, but my home city, Edinburgh could fall under attack! The same thing may happen on my back doorstep’. Having spoken with my parents, we agreed that; at this present time, security will more than likely be at its tightest, therefore, it is probably very safe within the city. Although we have no idea what the attackers are planning, it is unlikely that they will target the same city again. It would be silly of me to withdraw my study abroad semester and change my degree to a single honours course.

Having taken all of these into consideration, I have decided that I will still be travelling and spending 4 months in Nice. It is such a lovely city, and my thoughts go out to all of those involved in the attack in Nice and in all of the other cities that have suffered.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36800730

The Skye’s the Limit

July 17, 2016August 1, 2016Leave a comment

The Isle of Skye is one of the most beautiful places in Scotland, if not the world! One of my best friends suggested taking a trip up as she had heard it was spectacular and a must when visiting Scotland! Although I have lived in Scotland for nearly all of my life and call this country home, I have barely seen any of it! So I thought; what a great idea!

So in March, myself and three friends took a trip up the west of Scotland to The Isle of Skye to see what all of the hype was about, and it’s safe to say that we were not disappointed!

We left sunny Edinburgh on Wednesday morning and made our way to Loch Lomond. We spent an hour walking along part of the loch and then drove further up north along the loch. We stopped for lunch in an old converted church and then headed for Glencoe! We found a view point just outside of Glencoe to take some pictures and then headed into Glencoe for a little pit-stop, and to contact the hostel (who still had not confirmed our booking, we were getting a little anxious).

After Glencoe, we headed for the Glenfinnan Viaduct! Now my three friends were either Harry Potter fans, and had read all of the books or had seen all of the films. However, I am neither, but it was great to see the viaduct. My little tip for this visit; when standing at the view-point for the viaduct, turn your back to the viaduct and have a look at the other side, it’s quite something!

So after that, it was time to head for Skye, we had one final pit-stop in Fort William to contact the hostel again and then we were off. Now being in the north of Scotland, where a lot of Scotland’s big hills are, there is a lot of up and down and round about roads, which pushed my little car Suzie to her limit. But she came through and got us to Broadford in Skye in one piece!
After we checked in, we headed to the local store to grab a little drink for ourselves and then a quick bite to eat! After that it was time for bed to build up some energy for the next day!

Up at 09:30…. I mean 07:30… and off for breakfast at a little hotel on the road to Portree. When we reached Portree we headed straight for a coffee shop, as two of my friends are massive coffee lovers! A little walk around Portree was followed by a trip to The Old Man of Storr!

Here the views are fantastic! They also make for a good backdrop for some funny picture antics! Can you tell that we dance and can do some basic gymnastics?

Onwards to the Kilt Falls. The waterfall is gorgeous and the view out to sea is breathtaking! A little fact; the human eye can see 25miles ahead when gazing into flat open land. Now I don’t know how far away the horizon was, but it felt like we were close to the edge of the Earth!

Afterwards it was time for dinner, which we found in a little seafood restaurant! The food was amazing and so fresh! Thwn it was time to head back to Edinburgh.

One of my favourite moments was driving over The Skye Bridge! I felt like I had achieved some driving milestone! And I got to achieve this milestone quite a few times, as we all wanted to try and get some great photos therefor we drove over the bridge a few time just for that perfect picture!

After the photo-shoot we had time for a quick stop at Eilean Donan Castle. Unfortunately we arrived after it had closed so we weren’t able to see inside or find out a lot of the history, but it was still nice to have a look about!

Then a five hour drive back to Edinburgh. A journey that was filled with some amazing music choices chosen by our resident DJ Nelli!

All in all, I would definitely recommend a visit to Skye! It is such a beautiful part of Scotland and although the phone signal is limited, it doesn’t matter, as there is so much scenery to see with your own eyes!

My Time in Nice; Introduction

July 8, 2016August 1, 2016Leave a comment

As I study a joint honours degree with a language, I have to do a compulsory study abroad period. For my Study Abroad, I will be travelling to Nice in the South of France for four months! I will be leaving mid-August and will return home in time for Christmas!

My destination for my Study Abroad has been changed a couple of times; originally I was planning on going to a small town called Chambery near the Alps, however, as the host university did not offer a lot of events modules, my university thought I would be better off studying in Toulouse. So for 2 months I was going to Toulouse, in the south west of France. I was looking forward to this, more so as my friend who studies the same joint honours course as me, was planning on going to Toulouse as well! We had looked for accommodation together and had discussed weekend driving trips to Spain, and the other roadtrips and things we were going to do together!

Things were finally starting to fall into place, in the planning aspect, when… The university emailed me to tell me they thought I would benefit more from studying in Nice as they had a better English-French ratio of classes. So after considering what this would mean for me, I decided that I was going to Nice!

So as I was a couple of months behind other students travelling to Nice, my planning has been a little hectic but I think now, I am nearly set to go!

Image: http://www.studyabroadinternational.com/France/Nice/image/Nice-summer.jpg

My First Blog Post!

July 3, 2016August 1, 2016Leave a comment

So this is it… My first blog post!

It took me quite a while to think about what I wanted my first impression to be. Should I go straight into telling you my life story? Should I tell you about my hopes and dreams for the future? Should I tell you about my plans for the week ahead? To help me choose, I had a chat with a friend, who suggested I should simply introduce myself and explain what I’ll be posting in the next few months. So here goes!

5 Facts About Me

I live in Scotland and have done since I was 16 months old
I am a massive animal lover! I have two dogs, a horse and a cat (who will no doubt feature here frequently)
I am also a massive music fan. I grew up listening to my parent’s music which consisted mainly of jazz music and musicals. Now that I am older I listen to a wide variety of music. I played the keyboard for 5 years, I played the violin for 6 years and I have played the piano for 9 years
I love to dance, and have done since I was three years old!
I am at university studying Festival and Events Management with French.

So why have I started this blog?

Blogging and vlogging is something that I have thought about doing for a while, but just hadn’t got round to it and I didn’t have a lot of confidence to put myself out there. However, in August I will be moving to Nice in France for four months by myself for my semester abroad and thought, there’s no better time than now to start this. This way I can document my time abroad for my family and friends back here in Scotland to see. Hopefully I will be able to share with you a positive experience and I may be able to provide some useful tips for those of you who are thinking of studying abroad or just travelling to a different country.

This is the first time that I will have travelled far from home on my own. I stayed in Edinburgh (which isn’t too far from home) without my family last year for uni, but this will be something completely different for me. I am looking forward to what’s to come and I will try my best to keep you up to date throughout my time abroad!

Kisses,
Aisha

nowaisha

There's no better time than right now!