Tuesday 25 October 2011

GymTastic!

I had a lovely weekend at home, I got thoroughly spoilt! We had a bit of retail therapy, caught up on some useful things.
The highlight was a trip to our village pub which has just opened and the food was surprisingly very delicious, I had Chicken! Yes, chicken, on the bone! It was herb coated, with mushrooms, creamy sauce on cheesy risotto. Very enjoyable.
I also got sent home with lots of food and some printer cartridges, oh and a belly full of veggie sausage and mash and yummy apply crumble and custard.

Since I got back I was determined to get into this exercise malarkey so I went to Zumba yesterday. It was good fun, I felt a little silly but didn't mind because I was on my own.
Tonight I went to the gym and did my special routine that the induction man gave me which was...hard! Then I went swimming but that didn't last very long. My muscles are definitely exhausted at the moment. Anyway, off to the Pub quiz (to lose) wish us luck!
I'm booking in for Zumba tomorrow too :)

Feeling pretty proud of myself to be honest.

Lunge!

Wednesday 19 October 2011

Optimistic

I've bitten the bullet and bought a gym membership.
It was pretty expensive compared to other gyms because it has a pool but it's only the local leisure centre. I know I don't have the motivation to just go to a gym but I intend to combine it with swimming which I love and try out some classes.
I would like to try Zumba, Aqua Zumba and maybe 'Funky Dancing'.
I have my Induction tomorrow which I'm a little worried about because I've never had one and will have to admit how low my fitness level really is.
Anyway, I'm pretty excited to go a few times a week and should be motivated by the money going out of my account! I'm not too optimistic, I've already frozen December and January because I'll be at home and then straight onto placement which is far too busy for the gym.
But for now: Fitness!

Monday 17 October 2011

Sugar Coated Temptation

After going back to my housemate's house this weekend for Birthday celebrations I am suffering from an overdose of sugar!


Friday was amazing, too much alcohol was consumed and my new heels were far too uncomfortable but a good time was had by all, especially the birthday girl (BG).


After driving back on Saturday we went to a Mongolian BBQ with self service veg, meat, sauces and spices. It was really cool, I went a bit OTT on the spices the first time but the second was delicious. Oh and the puddings.....yummy. I had black forest ice cream with cherry brandy and BG had After Eight Medley with mint ice cream and menthol liqueur.
After her parents surprised her with a game of 10 pin bowling and I did pretty well in the second game (after breaking a thumbnail) and was pretty proud of myself!


Sunday was BG's proper Birthday. We went swimming at a posh gym which was nice then had a buffet lunch and Chocolate ganache cake! 


On the drive home we popped to my house to see my parents. They'd been to a chocolate exhibition in London on Saturday so gave me some lovely presents and some biscuits to bring back. I weighed myself while I was at home to find I could do without them really!


Thanks Mum and Dad!

The coffee cake isn't going down too well!

We got BG a ball of sweets!




Since coming home I've gone a bit sugar crazy, cake to use up, BG's sweeties and my chocolatey gifts. I think I'll need to go swimming a few times this week, I did inquire about joining a local gym with a pool but somehow for £65 a month I don't think so!
Anyway, No need to feel guilty really, food is meant to be enjoyed, right?

Friday 14 October 2011

Exciting Weekend Ahead

Today I went into a school to teach an Art lesson to year 1's, it was so funny to see how much chalk they got all over themselves! However I did make a huge mistake, I didn't bring enough black paper! So half the children had A3 paper and half had A4 when we cut some in half. Thankfully they didn't notice.

On Sunday it's my housmate's 21st Birthday so tonight it's Party Time! We've been on a wild goose chase this week to get people to sign a little book with a message and stick a photo in and we shall present that to her tonight with her other presents. We also got her a globe shaped sculpture made of sweeties (picture to follow later). Anyway the second huge mistake I made was I bought her a coffee cake for her birthday. I was sure she had told me she fancied it the other day but apparently I was wrong, she wanted carrot cake and has never heard of a coffee cake. Let's hope she likes it (or is drunk enough to not tell the difference)!

I'm heading back to her house tomorrow to go for a Mongolian meal with her and her family so that will be nice.

Sunday 9 October 2011

Update

Me and the housemates went to the Goose Fair on Friday night and had a crazy ride on the Waltzers which caused neck ache and we went on another ride which was quite possibly the scariest ride ever! It went upside down and round and round giving an amazing view of all the rides lit up but it seemed to go on forever. 

Yesterday, I found this website http://pinterest.com/ and it made me smile.
Then 6 of our friends came round and we had a lovely chat and played Articulate.

Today I went into town and bought this duvet cover....
 Jeff Banks Tunis Curtains - 66 x 72 Inch.
I'm trying to phase out all the baby pink in my uni room so it's more grown up and matches my room at home. I would like to buy some pretty cushions now and have my eye on this rug and matching cushion in Next.
Peacock Feather Rug
Tonight we're talking about going to some pubs and bars for cocktails which should be good. So that was my weekend, What did you do this weekend?

Wednesday 5 October 2011

Back to Student Life

After the overdue Italian themed posts yesterday I can tell you what's going on with me.
I returned to uni last Tuesday and was very pleased with the house and my new room, it's pretty. Me and my housemates spent last week lazing and went out one night, did some shopping.etc.
Uni started this Monday so it was back to early starts and very busy buses driving past us in the mornings. After all the excitement the internet being installed yesterday, being slighty emotional about breaking up with my boyfriend a couple of weeks ago and my mood jumping from hyperactivity to tiredness- i got ill. Last night my voice disappeared and my glands swelled up to the size of golf balls and it hurt to swallow so I headed to bed.
Feeling a little better today but it was an excuse to eat soup and break the ice cream ban since Italy (for medicinal reasons, obviously!).
Sure I'll be fine in a few days, ice cream has healing qualities, you see.

Tuesday 4 October 2011

The Beautiful Language

Some random Italian....



Dai!:  ”Come on!/Give me a break!/Stop it!” pronounced 'Die', It's quite funny to hear kids who are being slow are annoying say 'dai!' to each other.
 Basta!:  ”Stop!/That's enough” Pretty much to stop kids fighting or to get them to listen.
Che schifo: “Gross!” Literally means “how disgusting”, the kids said it a lot about the food, something I want to bring back home!
Allora…“Okay…/So…/Well…”  thinking time basically, before a sentence. Particularly amusing when used by the kids before speaking English.
Cin cin!  : “Cheers!”  Pronounced “chin chin".
Preggo: "you're welcome/after you" Very confusing really as you think people in the lift are saying 'you're welcome' before you've said Grazie!
Pronto: "Ready" used when answering the phone instead of ciao like "I'm Listening".
Sono Piena: "I'm Full!"

The Real Italy

I apologise for the delay in writing this post but as I have just regained my internet connection and am missing Italy so I thought I would share some fondness.


Living in host families I learnt about the culture, the food that they really eat and some of the language that you might not pick up in the classroom.

The Italians are very family orientated, my first family were a young couple and I saw both sets of grandparents at least twice in 7 days. The mum in my second host family was one of 5 sisters who collectively took ownership of their parents house when they died. It was a farmhouse with chickens and lots of fruit and veg growing, the sisters met there 3 or 4 times a week and cooked and ate together with children, grandchildren, family and friends.


so, onto the food. Italians eat a lot!


Breakfast: Usually cake, toast and nutella and more cake. And no milk to drink to my disappointment. The italians obviously found it very strange that I didn't drink coffee and tea was not an option :(


Lunch: They usually eat a big lunch, my first camp was packed lunches but a lot of the children had leftover dinner and veg from the night before. I normally had sandwiches (panino) and lots of snacky things- crackers, biscotti .etc. In my second camp it was canteen food which was two courses, pasta or rice to start and meat or cheese and veg for seconds.


Dinner: They eat pasta every day, sometimes twice a day. They eat it as a starter but offer you loads so don't fill up on it because there is always more! seconds is normally cooked veg (cold!) and protein like mozzerella, prosciutto, aubergine parmigiana  and frittata. Occasionally the mum would cook pizza, authentic homemade delicious pizza.


After visiting many restaurants I actually found the nicest food was in host families, the pizza and pasta were not as good, even in less touristy areas. 


Dessert: fruit generally, crostini (pastry with jam, basically) or GELATO! 


Gelato= AMAZING! I ate so much and do not regret it all, the host families even buy home tubs from the gelateria's not the supermarket.


Favourite flavours:
Nocciola- Hazelnut praliney
Amarena- Sweet vanilla with cherries
Pistacchio
Stracciatella- vanilla and chocolate pieces
Zuppa Inglese 'English Soup'- what the italians think of trifle, custardy flavour, cherries, chocolate, biscuit, cake!
And this amazing nameless chocolate and black cherry ice cream in Venice.




Delicious Pistacchio and chocolate bun :)