Hi everyone,

This blog post will be the last one since I'm back in Amsterdam for a couple days now. The past month has been so busy; I didn't even find the time to watch one episode of my favorite serie on Netflix. However, that's a good sign I guess.

BACK IN SOUTHAMPTON AFTER SPRING BREAK

Whenever I came back from my springbreak in Brazil, there was a lot of school work to catch up on. Luckly, I already started working on my finals before I went to Brazil. During the first week back in Southampton I basically just partied for almost seven days with my friends. The week after was the complete opposite: you would find me either in the gym or in the libary at the university. I started my deadlines for my classes which went really well. After I turned in all of them on the deadline, May 16th, I had a prom that night. It was located on a boat which was really cool, we sailed on the Solent, the river underneeth Southampton where the Titanic left as well. Nevertheless, I made it home safe.

The weekend after, I went to Torquay with my German friend Anne. We took the train for over 3 hours but it was so worth it. We stayed in a very nice hostel for two nights and shared a room with an Australian girl. The weather was amazing, lucky us. We went on a cruise to Darthmouth and Brixham, two really cute cities. I came back home late Sunday night and picked up my Dutch friend at the airport the next morning.

VISIT FROM MY DUTCH FRIEND

Melanie and I have been friends for 8 years now and I really appreciated her visit. The weatherforcast was around 25 degrees and sunny so we spent our first day at Bournemouth Beach where we took pictures and ate fries, nacho's and ice cream. OOPS.

The day after, we went to London. We started our trip off at the SkyGardens where we had a 360 view over London!

Visited Camden Market, did some shopping at Oxford Street and went for dinner at Fridays where we obviously ate burgers. We stayed overnight at a hostel and rent bikes the next morning. We biked to Nottinghill and Shoreditch, around 20 kilometers in total through the busy streets of London. We biked through Oxford Street with all the taxi's and red busses in between us. We ended our day at the Westminster bridge where we took a tourist picture.

Whenever we got back safe in Southampton that night, I continued packing since we were leaving to Amsterdam the next day. Thursday morning, I started cleaning my room and packed the last couple of things. We went to Southampton's Harbour and visited my university for the last time.

AIRPORT DISASTER

Our plane to Amsterdam was leaving the same day at 6PM. We decided to take an uber to the airport around 4 since the drive wasn't that long. Whenever we went outside to drop our suitcases in the uber, I found out that I locked the door and left the key inside. My bag with passport, money and my phone was in my room. SO STUPID. For the imagination; I was wearing five layers of clothes excluded my two jackets and the weather was really hot so that wasn't helping me either.

I started knocking on the doors but no one was home. In the meanwhile, our uber driver decided to cancel our booking and left. After a while, we managed to open the door and I finally had my bag. Of course, we got into a traffic jam so we arrived at the airport 30 minutes before our gate would close. Just in time, we thought so. Until I found out that my suitcase was 26kg instead of the 20kg I paid for. "6 additional kilos, total cost: 90 pounds" it said. I don't think I have ever been so stressed in my life before. In only ten minutes, I got my life back on track and decided what to keep and what to throw away. We had ten minutes left to go through security and find our gate. Just in time, we made it and flew back home where our family was waiting for us.

It was a big adventure. Not only leaving Southampton. Simply everything. I love United Kingdom. Its nature, the people, the culture. I would love to explore more of the country some day. For now, my semester abroad has ended but I already made plans with my friends to come visit them later this year so that's really exciting. :-)

I look back on a great time. First of all, great people and parties. A great university where I passed all my classes with good grades and nice and positive comments of teachers and last but not least: good and unforgettable travels.

Thank you for reading this blog. A book about my adventures and the whole story of my study abroad will be published soon and I can't wait to experience it all over by reading it.

Love,

Femke