Summer things

Over summer (after Edinburgh and Barcelona) I did the usual stuff really, going to Leeds and seeing friends, shopping, relaxing at home after the year at uni and stuff like that. However, in between the usual I did do some pretty cool stuff with Rae, and then Connor too once he arrived, as well as going to Telford for the weekend for Sacha's birthday.

First up me and Rae went to the MCMExpo in Manchester, basically one of the UKs Comic Cons. We went by coach and although we both felt poorly for some reason we still had a great day. It was so cool seeing all the artists and illustrators, as well as people dressed up in Cosplay and all the cool stuff you could buy. I'd definitely like to go to one again, hopefully the one in London which is supposed to be huge.
 

Myself and my Girl&Boy comic

I also watched my first american football game at Rae's with her and Connor. We had snacks and things but we also had our first attempt at making skittles vodka. Not really sure how I felt about it, it wasn't anything massively special sadly :( But look at the cool hates we wore whilst we watched, both Connor's :)

We also went to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park and we stroked a wallaby :D There were so many lovely animals there and we all had a really good day. I especially loved the lemurs and the owls. Definitely want to go again this summer and take Tim.

For Sacha's 19th she had a fancy dress party at her house and I finally got my Stitch onesie I'd been pining over for months, I finally had an excuse now and argh I was so excited. Sacha dressed as Fantastic Mr Fox and it was just such a nice day and aah I had such a lovely time at her house, meeting all her family and being so welcomed into their home and aah such a good time, all in the confort of a onesie. 

It turns out I didn't have as many photos of things I did over summer as I thought, oops. Note for this summer: more pictures for blogging. 

Barca-barcelona

At the beginning of July Frankie and I began our next adventure: BARCELONA! For 3 days, with just a rucksack each. It was incredible. We saw a lot of things, ate nice food, walked everywhere possible for as long as possible and it was just amazing. We kept busy every minute of the day which definitely made it better. We stayed in a hotel right on Las Ramblas (basically one of the main streets which is very busy and has a lot going on) and only 5 minutes walk from the nearest metro station.

We saw alot of general things just by walking around for hours, but the main 'attractions' we saw/visited were Park Guell, La Sagrada de Familia, the Arc de Triomf, we rented a rowing boat and also found lots of small places that weren't 'famous' but we really enjoyed seeing. Basically, we had a few days of exploring and taking in a hell of a lot of culture and it was awesome! It was relaxing even though we were so super busy all the time. 

As always, a selection of photos to follow :)

Above are some photos from an incredible market that we visited everyday. The smells and textures, along with all the bright colours and the hustle and bustle made it a really nice place to visit. We boughtfruit and fruit drinks from there every morning. I wish there was something like that here but it'd never be the same.

Park Guell was an amazing day out, we walked round it several times and saw so much stuff. It was also an amazing day weather-wise and we got a good bit of sun. There's so much beautiful artwork and architecture in Barcelona, a lot of which can be found in the park, and it was just beautiful. It took us around an hour to get to the park as we had to use the metro and then climb up a few large hills, some of which also had escalators built into then (something quite common in Barcelona but I still found it pretty strange). All in all a really fun day exploring. I also bought a pretty evil eye bracelet there too :)

This was a park we found near the Arc de Triomf. I loved the elephant statue, a lot of people were climbing up and sitting on his trunk but I couldn't quite manage it :( I also rowed my first boat ever!

Sagrada de Familia was incredible to look at, we didn't go in as you have to pay and we are poor students but seriously the outside was enough. It was absolutely beautiful, I never really look at architecture enough but you can't help but get lost in this, I could have stood there for hours. We also found this car up in the air. 

All the photos that were just everywhere. Fruit! and Frankie!

I'd definitely go back to Barcelona again, I think going for a few days really pushes you to keep busy and do a lot in a short space of time, rather than dawdle about and waste time. Barcelona isn't really a beach kind of holiday, well it wasn't for us anyway. We like keeping busy. But yeah it was incredible and I loved it and now I want to travel more and more!

Hasta la vista for now Barca!

Landan

A little bit later in June Sacha and I found out about a comic and arts fair that was being held in London and after a bit of investigating into Megabus charges and where we could stay we were booked and heading off on a 5.30am coach to the capital. Our plan for the day was get to London, find the comic fair, then go stay the night with Sacha's uncles who live in London, then sight see a bit the following day before getting back on the megabus. It sort of went to plan? We struggled to find the comic fair for an hour or so but we eventually got there and met Gemma Correll aaah! We were so excited we didn't even know what to say to her. The fair wasn't quite what we were expecting and I think it was a lot more successful than the organisers anticipated as it was super busy and we couldn't get anywhere near any of the talks but it was still fun.

The flyer for the fair, not my image 

The venue, not my image

We then went and spent the night at Sacha's uncle's house and it was amazing. They are genuinely 2 of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, and their 2 dogs (poor Heidi has now lost a battle with cancer :() were absolutely adorable. We had some lovely food and sat outside in the garden and talked for hours and then finally after a very hectic day (4am-12pm) went to bed and had a lovely sleep. 

The next day we went to the Disney offices(!!!) where Sacha's uncle Frazer works and had breakfast, it was so lovely to be so included and to be taken there, I felt really privileged.

We also visited the Natural History Museum, one of my favourite places ever ever ever. We spent around 4 hours in there and it was so much fun. After this we got some food and made our way back to the Megabus for the long journey home. Each way it took about 6 and a half hours i think it was? Maybe more?

I finished first year and escaped to Edinburgh

After finishing my first year at Viscom at Leeds, Frankie and I went away to Edinburgh at the beginning of June for a few days. It was really nice to be away from Leeds for a bit and spend time with my best friend as I really hadn't enjoyed my first year at university and wanted to not think about it for a while. 

We stayed in a Travelodge quite close to the centre and we saw a lot of things. One of the main sights to be seen was the Olympic torch passing through the Royal Mile on our second day, the streets were lined with people and it was a really great atmosphere. It was nice to be a part of history in some way, cheesy as that sounds. We also climbed what we thought was Arthur's seat (it wasn't), shopped, visited the museum and ate a lot of nice food. 

Here are some choice photos, there were far too many:

I really love it in Edinburgh and I think I'd like to live there one day, even if it's just for a year or something. It's beautiful up there and I'm always happy there. I had such a good time and I really wanted to go back (which I did)

Hello again if you're still here

Wow, I left it a very very long time to post on here again didn't I? As always, the 'I had a lot going on' excuse, but this time it's pretty true. I've done a lot since last May, a lot's changed but the biggest change would definitely be the part where I quit Viscom at Leeds Art and moved to Carlisle to study Graphic Design at the University of Cumbria. I'll do a post just for that a bit later on, but for now I thought it'd be better to keep it a bit chronological. I'd also like to say sorry for the rambly way I write my posts but I think it's the best way, just letting it all spill out of my head.

So yeah, with the obligatory sorry post out of the way I'm going to start blogging about what I've been upto since last May; the big things and the small things, trips away, moving to Carlisle, and design work.
Here we go!