It's been some time.

Wow, when was the last time I posted something.

Well what has happened since 23 May 2010.......

I have been making flowers for the Art in the Garden event in Sheffield at 4th and 5th September. Up to 110 flowers made but still need to make another 40 tsumami flowers for hair-slide/brooch/hair-grip, which will be standard stock but once those are out of the way I will need to plan what other kanzashi to make. I have decided to make some traditional maiko style ones but what modern ones should I make. Obviously tsumami flowers can be arranged to make many accessories like fascinator, corsage, pinhole flower or bouquet but I can't make everything. Whatever my decision it will have to be soon as I plan to make all the flowers I need before my big move to Sheffield and then spend the remaining month putting my stock together. Of course I have to figure out the best way to display my kanzashi at the event but I already have some good ideas on that.

In addition, I have been revising for my two ACCA exams and at the beginning of June I took them. I had the biggest scare in my life when my bus didn't turn up to take me to my first exam. However I managed to get my brother to drive me up to Chelmsford with 5 minutes to spare. After that I swore that I would take the train to Chelmsford as I use to in the past. Trust me to change my travel method and then see it go horrible wrong. So now I am waiting for my results which will be out by August. I would like to say I have loads of confidence about these exams but I don't so rather then worrying about it, I decided to do the next best thing. Forget about it!

Anyway after my exams I had to pack my suitcase for my trip to sunny London in Ontario, Canada the following day. Yes I left my packing to the very last day and I didn't actually pack my bags until I was about to go to bed. I wouldn't recommend it as for the past 12 days I have been cursing myself for forgetting silly things like not enough shampoo or body cream. But I can hardly say my holiday was ruined.

So what did I do for 12 days in Canada.......pretty much nothing. I didn't want to hire a car (as I am a bad driver and I would not want to inflict my driving on another country) so didn't see the sights and sounds of Ontario. Although seeing my boyfriend was the main aim of this holiday and he was kind enough to buy my plane ticket. I did managed to catch up on some much needed sleep which was great, whether it has re-energised me I have no idea but I can make myself believe it. Oh and another reason why I did nothing in Canada, it has been hot and very humid, which made even the shortest walks very tiring. I should not be complaining about the weather but I'm British and this is what British people do best.

And the best thing about the return journey is that my boyfriend is coming with me as he is finally coming back to the UK for good. After 2.5 years aboard, he has managed to get funding at Sheffield University for 3 years which means we can start to plan our lives together again. I can't tell you how much I have been looking forward to this day.

Now I am sitting in my boyfriend's flat thinking about what we need to do once we get back to the UK. Of course a list has been made by us but someone needs to actually get things going and at the moment I think I'm the one. Maybe I'm nervous about the move to Sheffield and the event in Sheffield. Oh and not to mention that I have not worked for the past 6 months and can't really get anything until September is also worrying. I suppose I haven't been idle for those months since I have been studying and also helping my family takeaway but employers can be so cruel when one has breaks in their work life. I suppose part of me hopes that the Art in the Garden event is a success as it would give me a morale boast and income both current and future. However that is to much to ask for but one can dream.

Back from my adventures

All good things had to end and I'm back at home in the UK.

Lets see what I have achieved out of my 4 days in Copenhagen....

Day one - Monday

After having an early night (he had just spent 15 hours travelling), my boyfriend and I got up and had a nice continental breakfast, I enjoyed having a healthy breakfast since my family haven't quite got the hang of healthy eating yet. Then after a bit more fussing around with bags and clothes, we got ready to face the snow and walk to Copenhagen University. Lucky it wasn't windy so the walk wasn't too bad only 15 minutes at most I think.

Once we managed to find the right building (there wasn't any names) we then had the fun of figuring out the layout of the building. Strangely the maths departments floors were not in line with the main building corridor! So the door to the first floor of the maths department was actually half way up stairs in the corridor. This was confusing! Anyway once we realised this we made our way to the secretaries' office to get the key to an office for us to use during the week. I will be polite and just say that they were not pleasant.

So we got settled in the office and then had a wander to find someone that my boyfriend recognise. In the end someone recognised him which was good and he went off to his first topology workshop. I sat around in the common room/office reading a book.

At some point I had a bit of lunch but I only had a sandwich so nothing exciting.

Then at 17.00 the talks finished and one of the staff (Antonio) took us out for dinner. It was only burger and chips but it was a nice burger. 100DKK (= 12.50GBP) for meal and 42DKK (= £5) for a small bottle of pear cider. But I can't complain since Antonio was going to claim the meal back on expenses.

Day Two - Tuesday

Morning was the same as yesterday but in the afternoon, we decided to go for a bit of sightseeing! We decided to go the the National Museum of Copenhagen and what can I say, it was full of old stuff. Since Copenhagen was expensive we felt that we might as well have lunch in the museum how much more expensive could it get! I think we spent a couple of hours there before we had to leave. As we left, it started to snow which is very pretty when you are in a warm office however it is the opposite when you are outside.

Again a bit more wandering around town before it was time for dinner at a Spanish restaurant. We chose two selections of tapas and most of it was nice. There was some weird tuna and veg in white sauce and mushrooms with a strong alcohol taste which wasn't nice but the rest was good. That meal cost 410 DKK including a couple of drinks.

Day three - Wednesday

Wednesday was the same as Monday for us however in the evening we were invited to a party in the evening by the organisers of the talks. Around 20 mathematicians turned up for a Indian takeaway meal in a really nice flat and after food came the silly games. There is one thing you can say about mathematicians, they are students at heart and the more sillier the game, the better the evening.

Day four - Thursday

My boyfriend had managed to arranged a meeting with Jesper at the department to talk about maths at 16.00. Which meant we could spend the morning and afternoon being tourists!

Starting off at the Stroget which is suppose to be the longest pedestrian shopping area in Europe for a bit of window shopping however there wasn't anything amazing. Once we reached the end of Stroget we walked toward the Little Mermaid at the harbour. I am not sure what I was expecting but it was a statue on some rocks. Very exciting!

It was only 12.00 and we were cold so off we went to find somewhere to shelter from the snow. But we got bored walking around Copenhagen and just went back to the hotel after buying a chocolate covered cake. After demolishing the cake and watch some tv, we went back into university for the maths meeting. My boyfriend went off to meet with Jesper and I wasted my time on the internet looking for a place to eat.

After the meeting, we had arranged to have dinner with a friend who was a postdoc at the university. It had been over 2 years since we last met him so a lot of catching up to do. Instead of going to the italian we found, our friend took us to a swedish bar because it was more cosy. I had a nice vegan burger, far better then the one I had back in Essex. My boyfriend had swedish meatballs and our friend had a burger. All in all a good meal but I have no idea what the name of this place is.

We ended the evening quite early as we had to pack for tomorrow and our friend still had work to do.

Day five - Friday

We both had early planes to catch so once we had breakfast we had to get to the airport straightaway to check-in.

Conclusion

It was a nice break but here is my advice.

1) Do not go to Copenhagen when it is snowing it is very boring and cold.

2) Be prepared to spend money on food especially on booze.

3) Don't bother learning danish, it is too hard as you will never get it right. However all danish people speak excellent english.