Last 48 Hours in Beautiful Bath

So, I'm back at Heathrow and writing a blog post. It feels like dejavu because I did this just over a month ago. It's now time for me to leave Bath for good and I'm not sure how I feel about it. However, I do want to focus on my last 48 hours in the beautiful city, which I've grown so fond of.

I had an exam from 9.30-11.00 AM Tuesday morning and I think it went alright. It was essay questions and I wrote loads and I think I got my opinion and point across. I've learnt that many people feel free and happy immediately after an exam. I don't, not really. I think it's because it takes my mind some time to catch up. Because hours later, I'll feel that relief of having finished exams for quite a while and I feel so happy that I don't have them looming over my head.

After the exam, I went back to my accommodation with a couple of my exchange friends, who had been in the same course and we had all done the exam together. I cooked myself some pasta and added some pesto and some pine nuts.

After that I went on a walk around the city centre taking way too many photos. I'll leave my favourites below.  I once heard the expression "a photogenic city". I never fully understood what that meant... until I came to Bath. Bath is without a doubt one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen and I was truly compelled by it.

After my stroll around town, I went back to my room and watched some Doc Martin. I hadn't slept very well the day before and just wanted some chill time to relax before I had to go out for dinner with the people in my hall. One of the girls had been kind enough to arrange it by inviting everyone as a goodbye to me and the other girl, who was leaving as well. All the rest of the people in our hall are staying a full year. I'm actually a bit jealous of them.

We went out for dinner at Giraffe near the bus station and I've seen the restaurant before but never been. Since I'm still staying meat free, at least until the end of the month, I ordered a vegetarian dish. It was an enchilada with broccoli and kale and actually extremely good, though I didn't touch the salad on the side. I still don't like the concept of a salad. 

One of the Chinese girls noticed and the first time since my switch in diet I had to explain myself. It went well and they were both understanding and intrigued. It was so lovely to go for dinner with them and I'll miss those six girls so much; one is from Spain, one from France and the other three from China. 

When we went home I just crashed in my bed, exhausted after a day of exams and socialising. I apparently needed the rest so much that I actually turned off my alarm by accident the next morning but somehow managed to snap a screenshot of it. I have no recollection of this whatsoever, however I do want to share it on here as the tag line I wrote for the alarm is quite funny though it's a cheesy reference. 

I said goodbye to the French girl, who is staying a whole year but going home in-between semesters. She was the very first person I met when I arrived and it's been so great to know her. After that I decided to finally see Bath's skyline. It's something I've been contemplating for a while and of course, in typical me fashion, I waited to the last minute. That didn't mean I enjoyed it any less though. 

I took the U1 to Uni just to have a walk around campus and say goodbye to everything. I think I'm going to miss having one big connected campus as opposed to different building across Frederiksberg as I'm used to. I walked out to take a photo of the University of Bath sign (which I've also wanted to do forever but never gotten around to as it's a bit of a walk from the bus drop). 

I magically didn't get lost on my way to find Batwich Fields (the place where you can see the skyline) and I had the most amazing walk and discovered so many cute path ways. And, of course, the view was absolutely breathtaking and something out of a fantasy. Sadly, the sun wasn't really working in my favour and I don't even think my iPhone 5 could capture the beauty even if it did. Below, I'll leave lots of the photos from my walk and final goodbye to Bath. Be warned there is a lot!

Call me crazy but I just find that when it's a clear blue sky and the afternoon sun shines on the beige stones of Bath, it is breathtakingly beautiful. I actually spent 2,5 hours walking around and I didn't even notice the time, though the sun was setting when I got home. It was very pretty and picturesque and I felt so fortunate that I got to live in that city. 

I spend my evening rushing and panicking about having too much weight for my suitcase but then ultimately deciding it was good enough when the scale said it was about 23 kg. Actually, just an hour ago when I turned it in, the bagage drop weight did say 23,7 kg. but as the lady didn't say anything about it, neither did I. They can't charge me for extra weight without telling me, right?

I also took my very last Lush bath in my small bath tub. I do think I'm going to miss having a bath, but I do also think that I can live without it. 

The following morning, I hoovered my floor and washed my ensuite. Then I got the people to come around for the inspection and it got approved right away. It's probably a good thing they didn't look in the nooks and crannies though.

At noon, some of the exchange girls were coming to my kitchen to say goodbye and it felt so weird to know I would not be seeing them anymore. We've grown close as a group since November and now, it's done. Most of them will be leaving within a week. I offered the Japanese girl, who is the only one in our group who's staying for the second semester, any of the things I left behind. She's gotten herself a couple of cutting boards and a big spoon. I've talked to my two of my hall mates and they promised to let the others know the same thing and throw everthing leftover out. 

The girls helped me to the lift, one of the German girls even rolled my suitcase for me, and then we all hugged goodbye. I went down to finally hand over the key to my room to the very funny and friendly housekeeper that I had also grown fond of. 

It's so odd to leave everyone behind, though it helps me to know most of the people I've met and befriended are going home to their home countries too. And now, I actually know people from all over the world. How crazy is that?

This has been both a challenging and wonderful experience and I'm so glad I had the guts to do it. I need to finish up this post now because my gate was set to be shown a couple of minutes ago and boarding starts in just over ten minutes. 

I've never done anything quite like this exchange to Bath but I've learnt so much and met so many people, as well as grown myself. University of Bath also proved to be a great university with lovely and skilled teachers, who taught me a lot. 

Goodbye for now, Bath. I promise I'll be back some time in the future.