Hi. I've got my last exam in a few hours, which is great - the last 2 weeks have been pretty unexciting for me (apart from the Boro game) as i've just been studying. I've had 3 exams in the last 4 days, the exams here are a bit tougher, and they are the only pieces of assessment I have so i had to put the effort in (although i only get graded a pass or fail so i'm not too bothered).

We have started packing and getting all our stuff organised - we are shipping some boxes back. On Monday we are heading up to Inverness in Scotland for a few days in search of the Loch Ness Monster!, though I doubt we will see anything.

Have fun at BDO for all those going, i'm extremely jealous.

Merry Xmas and Happy New Year!

We were joined by Laura for the last few weeks, meeting up with her in London just before Xmas after her Contiki tour. We spent a few days at my godmother's house in Richmond, before heading out to my Uncle Barry's again for Xmas. The village looked very festive, decked in Xmas lights though unfortunately we didn't get any snow. On Xmas day we were invited to the pub across the road for some free drinks and nibbles, before walking back and settling in for 2 days of non-stop eating and drinking inside by the roaring fire. The 3 of us headed back up to Nottingham where i then left the girls to hit the sales and went back up to Middlesbrough for 2 days to visit my Uncle and cousins who were over from China.

New Years Eve we flew out to Prague, which is a really beautiful city, although we were a bit nervous when we first saw where we were staying. The building was run-down, a typical concrete Eastern European apartment block and the lift didn’t work. We walked up to the 4^th floor to be met with what looked like a solid door to a prison cell. However once inside the room was one of the nicest we had stayed in with plenty of space, a small kitchenette and satellite TV. The city centre involves 2 main squares, about 300m apart and they had markets and a stage featuring music acts to bring in the New Year. The whole city was very busy, and there were fireworks going off everywhere - as there were people standing on the street corners selling them. At first it was a little bit scary with fireworks going off right near you, but after a while you got used to the loud bangs and it provided a really interesting atmosphere. Laura and Bindy were both sick with colds, so we took it fairly easy, just wondering around the town. New Years morning we woke up to see the snow falling outside our bedroom window but sadly it didn't last. We then wondered over the Charles Bridge up to the towering Prague Castle which overlooks the city.

On the 2nd we flew into Amsterdam for 3 nights, which was about the same temperature as Prague (around 3-5 degrees) but felt a lot colder due to the wind that was blowing. Amsterdam was one of my favourite cities that we've been to, but it was also the most expensive. We were staying in the centre of town, about 1 block off the Red Light District which we spent time wondering around marvelling at the various sights. Laura had already been to Amsterdam on her tour so she was able to show us around a little bit. We also met up with Tonn, who Bindy and Laura used to work with, who lives just outside of Amsterdam, who was also meeting up with some other travellers from Ipswich (For those reading who worked at the Redbank Cinemas, we met up with Dave Pearl). We ate very unhealthily in Amsterdam, as the traditional and popular foods are waffles, pancakes, dutch variations of waffles and pancakes, and fries (which were the best i've ever tasted). The Dutch are also big on sauces - at the chip store there was over 20 to choose from; and even the hot dog vendors had up to 10. Bindy and I got a boat pass and travelled around the city's canals, which make it similar to a modern Venice. We went to Anne Frank's house (the girl that hid in a cupboard during WWII) and also went to the floating Tulip markets. The 3 of us ventured into a non-stop sex show on our last night which involved different acts every 5 mins. Some were quite eye-opening while others proved quite funny.

Despite the great time we had away it was nice to settle back down in Nottingham after living out of a backpack for 3 weeks. Laura has left for London before flying home and i've spent the last week studying for my exams which are this week.

Yesterday I finally got see a Premier League game, as Bindy and I met up with my cousin Sean in Middlesbrough to see them play Liverpool. We were the better team for most of the game and were leading 1-0 up until the 72nd minute, when Liverpool equalised. It finished 1-1 which is still a really good result so I was happy. At this stage it is just over 3 weeks till we head back to Australia, so not long left to go. I've added a heap of new photos too, so have a look.