My very fun (and very spooky) weekend

Yesterday was Monday and I was actually devastated that the weekend was over! (And by weekend, I mean last Wednesday to Sunday because my Thursday classes were cancelled last week- woo!)

I had been having so much fun over the past few days that when I finally had to sit down to finish and submit an assignment on Sunday night I thought to myself:

'...I really have to study right now? How rude!?'

Haha! Sometimes it is easy to forget that I am ultimately here to STUDY!!! I am keeping up to date with all my assignments so I am in no way stressed about that, but I should probably move studying up a few spots on my priorities list in the next couple of weeks...

Aaaanyway! One of the main reasons my extended weekend was so fun was because it was HALLOWEEN!

On Wednesday night the student union held a halloween-themed welcome party for all the international students. It was held at Revolution bar and there was food provided, which is always a bonus! It was nice to have a few beers and catch up with some of the other students that I don't see as often.

These are my beautiful friends Mascha and Sina! Two of my best mates here! They come
from Germany and are the perfect companions when I need some girly time! They remind me of
my girlfriends back home!

The next night was the 'BIG' halloween night- the town pub crawl. All week I had been excited about not only the pub crawl, but also about painting everyones faces! I already had an idea for what I wanted to do to my own face, but I also wanted to make sure everyone else got their face painted!

I went as a kind of zombie 50's pin up girl/ sugar skull. I had so much fun painting this on!

This is my silly housemate, Sascha. He is also from Germany and another really good friend of mine! I also painted his face and was pretty happy with it-  from one side he actually looked really scary!

And of course, me and my lovely Beth :) We were supposed to paint our faces on opposite sides to one another...but we were looking in the mirror when we planned this and ended up painting the same sides! Well...I did the painting...so it was my decision... BLONDE MOMENT!

Pre-drinks in the kitchen! These are a few of my housemates, plus some others! I painted pretty much
every persons face in this photo, minus a couple... it took a while, but it was so much fun and it kept me from pre-drinking too much!

Halloween was probably one of the best nights I have had out on this exchange! Everyone was dressed up, everyone was in a good mood and just enjoying each others company! The pub crawl was massive- thousands of zombies, skeletons and witches walking through the streets of Sunderland! It was a sight to see, that is for sure! I am surprised that the pubs could even deal with that many people, but they actually handled it all really well.

It was so much fun- I night I will never forget, even with all the drinking I did!

After halloween, the rest of my weekend was pretty chilled. I think everyone's was- we were all so tired from the pub crawl! The weather was reasonably nice for most of the days, so I went for lots of walks. Sunderland can look so pretty sometimes...

Sunday was my favourite walk of all! I got up early to finish off an assignment, but after that I wanted to make use of the nice weather Sunderland was having! So Beth and I went on a MASSIVE walk to the beach! It took us two and a half hours to get there and back, but it was so worth it! I hadn't been down to the beach yet, but now that I know the way I will be going for runs there all the time!

I have been super jealous seeing everyone post beachy photos of the warm weather back home lately, so it felt good to get my own beach-action in! It was windy and really freezing, but it was a clear day and the beach looked gorgeous...

Beth and I enjoyed stalking other people's dogs...since we miss our own back home so much!

Oh, look at those two shadows...they look like such good friends :)

When we got back from our extremely long walk, we decided we wanted to seize the day even more! So we went on a spontaneous trip to Newcastle! We went for a coffee, a wander, a shop... all of the usual stuff Beth and I do in Newcastle... we haven't seen each other as much lately (and by this I mean that we have probably only seen each other once a day instead of five times a day, like usual!) because we have both been busy doing our own things and studying. So it was nice that we ended up spending the day together. Hanging out with Beth always puts me in the best mood!

Newcastle on a clear night... so stunning!

We ended the day with our usual dinner at our favourite restaurant!
We don't even need to look at the menu in this place- we know exactly what dinner we want
and exactly what fancy drinks we want to go with it! Our aim is to go here many more times before our exchange is over...
The food is just so good! It reminds me of something my Grandy would cook back in Adelaide!
Plus, the interior is beautiful, and it is just  a lovely place to end a day in Newcastle.