botanical gardens

Hello and happy February! I thought I'd try to write a bit more often than I did toward the end of autumn, so hopefully I can keep it up!

Since I have another free week before classes start, I thought I would use the time to visit places in Sheffield I haven't been before. That would make me get out and not just do nothing and hopefully it would give me something to write about as well! I actually really like going somewhere new, not only new cities or countries but sometimes it's even more exciting to walk down a new street in your own neighbourhood. It gives me plenty of energy! And it was even better because it was a nice sunny day today. It's been raining a lot recently.

So, I decided to go to the Sheffield Botanical Gardens! It's really a disgrace I haven't been there before as it only takes about 10 or 15 minutes to walk there from where I live. It's just down one road without any turns, so it was about time I explored it.

There used to be live bears here, but now they just have a statue!

It was a nice little walk and I think I'll visit the gardens again at least when it's warmer and they have flowers! I had a sandwich there on a bench while watching squirrels. They came quite close and it was fascinating to see how they ate! One gnawed on a nut a couple of times and then stuck the whole thing in its mouth and started running! They were so cute.

Endcliffe (the other student village) on the way back!

Tomorrow my "new place" will be an area called Hillsborough and specifically a big Morrisons (supermarket)! I want to do some baking but I couldn't find cardamom in any of the small shops there, so hopefully I'll be more lucky tomorrow!

Yesterday it was the birthday of a girl from my Irish class, Rose from the Netherlands. She had made a delicious chocolate cake (that I must try to copy one of these days!). She collects Harry Potter books in different languages so I got her one in Finnish - bet she didn't have that one before!

Tänään päätin käydä Sheffieldin kasvitieteellisessä puutarhassa, joka on ihan kivenheiton päässä täältä. Yritän nyt tällä tulevalla viikolla käydä kaikissa uusissa paikoissa lähistöllä, koska muuten varmaan vain lorvailisin huoneessani, kun kavereillakin on vielä kokeita. Ja minusta on aina tosi jännittävää vaikka vain kävellä kotiin jotain uutta reittiä! Pidän siis uusien paikkojen näkemisestä, mutta usein on helpompaa jos on joku tietty päämäärä (kuten nyt vaikka tuo puutarha) koska muuten minun olisi tosi vaikeaa päättää tienristeyksessä, kumpaan suuntaan lähtisi. Huomenna ajattelin ensin käydä Hillsborough-nimisessä kaupunginosassa, jossa on iso supermarketti. Kävisin siellä varmaan muutenkin, mutta nyt siihen on oikein syykin, kun en löytänyt mistään lähikaupoista kardemummaa! Ajattelin siis leipoa huomenna, ja lopputuloksesta riippuen esittelen ehkä tuotokseni täälläkin.