Surprising Mum for her birthday!

This surprise had been a long time in the making. In February, I'd decided that instead of doing the trip I had planned, in which I spent the first two weeks of June travelling along the south of France, I would fly home and surprise my Mum for her birthday. Naturally I had to get some people on board to help me out (thank you to Rachel and Nanny for being my accomplices, I very much appreciate it!) and I decided to continue planning my France trip to use as a cover story for Mum.

By the week before I came home, Mum wanted to know everything about my trip, where I was going and staying, what I was doing...and I managed to put it off as long as possible and be as vague as possible, but I worried she was getting suspicious.

Luckily though, she wasn't. So on 2nd June I flew home and Rachel came and picked me up, having made an excuse to borrow the car that left Mum thinking she was going to pick up a cat she'd bought for Mum's birthday! Thankfully Mum wasn't too disappointed when it was me and not a cat who came through the door :P

I had a wonderful week at home, it was so nice to be back and see some friends and family. Here are a few pictures from my time in Devon:

I spent time with my friend James, and walking on Dartmoor, which I have really missed!

Mum and I got all dressed up for the theatre...

I took Mum and Nanny to see 'Guys and Dolls' in Plymouth for Mum's birthday and it was brilliant - we even had second row seats!

We spent Sunday afternoon at the steam fair

My best bud came to stay for a couple of days and we went to see 'Me Before You' which we sobbed our way through

And I got to catch up with lots of other people who I have missed dearly.

Thank you to everyone for a lovely week at home. It was great to be back, and now I'm off on my next adventure. I am currently in Cubas de la Sagra, just south of Madrid, where I am working as an Au Pair until the end of July. The family are lovely and have made me feel very welcome. I am struggling with the Spanish a bit having spoken only German or English for the last year, but being completely immersed in a language you improve quickly so I'm sure I'll be OK! More updates on my time in Spain to come.

Thanks for reading!

Laura :)