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On Saturday morning I woke up bright and early to catch the train to London Waterloo in order to make my MRI Scan on time. However as I was just about to dry my hair the company phoned to say that their scanner had broken and that I had to rearrange the appointment for another day. How annoying! I had already planned that we were going to go to the scan and then just roam around the city for the afternoon. Hey, ho, I have now rearranged for Monday evening. I was wide awake and feeling fresh (for the first time in a while) but I had no where to go! Everybody else was sleeping, so I headed over to the library and printed a few readings off and found some books that I need to read for my essay. When I came back, people were awake and we headed out to get some brunch.
In a matter of 30mins after we finished brunch, myself and 2 friends were on the train to Windsor! The day just kept on getting more and more random . . . Upon arriving in Windsor one of my friends asked "I wonder if there's a theatre in Windsor". In a matter of 10mins we had bought tickets and were sitting in the theatre watching the West End's production of 'The Woman in Black'! If you know me, you'll know that I am the wort person when it comes to watching scary stuff. I'm even scared of the dark guys! However, the play was very good and how they staged the whole thing was very clever and according to people who have watched both the stage and film adaption - the stage version was much more scary! It's fair to say that I did spend most of the play with my eyes closed and my fingers in my ear! It was really good though!
After the play we did some shopping and then had some supper in Pizza hut looking straight out at the castle. Soon after, we took our left over pizza's and our shopping to the train and got home to have a chillaxed night! Perfect.
When you move 5 and a half hours away from home it's pretty hard just to pop over to see your friends for a couple of hours. So I use the next best thing . . . Skype! Even though sometimes it takes an age for the thing to actually work properly, but when it does it's pretty cool. Here are some pics of recent skyping sessions!
Just having a peep in someone's garden!
Last Friday my parents drove down to London to visit moi. I have Fridays off (: They arrived just after lunch so I had time to have a lie in and have time to do a reasonable amount of work before we went out. They brought with them a mattress topper and a thicker duvet so i now officially have a very comfy and snuggly bed (: On Friday we headed to Windsor to do some shopping and just see some of the area I live in. I got some Hunter welly socks which I just wear around the block because they are so comfy and warm, I also had a new top. I've wanted a pair of boots for a looooong time. I don't think I've owned a pair of proper boots ever, or if not ever, not for a while. Windsor has a Timberland shop and that's where my mam bought me my Christmas present - a new pair of awesome Timberlands which I have been constantly wearing since I got them! After leaving Windsor (it was pouring down with rain) we headed over to the hotel which we were staying in and then we went out for some Chinese food. Yuuum.
Sunday we went out for breakfast in a patisserie in Windsor. I had sultana, cinnamon and apple porridge - yummie! After doing some more roaming around Windsor we headed to Virginia Waters which is literally 5 mins away from my uni. It was an awesome place! It's a massive park with a huge lake in the middle, waterfalls and ruins. We decided to walk around the whole lake which was 4.5 miles. I love autumn because all the trees were multicoloured and they were falling from the branches and you can wear comfy and cwtchy clothes. Perfect. Soon after we finished our walk we came back to my room and after a bit of a sit down the rents headed back to Wales. I'm going home in about 2 weeks so it wont be long in till I see them again.
The rest of the weekend was spent with one of the block crew - Lauren! We watched some TV and chillaxed on Saturday night. Sunday was a day of having brunch, doing work in the (awesome old fashioned, Hogwarts style) library for 2 hours, laundry, supper and, once the whole crew were reunited again (people arrived back after going home to visit family) watching Tangled (what an awesome film!).
. . .
HARRY POTTER MARATHON.
Yes so this Harry Potter marathon has been going on for almost a week now! Nearly every night we take out the pull out bed out from underneath my bed and we work our way through a HP film! We are living the lives of crazy university students guys! This is actually what I prefer because I wouldn't be able to go out every night and then get up at 7:30am to make my lecture on time! As it goes at the moment I'm not really able to go out because of my injury, I can't stand up or sit down for long periods of time, but hey ho.
This week has been quite stressful whilst I try to get to grips with how to do the work. I've been fixated on re-writing my notes before doing anything else. This has now changes. I discovered that re-writing my notes took sooooo much time that I had very little time to actually do the work that I'm supposed to do! Therefore I now just read through my notes again and add and highlight things as I go along.
I went to see the strength and conditioning coach earlier this week and was told that I probably will not be able to take part in any competitive sport for a year! A year! I don't think I've ever gone that long not doing competitive sport in my life! It's got to be done though I guess! As someone said - "you'll come back fitter and stronger in the long run". I sure hope they are right.
On Wednesday, after a day of lectures and working in the founders library (this library is like the ones in Harry Potter and really old films you see - wood and leather tables with old style lamps on them. Books organised on wooden bookshelves!) and meetings with sports people we headed of to NANDO'S! This was only my second time at this restaurant and the reasoning for us going there was not only to have a nice flat family meal but also because we had won money off vouchers in the freshers fair. I had won a whole free meal - score! Once we got off the train and walked back home, we sat down and watched the inbetweeners movie!
Last night my friend and I went to the film festival society meeting. In the next week or so we will be put in to groups to film our first short film that will be entered in to the 'Reed Short Film Competition'. You get to choose which role you would like (well, you put your top three in order of preference). I think my options will be this - 1. Editor, 2 Producer and 3 Director/camera operator. I'm looking forward to seeing what goes in to actually making a short film!
p.s In the future, once all has settled down and I'm at least kind of sure what I'm doing and how I'm doing my work, I will be doing more posts!
Here are some pics and instagrams from the last week or so.
Well hello there. The last week has been, well not strange, I don't know what the word is but . . . well I don't know! There have been many positives - I've (and I think everyone else in the block) become much more comfortable with everyone and I now feel that I can, whatever time of day or night it is, knock on someones door and I'll be welcomed. The other night we all went in to one of the rooms and sat there for nearly 3 hours watching loads of clips from Disney films and awesome 90's TV. We also saw the advert for the new Monsters inc. that's coming out soon, I think it's called Monsters University. It looks AWESOME! Along with feeling like I've got good friends here I've also started to get used to the university system. I don't feel so overwhelmed when I step in to a lecture theatre and I feel that I understand what the lecturer is talking about, which is always a good thing! I am also, slowly but surely, getting to understand and feel comfortable in smaller groups such as in tutorials and in seminars. Although I did have a slight panic attack when I discovered that I had missed my first seminar but there was a good explanation behind this and a number of other people did the same (they changes the time and place and sent an e-mail that morning, so when I came back from my lecture and checked my e-mails I saw that I had already missed it!).
Another thing is getting used to the library and how that system works! On top of that my laptop is playing up and I no longer have word so I have to do all of my typing and presentations on my ipad or on the computers in the library! Arghhhh! The parents are bringing up discs to fix the laptop next weekend so all will be fine!
The not so positive things about this week so far is the fact that I have come to realise that I need (or maybe, have to) give up competitive sport for at least a term. This is because of the sciatica I have in my leg. I have joined rowing, and I really enjoy it, but because of my injury it's just not possible nor does it make any sense to carry on for the time being. Hopefully after Christmas or so I'll be able to start doing sport again. However, every cloud has a silver lining and all that, since I'm not able to participate in competitive sport it kind of seems that a weight has been lifted off my shoulders and now I'm able to do and participate in things that I have an interest in that I didn't have time for before as I was always doing sport. Things like joining the Media society and doing some filming/production/editing/writing for the newspaper etc. I'll still be going to the gym sometimes and going for walks and cycles but just for fun and relaxation this time.
Last night we went out to an event at the Students union. Here are some pictures for you! And I've included some random photos from the past couple of days and pics of the university!
I also received this note from the cleaner - Proud (:
Some of books finally came through the post - yaaaay!
x
Freshers is officially over, as lectures have began. I received my timetable late last week and it isn't too bad. I only have 8 hours or so of contact time a week. Although that isn't a lot we have a lot of reading and work to do outside of the lecture room. The history modules I have picked for my first year are - Mao to Mandela: Twentieth Century leaders in the non-western world & Social and cultural history of Europe and Britain from 1453-1789. Along with these modules we have to do 2 compulsory modules which are Doing History & History and Meanings.
As well as lectures starting, sport has also began. I've joined the rowing team which I am loving so far. It's just such an awesome (hard work!) sport! I'm also going down to watch the rugby training (as I still can't train as I'm injured). Friday morning at 7:30 myself and two of my block friends went down to the gym for an early morning spinning session. I'm feeling more relaxed and settled now that I'm starting to get in to a routine involving work and sport.
After our spinning session on Friday we headed in to the nearest shopping town to do some . . . well . . . shopping! I only bought one thing - a nice woolly jumper! On this trip, I also had my first ever Nando's! When we arrived back I headed down to rugby training and then did my laundry! Proud!
Now, I have some reading to do!
I've been in university for just over a week now. Wow, how quick did that week fly by! I was struck down by the freshers flu in the middle of the week but am getting better now. Over the last couple of days I've been joining different societies and trying out different sports. Saturday I went down to the fields and played rugby for a couple of hours which was ok. Yesterday morning at 10am I went to the rowing taster. We had to run about 2 miles to reach the boat house (I'm getting my bike soon so I can just cycle down!) once at the boat house however we had a go on the rowing machines just to get the technique and then we went out on the water. I loved it! Even though I wasn't that great as it was my first time doing such a thing but it was really enjoyable! It also didn't affect my sciatica so much, which is good! So I think I'll be joining the rowing club soon.
Thursday night we headed over Medicine and the Stumble in for a chillaxed evening.
Last night, after a busy day, we (the flat) went to the local pub across the road for some Sunday night supper.
