Il fratellino

Piccolo bambino. Babies are so small I had forgotten, but nice to hold they are like little portable radiators.

I got the train back home from Leicester Tuesday morning and got home about lunchtime which was nice. It was lovely to see my family again and especially to see my newest brother Joel!

I held him for most of the afternoon. We watched Hello Dolly and I just sat with him. 

Hello Dolly is one of my favourite musicals, I've only seen it twice but I love the story and especially the songs. 

William likes wearing everyone's glasses. He looks really sweet with them on. 

And sunglasses. Such a cool guy. 

Today I went shopping. Used up some vouchers from Christmas, got a lovely new top and some boots. Sales are great. 

Tried to have a kind of sleepover with Louisa last night didn't go very well she kept kicking me out of bed everytime she moved so I evacuated back to my room. 

Nighttime selfies. 

Today William was crying for crisps at dinner but he had some yesterday so mum said no. He wanders off crying then finds the door stop that makes the pyong noise and started playing with that. Good distraction until nap time. 

Wakefield, Wakefield, Wakefield.

How good to be back. After arriving back Friday evening a rather busy weekend followed which continued onto today, now I get a rest and some time to myself.

Saturday I worked a day in my previous employment covering for my sister who took an absence to play her flute at Nostell Priory for the Christmas festivities. This involved getting updated on all the changes made since I left that employment six months previously and reading copious notes on her children in order to gage what they were all working on. An early start but luckily I was able to take the car instead of the bus. Work began at 10am and we travelled around various centres working until 5.30pm. However it was great fun to be back a lot of the children remembered me from before and said hi which was lovely, I clearly made an impression on them. It was also fun to be doing something and of course to take a wage, a nice little extra right before Christmas.

After work I stopped off at a friends house and we got ready for the ysa Christmas movie night. I was really excited to be going back I had missed Huddersfield's ysa activities, Leicester's are good but it's different when you don't know everyone so I was looking forward to being back with old friends. When we arrived after picking up another friend we discovered that they were about to cancel it as noone had really showed up. But we made a nice night of it with the six or seven who were there in the end, we watched Elf and had popcorn and treats. It was great to have a catch up with those who were there.

So that made a late night, I think I got back and then wound up in bed sometime around midnight and having been up since eight that morning and then working a pretty active day I was shattered. Then to realise that church started at 9.30am not the 1.30pm start Leicester's had so inwardly crying as I realised I didn't have much time for sleeping.

Sunday was pretty fun, it was nice to be back at church in Wakefield and see everybody. Although I did miss giving my lesson to my kids I'm looking forward to being back so I can do my lessons again. It was really strange to be in Relief Society again after being in Primary for so long now. My plan was to have a nice afternoon nap, but then I got invited to go to Chorley to see their presentation of "The Christmas Truce". It was pretty cool, strange they got us singing its a long way to Tipperary at one point in a round with pack up your troubles. That was interesting. It was nice singing the carols though they sound so good when you have so many people singing them together. O Holy Night was my favourite. The Temple looked really good at night though and I'd never seen it at Christmas before the decorations were all lovely. But that was quite a trek and led to a lateish night and then early start today.

Went into Leeds in the morning with my dad for some Christmas shopping, haven't got the train for a long time and had reminisces of college journeys. Had a nice time going round the shops and stopped of at Patisserie Valerie for cake and hot chocolate which was lovely! After we got back I had some paid work to do from home for my old boss. Then rang up a friend and had a good chat with her.

Had a nice family evening and we played a new game I got called "What is this?" where you get picture cards with weird images and crazy captions and you have to pair them up. E.g there was a picture that looked like a plug but actually the caption was "an octopus throwing a stool" it was a pretty funny game.

Tomorrow promises to be equally as busy. I want to squeeze in a run, making gingerbread, work and Christmas shopping and get started on revising some university work. We shall see how far I get.

1/10 of the term complete in a week.

Wow, so strange the first week of university is over. I feel like it is going to go a lot faster now!

Today I only had one lecture which was about the myths surrounding the foundation of Rome. After that I came back home and tidied up all my university files on my google drive. Made sure everything was under the right heading, downloaded the corresponding powerpoints from blackboard.

This week has been fun. On Tuesday we have film for an hour and we watched a documentary called 'First Contact' and it was about the first time people from Papa New Guinea had seen white people. It was really interesting and I think each week we will watch another episode of it concerning different sets of indigenous people encountering westerners. One thing that made me think was why when other "primitive" tribes and people see "white men" they often perceive them to be spirits or gods or something special, whereas when the situation is reversed we only seem to perceive them as primitive and beneath us. Every time it seems to be that perception.

Wednesday was great I started Latin we learnt about the alphabet and pronunciation - did you know that Caesar should actually be pronounced Kaiser not See-sar? Some cool stuff, then on Thursday we learnt about declensions of nouns and conjugations of verbs. It seems pretty regularised, not many irregularities which is good. It was my landlords birthday on Wednesday and I went over to his family's house for the birthday tea which was nice. One of his sons ate a ghost chilli to see what would happen it looked painful and I wouldn't recommend it. Afterwards he dropped me and one of his sons off for institute alongside a friend. It was fun, they do two classes in Leicester the first one was on time management and then the second was on the Doctrine and Covenants. They got me to stand up and introduce myself because I was new, a few of the adults knew who I was by my surname but I didn't really know anyone. I talked to a couple of people though and they all seemed really nice so I'm looking forward to going back next week. Afterwards they went to play table tennis cricket which looked like an interesting game.

Thursday was in for two hours I had my other Latin seminar and then a lecture on Roman History which was just to introduce it and give us some ideas to think about. Then in the evening I walked round to my uncle and aunt's house (5 minute walk away) who were having a farewell thing for my Australian relatives who were returning to Australia this Saturday so it was great to see them all again! My two little cousins are really sweet, one of them, Zak, after learning mine and Hannah's names kept repeating them which was cute - although mine started to sound like gorilla a bit by the end!

I can't remember which day but, I went into town with the intention of buying some boots because I was sick of having soggy feet due to all the rain and my possessing only canvas shoes - not really the best thing for winter. I had a look around all the high street shops first but boots are actually quite expensive for what they are plus they weren't that amazing quality so I didn't feel like paying that much for them. So I paid a visit to Clarks instead. I should have gone there first they had loads of really nice ones, which although expensive I didn't mind paying for because they were good quality. I tried a few on and decided on the Orinoco brown snuff in a size 3 - I have tiny feet! Only issue was the standards felt a little tight over my foot but they didn't have any wide fit in store so I had to order them to my house. Did so and they arrived today :) They are still snug but I have a little more room so the wide fit was definitely a better choice and I am looking forward now to a day when it will rain so I can test them out!

Today I looked in the fridge and found a bunch of stuff past its sell by date oops, I need to keep on top of it more. I organised all my food and made of shopping list of what I need to get tomorrow so I can get back on track and not waste anymore food. I felt awful throwing it away and that is my lesson learned.

I'm looking forward to next week for university actually I'm just looking forward to the upcoming weeks. So much stuff is going to happen! So much cool stuff. I'll get to see so many people again, several of whom I haven't seen for a ridiculously long time! I'm so excited to be back visiting home in a couple of weeks. But in the meantime may I continue to keep on top of my work. So far all is good.

The Sixth of October Two Thousand and Fourteen.

Today, otherwise known as my birthday started at 12.00am this morning when I was still lying in bed trying to sleep, turned over to look at the clock saw it was nearly midnight and so decided to see the sixth of October in.

After doing it I decided I really ought to get some sleep as I had a lecture at 9am that morning. I managed to grab some sleep but of course woke up excited at 7am. Made myself sort of presentable then google hangouted my family to open the presents and cards (normally we do it all together at home) which was fun. William wanted the balloon and got upset when he realised it was impossible to have as it was with me in  Leicester and he was in Wakefield. I got some lovely cards from friends and family and gifts too it made a lovely birthday morning.

Even google said happy birthday to me!

Had to get ready sharpish after that to catch the bus to university. It started raining surprise surprise thank goodness I had bought an umbrella the other day. Incidentally when I bought the umbrella the guy from the shop said I sounded like I wasn't from around here and when I said Yorkshire he said oh yes I can tell, but when I'm in yorkshire people say the opposite they say I don't sound northern. Strange.

Not having any practical shoes for the rain I had to go out in canvas pumps - bad decision my feet were freezing - I think I shall be investing in some kind of boot. Arrived to university in one piece though wet and cold.

Lecture was really interesting it was the Introduction to World Archaeology BC and we looked at the palaeolithic age - interestingly palaeo means old and lithic means stone. We did a bit on when did we become human? But instead of spouting the "we evolved from monkeys" they took the "we had a common ancestor long ago" which I find more believable but still weird. But thinking about if we all come from the same maker (God) then of course there will be similarities in every species. Anyway that was a side topic, what we actually looked at was stone tools and when they started to be first used. And whether use and creation of these tools began to show the Hominins (humany creatures but not human) were becoming human.

After that I had a nice break until 4pm where I had a study skills lecture until 6pm. It was on things like how to get the most out of lectures, how to manage time efficiently and stuff like that. We have it for the whole of this semester I'm not sure about next. It was okay but so annoying to have such a big gap between 9-10am and then nothing until 4pm. Still it's all useful and it was a good presentation.

But until 4pm I went home and watched The Proposal. I had intended to stop watching dvds so I could study but I thought as it was my birthday I would extend it until today. It was a lovely movie to watch again and I had a nice laugh at it!

After study skills a call from Grandma B and then a bus home and then ordered dominos in for tea. As it was my birthday for a treat and I had so many vouchers from freshers to use up! I was going to give one set to my family when I went up but on the terms and conditions it says valid in Leicester stores only which is  shame. The offer was buy one get one free but you had yo do it on medium or large so I got two medium knowing I would not be able to eat it all. The remains are in the fridge for me to take to uni tomorrow for lunch!

Then I had my birthday cake! Although I bought a battenberg my mum sent me a me to you one in the post with some other goodies which was lovely and some candles so I used that! And did it over google hangouts so they could see it and sing to me.

All in all it was a fairly good day. Uncle Simon and cousin Zak came round and surprised me this evening with a gift and card and Zak told me about his day at nursery! Despite being away from home for my birthday it was still pleasant and I rang my family enough to make up for not being there.

Absolutely shattered, and tomorrow is a busy day two lectures, a film and a tutorial but I'll be done 3pm. I like these shorted days college was such a drag. It makes me feel much more inclined to study when I get back when it is still light and warm(ish).

Every year people ask me "how does it feel to be 19?" or whatever age I am. I don't feel any different to last year. But it's weird to know I'm getting older and I feel like this next part of life is going to go very fast.

I've moved in!

Week one in the new house.

So I moved in on Saturday morning and the first thing I discovered was that I had been giving people the wrong address. Noooo. I had been telling people I lived at number 27 instead of 127. Mad panic that all my letters and things will be going to a different house. So we took a trip to number 27 but no one was in. We picked up a card from a newsagents wrote a message inside explaining the mistake and left my email so they could let me know if any post came. Then we popped back later in the evening to see if they were in, they were and they were really nice about it all! Though as it turns out, the post came to this house anyway. Although number 27 was on the same road it fell under a different village/town thing so my birthday cards still managed to get to me :) Now I have four cards waiting to be opened! Roll on Monday 6th.

Saturday after unpacking we spent at my aunt Natalie and uncle Nathan's house. I have some family over from Australia so we had a big meet up with all of which was fantastic to see them all again. They had a big bouncy castle in the garden (with no age limit) so that kept us busy alongside entertaining the smaller cousins. It was just so good to see everyone again. Then had first night at the new place, couldn't sleep so I watched the lego movie.

Early start. We were all going to my grandparents church which started at 9.30am and was a 15 minute drive from where I was living and where my family where staying. Fun fun fun, I got picked up at 8.30am. Way to early, so we got a tour of the pork pie libraries in Leicester to burn some time.



Definitely looks like a pork pie. And one of them is on a roundabout called Pork Pie roundabout.

So after church we all went back to my grandparents and had another family day which was nice. Then my family dropped me off at my house before driving back to Wakefield.

Today was a bit of a mad day. Exploring Leicester centre and seeing where the buses go. Went in for the freshers fair got some freebies and signed up to a load of societies - most of which I can't remember and will probably not carry on with. Oh well. So that was one bus to uni and then a walk. Then another bus into the centre. Had a walk around the shops to see what was there. Then another bus to Fosse Park where they have a giant Asda picked up some chicken for my tea on Wednesday and apples and chocolate. Then another bus back to the bus station and another back to home. I figured there must be an easier way to get around so I asked the lady at the bus station and she gave me a load of bus timetables and told me which ones to get so hopefully it'll take quicker the next time I go - tomorrow morning.

Cleaned out the oven when I got back as I wanted Jacket potato for tea and it looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a very very very long time. Took a while but it's in pretty good condition now. Cooked jacket potato and beans for tea. Then sat back a bit after being on my feet for most the day and watched some tv.

Tomorrow I think that I have to be in for 9 so that'll be an early start. But it is departmental induction so I should hopefully get my ID card and timetable which will be good.