Focus Group: Part II

Well it wasn't a complete waste. I got to slate how the windows OneDrive and Lync offers me nothing that Google Drive and Google+ and Hangouts doesn't offer. It will in fact only make things more complicated as I then have more than one place where files are stored.

Most of the others seemed to like the idea of OneDrive, I guess it's okay if you haven't been using Google Drive but I think they said that it is only free when you are studying at the uni so as soon as you leave or graduate you will have to download all your files and take them with you. Not necessary with Google Drive.

Noone was a fan of Lync though particularly. They actually suggested that Lecturers might get it and so we would be able to video call them....

Man I wanted to laugh. In all seriousness who would feel comfortable video calling their lecturer? I would much rather sign up to their office hours. Also what lecturer would want to video call a student? We're so busy all the time this is why they have office hours. It's just another way work life will be pushed into private. No thank you.

On the plus side I get £10 top up on my printing allowance for doing it. Hooray.

Focus Group: Part I

I had plans. Go into university for my feedback session with my Archaeology tutorial professor, then go to the library to write some more of my talk for Sunday.

Ambushed on the way in.

Two students were handing out leaflets inviting you to be part of a IT focus group. Well actually they drew you in with a "would you like £10 free printing credit". Um yes please. Printing costs me a fortune at university.

Oh but it's not quite free. Is anything ever?

So I'm now signed up for an hour long session this afternoon where the IT services want student feedback on OneDrive and Lync.

I know nothing about these two things, what I have gathered is that OneDrive is some microsofty version of Google Drive and Lync is instant messaging.

Commence reading of their respective wikipedia pages.

Well as they are both Microsoft they are not going to be terribly useful to me, as I have a chrome computer. Nor to anyone who has linux and maybe mac? I don't know apple sometimes have ways around things if they want to.

So somehow I can't imagine me being very for it. Especially as I already have both those things. Google Drive - which I think is better as you can use it anywhere irrespective of your operating system. And instant messaging, well that comes under google+ and hangouts so I'm covered. And again it can be used on any operating system because all you need is the INTERNET. Not windows.

However I am allowing for my naivety of the world of computers and perhaps these are both useful and much needed at university. Though I say again Google has them...for free.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes.

It has been a while and so much has happened. Highs and lows. Bits of swapping and changing.

I had finally come to the decision that my current degree - Ancient History and Archaeology - is not the one I want to be studying. After a lot of pondering I decided that I should see if I could transfer to another degree course, specifically to Ancient History and History.

So I made an appointment to see my university tutor, I wasn't sure who to see really.

My worries were:
1. No you can't swap
2. You can but you have to repeat the first year

It was an interesting meeting. My university tutor is also an Archaeology professor so it was difficult to answer the questions "Why don't you want to continue Archaeology?" in a way that was honest but not completely horrible to the subject he clearly derives great enjoyment from.

He didn't initially know if it would be possible to swap, normally, he said, they get people on the History degrees wanting to swap onto the Archaeology ones rather than the other round. So I might be the first. Luckily as we were having this conversation the guy who is the link between the History and Ancient History department walked past the door so he joined in the conversation as well.

They thought it would be okay, just depends on what the history department say, apparently there is some kind of "enmity" playful? between the archaeologists and historians. Anyway the email came back saying yes they'll take me on.

The short answer is yes I can swap my degree course and not have to repeat the first year. Score.

Basically I just have to concern myself with passing the first year which will enable me to stay on at the university and then they will transfer me. I think it means I get last pick of modules next year though. The way the electronic system works is that although you are changing degree you have to apply for modules as if you were continuing your current one. Stupid computers. So I think I might get assigned the modules that are left over from the History side.

I am feeling  much happier about staying on for my degree now that I have been able to change it though. Archaeology was sometimes interesting but definitely not what I want to continue studying.

Another change. So a well as changing my degree I'm trying to transfer onto the four year degree program which gets you a study year abroad. Yes my uni life is now getting a little complicated. There is only one university I would like to do study abroad with though so I'm hoping this will make the yes/no thing a whole lot easier.

But it's complicated. Why wouldn't it be?

The university I want to do the year abroad at is the University of Western Australia. A few reasons: 1. I've always wanted to go Australia at college I even looked at doing my whole degree there but it was way too expensive, 2. I have family out there so if I'm going to the other side of the world I'd like to be near people I know, 3. I have read their website a lot and the course for history looks so good!

That is the catch though...for history. Which I don't study. Yet.

The history department have a link to UWA, the Ancient History department don't only with Flinders which is in Adelaide - wrong coast.

So to sumarise my university status right now:

I am an undergraduate studying Ancient History and Archaeology but am transferring to Ancient History and History in September. In light of this degree change I'm applying for a History study abroad placement. That is the complicated truth.

I have my interview later this afternoon so let's see how it goes. I didn't put any alternative destinations down, that's because there aren't any. I'm worried it will make me seem arrogant as in "Ha I've only put one down so now you have to give it to me" not the case. I only put one down because there is only one place I want to go to, if I don't get it that's fine I just don't want to substitute it for something else.

It's like when I was applying for universities at college my tutor critiqued me for only applying to two high entry universities and not applying for a low graded one in case my exams went poorly. Well my response was if I go to university I will be going to the one I want to go to. I'm not going to pay £9000 a year to go to a uni that wasn't my first choice simply for the sake of going. I'd rather not go. Same for this, if I don't get UWA then never mind, just no substitute please.

These last few weeks have been really busy, lots of assignment handing in and getting returns.

My Greek source project came back with a mark of 74 which is extremely good! The best mark I've ever had on assignment yet. Disappointingly my archaeology came back with 59. Oops. Having read the above you may be tempted to think that I'm slacking off Archaeology. Not the case. At least not consciously. A comment on the front said something to the effect of 'the question is very broad and your answer very specific'. Well great I can see why that would be an issue if I hadn't seen my Archaeology tutor before I began writing the essay and said 'The question is very broad and the word count is small can I focus on one area?' to which the reply was 'yes'. So not entirely sure what happened there, but I made an appointment for feedback so hopefully that will shed some light.

My last essay is yet to come back, hopefully we'll get them before the holidays otherwise we will have to wait until May for the results which is like five weeks away.

A few weeks ago the Economics department sent out emails inviting people to participate in some research experiments they were doing. I signed up for it and I've participated in two experiments so far.

So you get paid £2.00 just for showing up on time and then depending on what your answers are you have the potential to earn more money. So like on the first test in part 1 you got 50p for every maths questions you answered right and in part 2 20p etc. The experiment I did today was difficult. It was like a maths exam/verbal reasoning test. They did have a section of anagrams and dingbat type questions though and I liked those.

One I can remember is

"In Ancient Greece a man died at X years. He spent 1/4 of his life as a boy, 1/5 as a youth, a 1/3 as an adult and 13 years as an elder. How old was he when he died?"

My first answer was 56, but then I went with 60. I'm sure there is a simple way to work this out. Any takers?

Don't know how much I earned from this, but I'll find out tomorrow. They are marking them tonight. It felt like being back at high school doing exams. Not a nice feeling.

A big change? It felt it. I went on my first YSA convention a couple of weekends ago. I wasn't keen on going, I mostly showed up because it was in Hull so I'd get to go back North and see all my friends who were going, though not everyone came in the end.

It was an interesting weekend and I spent most of it with Jemima which was good fun. On the Friday we went to an adult-sized play area, think wacky warehouse for grown ups. That was actually awesome and I would love to have a future birthday party there, or just go there again really.

On the saturday we did service in the morning, me Jemima and two of her cousins Rory and Chelsea went out collecting for Marie Curie. We stood outside the petrol station shop at the local Morrisons and we did so well, everyone comes in and out with change so we were very lucky.

After that we did some workshops, a dance one where we learned the Cha-Cha-Cha. Then a stress one. Packed lunches and onto activities. Me and Jemima did the bungee run, it looked easy but the belt around your waist really inhibits easy movement and you have to be quite strong to get anywhere with it.

Then we all went to the cinema to see Big Hero 6. I think they had booked most of the screen out, there were a few members of the public there though, I felt a little sorry for them although we weren't too rowdy. Back to church where they put on a Chinese buffet and then it was the dance.

Sunday we had a short service and then we all disseminated slowly back home.

It was a very long weekend. It was also the weekend I lost my voice and couldn't speak for most of it which made it very difficult to talk to new people.

I have mixed feelings about conventions. They are enjoyable but they are also so long. I think I prefer dances.

The week I was off university with tonsillitis I got a surprise dropped round at my house. I don't know who it's from or why but it was lovely and very much appreciated! Cheered me up and gave me some lovely cookies to eat whilst I wasn't feeling well. Thank you whoever you are!

Solar Eclipse last Friday. On reflection I'm not convinced I actually saw the Eclipse, I think I might have just missed it and simply caught a very bright sun. Well that will have been two I've seen, mum said she showed me the one in 1999 and I might get to see the next one in 2090 to, I'll be 95 then. 

I was going to make the pinhole paper thing but reflections seem to work well so I used my laptop screen to look at it.

Couldn't have used my phone or I wouldn't have been able to take a photo. Though as I say you can't see the eclipse in the photo so I think I may have actually just missed it.

I should probably try and write this a little more regularly. Just the rest of this week left then back home on Sunday!

I've already started packing all my room up, so excited to go home and see everybody.

On the minus side, I wont be at my ward here in Leicester for the whole of April which will be a shame, I love teaching my primary kids and I just like attending everybody is so nice. Still it'll be nice to see everyone at Wakefield again. 

In preparation for the fact that I will be away from university for five weeks (yes five whole weeks!!!) I have checked out eighteen books from the library to do with Greek History and Archaeology to read over my break as exams are here when I get back. 

Five whole weeks though! I have waited so long, since my non-existent February half-term really. So glad that it is finally here.

Αρχαία Ελληνικά (I'm assured this says Ancient Greek)

Yesterday was the first day of semester two. In comparison to last semester it looks like this one is way shorter and also I have one less module to work on.

This term I study:

• World Archaeology AD
• Introduction to Greek History
• Greek Language

I am in for even less hours than last term. My weeks fluctuate between seven and eight hours a week. A regular week consists of:

• Monday: 9-10am, 11-12pm
• Tuesday: 2-3pm
• Thursday: 12-1pm, 2-3pm, 3-4pm
• Friday: 12-1pm, 1-2pm

I get a day off this term which is nice. Wednesdays. And some weeks I get Mondays off too.

I had three hours of university yesterday, 9-12. First was a World Archaeology AD lecture, they introduced the module and we had a first lecture on the Roman Army and its presence across the Empire. After that we had a plenary lecture for Greek language explaining what the course would entail. That finished early so I went to the book store to buy a Greek Dictionary, I still need to get a grammar book. 

Then at 11am I had my first Greek Seminar, this was really fun. I've been looking forward to studying Greek the whole of the year, even more than Latin. Yesterday we looked at the alphabet and it's symbols and tried pronouncing words. The hardest thing is looking for words in the dictionary because the letters don't come in the same order as English. For homework we had to learn the alphabet off by heart which I have done but I still think it will take me a while to get used to it. That is one thing that will make it so much trickier than Latin. At least in Latin it's all English letters and if all else fails you can pronounce them in an English way. For Greek you can look at words you can just look at the words and literally have no idea of how to say them.

αβγδεζνθικλμνξοπρστυφχψω

ΑΒΓΔΕΖΝΤΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩ

I am excited to study it though. It is difficult to remember how to pronounce everything but I guess that will come in time. I did find out that I've been pronouncing all the Greek gods' names wrongly! 

I got my Latin exam results back yesterday too 88/100 which I am super pleased with! Hopefully I can at least match that with Ancient Greek.

Today I don't have to be in until 2pm so I am having a little fun this morning. Let myself sleep in until 10am then got up and made a sponge cake. It's just finished cooking and it smells so good I really want to eat it but I'm waiting for it to cool so I can put buttercream in it. In the meantime I'm watching a movie to have a little chill time. When I came back from uni yesterday I did all my follow up work so I have some time to spare. Plus when I get back this evening from Uni I'll be doing that follow up work and reading then.

Domenica.

I've been letting my Italian get a bit slack which is a shame. I tried writing my journal in Italian last night and gave up when there were more question marks for words I didn't know than words I do. Something to practise on. At least I've retained the basics: oggi é domenica (today is Sunday).

Exams are finally nearly over, only one more to do tomorrow. Archaeology BC, the whole of prehistory from the Lower Palaeolithic 2.6 million years ago to the Iron Age (which actually finishes AD 70). I say finish, it's hard to pinpoint an exact date. When did the nineteen-twenties finish? In 1930? Or are they still going, and will they only end when we tire of art deco and vintage fashion? We live in with so many residualities of the past that you could justifiably argue that we are still living in the stone age, the bronze age, the iron age etc. Just a developed formed Iron Age 2.0 or something.

One thing I remember that struck me from an Archaeology lecture was a book called "Faith in Fakes" by Umberto Eco, I haven't read it yet but I'm led to believe it's very good. It discusses the inconsistencies with the recreations we make of the past. For example, a museum cataloguing Regency England will ensure that a room recreation is made up of things solely from Regency. So accurate in timing and dating and perfection we fail to see what's wrong with it. People in Regency England did not solely interact with products made in Regency England. Heirlooms, items passed down and reused. Even now we don't live solely in the present. Unless your house is a replica of an IKEA 2015 catalogue we all have residualities of the past around us. Books from decades ago, furniture from years ago, broken phones and computers that we could order in a timeline of development. We are surrounded by the past always. Anyway the book promises to be interesting, I need to find time to get hold of a copy.

Exams at university are interesting. I remember at college and high school everything went in your bag and that was left aside. At uni you are allowed to put your valuable items e.g phone, keys, purse into a plastic wallet and place them under your desk. Which is quite nice, gives you a little peace of mind. But also a little more to worry about, I kept kicking my phone underneath my desk as I moved my legs around. You also don't have to stay for the full time. All my exams are two hours and we can leave after the first hour and before the last twenty minutes, so we have a forty minute window of potential early exiting. My first exam was in a room without about 100 people not all taking my exam, at the end once all the papers had been collected I had expected them to dismiss us row by row as I'm used to. Not at Uni. There was a "You may leave" and suddenly 100 people are moving for the exit collecting possessions en route. It took a while to get out.

The exam timetable at university also runs differently, it goes Monday-Saturday. My second exam was on a Saturday afternoon, it actually wasn't too bad I got an extra day revision for it which was nice. They also aren't all on campus. My first one was, the second one was still a university building but a ten minute walk away. My last tomorrow is held at some kind of church hall I think, which is apparently a fifteen minute walk from the campus. I just hope its warm, there's nothing like a cold room to destroy writing essay answers as your fingers slowly freeze.

Recently my runs have been turning into walks. For several reasons, 1. The weather, 2. The discovery of new places and 3. I'm just not fit enough to run the whole distance. The weather leads to dangerous running surfaces which bear the necessity of slowing to a walk for fear of falling over, but also the other day when I went it began to hail after I'd ran a good fifteen minutes from the house. At first just light rain, so I thought nothing of it and carried on but then heavy hail came the stuff that hurts when it hits you. I got soaked through. Light grey jumper = dark grey. Maria = freezing. I could not jump into the shower fast enough when I got back.

I have ran into some nice little places when I've been running though, Bouskell Park for one and then just quiet little residential areas with their own little parish churches.

Lovely little church, I don't know why but I love the architecture of these buildings it feels so nice to be near them. 

You could be forgiven for thinking you were in the countryside, but just around the corner houses return.

Useful signs that stopped me from getting lost, I was literally just wandering around without a map.

I don't know if every county has it's own way of doing street signs? Or if it just depends when the street was named, but I like this style. Embedded in the walls. 

So my runs normally start of as runs until I hit Blaby then I go into a walk/explore and then run back. I broke my record for fastest km ran though which was great!

I also accidentally though rather nicely now have my total km ran as 123.0km. If only it was 123.4! But I'm pretty pleased with myself.

Yesterday after my exam I stopped off by Morrisons to pick up some bits the store has its own special bus stop and bus stop lane which is one way. I was waiting there when all of a sudden a car comes rocketing down the BUS lane, the wrong way. In fact I'm pretty sure the whole road is one way so I'm not entirely certain how any of this managed to happen without an accident. It then screeched to a halt at the end of the bus lane, realising I think it was driving towards oncoming traffic had to do an extremely tight u-turn to get into Morrisons. It was so bizarre, I'm just glad a bus wasn't coming because that could have been nasty.

Not a great picture, but it's the black car on left that was messing around.

I had a bunch of spare time, so you're treated to a hand drawing haha. It was just crazy. The whole road is one way so I don't know how it even managed it.

Church was pretty good today. My primary class got expanded by two kids which was lovely so there were six today. The lesson was on "Happiness comes from Choosing The Right". I think they enjoyed it, we learnt about how to know what right choices are like playing nicely with our siblings, helping our parents, coming to church and how to make wrong choices better by doing things like saying sorry or giving people hugs (the children are only 3-4 years old). We did some colouring and talked about things that make us happy, a popular answer (from the kids) was dinosaurs. Especially T-Rexes. Also aeroplanes. 

After the lesson we had singing time, we learnt some new verses to some primary songs. When I was in primary I hated these songs, I thought they were just the worst but they actually aren't too bad. One we were working on today was "I Know That My Saviour Loves Me" we learned the second verse to that.

1. A long time ago in a beautiful place,

Children were gathered ’round Jesus.

He blessed and taught as they felt of His love.

Each saw the tears on His face.

The love that He felt for His little ones

I know He feels for me.

I did not touch Him or sit on His knee,

Yet, Jesus is real to me.

Chorus

I know He lives!

I will follow faithfully.

My heart I give to Him.

I know that my Savior loves me.

2. Now I am here in a beautiful place,

Learning the teachings of Jesus.

Parents and teachers will help guide the way,

Lighting my path ev’ry day.

Wrapped in the arms of my Savior’s love,

I feel His gentle touch.

Living each day, I will follow His way,

Home to my Father above.

Chorus

Copyright © 2002 by Tami Jeppson Creamer and Derena Bell. All rights reserved. This song may be copied for incidental, noncommercial home or church use. This notice must be included on each copy made.

It's a lovely song. I like especially like the line "The love that he felt for his little ones I know he feels for me". The chorus is beautiful as well.

After we sang some more songs and then had sharing time where we helped the children make get well soon cards for an old man in our ward who brings sweets every week for them. He's really nice and the kids all like him so they enjoyed doing that. My cousin moved up into primary today, he was in my class and he had a good time colouring and singing.

After church I did a variety of things. I put some EFY music on, so the house wasn't so quiet. I did some family history, I'm working on my (step)grandma's line she had no children and no siblings so I thought I'd do it. I've done quite a bit already so I was just continuing on that. I like working from the ancestry website, the little hint that come up are really useful and make researching so much faster. Then I was linking all the people to my familysearch account so I didn't have to fill in the details twice on both sites.

I had bought some eggs a few days ago to make Carbonara, didn't use them all but I'm going home on Tuesday so I needed to finish them up. I decided to make some meringues. It took me so long to find a recipe, I just typed in "basic meringue recipe" and it comes up with so many complicated things, but finally I found a good one: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4630/summer-berry-meringues. I ignored the summer berry thing  I just used it for the meringue bit. They were so much fun to make, I am looking forward to when they are finished, meringues are one of my favourite desserts. I think I'll stick on meringues on a separate post - with pictures!

I decided to do some Italian this afternoon, I went on the app I use to practice "duolingo" and was immediately disheartened by the fact I had about twenty units to revise (when you don't do it consecutively it gives you units to revise) I think I got through about five of them, I'll tackle the others another day. At least these units I'll know really well because it's always the same ones I have to revise - normally plurals and possessives. Che fastidioso! Ma anche utile.

I've planned to do some reading as well. I was going to go out for a walk but the meringues are in the oven now and I don't want to leave them unattended also it's so cold outside, so I think I'll stay inside with a book instead. 

The Theory of Everything

It's that time already, the time for trekking back to university, which apart from my exams I am looking forward to. Having lived away for so long, Italy and then first semester at university, it's become the normal and I quite miss not doing everything on my own timetable. But I am grateful for my family looking after me when I was back.

Yesterday I was able to eat out with some friends, Hannah and Hannah, followed by the cinema which was lovely to have a chat and spend some time with them before we all disappear back off to our different spots in the UK.

There seems to be an influx of good movies being released and I had quite a lot on my list that I wanted to see. Now one of them is checked off.

We went to view: The Theory of Everything.



I can only describe it as enlightening and containing possibly the best actors I have ever seen. It's also thought-provoking, emotional and intensely inspirational in a non-cheesy way. I would recommend it and I am very much looking forward to its release on DVD so that I can purchase it and see it again.

Incidentally for those who weren't aware the movie is based on a novel by Jane Wilde, Stephen Hawking's ex-wife and her experiences with him. It is a lovely movie, very well made and considerate especially considering most of the people involved in it are still living.

I'm not intentionally planning to spoil it but no doubt bits will slip out as I write so if you want to see it untainted skip down from this section.

I think because of when I was born and not having a tendency to follow physics Stephen Hawking was only ever imprinted in my memory as the scientist in the wheelchair, a thought I am perhaps now a little ashamed of. He was much more than that.

What makes the film so moving is that it begins with Stephen before he is diagnosed with motor-neurone disease and so you see both sides. The brilliant mobile man and the even more brilliant immobile one. The transition is really, for want of a better word, emotional. I seem to have poor control over my tear ducts anyway but films and books seem to enhance this. I think that was point one that I cried. It makes you think of all the people who go through this kind of life-changing experiences everyday; deaths, diseases other disasters. And then how lucky you feel for not having that challenge to push yourself through.

I like science, but I like it even better when it's proved wrong, I think it's another testament to that there is something bigger than us who doesn't play by our rules and it is also a humbling and a rather nice thought that humans do get things wrong - often a good thing. After being diagnosed by the doctor, Stephen is told he has two years to live. Well he did and is still defying that. Take that science. As my dad said he probably is going to outlive his doctor (if he hasn't already, I haven't followed up on that). I know a few people who have been given ultimatums like that all of whom have and are defying them, why do we trust science so implicitly?

Watching him (the actor - who by the was brilliant, he was so convincing and pretty much looked like the real Doctor) deteriorate on screen was hard to watch. One scene especially, early on in his disease when he received his PhD and became a Doctor his wife held a dinner party with some old Cambridge friends. And it kind of slows down as you see him struggle to eat and drink while everyone else does it so gracefully and carefully and the frustration of not being able to climb the stairs easily to see his children. It makes you so thankful for what you have and you feel such a respect for his perseverance and strength of character.



 I think they did pretty good on finding close matches with the main actor and actress.

The film played out quite nicely showing all the adaptions they had to make, moving the bedroom downstairs etc. but also the joy and the determination they had as a family to get through it. I have a real respect for his then-wife as well who for a lot of it, did everything by herself.

A great theme of it is the conflict between God and Science. Jane who was a strong C of E and Stephen who put aside the thought of personal beliefs in order to not have it affect his scientific findings. However throughout the film you get the feel that he doesn't disbelieve in God. At one point whilst he is writing his book "A Brief History of Time" he writes with regards to his search for a theory to everything that " If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason - for then we would know the mind of God." How true.

I had a conflict towards the end where Jane decides to leave Stephen. I have no idea how accurate to the truth this is, but in the movie it is played as Jane choosing to leave Stephen for her church choir director Jonathan. I cried again. I felt really sorry for Stephen. But I also understood her choice. It must have been very difficult for her but at the same time she had made a commitment. It was one of the most personal and raw moments in the movie. Jane's line "I have loved you" set me off, and his reaction is truly upsetting.

My thoughts after the movie were finished were with one of Dr Hawking's closing lines "while there's life there's hope". So many things can go wrong but they shouldn't hold us back. Whilst we live we are in a way unlimited by what we want to do, there is a way to accomplish everything. When I said earlier it was inspirational in a non-cheesy way this was what I meant. Here a very real and human man with flaws proves that the laws we set ourselves (science, amongst others) do not stick, can be changed and we can surpass them and that applies to most anything.

It's overall a message of hope, perseverance and the wonder of what humans can achieve even with great limitations imposed upon them.

I can't wait to see it again.



After having arrived back in Leicester and unpacked I have come to the decision that next holiday my stuff can either fit or one suitcase or stay out because it was nightmare packing and unpacking. But it is nice to be back. Food shop tomorrow and then I'll be officially back.

Two-Thousand and Fifteen.

Welcome to the new year. May it not pass as fast as the old one, time has really flown by and I'm not sure I like it. The four week holiday that felt like it would stretch on forever is coming to a close and exams that seemed to be ages away are suddenly sneaking up around the corner.

I saw in the New Year with some of my good friends from college watching the countdown on television with a glass of lemonade ready to toast at midnight followed by an entertaining rendition of Auld Lang Syne (does anybody actually know the words to it?) It was a lovely evening catching up with friends, playing games, and staying up extremely late.  Hannah, our host, had made really cool decorations and stuff for a photo booth so we all took some crazy photos with moustaches and glasses.

We all stayed over and then wended our way back New Year's day and had a lovely day with the family. Lack of sleep led to a necessary and well-timed nap in the afternoon (when the Moshi Monster Movie got pulled out I made my escape).

I've been doing some work from home for former boss, I guess current boss again, that has been quite fun and relaxing to do. Splits up the revision as well. I'm about halfway through my Archaeology revision and three quarters through my Roman History. It's really nice to read back over though and realise I remembered more than I thought I did and to come across cool facts again that I had forgotten. My exams begin a week on Monday I'll be quite glad when they are over but they wont be too bad to get through, except one happens to be on a Saturday. I've never had an exam on the weekend before. 

I'm waiting for my timetable to get put up on the university website. That's what I'm most excited to see, so I can find out when all my lectures and tutorials are, mostly to see if I have a day off this semester. As I only have a ten hour week I'm hoping for a Monday or Friday spare. We shall see!

Not sure when I will be back at Leicester, sometime next week. It has been fun being back with my family it was a lovely holiday over Christmas and the New Year and it has been lovely catching up with friends I haven't seen for a long time.

I've made a few resolutions we will see how long I can keep them, hopefully the whole year through.

Vale Ratae Corieltauvorum (Goodbye Leicester)

This time tomorrow Semester One will be over. It started off so slowly, but it has really speeded by these last 10 weeks have really flown. Which I'm glad for because I can't wait for the Christmas holidays, four whole weeks off. Well kind of, I have three exams in January to revise for but that wont take up all the time.

I already have my exam timetable, luckily none of them are at 9am, all are afternoon ones 2.30pm-4.30pm. Roman History is the first day back, then the two Archaeology ones split over the first Saturday and following Monday. Yes that is right an exam on a Saturday. Apparently because of the amount of modules and stuff they run the exam week Monday-Saturday so they can fit them all in. I don't mind so much it's only two hours of the day.

Today I had my Latin exam. Well can you really call it an exam? It was open textbook so we got dictionaries and notes it was pretty fun and I think I did okay, I got 97/100 on the mock last week but our tutor said he would make it harder for the real and it was so we shall see in January how I did. It was a four part piece, some maths numeral reading questions, grammar functions on nouns and verbs. Then sentences to translate and two inscriptions. The first was a funerary inscription which we had to transcribe, translate and then explain, then repeat for a coin. So Latin is now officially over, we do Ancient Greek next semester. Which I'm looking forward to even more but I hope we can do modules in Latin in next year because I'd love to keep it up. 

In the exam I think I found a mistake/spelling error. It's always worrying when that happens, however I did my best but after we had finished I was talking to some of the others and they said they had noticed it as well. In the verb section we were asked to translate "audistis" it doesn't exist. The root is the fourth conjugation verb "audio" to hear, but it had been coupled with a third conjugation ending "istis" my guess is it was either supposed to read "auditis" - you hear or "audivistis" - you heard. However I did check the dictionary a million times to see if there were any third conjugation verbs with the root of "aud" but there were none. 

My room is just about packed up now for going home. The washing machine has been going crazy, I think I may be one of the few students who tries not to bring back all their laundry for their parents to do. Just clothes and things to pack up when my dad brings the suitcase tomorrow. I'm really excited to be going back, even though I went up twice since going (October, November) it has been a while and I'm looking forward to spending the Christmas period with my family and friends. What is even more exciting is that I am getting put back on the car insurance! I am so grateful and happy, I have really missed driving. First trip will be hopefully be driving back from Leicester to Wakefield after I get picked up tomorrow. I've missed the little orange machine. 

Busy-ish weekend. My sister is volunteering at Nostell Priory so she needed cover for work so I offered to, it will be nice to be back at my old job even if only for a week. Also a nice little bit of extra money in time for Christmas, which as a poor student I can't complain about. Even nicer, my old boss has some other work for me to do from home creating I think sort of revision/note guides on English for his ks3 students so that will be really fun and something nice to do over the holidays.

I have now finished my Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award. Finally, I'm sure my assessor is sighing with relief. Just have to wait to get some dates back now for when I can go for my presentation. That should be pretty exciting, sometime next summer I think.

So of the three essays I have handed in I have the results for two of them back. On my Archaeology one on Cave Art I got 68 which is equivalent to a high 2.1, two marks off a first. I was feeling really pleased about that such a huge improvement from my non-assessed essay. Then I went to get my Latin Source Project back on Augustus' res gestae and got a score of 70. Which is the mark for a first! Very much pleased with that and it gave me the motivation I needed to get through the Roman History essay which I will get back after Christmas.

Tomorrow I only have one lecture 12-1pm and it's just a summary on what the exam will be like in January so that will be okay, and then homeward bound. Happy times.

Essays

Just something short and funny.

Maybe it's just me but when I write essays I try and give myself time frames to work to, say I have to reach a certain point by an hours time I find it increases my productivity.

This also has negative sides to it, in that sometimes the conclusion of the last bit I was finishing is hilariously bad because I spewed it out in about three seconds.

The funny side is when I come back to edit it another day and read what I thought was pretty good at the time.

So today I was editing about 800 words of my Latin Source Project, somehow when I wrote this out the first time my brain decided it was okay to describe Caesar Augustus as a "magical man". Reading this back was hilarious, I laughed so hard, then rang my sister up and laughed with her about it.

Who said essays were always boring to write? Me, often, but it's little things like that that don't exactly make it worthwhile but bearable!

Half-Term Report

Five weeks in means five weeks left. Time seems to have started off slowly but quickened quite suddenly. So halfway through semester one and what do I have to show for being at uni. I can think of a few things: 1. I can definitely cook a Jacket Potato successfully (though I did have to ring my mum every time I wanted to have one because I kept forgetting to write it down), 2. I'm not bankrupt, from some of the conversations I hear at uni a lot of people seem really hard up - I can only equate this to a. I have a budget and b. I don't go over it. 3. Talk about time speeding up I had no essays and now I have three.

On the subject of essays I think this is the most prepared I have ever been to write them. I got books out of the library weeks in advance and started reading them and I'm currently on top of all my deadlines. I have 3/4's of my archaeology essay done (due in for the 24th) and half of my Latin source project (due in 17th). I haven't started my Roman History essay, which will be my favourite as it is on the pax deorum between the Romans and their gods definitely the most interesting aspect of ancient history, but that doesn't have to be in until the 8th December so I'll have a nice two weeks after handing my others in to get that sorted out.

Things I'm excited for: my society jumper. I ordered it a while back it's a cornflower blue colour and I can't wait to get it hopefully in time for the winter cold that's coming. On the back of the jumpers you could have a nickname printed, I deliberated over a few and I nearly went with Salisbury until I figured that no one who saw me wearing it would know what it refers to so I went with just my name in the end. What else am I looking forward to, hmm Christmas I have an advent calendar in my room already my mum gave it to me from when I last went up to visit and I'm really excited to start it. Excited because 1st December means only 11 more day at university and then I get to spend a whole month off visiting family and friends.

I taught my first sunbeam lesson at church on Sunday. Out of the four children I am supposed to teach only one was there I think the rest were away with family or something. Anyway I had trouble trying to get him to stay in my lesson, his mum had previously taught the class and I don't think he was too keen on having a new teacher. Still it was pretty fun we coloured pictures and sang songs with musical instruments and had lollipops as treats. I think he was pretty happy with me as his new teacher by the end of the lesson. After the lesson I went to help out in Nursery that was really fun. We played with the children and sang songs and did games. One of the ladies in Nursery is Spanish and she can speak Italian too so I got to talk a little Italian to her which was really nice I've missed speaking it! I still practice my Italian though, I don't want to forget everything I managed to pick up. I'm quite excited to prepare my next lesson for this week.

So this weekend was like the first weekend I'd actually spent in Leicester for quite a few weeks. It was my cousin's 1st birthday so my aunt and uncle had a party for her and it was lovely, got to spend some time with some of my extended family catching up and playing. And they had fireworks which was nice because I missed them on Bonfire Night and Halloween this year so that was fun, there were some really good ones.

My running is going pretty good, this is the third consecutive week that I've managed to go out everyday (weekdays only - weekends I get off so my legs can stop hurting). I feel a huge difference from it. Just in simple things like being able to sleep easier, get up earlier, better prepared and awake for lectures (since I started running in the morning before uni) also I just feel healthier which is good because I think in winter its hard to motivate yourself to go out into the cold. But today I ran the furthest I've run so far 4.87km in 33 minutes. Perhaps that's not good timewise, I don't really know but I managed to keep a steady pace and run for longer segments. I try and motivate myself through the music so I stick on a really long song and make myself run at least until its finished. It works, I only stopped three times on my run today and one of them was because of traffic lights. Running is a nice way to explore around where I live as well, I run from Glen Parva into Blaby and I went a little further into Blaby today before looping back. Because I run via the Nike run app it tracks all my progress and so today I squashed four of my records which was fantastic, I got furthest run, longest run, fastest mile and fastest km. My heart still felt dreadful at the end, but I can that'll get better the more I do it.

I've started picking up leisure reading again, just to make a change from uni course texts all the time, I really need to update my bookcase so any suggestions are welcome - by update the books can be old books too. I picked up Jane Eyre yesterday. Very reminiscent of Italy where I read it like everyday, mine is a different copy to the one I had in Italy though and it's weird reading it when I was so used to the other one. I've never really been attached to a specific version of a book before, but then I've never really read a book so repetitively as I did Jane Eyre in Italy. I guess I'll get used to it.

A few years ago I had a really good list of bands and music I liked but then I lost it, which is a little annoying because I can't remember most of the ones on it. Italy sort of got me hooked onto the mainstream stuff because that was the only English stuff the radio played so I was just on English summer hits and Italian stuff. The Italian bands aren't actually half bad. If I had to recommend a song: La Pioggia by Dear Jack or Come un Pittore by Moda. I've got back into the All American Rejects again recently and The Pierces and I've had some new stuff recommended which had been really good.

Guess that's it for the half term report. To surmise, it's going pretty well. It's just difficult, but that was to be expected.

Weekend Coach Trip(s)

So a downside of being at University is that I don't get half term in October, although I think it makes up for it by the fact that I get a whole month off at Christmas, not sure that I want to wait that long for my holiday though.

Instead I kind of had a mini weekend holiday back home. Friday at uni consists of one lecture 12-1pm, so after that finished I got a bus into the bus station in town and hung around for my coach to the North of England. It was supposed to leave at 2.45pm but it didn't really get going until 3.15 so a later arrival into Leeds. But all good the coach was nice and comfortable but still three hours, a good opportunity to catch up on notes though. After I got to Leeds I had to get a train to Wakefield, then my mum came and picked me up with William. He was super excited to see me which was really cute! He'd grown up a lot since I saw him last, it's crazy how much little kids change in such a short space of time. Spent the Saturday with the family and then church in my home ward on Sunday which was great I got to catch up with everyone. Then I had to get back to Leeds for my coach back so my dad and Louisa dropped me down at the bus station. I sort of fell asleep on the way back which was one way of getting through the trip. All in all not a bad way to travel, though I definitely prefer car.

Short night's rest after a late arrival and then an early start for university 9am lecture. What a horrible time to have a lecture on a Monday, I'm sure out of all the lectures in the week that is the worst attended, and the people who do manage to make it are usually half asleep.

This week seems to have gone very very fast, before I know it the weekend is creeping up and that means another trip homeward bound and beyond. The last one I think until Christmas, who knows we'll see. This will be a busy weekend though, coach up on Friday and then Saturday is hairdressers appointment (I trust my home town hairdresser too much to try a new one and they had no slots last weekend). Following that is a train ride further northwards to visit some friends who I haven't seen for a very long time, dare I say ridiculously long time, for a catch up and birthday celebration! Then another week in my home church ward before the coach ride back to Leicester.

The worst bit is packing and unpacking. Actually it's quite funny, because of the coach time up to Leeds and the times of my lecture on a Friday I have to take my suitcase to uni with me, and I do not have any mini suitcases. It is still a pretty small suitcase it just doesn't look it compared to everyone else's tiny ones and consequently it looks like I'm going away for a month not a few days - though I will say it isn't jam packed, but I guess you can't tell that from the outside.

Two essays are in the mix but then that seems to be it until exams start in January. I've managed to keep quite on top of them, I've taken six books out of the library to read up for my sources so so so much reading. But it's going well. My archaeology essay is on the ways cave art has been interpreted and my ancient history one is on the relationship between the people and their gods. Yes some mythology at last!

Non-Assessed Formative Essay

The first essay of university. Though non-assessed I still wanted to do well as it would set a mark for the rest of the year.

Today we got an email saying they had been marked and to sign up for feedback on Monday. On my way to sign up for a slot I bumped into my tutor and he said he could give me the feedback then. 

It wasn't a rubbish essay but it wasn't brilliant either. When I handed it in I thought it was pretty good, just shows we are biased when we come to our own work. 

The only reasonable explanation I can come up with is that having such a ridiculously long summer the process of essay writing had become to be erased from my memory because at college all I wrote was essays. I studied three essay based subjects. I got really good grades in all of them. Something happened between June and September.

The process of referencing especially seems to have gotten a little crazy with me putting just about everything in quote marks making for an essay split into equal thirds of my words, the books words, and citation references. Not the best. 

The feedback is really good here though, better than college. They go into more detail. Hopefully by taking it on board I'll do better for next time for the essays that really count. 

Though it wasn't to be assessed they said what it would have got. Mine came in at a low 2.2. Really not what I was aiming for. Although he did say that with work and taking on the feedback he thinks I can push it up a lot further. So I think it's just the step up to university level essays as well.

My next essay is due November 24th so I need to start reading for it now and preparing, I want it to be much better than this one, especially as it is marked and counts to my degree as well.

Settling In

Let's see so it's been 13 days since my last post. A lot has happened and I haven't the time to write it all up so I'll just summarise the main bits.

Monday I had to had in my first essay for the archaeology side of my course. It's non assessed just a formative one but I'm real excited to get my mark back I don't know when that'll be but hopefully soon. My next essay is due in November 17th. They have a very specific way they want you to lay the essay out which I found when I was reading the handbook. Specific ways of referencing - say goodbye to footnotes - it's all about the Harvard system. Extra bracketed information eating up my word count. What size and font and line spacing and margin widths. So I was glad I saw that because I think some people didn't realise there was a required way but luckily as it's non assessed hopefully we'll all manage the real ones okay. 

I've been in my new ward at church for two consecutive weeks now. And the second week they gave me a calling. I'm now a teacher in primary I'm responsible for the sunbeam class which is 4/5year olds. I sat in and observed for the first and the four of them are really sweet so I'm looking forward to teaching them. 

My cooking if not improving is definitely working. I'm managing to make a success of everything I make which is good. Definitely a plus if a) the stuff is edible and b) it tastes nice. The only downside seems to be I bought a bag of carrots which tastes really weird and not like normal carrots so it's now sat uneaten in my fridge. I think I'm going to have to have them smothered with ketchup.

I learnt how to use the smart printers at uni they are actually really easy to use. Though it's eating my money as we fund our own printing costs. You would think with £9000 fees printing or some printing might be included. Coughing up £4/5 every week to print out seminar/tutorial reading is not fun.

The weather on Tuesday was crazy, really windy. Several times I had to stop walking and just wait for the gust to be over it was so strong I kept getting blown about. Luckily it has improved somewhat since then.

Whilst managing to avoid freshers flu which everyone on campus seems to have I feel a cold coming on and I'm headachey a lot. But I think it'll pass it's just settling in. Tomorrow I'm going back to Wakefield for the weekend which I'm really excited about, I get a coach right after my lecture tomorrow.

Today should be good I have Latin, Roman History seminar and lecture. So not especially busy. Just lots of notes to type up afterwards. 

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.

Wed-Thur-Fri

Freshers week = boring. Apart from free junk it means ridiculous amounts of time to waste in front of the TV. There are only so many times I can go into the town centre and forbid myself to buy anything!

Wednesday and Thursday I was in uni, more information picking up, got my timetable and got to meet my tutor. Also we had a guest lecture by Professor Norman Hammond on Maya Pre-History. If you read that and thought pre-history? What is pre-history? (As I did) Because surely history includes all of the past and what can be pre the past? Well I soon discovered that history refers to things known so pre-history is the period we don't know a lot about. For example we know the Mayans as temple building wealthy sacrificing people but what were they before they became great? We don't really know. And that my friends is Maya Pre-history. It was a really interesting lecture and made me feel quite sad that my course is limited to ancient Greece and Rome only. My ideal history course would cover so much stuff it would be like a mega degree. Some areas that I am sad I wont get to study are: Native Americans, The War of the Roses - you'd think Leicester would offer a course on that - well they are kind of I got a leaflet for it that I can sign up to later in the year but it focuses naturally more on Richard the third rather Elizabeth Woodville and Edward.

Bought a Latin dictionary it looks very complicated.

My timetable is pretty good. Not a lot of contact hours, though I am rather annoyed about the random lecture on the middle of Friday. It would have been perfect if that was earlier in the morning or even just on another day. But can't complain I got a pretty good deal.

So a lot of free afternoons/mornings which is good and makes it easy to travel.

Today I booked tickets to go northward got a nice funfare deal on National Express cost me under £20 for journey both ways. Three weekends time I shall be gracing Wakefield with my sunny presence. Clear your weekends you northerners I'm returning ;)

More exploring in town, I found the central library and joined it. They give you two library cards, one normal sized one and then one for your key ring which I thought was a clever idea because if you forget your purse with your card in you're most probably going to have your keys with the other card on!

I also found Highcross shopping centre I was feeling hopeful that they might have krispy kremes. No such luck, only Millie's cookies which were disappointingly priced. 99p for one cookie. Well I shall visit Sainsbury's and get 5 for 75p which taste exactly the same. Lots more shops in there and they had...a disney store.

I never understood why everyone loved the shop so much...until I went in it and then I wanted to buy everything. EVERYTHING. The Little Mermaid is basically my all time favourite disney movie, it's also my favourite fairy tale and just everything and they had so much little mermaid stuff. Ariel dolls and squishy toys, a squishy Flounder and Sebastian. Ariel mug and cup and dinner plates and cutlery. An Ariel costume (which actually looks as though it might have fitted me! The advantages of being small) It was so much fun to be in that store! However I didn't buy anything :( Poor me on a student loan, but my plan is to save and go back haha! Because it is quite pricey.

After that I went and shut down my Halifax bank account which I never use and received a grand total of 26p. Oh windfall for me. Went into That's Entertainment (bad decision) and came out with three DVD's (I budgeted this into my accounts so it was okay!) The Proposal - cannot beat a bit of Sandra Bullock, The Tourist - mmm Johnny Depp and Bridal Wars - never seen it but I remember wanting to when it came out. All together not bad.

Then went to purchase my NUS card from the student union and picked up some bits from morrisons apples and milk and stuff...oh an a birthday cake for me!! Seeing as I'm not at home for my mum to make me one. I chose Mr Kipling's battenburg yumm-y! My mum said it should last me a few days....but the equation goes like this Maria + battenburg + five minutes = no battenburg. And I'm not talking about the mini five pack, I mean the big loaf! At least I can stick candles in it although it is going to kill me having it sat in my room not allowed to eat it until monday!


Plans for tomorrow? Hmm I think I'll call it sleep in and not do much. All my washing is done, nothing to prep for Monday. Maybe I'll make a start on some of my course texts. Get ahead of the game. I also have a gym free day pass to use up so I might go burn some energy there. And it's right next door to where I was born haha I pass the Royal Infirmary (which by the way for non Leicester people is a hospital, where I was born, not an infirmary for the infirm of mind) everyday on the bus to university. Circle of life or something.