- Day 198 - 9th October 2007
It's very late tonight, and I have a lesson at 9am tomorrow, so it's no surprise that I opted out of going on yet another night on the town with most of the flat. Before they set off, we received a cry of help from flat 2 next doors, who seem to have been invaded by strangers.
As it happens the two Chinese students in the flat had decided to throw a house party, without asking the other six! The kitchen was jammed full of people, it really got quite nasty in there.
We just ordered a pizza with some coupons we had tonight, lovely; straight to the door!
I really want to go on about more things, but my bed beckons and time is tight; sleep is so essential for being able to focus on classes.
Tue, 09 Oct 2007 22:17:00 +0000
- Day 197 - 8th October 2007
First day of lessons today, with four lectures it wasn't for the faint hearted. This was mainly intro talks which were OK, but quite dull; this doesn't exclude Spanish, where we actually had a proper lesson.
On my way back I saw a shop set up on the square, 'Silver Watch And Gift'; which spells SWAG. The merchandise really did look just like that, and they kept shooing me away when I wanted a picture of the sign; no wonders why then...
I saw Mum extremely briefly on her way up to Harrogate, I'll be seeing the whole family on Saturday when they go up to Scotland on holiday; I can see the motorway from here so it's not exactly a detour!
Tomorrow I've got more lectures obviously; thankfully it's a later start and an earlier finish than today, I worked 9 until 1830!
Mon, 08 Oct 2007 22:42:00 +0000
- Day 196 - 7th October 2007
I went to church this morning for the first time at Lancaster University, which was nice. I met some new people and what not but I was really pleased to find that they like to play football quite often; just what I was looking for, a proper game every now and then in a relaxed atmosphere.
So I picked up the gloves again (which soon returned to their own pungent stink), and after getting in front of the goals, I felt like I could stay here forever; my life here is complete, I really love playing football!
Top gear is back on again, so I watched that and now I'm off to bed; lessons start tomorrow at last!
Sun, 07 Oct 2007 21:49:00 +0000
- Day 195 - 6th October 2007
What a day. In chronological order, Lewis Hamilton is on pole position for tomorrow's race in China. If he beats Alonso, or finishes one place behind him; he will have won the drivers championship in his first season! I'll be getting up at 6am to watch it then...
Next came my trip into Lancaster, which was quite nice; I didn't know the place and I was pleasantly surprised by its size and general charm. I took a picture from the castle, on top of a hill.
Then came the big game, England versus Australia; a repeat of the magical final from four years ago. England have been decidedly average in the past few days and came into the game the clear underdogs; they came out the winners! Yes, by some miracle of God himself, we managed to beat the favourites! Once I'd recovered from that first quarter final, I then watched France beat New Zealand; both of the favourites are out of the cup in the quarters! Can England win it now? Who knows, it's wide open...
Anyway, good luck Lewis for tomorrow, Britain is thinking of you.
Sat, 06 Oct 2007 22:59:00 +0000
- Day 194 - 5th October 2007
It wasn't another karaoke night tonight, but it might as well have been. The live band that came on basically murdered my favourite stones song 'paint it black', followed by trying to sound like Otis Readding then finishing with Pink Floyd.
They somehow managed to pick all the 'untouchables' which always sound awful; tonight was no exception. Whatever next? The Beatles?
As a result of this we headed home for the night and talked in the kitchen for hours on end; sometimes that's better than any night you could possibly plan.
During the day I went to a languages intro talk which was good, but long; the main speaker spoke like Tom Baker. Then I went to the second half of the freshers fair, where I put my name down for the scuba diving club, but I haven't signed up yet. I'm already trained, so it might not cost too much for me; I'll wait until the talk happens on Monday. Tomorrow I've got nothing on, so I think I'll go and get some books for my courses in the morning before lazing around a bit more; might as well make use of my last weekend without work...
Fri, 05 Oct 2007 22:59:00 +0000
- Day 193 - 4th October 2007
Karaoke night tonight, whoopittee-sodding-do. We stayed for the free pizza, then left early and talked for the rest of the night. Finally, a quiet night in; there really is a God!On the subject of God, I got a parcel today from the North Lancashire Methodists; a mug full of fair trade produce, I couldn't believe it, it cheered me up no end!It was the freshers fair today and I came away with tons of free gifts, even a wooden spatula! I didn't find a society I desperatly wanted to join, but the fair goes on tomorrow with a different set of choices to pick from...Off the topic now, today bloggers around the world have been asked to support the monks in Burma who are standing in the steets in a protest for democracy, many have already died in their plea. Everyone knows that Buddhist monks are a non-violent race, which makes the way they have been treated even more unjustified. So, for the first time ever; I'm going to post a second picture just for them.
Thu, 04 Oct 2007 22:24:00 +0000
- Day 192 - 3rd October 2007
The constant barrage of nights out organised for freshers week had already left me tired and weary; this was before the 'big night out' planned tonight. We started with a pub crawl through Lancaster city centre, having waited for the bus for two hours in the cold rain and piercing winds. The pubs and clubs here are OK; no more, no less, definitely not worth the torturous waiting time.The tour finished at the student union run place, 'the sugarhouse', which was quite nice; I was so tired by then I only stayed just over an hour before catching the next free bus home!I have always thought of myself as being 'British' but this obsession with trying to out drink yourself every night is simply not in my character, and I think it's not a particularly nice trait to have. One thing I have noticed on these nights out is that despite the obviously high levels of drunkenness there have not been many extreme cases; none at all near me. This contrasts a lot with college parties where so many people would get themselves in a state of unconsciousness!Tomorrow it's the society fairs, I'm going to see if there's anything I like the look of or not. It's half past two in the morning right now, so I must really be getting off to bed; goodnight!
Wed, 03 Oct 2007 22:59:00 +0000
- Day 191 - 2nd October 2007
Tonight was marked by, well, more drinking really. What's more is that tomorrow night is meant to be a 'big night out'; feel like I've been partying non-stop already!
Otherwise it was a quiet day in, with only a couple of talks to attend tomorrow; I've can't go on too long, it's late again and I've got yet another early start in the morning! I'm so far from having finished registering, it's all about course enrolment now; I think I'll go for Italian.
Tue, 02 Oct 2007 22:59:00 +0000
- Day 190 - 1st October 2007
Piss ups have never really been my thing, but I went along tonight anyway. For those who don't know, Lancaster University is split into colleges, then into houses, then flats, which is basically the group of rooms that share a kitchen, in my case eight of us in flat one.
My biggest worry was of being isolated from the 'real' world because I'd be living on campus so much. This is even worse than I'd imagined, as I have only rarely seen people from other colleges, never mind other towns! In Cartmel college, where I am, it takes fifteen minutes to walk straight through to the other end of the campus; where my lessons are!
Anyway, I just got back from a huge campus pub crawl, but my flatmates and I broke off to do our own thing; then we split again and three of us, including me, went back to the flats, took a rest and a slash then went to get a pizza. I found out that the pizza place is open until 4am, so one day when I can't sleep I'll be off to get one at 3.30. The others have just got into the flat as I type, in a surprisingly good state. It's bang on midnight and the people in flat 2 next door have just got the bus into town; they're already completely wasted!
I also registered and went to some boring seminars along with getting the internet connected. What I'm most happy about is the way that the whole flat has just gelled, without friction or hesitation; everybody is completely different to one another, but hey, it's proof that opposites attract!
I've gone on for quite a while considering I've just had six pints of Guinness, it's very much past my bedtime now so until tomorrow; goodnight!
Mon, 01 Oct 2007 22:59:00 +0000
- Day 189 - 30th September 2007
So here I am; university at last! My room is pretty cool and I’ve made friends with everyone on my floor, we get on like a house on fire! The trip up went well but unloading was horrible, truly tiring work.
I don’t want to go on for too long as it’s rather late; safety talks and course registration take place tomorrow so it’s an early start! Looking forward to meeting more people, but I’m already starting to struggle with all the hundreds of new names and faces! So I’ve got no money, but I think I can survive; I’ve got quite a lot of food to keep me going!
Sun, 30 Sep 2007 16:55:00 +0000
- Day 188 - 29th September 2007
For the first time ever in my whole life, the CD rack sits bare. My collection, along with pretty much everything else I own, has been packed up ready to go to Lancaster tomorrow morning; the university adventure starts here.
My worries about not having enough money have inexplicably disappeared, even though the problem hasn't; I'll cross that bridge when I come to it I suppose! Right now I've never been happier about going, which is lucky because it happens tomorrow!
So yes, the day was spent packing; I was going to watch the F1 qualifying as a break, it's in Japan so I had to tape it. This poses a problem as I seem to have recorded something on CITV with 'wacky' people doing 'crazy' things. As it happens, Hamilton finished pole; which can only be a good thing.
In other sporting news, Fiji knocked Wales out of the rugby 38-34 in a very close match whilst Scotland beat Italy by two points to go through to the quarters. This pales into insignificance when Stoke City comes into the spotlight; the potters drew 1-1 away to Leicester, a pretty dull result.
Who knows what lies ahead of me know, like they say; this shit just got real.
Sat, 29 Sep 2007 22:29:00 +0000
- Day 187 - 28th September 2007
Is it a good idea to label everything you own? Who cares when it's this fun! I got myself a label machine thingy that speaks out the letter you press; an ingenious contraption!
England beat Tonga today in what was a good game on our side, maybe we stand a chance versus Australia now; doubtful, but who knows what can happen?
Personally, I didn't get up to much at all apart from spending the afternoon playing on the playstation; maybe the last time for a very long time I guess!
Today was of no real interest to me, and therefore even less to you; I don't know what will happen tomorrow, but I can't wait until Sunday when I finally go to meet bankruptcy at university.
Fri, 28 Sep 2007 21:58:00 +0000
- Day 186 - 27th September 2007
Although the process of getting ready for university has left me broke and unsure of how long I'll last, at least it means I have accomplished one of my lifelong dreams; to own a mini-fridge. Ever since I was little I have wanted one but my room was always too small, and to stop me from getting traumatised I used to just say to myself 'one day...'.
That day has come, which brings me to another problem other than cash. The truth is, I'm starting to run out of life ambitions to fulfill; when I was small I made a list of stuff I wanted to do in life and slowly but surely they're disappearing!
I've been to Loch Lomond, I've visited the world's smallest distillery, I've been to Rome, Florence, Madrid and London, I've even spat off the Eiffel tower and now with the advent of this mini-fridge, what's left? Well I really want to tour America, as in a road trip, and I wouldn't mind getting a job in TV or radio one day. That's about it, which is rather sad, I know, but hey; what can be done? I bet I'll come up with some new ambitions one day, then all will be well.
Thu, 27 Sep 2007 22:22:00 +0000
- Day 185 - 26th September 2007
Not being the kind of person to snoop on the neighbours or anything, I was surprised at my own annoyance with what was going on next door. From eight in the morning until six at night, I could only hear the shouting, screaming and worst of all; the huge great big bloody engines that these workmen are using to dig up the front lawn.
Looks like there's more to come too, by last few days on holiday could be ended like this, not being able to hear myself think!
I got another nasty surprise as I found out that the office had paid me my salary again; luckily I was ready for it this time so it didn't come as too much of a shock! Still, the lack of money is starting to bug me now...
Nothing, and I mean nothing, was on TV of any interest to me tonight. This is a sad state of affairs really, and it's making me wonder whether or not to pay my license fee at uni; I will do of course, but do I really need a TV? What am I? I really need a TV!
Wed, 26 Sep 2007 22:55:00 +0000
- Day 184 - 25th September 2007
Uni looms and the afternoon was spent in Tesco's stocking up on food supplies, gracefully paid for by my lovely mother. I've got enough to sink three armadas!
Sadly, a huge financial blow was received despite this generous giving; the office I worked with in the summer have paid me twice by accident and I didn't notice. I was only supposed to get paid for the month I worked, but the accountants there thought that I was a permanent fixture!
Like I said, I hadn't really noticed, and now I'm not so financially stable as I'd hoped to be! It' gonna be a case of beg, steal or borrow for me now; oh, and a case of saving up as much as possible. This means I REALLY can't go drinking all through freshers week now, not that I wanted to anyway!
Otherwise, the hair finally got cut off; makes my eyebrows look less bushy don't you think? I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing though...
Tue, 25 Sep 2007 22:17:00 +0000
