Being a student is a tiring occupation, however I've been surprised at just how many people have been falling asleep in class. I haven't done it...yet....although 2 hours of Computational Optimisation will make most people sleepy. What's more surprising is that people aren't just falling asleep in lectures, but also in seminars, when the teacher is only about 10ft away from them.
This reminds me, I need to get hold of some of those caffeine mints...
Friday, November 03, 2006
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
My Week
I've decided to rename the days of the week to fit my current lifestyle.
The week starts with:
And there we are, a typical week.
The week starts with:
- "Mad Panic Monday" as I realise how little work I've got done, and how much needs to be done, for....
- "Shitty Tuesday", which starts with a rubbish French class at 9, is followed by a 1 hour break in which I try to convince myself that i do have something to show my project supervisor, followed by my advisor meeting, then lunch, then 2 hours of computational optimisation in which I try not to fall asleep (but almost fail). Next is...
- "Weekend Wednesday" because "Shitty Tuesday" is over and, whilst I don't have any lectures I do have stuff to do. I will convince myself that I have a whole week to get work done before next Tuesday (whilst knowing that the majority will be done on Monday). This is followed by...
- "Tongue-tied Thursday" as I have Pratique de l'Oral at 9 am and will be tired and unable to speak French properly from staying up until 2 completing the preparation for the class. Next would have to be...
- "Freedom Friday" as the week is finally over (and it starts at 12). I'll treat myself to an afternoon "off" and do basic stuff like go shopping or do washing. This is predictably followed by...
- "Sleepy Saturday" on which I make no effort to get up before 12 as I'm a student and I'm tired. Finally,...
- "Study Sunday" is spent procrastinating on Facebook with my work laid out in front of me.
And there we are, a typical week.
Like getting blood from a stone
I gave up on the French last night. I read the front of the booklet we were given at the start of term and it said we just had to prepare notes ready to do the synthesis in class. There were 10 of us today. The lecture starts at 9 am which is never a good time for a lecture as everyone's tired. Nonetheless, yet again we had the majority of the class sitting in silence will I and 3 or 4 others made all the input. I can't say my points were particularly good but it got to the point where the teacher had waited so long for someone to say something that I just made any comment about the texts, no matter how poor it was, just in the hope of encouraging some dialogue. I could kind of understand if we were all in the 1st year and a bit shy about talking French BUT WE'VE ALL BEEN ON OUR YEAR ABROAD! We've lived in French speaking countries and spoken the language with natives. Surely it shouldn't be difficult to speak to each other. If she doesn't know it already (she's French), I'm going to teach the teacher the expression "Like getting blood from a stone" so she use it when she describes our class to the other lecturers.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Stupid French
I'm getting a bit fed up of my French courses. Sitting here, at 11:30 pm, the night before a French lecture, attempting to stick together 600 odd words about 2 articles I care very little about, I wonder what the point of these French courses is. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to be studying French, however the modules that I have to do offer very little...of anything.
I have 2 hours a week of French from 2 half unit modules: Pratique de l'Ecrit and Pratique de l'Oral, a writing and a speaking class. Every year the structure of the courses is the same. For Ecrit we have to read an article/text or 2 and write some sort of summary or synthesis by following a strict format. There is very little chance to express anything in the way of personal opinion and the courses offer very little in the way of useful skills.
The speaking class fares little better. The first 2 years were quite good as they involved analysing adverts in the 1st year and films in the 2nd. This year we are focussing on written texts but, as with the writing class, we are forced to follow a particular format in order to gain the marks.
Our coursework for this module revolves around a presentation on a text as well as a debate. The debate this year will be a bit of a farce I expect. There are only 3 people in my class. One person will "chair" the debate while the other 2 of us argue our various points. I can only hope that we have opposing views otherwise the debate will be very short!
The upside to having just 3 people in the class means we all have to speak. In this way, my oral class contrasts nicely with my writing class in which there must be about 16 people...and no-one speaks. We all sit there with our work in front of us and the teacher asks a question about it. I contribute in classes however I don't like to always be the first one to say something.
So, we all sit there until I or one of the few other contributors gets fed up of the silence and answers the question.
I'm certainly not brilliant at either of the classes but it's difficult to feel enthusiastic about these classes especially when the material is so uninspiring.
Ah well, back to work.
I have 2 hours a week of French from 2 half unit modules: Pratique de l'Ecrit and Pratique de l'Oral, a writing and a speaking class. Every year the structure of the courses is the same. For Ecrit we have to read an article/text or 2 and write some sort of summary or synthesis by following a strict format. There is very little chance to express anything in the way of personal opinion and the courses offer very little in the way of useful skills.
The speaking class fares little better. The first 2 years were quite good as they involved analysing adverts in the 1st year and films in the 2nd. This year we are focussing on written texts but, as with the writing class, we are forced to follow a particular format in order to gain the marks.
Our coursework for this module revolves around a presentation on a text as well as a debate. The debate this year will be a bit of a farce I expect. There are only 3 people in my class. One person will "chair" the debate while the other 2 of us argue our various points. I can only hope that we have opposing views otherwise the debate will be very short!
The upside to having just 3 people in the class means we all have to speak. In this way, my oral class contrasts nicely with my writing class in which there must be about 16 people...and no-one speaks. We all sit there with our work in front of us and the teacher asks a question about it. I contribute in classes however I don't like to always be the first one to say something.
So, we all sit there until I or one of the few other contributors gets fed up of the silence and answers the question.
I'm certainly not brilliant at either of the classes but it's difficult to feel enthusiastic about these classes especially when the material is so uninspiring.
Ah well, back to work.
Saturday, October 28, 2006
I think this song speaks for itself and pretty accurately describes how a lot of today's students spend their time: "On the Facebook".
For those that don't know, Facebook is a social networking site grouped into communities of educational establishments. You can see profiles of people at your uni but need outside people to add you as a friend before you have access to theirs. The site recently made some controversial changes which mean that most of your actions - such as posting a message on someone's wall, changing you photo, adding details about yourself and suchlike - are made known to your friends through a sort of news feed. Whilst this has many good aspects as it can make you feel more in touch with all the people you've added as your friend (even though you barely know a lot of them), it does make it a lot easier to stalk people....
For those that don't know, Facebook is a social networking site grouped into communities of educational establishments. You can see profiles of people at your uni but need outside people to add you as a friend before you have access to theirs. The site recently made some controversial changes which mean that most of your actions - such as posting a message on someone's wall, changing you photo, adding details about yourself and suchlike - are made known to your friends through a sort of news feed. Whilst this has many good aspects as it can make you feel more in touch with all the people you've added as your friend (even though you barely know a lot of them), it does make it a lot easier to stalk people....
Saturday, October 21, 2006
It is inadvisable to eat wasps
A few friends came over last night. AS the night drew on, we were getting hungry and decided to order a pizza. We settled on Domino's "Meltdown" which offers three different levels of spiciness. We went for level 2 which, along with the meatballs, Jalapeno peppers, chilli cheese and American mustard, also adds fresh red chillis.
I'm quite glad that we didn't go for level 3 as that would have added chilli flakes which would have filled in the small gaps where there wasn't already something hot.
As it is, after the last slice which appeared to have more chilli slices than pizza, I feel a bit like I've eaten a wasp.
I'm quite glad that we didn't go for level 3 as that would have added chilli flakes which would have filled in the small gaps where there wasn't already something hot.
As it is, after the last slice which appeared to have more chilli slices than pizza, I feel a bit like I've eaten a wasp.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Smarter than you!
The British are more intelligent than the French!
I base this on the fact that, whilst the guy who took over my internship in July (who is now back at uni) has 35 hours of lectures per week, I only have 8. This can only mean that the French are less intelligent and subsequently need more tuition. There's no other way to look at it.
I base this on the fact that, whilst the guy who took over my internship in July (who is now back at uni) has 35 hours of lectures per week, I only have 8. This can only mean that the French are less intelligent and subsequently need more tuition. There's no other way to look at it.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Damn Freshers!
Gah, stupid freshers! Not only did we have a fire alarm this morning (ok, 9:45 wasn't such an unreasonable time I suppose) but I think I'm getting Fresher's Flu. Ok, so it's more like a slight cold but I feel like blaming someone.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Enterprising
I've joined Yound Enterprise this year. I did it in College and i think it's a great scheme. Essentially you set up and run a business for the duration of the academic year. It's great at giving you an insight into how a small business can function and really helps develop interpersonal skills.
At college we made personalised, printed T-Shirts and we are probably going to end up doing something similar this year (although hopefully better). I'm a little dissappointed that there isn't any sort of inter-university competition but we may try and organise something with other local unis.
There is one potential issue: I'm the only guy...in a group of about 10. Ok, on the one hand I'm single,....but on the other hand (and without meaning to be too sexist), how easy it to get 9 women to agree on anything?
At college we made personalised, printed T-Shirts and we are probably going to end up doing something similar this year (although hopefully better). I'm a little dissappointed that there isn't any sort of inter-university competition but we may try and organise something with other local unis.
There is one potential issue: I'm the only guy...in a group of about 10. Ok, on the one hand I'm single,....but on the other hand (and without meaning to be too sexist), how easy it to get 9 women to agree on anything?
Blackout!
Yesterday saw the end of the world! Ok, I'm exaggerating a lot but there was certainly a lot of inconveniece caused. At about 12:30pm, there was a power cut to the university (and to Egham so someone said however this is just hearsay). This meant that, apart from there being no lights or power (obviously) there was no access to the network, and no water (I assume it's pumped everywhere). Some lecturers decided to cancel their lectures but, unfortunately, mine didn't so I had to sit through 2 hours of Computational Optimisation, in a dark room, with, well, lets just say he's not the most charismatic lecturer we have.
Afterwards, I came back to my room, and was feeling quite tired so I decided to lie down for a while until the photography social I was due to go to at 7:00pm. I turned my radio on so that, when the power came back on, it would wake me up....... Eventually I woke up at about 6:45pm of my own accord, slightly disorientated as you don't really notice how much abient light is provided until it's gone. I headed off to see if the social was still on despite the blackout. It was and by then a lot of places had lights back on but I gather the power was restored to my halls at about 7:30pm.
Not quite sure what caused the power to be out for so long but I seem to remember power issues at the start of other years. I'd make some joke about them not paying their bill....but I can't be bothered.
Afterwards, I came back to my room, and was feeling quite tired so I decided to lie down for a while until the photography social I was due to go to at 7:00pm. I turned my radio on so that, when the power came back on, it would wake me up....... Eventually I woke up at about 6:45pm of my own accord, slightly disorientated as you don't really notice how much abient light is provided until it's gone. I headed off to see if the social was still on despite the blackout. It was and by then a lot of places had lights back on but I gather the power was restored to my halls at about 7:30pm.
Not quite sure what caused the power to be out for so long but I seem to remember power issues at the start of other years. I'd make some joke about them not paying their bill....but I can't be bothered.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
What a way to wake up
Before I went to sleep the other night, I tuned my radio into a random station so I'd wake up to music rather than "Nick Ferrari - God of Radio" (ok, that's not quite his tagline but it sounds like the sort of thing he thinks) on "London's LBC". The following morning, I woke up to Johnny Vaughan on Capital FM interviewing none other than David Hasselhoff! They played his new single which has to be one of the funniest/cheesiest things I've heard in ages. Below is the video for your viewing pleasure.....
Well, I feel safe!
The inevitable happened today. I have a swipe card to access my building, flat and room. When I enter my room I have to put the card in a slot by the door so that the lights work. It's all very fancy but doesn't seem to take into account that people will often want to go from their room to the kitchen without locking their door.
Anyhow, today I did that and accidentally locked my card in my room. So, off I went to the "New Halls Reception" to ask for a temporary card to get back into my room. The conversation went something like this......
Me: "Hi, I've locked myself out of my room"
Receptionist: "Ok, what room are you in?"
Me: "XXXXXX hall, Block X, Flat XX, Room X"
Receptionist: [Looks for number to program temporary card which is on a paper list sitting on the desk] "Ok, here you go. Bring the card back next time you pass"
Note that at no time did she ask who I was, did she verify that the name I gave was that of the person who rents my room, nor did she take note of who she had given the temporary card to. So now I have a card which, now that I've used it to get in my room, can't be used again (it's one swipe only)..........unless I go on ebay and buy a magnetic card reader/writer. All it would then take is for someone to distract the receptionist while I run off with the list of codes and everyone would be receiving second hand laptops and stereos for Christmas!
Obviously it's unlikely to happen, but if one person can think of it then why not more? I'm going to mention it to the manager of the halls if I can and hope it was just a mistake.
Anyhow, today I did that and accidentally locked my card in my room. So, off I went to the "New Halls Reception" to ask for a temporary card to get back into my room. The conversation went something like this......
Me: "Hi, I've locked myself out of my room"
Receptionist: "Ok, what room are you in?"
Me: "XXXXXX hall, Block X, Flat XX, Room X"
Receptionist: [Looks for number to program temporary card which is on a paper list sitting on the desk] "Ok, here you go. Bring the card back next time you pass"
Note that at no time did she ask who I was, did she verify that the name I gave was that of the person who rents my room, nor did she take note of who she had given the temporary card to. So now I have a card which, now that I've used it to get in my room, can't be used again (it's one swipe only)..........unless I go on ebay and buy a magnetic card reader/writer. All it would then take is for someone to distract the receptionist while I run off with the list of codes and everyone would be receiving second hand laptops and stereos for Christmas!
Obviously it's unlikely to happen, but if one person can think of it then why not more? I'm going to mention it to the manager of the halls if I can and hope it was just a mistake.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
The Ice Palace of Temptation
I've just been to Tesco in Egham to get essential stuff like a whisk so I can make pancakes. Whilst I was there I went into Iceland to see what was on offer. I had forgotten what a magical place it was! 2 Pizzas for £1.50, Ready-Meals £1 each, 6 fish fillets for the price of 6! I'll soon become fat from all this frozen goodness.
Stand in line and empty your wallet at the door!
So, this being freshers week, I went along to the Freshers Fayre today. I've decided I'm going to be far more involved with societies than I have been before. Plus, I don't know many people here so I need to try and make as many friends as possible.
This year I've joined: the French Society (£5), the Photography Society (£5), Ninjitsu (£7 with the first training session being free) and I'm going to sign up to Karate (£7 possibly with a free first session). On top of that everyone who wants to join a society has to buy sports insurance (£6), plus I also got some room contents insurance (£79) which is cheap until you factor in insuring a laptop.
I also signed up for the Milkround which is a free service which sends details of carreer and internship opportunities, and some Entrepreneur thing (I couldn't really hear as we were right next to a speaker in the uni hall but it was free). I'm probably going to take a look at joining the Tech crew at the union if I've got any time. They do the sound and lighting for union events and, as well as being interesting, it's also paid!
I didn't do too bad for freebies either. There was someone from The Happy Man (a local pub) giving out vouchers for a free drink, I got some cinema vouchers, a notebook, some Haribo, and some condoms which inevitably get thrown out at student events such as these.
This year I've joined: the French Society (£5), the Photography Society (£5), Ninjitsu (£7 with the first training session being free) and I'm going to sign up to Karate (£7 possibly with a free first session). On top of that everyone who wants to join a society has to buy sports insurance (£6), plus I also got some room contents insurance (£79) which is cheap until you factor in insuring a laptop.
I also signed up for the Milkround which is a free service which sends details of carreer and internship opportunities, and some Entrepreneur thing (I couldn't really hear as we were right next to a speaker in the uni hall but it was free). I'm probably going to take a look at joining the Tech crew at the union if I've got any time. They do the sound and lighting for union events and, as well as being interesting, it's also paid!
I didn't do too bad for freebies either. There was someone from The Happy Man (a local pub) giving out vouchers for a free drink, I got some cinema vouchers, a notebook, some Haribo, and some condoms which inevitably get thrown out at student events such as these.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Level Up
I've just been to the language department "Welcome Party". It was mainly attended by final years and it seems that, now that we're back from our year abroad, we qualify for the next level in small talk.
No longer are the first questions someone asks us, "Where are you from?", "What are you studying?" or "Where are you living?", but rather "Where have you been?" and "What did you do?". I could read this as the establishment of a whole new pecking order of who had the most successful year, who went to the most exotic destination, who got the best results and who had the most rewarding experience........but then again, it could be just another topic of small talk.
No longer are the first questions someone asks us, "Where are you from?", "What are you studying?" or "Where are you living?", but rather "Where have you been?" and "What did you do?". I could read this as the establishment of a whole new pecking order of who had the most successful year, who went to the most exotic destination, who got the best results and who had the most rewarding experience........but then again, it could be just another topic of small talk.
The Forgotten Student
Computer Science is a normal degree course. French is a normal degree course. Computer Science with French is not a normal degree course and as such everyone seems to forget about me (I'm talking about admin people here). No-one seems to know about my course and so I end up telling the admin people things they should already know. I went to hand a form in at the French office and was told that I wouldn't have to do the oral exam as, now that I've changed to Computer Science with French the year abroad doesn't count. Erm, wrong. I showed the lady the piece of paper from Comp. Sci. describing the courses which clearly states that I have a year abraod between my second and final years which is organised by the French department.
Ah well, it'll all get sorted eventually.
Ah well, it'll all get sorted eventually.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Back at Uni! Huzzah!!!
Finally, university has started! I moved back up on Sunday with everything packed into my Beetle. The car made it without any problems and, unlike when we'd packed it for a car boot sale earlier in the summer, I could see out of the windows this time (which does help when you're going along the M25).
I'm staying in Gowar, one of the new halls, this year. Rooms are arranged in flats of 8 ensuite bedrooms with a shared kitchen and mine is at the end next to the kitchen. Considering the halls are 2 years old I expected them to show at least a little sign of having been lived in but they are almost pristine. I say almost because my sink has a crack in it where the building is still settling and things in corners keep breaking but that is being replaced.
It hasn't taken long for things to begin to feel normal again. For instance last night (my second night here) we had our first fire alarm go off due to someone spending too long in the shower with the door open, or having a candle in their room, or something along those lines. As usual it was at midnight but it's the little things like being woken up in the middle of the night by a loud, high pitched noise that make things feel familiar.
I don't have much on this week as it's fresher's week which is basically just a week to spend queueing and doing admin stuff. As I'm doing a weird course combination (Computer Science with French) things aren't straightforward for me. For example, my college card expired at the end of June so I have to get a new one. I also have to get a new NUS card (as we do each year) but can't get that until I've got my college card....which they aren't issuing until next week. Oh, and I didn't receive the email about the French oral exam which was sent a month ago and so I only found out the details by chance last week when I asked a friend.
Still, I didn't get eaten alive when I went to hand in a form at the Computer Science office. It's often hit and miss as there are 2 secretaries and only one of them seems to be nice at any one time....and it's not always the same one.
I've got my timetable and have 8 or 9 hours of lectures per week (plus a meeting with my project advisor) and I have Mondays and most Wednesdays off so there's plenty of time todrink study.
Tomorrow I'm going to work on preparing for this oral exam and then there's the Fresher's Fayre to battle through on Thursday/Friday and my exam on Friday.
I'm staying in Gowar, one of the new halls, this year. Rooms are arranged in flats of 8 ensuite bedrooms with a shared kitchen and mine is at the end next to the kitchen. Considering the halls are 2 years old I expected them to show at least a little sign of having been lived in but they are almost pristine. I say almost because my sink has a crack in it where the building is still settling and things in corners keep breaking but that is being replaced.
It hasn't taken long for things to begin to feel normal again. For instance last night (my second night here) we had our first fire alarm go off due to someone spending too long in the shower with the door open, or having a candle in their room, or something along those lines. As usual it was at midnight but it's the little things like being woken up in the middle of the night by a loud, high pitched noise that make things feel familiar.
I don't have much on this week as it's fresher's week which is basically just a week to spend queueing and doing admin stuff. As I'm doing a weird course combination (Computer Science with French) things aren't straightforward for me. For example, my college card expired at the end of June so I have to get a new one. I also have to get a new NUS card (as we do each year) but can't get that until I've got my college card....which they aren't issuing until next week. Oh, and I didn't receive the email about the French oral exam which was sent a month ago and so I only found out the details by chance last week when I asked a friend.
Still, I didn't get eaten alive when I went to hand in a form at the Computer Science office. It's often hit and miss as there are 2 secretaries and only one of them seems to be nice at any one time....and it's not always the same one.
I've got my timetable and have 8 or 9 hours of lectures per week (plus a meeting with my project advisor) and I have Mondays and most Wednesdays off so there's plenty of time to
Tomorrow I'm going to work on preparing for this oral exam and then there's the Fresher's Fayre to battle through on Thursday/Friday and my exam on Friday.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
A wonderful time at Blackgang Chine
I'd forgotten how much fun it could be to act like a kid.
On Sunday I went to the Isle of Wight with a couple of friends. We went to Blackgang Chine for the day to celebrate the birthday of one of them (which was on Monday). Blackgang Chine can, loosely, be described as a Theme Park - it is a park, with attractions, different "lands", and even a rollercoaster. However, if you take a look at the website, you will notice that it doesn't quite match Alton Towers for thrills. We made the most of what was there and had a great time acting like children. The "Funny Mirrors" are indeed very funny and are an excellent way to enter the park (ok, perhaps a hint of sarcasm there).
The rollercoaster there gives some hope of including a thrill in the day, however I'm afraid in this case it's important to emphasise the "coast" in rollercoaster (for 2 reasons in fact - it's slow AND it's next to the coast!). Indeed, the bus journey was more sickening than the rollercoaster. It took 2 different bus rides to get from Ryde to the Park (which is on the south of the island) and we decided to sit on the top deck of the double decker bus. I should point out that this was a bit of a novelty as we don't use buses often (sad I know). It was only during the journey that we realised just how hilly the Isle of Wight is.
Although definitely for the child in you, if you do ever take a trip to Blackgang Chine, I can particularly recommend the "Funny Mirrors", the rollercoaster, the knobbly dinosaurs and of course I mustn't forget the gnomes!
On Sunday I went to the Isle of Wight with a couple of friends. We went to Blackgang Chine for the day to celebrate the birthday of one of them (which was on Monday). Blackgang Chine can, loosely, be described as a Theme Park - it is a park, with attractions, different "lands", and even a rollercoaster. However, if you take a look at the website, you will notice that it doesn't quite match Alton Towers for thrills. We made the most of what was there and had a great time acting like children. The "Funny Mirrors" are indeed very funny and are an excellent way to enter the park (ok, perhaps a hint of sarcasm there).
The rollercoaster there gives some hope of including a thrill in the day, however I'm afraid in this case it's important to emphasise the "coast" in rollercoaster (for 2 reasons in fact - it's slow AND it's next to the coast!). Indeed, the bus journey was more sickening than the rollercoaster. It took 2 different bus rides to get from Ryde to the Park (which is on the south of the island) and we decided to sit on the top deck of the double decker bus. I should point out that this was a bit of a novelty as we don't use buses often (sad I know). It was only during the journey that we realised just how hilly the Isle of Wight is.
Although definitely for the child in you, if you do ever take a trip to Blackgang Chine, I can particularly recommend the "Funny Mirrors", the rollercoaster, the knobbly dinosaurs and of course I mustn't forget the gnomes!
Congratulations!
Unfortunately, due to my "no-names" policy with this blog, this post isn't going to be very good to anyone other than my friends from home. But anyway....
Congratulations to my two good friends who got married last Saturday. I wish them both every success and hope they will be very happy together.
With them getting hitched and other friends getting jobs etc having graduated this summer, I'm beginning to feel a little left behind. Still, I'm really looking forward to getting back to uni.
Congratulations to my two good friends who got married last Saturday. I wish them both every success and hope they will be very happy together.
With them getting hitched and other friends getting jobs etc having graduated this summer, I'm beginning to feel a little left behind. Still, I'm really looking forward to getting back to uni.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Big City Life
I went to visit some friends this weekend up in London. I've decided I'm going to be living there once I've finished uni.
I went up on Friday afternoon to meet a couple of good friends I lived with in my second year of uni. They have a 2 bedroom flat in Clapham North and are about 5 minutes walk from Brixton undergraound station. Despite its reputation, what I saw of Brixton high street seemed really nice. Ok, we only got as far as the high-street but the whole area seemed clean, calm and well policed (OK, so seeing 2 groups of about 7 policemen walk past may be a sign but even so....) We spent the evening catching up and the following day we went into London.
It really made me think about when I was in Paris and how much I loved being so close to the city. My friends' flat is in an ideal location being in the (slightly) cheaper part, south of the river, just outside central London.
Saturday evening was the other reason I was up in London. A friend of mine from home/college was having his Stag night! We went for a meal and a few drinks and had a really good time. I don't think we got him drunk enough though as he was the first to wake up the next day.
As I said earlier, I'm definitely going to move into London after my degree. The friends I stayed with suggested about me moving in with them next year which would be great if they're still up for it.
I can't wait to get back to uni. It feels a bit like life is moving on without me but I want to catch up so I can move on too. Whereas I had thought I would probably move back home after uni and find a job here (as I quite like it in the south), I'm beginning to see that there's not really going to be much to come back to. My old friends will have jobs and may have moved away and most of my friends I've made at uni or in France will be scattered too. We're moving house soon so it's not like I'll have that to keep me here.
I went up on Friday afternoon to meet a couple of good friends I lived with in my second year of uni. They have a 2 bedroom flat in Clapham North and are about 5 minutes walk from Brixton undergraound station. Despite its reputation, what I saw of Brixton high street seemed really nice. Ok, we only got as far as the high-street but the whole area seemed clean, calm and well policed (OK, so seeing 2 groups of about 7 policemen walk past may be a sign but even so....) We spent the evening catching up and the following day we went into London.
It really made me think about when I was in Paris and how much I loved being so close to the city. My friends' flat is in an ideal location being in the (slightly) cheaper part, south of the river, just outside central London.
Saturday evening was the other reason I was up in London. A friend of mine from home/college was having his Stag night! We went for a meal and a few drinks and had a really good time. I don't think we got him drunk enough though as he was the first to wake up the next day.
As I said earlier, I'm definitely going to move into London after my degree. The friends I stayed with suggested about me moving in with them next year which would be great if they're still up for it.
I can't wait to get back to uni. It feels a bit like life is moving on without me but I want to catch up so I can move on too. Whereas I had thought I would probably move back home after uni and find a job here (as I quite like it in the south), I'm beginning to see that there's not really going to be much to come back to. My old friends will have jobs and may have moved away and most of my friends I've made at uni or in France will be scattered too. We're moving house soon so it's not like I'll have that to keep me here.
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