Y1-3: Weeks 2 & 3

During the second week of class, you start settling into your routine. Even though some classes change from week to week, you start to get used to managing your time. My timetable is a little strange because my classes are spread throughout the morning and afternoon, with many hours in between, five days a week (no, I don’t get free days, which sucks). So, for example, I can have French class at 9:15am and then nothing for the next two hours. This is tricky. You think you have enough time (I mean, two hours, plenty of time to do some exercises and reading before the next seminar, right?). But, in the end, procrastination is what occurs. Because you have to manage your time independently, it is very important that you have enough willpower to pull yourself out of the addictive loop of YouTube and Facebook and actually do some work. Either in the library or in your room, it’s up to you where you do it, but you have to do it. No excuses, otherwise your stuff will pile up and you’ll get stressed. Personally, I have heaps of books to read and even though I am managing to organize my time quite acceptably, I’m getting stressed all the same (and, consequently, homesick- although this is due to other reasons too).

So, that said, I’m going to tell you about what I was up to during Week 2.

First, there were still taster sessions going on, so even though I was doing the volleyball trials, I also went to the last fencing taster. It was so much fun! I really didn’t think fencing would be so hard! It requires a lot of physical strength and control, and can be quite tricky, but it is a lot of fun to do. I wish I were able to join, but it crashes with the volleyball training sessions… Maybe next year.

Second, on Saturday was Klass. As I am still underage, my clubbing options are limited to the nights on campus because they don’t ask for ID (I’ve been missing a lot of socials due to this, which is reaaaaaaally annoying), purchasing a ticket instead. That is, Score on Wednesdays or Klass on Saturdays. Week 2’s Klass theme was commando, so we equipped ourselves with some face paint and military prints and danced all night long! It was great, although on Sunday morning I slept like a log… 

And last, but not least, house chores. Ugh, how I despise doing the washing. There are Circuit Laundry-run launderettes all over campus. Mine is the Westwood one which isn’t very big, usually has one third of the machines out-of-order and isn’t what we’d define as “clean”. Plus, it takes around two hours to get the whole washing done. Seriously, two hours. And it’s not cheap. Here is the process: 1) Separate your dirty clothes into bags and drag them all the way to the launderette (you are lucky if it isn’t raining). 2) Find a free washing machine, duh. This is the most difficult part, as they are in high demand all day apparently. You really have to find a moment during the week when there is likely to be one or two free and check online, otherwise you’ll find yourself waiting and wasting your time until one wash finishes and its contents are reclaimed by their owner, so that you can actually use the machine. 3) Turn your washing machine on and wait for 45 minutes. Yeah, it takes 45 minutes to wash your stuff. You can now set your alarm and go do other time-consuming university student chores. 4) Once your clothes are washed, it is usually easy to get your hands on a tumble-dryer (someone found it logical to put more tumble-dryers than washing-machines in the launderette. Apparently they didn’t know about student necessities). Your clothes will take about 55 minutes to dry. But at least they will be nice and warm (and their colours probably starting to wear off) afterwards.  In conclusion, £5/round of clothes + ≈2hrs = Congratulations, you’ve managed to wash your clothes. Now, do it every two or three weeks if you can, otherwise you’ll soon be poor and will lose precious time.  Another thing we did on Sunday was to cook. The food from the Bars and Eateries on campus is proving to be quite boring and not that varied, so we were really craving for fish. Amélie and I made boiled vegetables, fried cod and Spanish tortilla. It was all so yummy! But it made us realize how long it takes to cook, how expensive it is to buy fish and, at least for me, how glad I am to have the Eat and Drink card. I’ve never found cooking interesting and I think it is time-consuming, but it is obviously necessary. And finally, I re-dyed my hair. That is what happens when you have bleached tips and fantasy hair-dye, the upkeep is quite demanding. I managed to do it without making a total mess or staining anything, so I think I deserve a cookie.

Week 3 was a bit more of the same. Routine and class, going into town to do some shopping… Rain arrived. And by this I mean that it was pouring and cold outside and I’m glad I’m alive to tell the story. It is going to take me some time to adapt myself to the weather. I don’t mind the rain, in fact, I like it - if I’m indoors. If I have to cross half of the campus to get to my lecture, then I hate it. I just felt like curling up in my bed and reading (but not class stuff, things I actually like. Or watching a film, which is also quite rare in my life nowadays). On Wednesday there were different BUCS games, including the volleyball first team match against Southhampton. Even though I didn’t play, I did go to cheer the girls. They did very well considering the had only had two weeks of training, although they lost the match. And, finally, on Saturday I went with Amélie to the X-Factor, but that is another story and it deserves a whole post for itself, so stay tuned!