Here goes a long (and late) post about my last two weeks this semester.
On Monday
on the tenth week the Sport Club pictures were taken. The volley team’s ones
were at twenty to eleven so I went to have them taken. They were running late,
so I only made it into the official photo of the first women’s team (at least I
made it into one). Then I had to run across the campus to get to the other
side, where I had my French grammar exam. I must have looked mad, running in
stockings and volley pants through the mass and panting when I got to the
classroom… The exam went fine. I got 88/100, which is awesome! This was a week
of class work, because later that day I also had a seminar presentation with my
team. We spent the morning rehearsing for it and did a pretty good job. I was
happy with the result, despite a couple of technical problems with the slides…
On Tuesday
evening I skipped (again) my Academic Writing test/class to go ice-skating.
They set up a rink in Royal Victoria Park and the Resident Tutors had organized
for us to go there. It was fun. It was cold but I had fun… and managed not to
fall!
At the same
time, the holidays were drawing near and the excitement for going home grew.
The Christmas feel was in the air and I couldn’t wait for the time to go back.
Only one week to go and lots of work to get done before leaving, but still…!
On Saturday
I joined a RAG (Raise and Give) event. We went on tour to Cardiff to raise
money for Concern Universal, a charity that helps fight poverty in nine
different countries (http://concern-universal.org/).
On Friday I had dropped by the volunteering office to pick up the kit: a Santa
costume, some flyers, the permit, the seal stickers and, of course, the bucket!
On Saturday morning I met early in the morning at the station with the other
five team members: Kristin, Matilda (the organizer), Jack, Alex and Williams.
We got the train to Cardiff and arrived at around 11. We dressed up outside the
train station, took a picture and went into the busy shopping streets of the
capital to spread out and get to work. It was extremely difficult. Although the
weather was lovely, there were a lot of people and lots of other volunteers
from other organizations asking for donations too. Competence was hard and I
didn’t have the skills because it was my first time. Nonetheless, I think I did
a fair job and I am so happy that I did go. I would have never thought I’d do
that and now that I have, I have a new respect for the volunteers that do this
normally. It is such a tough job. You have to smile all the time and ask
thousands of times to the passer-byes, who reject you or ignore you most of the
time. I did have a great time with the people I met there though. We found an
Italo-Portuguese restaurant that took ages to serve our lunch, and then had to
split up because three of us had to go back earlier. Matilda, Jack and I stayed
and kept walking the streets with our buckets. Cardiff is a very pretty city
(my spot was near the Castle, in the corner where the two main shopping streets
meet), I will go back one day and do tourism. I really wish I had had time that
day. We got the 5:30pm train back to Bath and arrived a bit past an hour later.
Again, it was tough as Hell but I don’t regret doing it. Many people just
ignore you, some donate without paying much attention, some just stop to ask
directions and you might even encounter some odd people (maybe drunk). But then
there are the nice people, like children who come up to you with their eyes
wide open at your looks or people who actually stop and talk to you (there was
a woman who told me I ought to sing carols to draw attention… and an old man
who was very nice and told me he donated regularly and that young volunteers
like us should keep up with the good work we’re doing, he was really kind and
cheered me up). Against all odds, we
managed to raise 142.89 pounds. I raised 16.55 out of that, which is a feat!
Please, if you ever encounter a volunteer, just give them whatever change you
might have. Any little amount will count, not only towards their cause, but it
will also cheer their day up and renew their forces to go on. Tough job it is!
Finally, on Sunday we craved sugar. We had coffee and chocolate with marshmallows for dessert at lunch, and then cooked crêpes (round two) for dinner. We even tried to make chocolate crêpes, but that was a bit of a fail… If anybody knows how to make them, please tell!
Week 11 was
the last week of the semester. At last. I got my exams and work-sheets and
essays back, all with 1st class marks (+70/100), which made me really proud.
There is obviously space to improve, but the results meant that my hard-work
was worth it. It was a hectic week (as per usual), but a bit busier because I
tried to use any spare time to do work in order to have more free time during
the holidays. This was challenging because I lacked the will to be honest, but
I did get some things done nonetheless. As it was the last week, the classes
were quite light, talking about
Christmas in France and Italy, eating panettone and chocolate that our Italian
teachers brought for us (which was so cute),… Some of the French teachers also
organized a quiz for the first and second years (in which my team – the Jacobins-
and I ended in second place and won chocolate treats) and we had food to taste,
French Christmas desserts. It was also quite strange to think that some of my
lecturers won’t be teaching me next semester and I will miss some of them…
Some other
things I did were, for example, a Christmas night with the girls. We watched Love Actually, to get into the
Christmassy vibes (popcorn included, yum!). I also went to the Christmas Carol
Service at the Abbey, which was quite impressive (although I silently left
before it finished). I had an appointment at the Hospital on Wednesday, which
was a challenge, both to get there and find my way through. I arrived in taxi
to the building, which was an old building, probably from the 60s, with
corridors that looked as if they belonged to a horror movie… But the personnel
were nice and it wasn’t that bad. I also took a blood test and managed to
return by bus in time for a late lunch with Amélie and Begoña (Christmas meal,
for the umpteenth time).
Friday was
my last day in Bath in 2014. It was weird because, although I was really
looking forward to seeing my family and friends the following day, I was also
going to miss the people I have met in Bath. I’ve only known them for three
months but, because I spend so much time with them, I will miss them over the
holidays. I spent the evening packing my suitcase (and panicking about the
weight limit, which I finally solved by taking a hand-luggage suitcase filled
with the heavy stuff (you can image how heavy the small suitcase ended up being…).
And later that night I went to Klass with Jenny. It was so-so because half the
students had left so the club was half-empty. I left at a decent time to go to
bed and be able to wake up early the next day.
I am going
to include my trip home in this post too, because it is also part of Week 11,
although the holidays will be in another post (if I eventually do write about
them, but I don’t promise anything).
On Saturday
I woke up at half past eight and got ready. I had to leave my room clean and
tidy and throw away any unwanted rubbish or food. I also had to drag my two
suitcases down the four floors and outside it was cold. Like, there was frost
and everything. I took the Wessex Bus (which was packed with people and
suitcases) to the station and then the A4 bus to the airport. The bus left at
ten and an old lady sat next to me and told me about her life and travels. 83
years old and she had been basically everywhere: the Caribbean, Australia,
Tenerife, Switzerland,… A few stops after her son got on the bus and then they
left to go shopping. It was an amusing experience. Once I arrived at the
airport, I went to the EasyJet queue, which was astoundingly long. I got there
just in time to get into a decent place and had to wait for about 40 minutes to
drop off my luggage. The rest was normal: security check, get into the waiting
area,… I had to wait for an hour to know my departure gate so I had a brunch at
Burger King and then bought some food for the plane in Superdrug. Then I went
to the gate and got on the plane without any issues. The trip was alright. I
did some work, ate and took some sleep. And a four-hour-flight later I was back
in Tenerife after three months! HOME AT LAST!
