Y1-17: Weeks 29 & 30, last classes of my Fresher year!

On Sunday after coming back from home I was super tired so all I did was basically sleep, unpack, sort out my things for deadlines and coursework and all that jazz.

During W29, the weather was so good! It was sunny, warm, summery and, to be honest, the last thing I wanted to do was to study. I have procrastinated quite a lot lately, but I do get my things done in the end, so it is not that bad (although I really have to follow my study plan from now on). Weeks 29 and 30 were my last two weeks of class before revision weeks and the exam season, so I took them as a sort of “vacation” and concentrated on doing the work for the different classes, tests and presentations I had before the actual revision period. But, as I was saying, the weather had been lovely. Sunbathing, BBQ and Pimms season. All sorts of flowers had sprung and the cherry trees had blossomed and it was lovely (only downside is that my room is on the opposite side of the building, so no sun shining in in the afternoon…). 

On Monday I watched the first episode of the last Game of Thrones season, which I had wanted to watch forever. Although the four first episodes were available because they had been leaked, I decided to watch them weekly instead than all together and having to wait another month until the fifth came out… It has turned out well because I use GoT as a treat after studying so I have something to watch. Another program that I have been watching lately has been LOST, which is weird. I have seen all the episodes but now that I am re-watching it it’s like the first time (fish-memory, thanks). I also watched ‘Pulp Fiction’ at some point in preparation for an essay, which was really, really good. I can’t believe I had never watched it before, I enjoyed it a lot.

Apart from studying and working on the ‘Postmodernism’ group presentation with Hannah, Imogen and Millie, other things have been going on. On Monday I went to a Gender Equality meeting about men being involved in Feminism. We were separated in groups and handed some questions to debate between us, and then we finished by giving our conclusions to the rest of the groups. It was interesting. Some views were quite radical but, in general, we agreed with each other. On Tuesday we had an Italian Lab test, which was fine, and then in Speaking class we ate a Columba Torta, which apparently is a typical Easter dessert in Italy. It tasted like Panettone, so it wasn’t my cup of tea, but it was really nice that Elena brought it from Italy for us to try. I also went to a Department Seminar about Podemos. I didn’t think was extremely useful towards the actual title of the seminar, because the lecturer would get carried away and he ended up running out of time. But I don’t think it was a waste of time either, I did learn one or two things and a lot of people showed up, what evidences the interest. I want to be able to vote in November, but I have to enrol at the Embassy so I have to see how to go about that… If anybody knows exactly how to do it, please let me know.

On Wednesday I did some shopping in town and had lunch at Guildhall Market. I had an English breakfast, and it was really good to be honest. It was the first time I tried hash browns, which were not amazing but they didn’t taste bad. The only thing I would’ve changed was the fried bread for a toast, way too much oil. In the evening I Skyped with my family, I miss them lots, even more now that I have to spend more time on my own because of exam preparation…

I had my last official lecture on Thursday, and also a French grammar exam which I have my results back and went really well! It is weird to think that my first year at Uni is almost over… I won’t be a Fresher anymore… I have no idea where time has gone.

 I had my stitch removed on Friday, and now I’ve left the ear to its own thing but it’s a bit irritated I think, I hope it’s nothing bad… We got our card re-loaded with credit that day too so now I don’t have to cook anymore, but I am not sure I will finish it all before I leave. It makes no sense to have extra credit now when I could’ve used it when I needed it back in January…Then in the night we went out. We went to Bridge, and really early because we were on the guestlist. It sucked to be honest because the club was really empty; the only good thing was that they actually played one or two Spanish songs. I miss that music, never thought I’d say that.

On Saturday morning I went into town and bought a suitcase, which is very weird thing to do but I needed an extra one to put my things in when I move out of the University accommodation. That day the bus was really packed and it was funny because a group of thirty-something year olds got on the bus and apparently they were former University of Bath students who had met up to visit the Uni again. They had studied here between 2000 and 2004. It was a weird feeling. Is that what it will be like for me in the future? In the evening I cleaned while listening to the radio my dad gave me, and I felt like my mum… I have no TV, but at least I do have a radio.

During Week 30 the weather was also really good until the weekend, when it started getting chillier and even rained (although now it is sunny again but cold). It was my last week of class which was strange: my last seminars, our last French oral class with Aurore, Speaking class in Italian (we had to practice for the Oral test last Monday),… And the last Italian grammar class. It is sad because apparently next year we will be in different groups depending on what our optional unit is… I liked our group though. Enrico brought cookies to share and we took a picture together – all girls. I procrastinated quite a lot during the week, but still got work done, either in my room or in the Library (now extremely packed). Amélie came back from France, I chatted with Lara on Whatsapp, we had our last volley training which was nice because we just played some games together. After that I went to explore the east side of the campus; there is a small path on the border and there were cows and I met Indre and Gaia there so we just hung around and walked. The sunset was so pretty! Other boring things that I had to take care of now that I am independent was to sort some Student Finance issues and call O2 to arrange my bills,…nothing too interesting really. Independence is also boring and tedious. 

On Thursday we had a talk about our Year Abroad. It’s so exciting! We have to think about what we’d like to do over the summer because by October we have to have it all more or less figured out. Sadly, I think I can’t be a teaching assistant because I am not British, which totally sucks, but I still have to check and be 100% sure it is not an option for me. I would love to do it though.

On Friday afternoon I decided to do the laundry and that became Hell. First, my card would not work and by the time I had fixed it, all the machines had been taken. So I had to wait for over half an hour to get a free one and watched Modern Family in the meantime. Once I came back to pick the clothes and put them in the drier, I found out that the frikin’ machine hadn’t turned on properly so I had to wait another 45min for the laundry to get done. And afterwards I was really frustrated and angry, but fortunately the drier did work. I cannot wait to have our own washing machine.

During the weekend I got kinda depressed but I did some work and study, met up for the seminar presentation, and Skyped with my family. When I feel down, I just watch Tyler Oakley on YouTube. Seriously, he always manages to make me smile.