The speed
at which time goes by is insane: three weeks of class in and I feel both like I
just started and that I never left.
On Monday
of Week 2, the plumber woke me up super early in the morning to my dislike. At
least he solved the leaking tap and I was able to call Erin before she went to
class to congratulate her for her birthday. She is 17 already! Time goes by so
quickly…
Class-wise,
I am now more used to the routine and to filling in the gaps between classes,
either working in the library or scheduling diverse meetings with different
people: tutor meeting with Enrico, help with my CV with Claire, Joblink, the
Advice and Representation centre,… I also got to meet three fourth years -
Ally, Hermione and Patricia- to talk about their Year Abroad experiences and
help me make up my mind about mine. To date, I want to do a teaching work
placement in France and then study in Italy for the second semester, ideally in
Siena. Let’s see how that plan turns out. Oh, and I also filled in a gap by
participating in a PhD project for business, answering a questionnaire and
getting 5quid for that. Talk about incentives!
Even though
I am getting more used to the routine, the homesickness still makes its
appearance and on Tuesday morning I was feeling quite low. I am just so glad
that there is Whatsapp and Skype to be able to speak to my family. I could not
imagine how bad it would be if not! They are vital!
We also had
our Online Presentation induction session for our ‘Italy since 1945’ seminars
on Monday Week 2 – we’ll have to upload our presentations as a kind of video
prior to the actual seminars. I am just glad I am not one of the first because,
although the program is quite straight-forward, I still don’t understand 100%
how the uploading and watching before the seminars in going to work… I also
went to a Bath Award Info Session during Week 3, and discarded the idea
because, in mi opinion, the work it requires is a lot bigger than what you
might gain from it. So, moving right along, the rest of the classes were fine.
I’ve come
to the conclusion that the workload is not bigger, but that the difference is
that we have the pressure of our work counting towards our final degree marks
(and possibly, the Year Abroad) and that I have less time to dedicate to it. I
spend quite a lot of time on the bus, which I use to just listen to music
because I am unable to read while I’m on it, and also cooking and cleaning. I
met with Vidushi last Wednesday for lunch and then to do some work and we were
talking of how much we miss our catering credit. We might have eaten the same
all the time, but oh, so handy. It was great to catch up with her because now
that we live in different houses and areas of Bath I don’t see her that often.
Also, we needed a break from work so that night we both went to the Spanish
Society social at OPA. At the beginning, we’d agreed we’d leave by midnight the
latest, but the music they were playing was so good and we were having so much
fun that didn’t happen and I ended up going to bed at like two.
Not great for
Thursday because I had class from ten to five and then went straight to fencing
training. It was worth it though, I really needed some exercise to relax a bit
and I had a lot of fun. I definitely need to improve my fencing skills, but
that requires practice. I am also looking forward to their socials as this year
they seem very keen on them and hopefully they will be a great way to meet new
people. By the way, the sore muscles are so strange because I only have them on
one leg and it pains me to go up and down the stairs!
On another
note, the previous Thursday I hadn’t gone to the training because I went to the
BUSMS (Bath Student Musicals Society) taster instead. The theme was the Wizard
of Oz and it was a lot of fun. I found Imogen there so we kind of stuck
together but there were a lot of people. First they introduced the committee
and then we had to introduce ourselves mentioning our favourite Musical (mine
is probably ‘Chicago’) and dream role (I don’t have one really). We did some
icebreaking games before learning a song. I am an alto and we sang ‘What Is
This Feeling?’ from ‘Wicked’. I feel ashamed to admit this but I had never
heard the song before because I have never seen the musical… I feel like as a
Spanish person I know my bit about musicals, but I’m definitely a rookie within
the society… We then did a small choreography to the ending theme of ‘The
Wizard of Oz’ I believe. Apart from the fact that I have two left legs, I think
it went pretty well and I did have a lot of fun! After the session we headed to
Lime Tree for pres because they were going to PoNaNa afterwards but I had been
out all day so I just stayed for a bit and then headed home. They seem like a
lovely bunch and I joined the society. It looks like a great way of doing
something new, fun and artistic to unwind from the academic side of Uni.
Tomorrow I am showing up for rehearsals for the November show, ‘Music through
the ages’. I didn’t audition for any solos, but I do want to get involved
before the workload gets really heavy. I’ll keep you updated on how that goes…
After
having such busy weeks, the weekend arrives and all I want to do is sleep but I
have to get the work and reading done for the following week or do the shopping
or cook. I swear on Week 2 I was so knackered I just gave up and had a chilled
Friday night in ft. film. I chose ’The Craft’, an oldie from the 90s, and ended
up watching Glee also. Great cosy night. We had some trouble later on that
night with some alcohol related issues but let’s leave that aside… I have also
found out that it is worth heading up to the Library on weekends (specially on
Sundays) to work over there, even though it is a pain to be taking the bus. I
procrastinate a lot less. However, this weekend I have been forcing myself to do stuff so that tomorrow I am free for
the rehearsal and chill the rest of the day and I’m pretty pleased: groceries,
cooking, cleaning and most work done and out of the way. I think I will treat
myself to a movie or TV show tonight.
And, to
finish up, I have started my Arabic lessons. I chose Arabic over German because
I have always wanted to give Arabic a try and you can learn German pretty much
everywhere, whereas Arabic is a bit harder to find. During the first lesson, I
regretted the decision. I was sitting next to a Spanish girl called Raquel and
we were both looking at each other with our facial expressions saying “What
have we gotten ourselves into?” The lessons are intense and we are mixed up
with people that know a bit of Arabic but not enough to be on the next level.
And so, it is a bit hard to keep up. However, once I was able to sit down at
home and go through the material we’ve learnt in class, I have come to the
conclusion that it isn’t as hard as I initially thought. It just takes a lot of
practice and work because it is a new alphabet, a lot more complex than the
Roman one, and of course the vocabulary is also completely different. But I am
happy of my decision and improving.
Ma'a
as-salāmah! Until next time!