Y2-17: Weeks 34 & 35, end of my second year at University!

Seems like forever, but I am now done with my second year at University, which is crazy! I can’t believe how fast time has flown by…

On Monday the 16^th I had my French exam which went well. The texts were not too difficult so it was alright; one more exam to cross off the list. After that I stayed on campus and ran a few errands before meeting with Cristina, the Erasmus student from Perugia, for lunch. We went to Claverton Rooms and had a nice chat while we had lunch. We’ve decided to go to Stonehenge and Lacock next week, and perhaps London depending on the prices. It is great to have a travel buddy. Nobody in my house is up for travelling around so up until now I’ve done most of it on my own, but I’d rather solo-travel that regret not going at all! That is one thing I’ve definitely learnt over the past years and I plan to live by that, particularly next year while in France and Italy. For the rest of the day, I just did the groceries and went to bootcamp later on. I’ve really become addicted to the workouts, I will have to figure out a way of keeping it up when I go back home.

I took Tuesday off before starting to study for the next wave of exams. I had a few errands to run but also went into town to do some shopping and watched some TV shows. I’ve now finished Modern Family and Orange Is The New Black and can’t wait for new episodes to air. I have now gone back to Penny Dreadful, but I have a love/hate relationship with that series… I’ll see how I get on. I also Skyped Sara and completed the ten compulsory calls for her submission. It has been a great experience (definitely improved my Italian or at least confidence while I speak) and I hope to meet her when I go to Italy next year.

Then the studying started, but it was certainly problematic because I had too much time and not enough content to review so after a few days there was not much else I could do. I spent Wednesday at home going through all the Italian notes and making vocabulary lists. Then on Thursday I went up to campus with Bego, Amélie and Vidushi to study in Lime Tree and managed to get through all the revision exercises we had been given, so I came back quite early and Skyped Erin because her graduation was the day afterwards. She looked beautiful in her tan romper and I can’t believe she has already graduated. Still my lil’ sis, I wish I’d been there to celebrate with her.

Anyhow, On Friday I slept in and finished some writing exercises in preparation for the exam so Sara could have a look at them for me. And that was it; I’d done all I could for revision. It was weird because I felt guilty for not studying but there was literally nothing else I could do. In the evening I met with Rebecca to go and have a look around Bath because it was the International Music Festival with lots of venues with live music. It was nice, there were things going on the in the parks, the Baths, the Abbey and quite a few pubs and clubs. I ended up in Komedia with Amélie, Vidushi and her flatmates and then headed to Turtle Bay for a couple of cocktails.

On Saturday morning I went to a cross fit taster session in a gym nearby. It was good. To be honest, the exercises themselves were not hard, but we used weights which I hadn’t used before so my arms were so sore afterwards… I decided to bail on studying and take a nap before heading into town for the End of Year Fencing Meal. The weather was horrid but we met at TGI Fridays and had dinner together. So much food, but that didn’t stop me from ordering a massive cookie sundae. Got to make up for the exercise, right? After dinner some people left and the rest of us headed to The Cork for a couple of drinks. It was a lovely night, going to miss those guys, I’ve had a fantastic year with them all and I wish I’d joined the club earlier!

On Sunday I went back to revision, particularly lab for the exam the next day. Bego’s mother had come over for the weekend so she made food and I didn’t have to cook lunch, so thanks so much for that! After lunch I alternated some revision with more Modern Family episodes, they are hilarious and just about the right length. Oh, and we had a double rainbow appear that evening too. Amazing.

On Monday the 23^rd I had my Italian lab in the afternoon. The test itself was fine aside from the fact that the computer I was in did not work properly so I had to start later than the rest, but I finished in time anyway. Then I ran some errands and grabbed some food and coffee at 4W before participating in a short experiment Phaedra is running. I basically had to interview a robot, it was so weird. She is doing a study about the importance of human interaction and anonymous interviews, which sounds really interesting. After that I went to bootcamp and once back home I did some Italian revision and watched Game of Thrones and was scarred for life by the last ten minutes of the episode. If you watch it, you’ll know what I am talking about. Oh, wait up, hold the door.

Tuesday morning and my last proper exam was done and dusted. The Italian exam went fine. There were a couple of words and expressions I wasn’t too sure about but I sort of managed thanks to the context and I think I did a good job. After that I went back home. It was sunny and lovely outside, I love it when the sun comes into the kitchen while I cook; makes me happy. Then I watched a couple of videos in preparation for the French oral the next day and received an email saying that due to the UCU industrial action, our Italian orals on Thursday had been cancelled and were to be rescheduled. Complete mayhem. The class chat lit up and everybody was freaking out because there was no way they could do it on Friday or Saturday. I mean, people already had plans or were even going back home because I have coursemates who started their placement in France on Monday. Insane. Plus, because of the strike, information on the subject was minimum. So stressful. And we didn’t know if it would also affect the French test the following day, but we got no email so we assumed they were still on. I watched ‘La famille Bélier’ as a form of revision for French and then went to bed.

On Wednesday I got up early and went to do my French oral test. My video was about the immigrants in Calais and it was Salomé and Eline examining me, instead of Eline and Nina (I have a feeling it had to do with the strike…). I think it went fine. I hate orals because I get so stressed and nervous! After that I went back home and took a nap and after lunch I headed to the ODEON to watch the new X-Men film with David. A bit of a let-down to be honest, there are too many incongruencies in relation to the original films. I just didn’t really like it, aside from Quicksilver, Magneto and maybe Nightcrawler. Then I came back home for dinner and got ready to go out with A, V and a couple more girls to “celebrate” the end of exams. I don’t know, it was an awkward situation because we were not sure if the Italian exam was to be rescheduled or not. So, technically, we were done but we were not. We went to Bump’n’Grind but I didn’t last there long and ended up coming back home with A quite early, not a fan of the music.

Eventually we were told our Italian exams were to be done on Friday at the same time we had been given but in a different location. It was alright with me but a lot of people complained which I understand. But at the same time I also understand the reasons for the strike. Anyhow, I didn’t really have to do any prep so on Thursday I chilled at home and in the afternoon met Vidu in town and got some iced lattes and went to Victoria Park to relax in the sun. It was such a lovely afternoon; Ebru came along and we listened to music, sunbathed and watched the hot air balloons be filled up. I left quite early and ordered some dominos because I was too lazy to cook, went through the vocab and watched Penny Dreadful. Pretty decent day. I went to sleep early but was woken up at like 2am because Joel brought some people over. Not cool. I was in such a bad mood after that due to lack of sleep.

On Friday morning I had the oral test with Wonnacott which went well. And then I went to the Library to print off some things and complete my application for Siena (it is real now, I am actually going to study there, the feeling is so bizarre). I came back home and then decided to meet the girls for a picnic in Queens Square so we got some falafel and then went into town to do some impromptu shopping and get some frappes. End of exams celebrations. Then it started to pour. To really, really pour down. So we pretty much ran back home and arrived soaked. I just relaxed for the rest of the day, I was exhausted.

On Saturday I woke up super late. After popping to the Co-op, Vidushi came over for pres before Bathfest. The day was sunny and warm which was great! We had cocktails and put on glitter and gems, true British-festival vibes. And then went into town to join Taneisha and Jenny and get the bus to the Racecourse. Bathfest itself was fairly disappointing; the music was really bad but we had a nice time on the rides and just sunbathing. We did give up quite early and decided to go get dinner in town so A, B and I ended up in Wagamama’s. First time ever, expensive but good. Managed to eat with chopsticks too! And then at home we decided to watch Léon, although Bego stayed in her room and Amélie went to bed before the film finished. Not that much of a success I’d say…

On Sunday it was BUSMSTag, the annual meet-up after the Summer Ball for those in the musical society. I slept in and did the groceries because Monday was bank holiday and I was running low on food. And then got ready and helped Amélie get some ice and limes (took us a while because they’d run out everywhere), and take it all to Victoria Park for a bbq she was going to. I left her to it and went to the Crescent where everybody else was. It was a nice afternoon in the park, sunny and hot. We played rounders which is sort of like an easy version or baseball and then they played some football and I went to grab some food. After that we went up to campus and chilled by the lake until the Open Mic night was set-up. It was a lovely evening, really long but we had a lot of great songs. I really enjoyed the first one (can’t remember it anymore, but it was Dario and Jonathan singing) and also Kit and George’s rendition of ‘Take Me or Leave Me’ and Graham’s ‘Unfortunate Souls’. Lyana also sang a song by Beyoncé and I wish I’d signed up, but I wouldn’t know what to sing! Next time, got to work on my confidence first… Beky fortunately drove us home and spared us the taxi as we are not in term time anymore and buses are not reliable anymore… I’m going to miss the BUSMS bunch, I’ve had so much fun this year!

Anyway, second year is over now. It has flown by but I still have a few things in the bag before I return home: visiting Stonehenge and Lacock, a short getaway to Amsterdam and Utrecht, and working in the Open Days. Will keep you lot updated.

Also, I feel like I should continue the trend and write an advice post for second years based on my experience. Let me know if you’d fancy that. (Warning: it will potentially end up in a soppy note because I’ve literally had a blast and cannot believe it is over, what will become of me in final year?).

Good morning, good afternoon, good night.

So, I am assuming most of you came across my post on Facebook a couple of days ago asking for an “odd request”: that of translating the words “good morning, good afternoon, good night” into as many languages as possible. Well, here I am giving you the reason why, since a lot of you seemed to be curious.

To be honest, the original reason I did it was out of laziness. My aunt had asked me to translate and send her those words in as many languages as I could. She’d given me no context or reason why she needed them, nor the number of languages she was after. And I, after deciding I was feeling too lazy to check WordReference, thought that a quick post on Facebook would sort it out in no time. I mean, I have enough international friends on there to get a couple of translated versions of it easily. However, to my surprise, a lot of people actually commented and, within a couple of hours, the number of different languages had risen to over 25.

Why? I have no idea. Maybe a fast procrastination excuse during the painfully long exam season we’ve had. Maybe they genuinely wanted to help. Maybe out of pure boredom. Maybe to show off their mother tongue. I know I would personally do it partly because of that. For any of you who haven’t figured it out yet, I am a language nerd. I am a native Spanish speaker who had the luck to learn English from a very young age and become bilingual. Then I decided to take up French as a third language while in primary school. By the time I got to high school I just could not wait to start learning Latin (yes, I had always wanted to learn that extinct language). Plus, I took up German lessons for a while despite having forgotten most of it by now. And then came Ancient Greek, a degree in French and Italian and additional Arabic lessons because, why not try something different? In total, how many, five or six modern languages plus two extinct ones? You can probably tell I’m a linguaphile. I just can’t help it. There is something in the way languages find equivalences in each other, as if they were some sort of algebra, despite the many differences in alphabets, syntax or vocabulary (for instance, take idioms, my love and hate) that always appealed to me. That is why my long-term goal is to become an interpreter with side-work in translation. Nerdy as it may sound, the thought of conveying the same message in various languages makes me happy. I don’t expect you to understand it; everybody has a passion for different things, turns out mine is languages.

If I have the chance to share Spanish with other people, I will happily do so. Not only because I love languages, but also because Spanish is part of my identity and getting to share just a couple of words also means I get to show a part of my culture, which I am proud of.

Anyhow, friends from all over the world got involved and, before I knew it, numbers had risen again. At that point I had finally found out why my aunt wanted the translations; apparently, she is leading a tour in couple of days and wanted a few sentences to start off in style. Well, I guess just a couple of minutes on from the time I posted, she already had more than enough to choose from. After that, I just left it out of curiosity for what people would come up with. Mother tongues, second or third languages, extinct languages, regional languages, national languages, Asian languages, European languages, different alphabets, logograms… The list goes on. I got the chance to find similarities and differences between the different languages, and perhaps get a glimpse of their different cultures. For instance, why do some languages not have a way of saying “good afternoon”? I learnt about languages written from right to left, contrary to most languages I’m familiar with. I learnt how some Nordic languages are very, very similar. I confirmed that the Cyrillic alphabet is not just Russian. The diversity and richness of languages is extraordinary.

Anyway, I have no idea what I will do with all this newly-obtained knowledge because I am definitely not able to learn all these words by heart, but I didn’t want to let it go to waste so I decided to write this short post. Thank-you to everybody who contributed from all around the world, the response genuinely amazed me!

And, without further a-do, here is the final list of languages (because I know you are now curious too):

- Buenos días, buenas tardes, buenas noches (Spanish)

- Bon dia, bona tarda, bona nit (Catalán)

- Bonjour, bonsoir, bonne nuit (French)

- Buongiorno, buon pomeriggio, buona notte (Italian)

- Bom dia, boa tarde, boa noite (Portuguese)

- Bore da, prynhawn da, nos da (Welsh)

- Good morning, good afternoon, good night (English)

- Guten Morgen, Guten Abend, Gute Nacht (German)

- Goedemorgen, goedenmiddag, goedenavond (Dutch)

- God Morgon, Gon Afton, God Natt (Swedish)

- God morgen, god ettermiddag, god natt (Norwegian)

- Guete morge, guete nametag, guuet nacht (Swiss German)

- Добре утро, добрый день, добрый вечер  (Russian)

- Добро утро, Добър ден, Лека нощ (Bulgarian)

- おはよう、こんにちは、おやすみなさい  (ohayou, kon-nichiwa, oyasuminasai) (Japanese)

- καλημέρα, καλό απόγευμα, καληνύχτα (kalimera, kalo apogevma, kalinihta) (Cypriot Greek)

- Καλημέρα, καλησπέρα, καληνύχτα (Greek)

-مساء الخير , صباح الخير (Arabic)

- בוקר טוב, ערב טוב, לילה טוב (boker tov, erev toc, laila tov) (Hebrew)

-早安, 午安, 晚安 (zhao an, wu an, wan an) (Mandarin)

- גוטן מארגן, גאטן אווענט, א גוטע נאכט (gutn morgen, gutn ovent, a gute nacht) (Yiddish)

- शुभ प्रभात (good morning - shubh prabhat), शुभ रात्रि (good night - shubh raatri) (Hindi)

- Günaydın, İyi Günler, İyi Geceler (Turkish)

- Selamat pagi, selamat tengahari, selamat malam (Malay)

- Dzień dobry, dobry wieczór, dobranoc (Polish)

- Dobro jutro, dobar dan, laku noc (Croatian)

- Labas rytas, laba diena, labanakt  (Lithuanian)

- Dobré ráno, dobré odpoledne, dobrou noc (Czech)

- Dobré ráno, dobrý deň, dobrú noc (Slovak)

- Oíche mhaith (good night) (Irish)

- Bonum mane, bona dies, bonum nocte (Latin)

- Hyvää huomenta, Hyvää iltaa, Hyvää yötä (Finnish)

*Yiddish, Arabic and Hebrew are written from right to left.

Y2-16: Weeks 32 & 33, exams, socials and sunny days!

My French Politics exam is now over and it seems like I’ve re-gained my freedom. Sweet freedom (exams still not over though).

My Arabic test on the Monday went better than I expected. It was a horrible rainy day and, to top it off, bank holidays so everything was closed. The room where the exam was taking place got changed and I only knew because Sokratis messaged me… The test itself was fine. We were only five taking it and I did what I could, which was a lot more than I expected to be honest. I made up the rest, but you have to give it to me for trying! I think the listening was probably the worst, and the oral was fine. I didn’t have a partner so I had to pass the exam with Khalil himself, but he was overall very reassuring – he said we’d attended the lessons and that was most of the mark, the test was just to check the skills but not that important (phew!). He also offered to help me keep up my Arabic next year via email, which is fantastic because I have no idea what I can do otherwise… After the test I picked up my bag from Leila’s and went back home to keep doing some work.

On Tuesday I did the massive batch of piled-up laundry. Note to self, don’t leave it until late morning, driers are busy during lunchtime. I did manage to get it done quite soon, even though when I got there all the driers were taken. I just had to wait for a bit. After lunch I kept working on my essay and then got ready to go to the Erasmus Leavers’ Party. It was such a nice event! It was the first time they organized it, basically a subsidised get-together for students on Erasmus or going on Erasmus to meet each other – free champagne, canapés and name tags included! Nobody from Siena attended (neither from Fécamp but that did not come as a surprise), but I had a lovely evening with my course mates and meeting foreign students from Vancouver and Italy. Afterwards I walked home with Emily and Jess. It was funny because they mentioned reading my blog. Honestly, I know I get views but it is always so strange when people come up to me and say they actually read it!

On Wednesday I didn’t do much. I did the groceries and some bulk-cooking and then revision for French Politics (it was revision week, so got to do some revision). I also managed to actually find a student from Liverpool University on thirdyearabroad.com who had done the placement in Fécamp during her year abroad and contacted her. We’ve exchanged some emails and she’s been so helpful! To be fair, I really didn’t expect to find anybody!

On Thursday I revised all day and then in the evening we had the BUSMS End of Year Meal. Before that Lyana and I had a small outfit crisis. I hate dress codes; for guys it’s easy but how dressed up is “smart-casual” for a girl? Anyhow, we got to The Westgate where they had hired the whole top floor. We were so many the tables had to be laid out on a U shape for us all to fit, and Lyana and I ended up in one of the bottom corners, which let us see everybody but was a bit awkward for conversation. I had a fantastic time, the food was good and everybody was so happy. The Social Secs gave out funny and context-needing (and more serious) awards for everybody – Lyana got the Award for the most Photogenic while I got it for the Best Looking in Red Lipstick (got to love red lipstick – sadly, I wasn’t wearing it for the event lol). It was a bittersweet night as it was the last official social and a lot of BUSMS members are leaving, including most of the committee. I had a lovely time nonetheless. After dinner we stayed for a while and then Lyana, Zach and I walked back to Oldfield.

Friday was such a long day. It was the Year Abroad Information Day and we had like five different long meetings about different topics all throughout the morning and half the afternoon with basically no breaks and we got overflown with information which I still haven’t yet totally processed. Basically, starting at 10 we had meetings about next year and final year: options, Year Abroad security, Careers Service, Italian and French information (transport, health systems, security etc.), Placement and Erasmus information… I resorted to coffee to pull my way through. And I also half sorted the papers for my Open Day job in June, which I finished doing last Wednesday. Pretty long day but I did have to do some more revision when I finally got home…

The weekend I was planning on spending finishing my notes and actually memorizing them for my exam on Wednesday. I had finished and handed in my Italian Cultural Studies essay on Friday so I didn’t have to worry about that anymore. However, we had a problem with the external drain of our house which had got blocked and water was coming out of the manhole. The landlady came over and even though we tried to clear it up ourselves and used acid and stuff, nothing worked. We basically had no water in the kitchen for the whole weekend until we phoned a jetting service on the Monday to get it professionally done. So much hassle and unlucky that it was during our tenancy that it exploded because the problem seemed to have been powder detergent from the washing machine which none of us use so blame on the former tenants… Anyhow, it is now sorted but that took away our whole Saturday afternoon/evening. I did manage to study on Sunday and Monday, and also pick up the recommended reading for the politics exam (seriously, going up to campus just to pick a book, the effort is there).

During the past few days I’ve binge watched a couple of TV shows: caught up on Game of Thrones, finished Glee season 3 and OITNB season 2. Plus, watched Allegiant which to be honest was a mix of other dystopias I’ve already watched. Not a great fan, but could’ve been worse. Any show recommendations? Got a couple of things on my list but any other will be appreciated!

On Wednesday the 11^th I had my French Politics exam at 9:30 so I got up early to go to that. You know that moment when you are just fed up of something and want to get it done so badly? That was me with this exam. I think it went alright, I did my best which is what counts but you never know because examiners have been a lot harder with their marking this year… After that I had a meeting with an Italian Erasmus student who is on placement here in Bath to practice some speaking for the exam. She seems pretty nice and will be meeting up with her again for an English-Italian tandem. After grabbing lunch I went into town to ask at the Police Station about the documents I need for the DBS, which they can’t provide so I phoned the Consulate in London and I couldn’t get through to them. Such a pain of a process but hopefully I’ll get it sorted soon. Then back home to “enjoy” freedom by cleaning, doing some extra stuff I’d left aside and Beryl coming over to check the leak in the kitchen. Yes, there is another leak but it has been dealt with now. I also did some research on places to visit in Amsterdam and Utrecht when I go an visit Chopi (any suggestions, please comment below) and finally got to read for pleasure.

On Thursday I was woken up by the man coming to fix the gutter to avoid the leak and then I did the groceries and bulk cooked for the rest of the morning. I made garbanzas, tuna samosas, aubergine and a chicken and veggie fry. I’m sorted for a while. The sun was lovely so I left the kitchen door open and a ginger cat shamelessly came in (along with like 3 bees!). I pushed it back out but it had a collar so I’m assuming it’s got an owner, he came round again on Friday and A and B ended up petting it... After lunch I skyped with Sara (only one call to go before completing the tandem) and then I sorted a couple more things and took a shower and read (leisure reading for a change!). No-study day, I deserved the break.

On Friday I slept in for a bit and then got ready and did some work. After lunch I headed into town to meet Jess and Isaac, the exchange student from Siena. We had a nice conversation over a cup of coffee; I’m so excited to go to Italy now! Siena sounds really promising! And then while I was coming back home, Amélie said B, Joel and her were going to go to Green Park to revise and make the most of the sun, so I quickly got my stuff and joined them. It was a lovely afternoon in the sun (tons of bugs though). Plus, Starbucks’ half-price frappuccino deal, what else could you ask for? It was great to enjoy the sun for once; the weather has been amazingly gorgeous lately, in need of a bbq asap! Once back home we phoned Virgin up to check on the end of our contract (don’t want to be stuck in Bath in June without Internet…). Seems about sorted now, so that is a relief. After that, dinner and chilling – Youtube and OITNB.

On Saturday morning I pulled myself out of bed and put my sports gear on to go for a run in Bath for the first time. It felt really good. It was quite chilly but it had been ages since I’d gone for a run so really needed it… Now I have sore muscles but they are worth it! After that I popped into the post-office to send an envelope and then chilled for a bit and worked on my French notes. After lunch I wrote up a résumé and then gave up studying because I was tired and it was sunny. I had an early dinner and got ready to go to campus for the Eurovision social. BUSMS had booked a massive lecture theatre in CB to watch the show, and it was fancy-dress. And BUSMS never disappoints with fancy dress… Zach and I represented Belgium and we stuck to the easy costume: flags and face-paint. But there were some really cool ones; Beky and Leigh were representing Sweden and they came as a chest of drawers and an IKEA saleswomen, whereas Monica and Emma, as Spain, came as a bull and a bullfighter (not the best representation of Spain atm, but you’ve got to give it to them for the effort). There was a quiz, banter and we watched the whole show. To be fair, the most fun part was actually watching the score and how Australia (who doesn’t even go here) started to shoot up and was then kicked out of the first place by Ukraine (a song none of us actually remembered). It was a fun night. I actually enjoyed Eurovision for once.

And then today, Sunday, the day started sunny. I got ready and went into town for a vintage fair at the Guildhall. I wasn’t going to go because I don’t really need anything, but I kind of wanted a dress or jumpsuit and I knew I would regret it if I didn’t go. I just love everything vintage, I can’t help myself. I ended up getting an altered vintage 1940s-style red and white checked dress. So beautiful. Then I went up to campus to join Amélie in Lime Tree and do some work for my French test tomorrow. We had Sunday roast and are kind of craving Pimms’, but it is sadly now cloudy, so our hopes of sunbathing breaks have been discarded… Will be working on campus for a bit and then go back home and chill (and probably watch some more OITNB, ‘cause you know, why not?).

Still have two more exam weeks to go, five exams in total, but all language ones so it should be fine. Also, Bathfest, BUSMSTag, the Fencing End of Year Meal are coming up so, despite covering the exam period, these posts will actually be kind of interesting, rather than me being stuck at home studying. I’ll keep you in the loop.

Y2-15: Weeks 30 & 31, Mum visits Bath and Encore 2016!

Here I am, back with another post, this time about the last two intense but memorable two weeks of class from my second year.

Monday the 18^th was pretty busy, I went up to campus before my lessons to get some work done and basically did not stop until nine between classes, TEFL presentation group meetings, bootcamp and rehearsals. We had our presentation the following day and decided to go up to campus an hour earlier to practice and print out the summary. Turns out everybody was stressing about the individual assignment so we didn’t actually rehearse it but instead I got myself a coffee to wake me up while the others panicked with the hand-in procedure. We all managed in the end, which is what counts. The ELT class that day was quite short as it only involved us giving in the assignments and doing the group presentations. I think we did well and we were happy with ours, so all good. It was kind of sad though, thinking it was the last ELT class. I’ve really enjoyed the course. We then had an Italian grammar make-up session with Enrico and my usual writing class, before I headed to the library to do something worthwhile during the time to spare before my Django and Masquerade rehearsals that night. I actually got a phone call from mum, saying she was arriving on Saturday afternoon for a surprise visit! I couldn’t believe it! Everybody had known all along, even the landlady! It had been planned since Christmas and I had no clue, but she decided to tell me because with rehearsals and all she wasn’t sure if there would be someone at home to let her in… Such a great surprise xx

On Wednesday morning I did some work and then went to campus for my flyering slot. Honestly, flyering for musicals is really hard, but at least it was sunny! Then I headed to the University Hall for an Arab Culture Event organized by my teacher and the Arab Society in Bath. It was great! There was such a festive atmosphere with lots of food and interesting objects and live music! Many people were dancing and singing and I really enjoyed it. There were also a couple of talks, one about Arab Culture in general, one about the Arab heritage in Sciences and another about Women in the Arab countries. I really enjoyed them all and it was a pity that I had to leave before the last one finished, but I had to rush to CB for the Encore Band Call aka. Full run-through with band for the first time. The run-through went fine. Some songs were weird because we were missing the drummer for a portion of the evening, and then we started running late but that is to be expected. Aside from that, for three weeks of rehearsals it was pretty on point!

Thursday was a regular day aside from it being the last Thursday with class. I had the usual seminars and then in fencing we did a competition (ended up last but oh well haha). Then I showered quickly before Arabic lesson and an extra hour of rehearsals. Long day.

Friday was the last day of class of my second year. It felt quite strange, because I wanted classes to finish but at the same time it was weird to wrap my mind around the fact that I won’t have more classes in Bath until Autumn 2017, how scary is that? We had a fun quiz/trivial-style kind of game for French speaking which I totally sucked at and then for grammar we went over the exam. I was pretty happy with my mark actually. After that I had another flyering slot, this time with Holly. We were both on our own in the rain, not too successful.

On Saturday we had a morning of rehearsals for the chorus numbers and then Jack’s ppt on security measures for the show as per usual, before a complete run-through. It was great because although we weren’t in the ALT, we actually got to see all the numbers with the compere slots included, something we didn’t do in MTTA until we got our DVD’s. There were a couple of really amazing numbers, including Erin’s solo which actually made people tear up (yep, you’ll want to see the video when I get my hands on it, trust me!). After that I went back home and thought I’d get there before Mum as I’d finished earlier…turns out she had already arrived and was having tea with B! As we didn’t have much time left that day and I was super tired, I just showed her around Oldfield so she could get a feel for the area and figure out where the bus stops were. So nice to have her over! I thought she’d only make it to my graduation!

On Sunday we slept in and then headed to campus. Mum stayed in town to visit some museums and shops while I had tech rehearsals. It went pretty well, I got to try my new character shoes out so I could feel comfortable dancing with them. And aside from some bits and bobs to practice and some changes made, overall it was fairly productive (essay reading in slots in between…).

Week 31 was the last week of lessons at a University level, but no more for PoLIS students because it was the final year oral exam week, meaning no class for the rest of us yippee! On Monday morning I did some work at home before heading up to campus for the YA meeting and then came back home to wait for Mum, who’d been out and about visiting a couple more museums. I then took her to Alexandra Park, because where else to get great views of Bath? And on our way back we stopped at a charity shop and I actually found two books by Maggie Stiefvater: The Dream Thieves and a signed copy of Linger – only 2 quid in total, such a steal! We then did some work at home (and Mum cooked – omg I hate cooking and couldn’t have been happier that she was doing it for me). And we finished the day off in style by watching the new Game of Thrones episode. Honestly, the new season comes out right before the exams, not the best timing – got to keep up with them to avoid spoilers!

On Tuesday we went into town to do some shopping and had lunch at the Real Italian Pizza Co. Then we went home as it looked like it was going to rain (actually hailed by the way) and used the afternoon to work, chill and sort out some stuff and paperwork at home for Mum to take back to Tenerife with her.

On Wednesday I took her to Uni and showed her around, including walking down to Sham Castle under the Spring sun. She loved the University and we were discussing how it had been a good choice in the end. I’m really happy I chose Bath over Bristol to be honest. We had lunch at the STV and then she left to go into town while I had an extra Charlie rehearsal. I then took the bus home and happened to find Luke so we had a chat while we went back. And then studying, hella work on the essay and helping Mum with her suitcase because she was leaving so incredibly early on Thursday (literally, alarm at 2:30am and I woke up with her to wave good-by; she was exhausted when she got home).

On Thursday afternoon I went up to campus to get my Italian grammar test, which went surprisingly well, I genuinely thought it had been a lot worse on the day I did it. And after that I had dinner and headed to The Edge for dress rehearsal (also the day when they took the professional pictures). It went pretty well; I couldn’t believe the following day was the actual show, time had flown by. Saturday sold out and Friday nearly did as far as I knew, with only seven seats left! Such a hit!

On Friday the 29^th I did some more work on my essay and nearly managed to finish it, and then went up to campus for the show. The first night went really well. Amélie, Bego, David and Joel came to watch and they really enjoyed it. Everybody was buzzing and nervous because it was the first night and we didn’t know how the audience would react, but safe to say it was a success! After the show, I ran with Lelia to her place and quickly got changed and barely made it in time to catch the U1 into town and make in to the Bridge guestlist! It was Vidushi’s birthday the day after so I told her I’d try to come. I ended up hanging out with Lelia and not V in the end though haha

Saturday was the last show night of Encore. I spent the morning and afternoon finishing the essay and then went up to campus (met Imogen at the bus stop, coming to watch the show too). The show was amazing, everybody had a great time and because we were just relaxed and enjoying the show it went better than ever! Lots of emotional people at the end, as it was the last show for the leavers (and my last show until 2017… right when I get addicted to musicals, I have to stop. I can’t imagine what it’ll be like in my final year…). There was a problem with the camera equipment and we had to re-do some numbers after the show, which was a bit of an anti-climax but the crowd was made of BUSTers and BUSMers so the cheers were terrific! After that Lyana, Lelia and I went to leave my stuff at Lelia’s again before stopping at good ol’ King’s Kebab for some chips before the after-show. Aftershow was amazing like always – we drank, danced, sung (full rendition of ‘Let It Go’ included, of course) and celebrated all night! Such a night to remember… We had a blast because we ended up arriving home at 5am as the sun was coming out.

On Sunday there was the BUSMS brunch but I slept in and didn’t go in the end because I really had to review for Arabic as my test was this morning and I hadn’t studied at all. I really tried, but in the end just sort of gave up. Let’s be real, I wasn’t going to fit the vocabulary of 10 weeks in my head in eight hours… I decided to watch a film instead.

Today I got up and went grocery shopping and then headed to campus for my exam. It was alright in the end, Khalil is a very nice teacher and he was quite reassuring. I know I made mistakes but I’m pretty happy with how it went, surprisingly well actually! And then I waited for Lelia to get my bag back and came back home and did some cleaning. It was Amélie’s birthday today so they went out to the cinema but I really had to get on with work. And now I’m typing up this post, not much else to say.

These past few weeks have been amazing and Encore 2016 has been a show to remember. Now it’s time to focus on studying for revision week, but I must say I still have a couple of fun things coming up: the Erasmus Leavers’ Party tomorrow, BUSMS End of Year Meal on Thursday… got to balance out the studying, right?