Hi, I'm Still Alive!

Hi there...

I'm embarrassed - this blog has been abandoned for too long, and without even a single explanation from me!

I've missed this, to be honest, and really hope I'll have time to update more in the future. With the start of university life having me constantly cramming information into what little space I have in my little brain, I'll find it harder to squeeze in the time for this. But I won't let this die, I love it too much.

Since my last post in August (where has the time gone?!), I've been to the exotic country of China as well as the slightly less exotic city of Oxford, started university as a dental student, and had my first night out, among other things. I've been itching to tell you about my travels, with accompanying photos of course, but the timing has just been awful.

Coming back after three weeks in China, where there's no access to Google, I had just one day of frantic shopping and preparation before packing up for central London where I'll be staying for the next year in university accommodation.

And, as with all new places, there come new friends. I've been busy getting to know all thirteen of my flatmates - yes, thirteen, it's quite something - as well as doing all the usual things that come along with living out for the first time of my life. I never realised how expensive fruit and veggies are, nor how absolutely tedious washing up the dishes can be...

Besides that, there's the constant struggle of trying to keep on top of work (or in my case, trying to catch up, but falling ever behind). I've actually got an exam coming up in a few days, which I'm so unprepared for - looking forward to late nights revising, yay!

After saying all this, I'm excited about future posts on here! I've got my China blog planned, which will be a task and a half considering the 3000+ photos I took that I'll need to sort through. I'd like to talk about skincare at some point since it's something I've become really interested in, as well as a favourites post of some sort - haven't done one of those in ages!

I'm sure there will be other ideas that come up later on, and the plans that I've got now may change, but nevertheless, I can't wait to have a bit of time to sit down and start on them. But, right now, I should probably focus on my studies. I'll figure out how to get a bit of time in, I promise!

Ta for now!

♥

I love you

xxx

Trip to Cambridge (and singing along to Hamilton)

Hiya!

It's Saturday, a day of sleeping in, and yet I woke up at 7:30 am.

Why do I do this to myself?

I went to a masterclass at Cambridge University today with my friend. The journey was two hours long, and though I ended up desperately needing to go to the toilet, I had fun. We sang and danced along to the Hamilton soundtrack, which I now admit is awesome.

For a long time now my friends have been trying to get me to listen to it, and I resisted thinking I would get bored of the politics and history. It turns out it's got wonderful characters and an amazing storyline, which makes it the complete opposite of boring. And definitely worth checking out!

We went our separate ways when we arrived - we have different interests and booked different classes after all. I sat near some other girls who were by themselves, and we chatted a bit whilst we waited for the lectures to start. It surprised me actually, I went in thinking I would sit quietly to myself as everyone would have friends with them, but it was nice to talk to others who came on their own too.

The lectures themselves were quite interesting, there was one on evolution and antibiotic resistance which I particularly liked, and wrote four pages of notes on it. Now that I write it down...I sound so keen, my goodness!

Some current students at Cambridge also gave us a little talk about student life, and I loved the fact that they mentioned a Quidditch Club, and an Assassins Society, where they dress up and plan ways of murdering each other...

I'm not sure whether to be worried or laugh at the awesomeness of that!

Anyway, when the masterclasses had ended, we went back home (and back to Hamilton), stopping quickly for some coffee on the way. Starbucks' new Burnt Caramel Latte is delicious, if you were wondering :)

Today was strangely fun and exciting, and I'm glad I decided to go to these lectures and meet new people.

♥

I love you

xxx

Nothingness

Hiya!

Did I decide on a deep and potentially meaningful title to draw you into reading my blog?

Maybe

Did it work?

Well I don't know

Let me tell you, my life has been a lazy 'bleurgh' recently.

Has anything interesting happened since I've been away from here?

Yep, I've been doing a few different things...

Have I written about them?

Nope

Am I guilty?

Sure

Laziness and procrastination - horrible things that I have yet to overcome

During my hiatus, things have happened:

1. I watched Cinderella (the 2015 film) - it was alright, though the beginning dragged on a bit too much
2. I stood in the middle of a field for one and a half hours, on a dangerously thin plank of wood placed on dangerously thin metal framing, for a photo
3. I'm starting to learn the wonderful and exciting Ancient Greek, the language of Patroclus and Achilles, my babies (read The Song of Achilles is you haven't and have your heart dance every time they're mentioned <3)
4. I visited a university open day and gained a tote bag, wristband, pens, and a stress ball out of it. A purple 'business and management' stress ball...jealousy doesn't look good on you... ;)
5. A strange and terrifying discovery was made - there's a restaurant in Chinatown which my friend and I were considering eating at...until we realised that to go in, you had to knock on the black door with a massive knocker, and after entering, the door would be locked behind you... Creepy D:
6. I learnt a part of the actual 'Man Up' dance sequence in Book of Mormon, taught by a professional dancer who's currently in the shows, and I loved every second of this experience
7. I started volunteering at a local nursing home, which has some very interesting characters...

So yeah, 'things have happened' indeed.

And obviously, the daily updates by moi are not a thing anymore... :/

There's a difficult balance between wanting to give you good content but having you wait a while, or giving you considerably less good content but uploading every day.

Hmm, I'll think about it

♥

I love you

ttyl

xxx

Drama Performance and Visiting the Elderly

Hiya!

It's been too long...but I've been away with a dying amount of mobile data, and anyway the Android Blogger app has issues which I hate.

I've spent the past week in a university, in wonderful uni accommodation and all the lovely responsibilities that come with it, such as cooking my own food and cleaning up. And the apparently £17,000 set of keys which, if you didn't keep on you at all times, you would most likely end up locked out of your room until you find the ever absent mentors to unlock your door for you.

And so, the main lessons I learned from living uni style is 1) The beds are uncomfortable, and the showers are small, 2) I mustn't burn rice, it's horrible cleaning that up, and 3) boilers are demonic and will make annoying horrendous noises, and possess you to stuff your ears with toilet paper in order to sleep :(

Anyway, enough on that. Last week I spent most of my time at various places, learning drama skills one minute and then at an elderly care home the next. On the first day, we had a public speaking workshop, which was a terrifying (but pleasing) experience, and a talk about voting.

The second and third days we met up with a practitioner who helped us to produce drama pieces for a showcase, and in the afternoon we visited an elderly nursing home and talked to the residents there. I honestly loved it, especially seeing how happy we made them feel just because we were talking to them <3

And finally the last day arrived, the day we had to perform in Stanley Halls. Thankfully, everything ran smoothly, and for once I didn't elbow someone in the face.

Kinda hard controlling your limbs when you fall backwards from a chair (standing up!) into someone's arms, someone who you only met two weeks ago and hardly talk to...

But it all went well, and all was good.

Surprisingly, despite being back in a school for the talks and having to put together a performance in only roughly 8 hours, I had loads of fun.

♥

I love y'all

Goodbye!

xxx

VISITING CAMBRIDGE

Hiya!

It was my dad's birthday yesterday - we celebrated by having dinner and buying him a cake. It wasn't much, just a family and close friends thing.

I also went to Cambridge today, specifically Corpus Christi College. We took the coach there, which took a few hours. Most of it was spent talking about the clouds or discussing how, to me, Cambridge is classical music whereas Oxford is dubstep. I don't know why. But every time someone mentions 'Cambridge', I have the image of a string quartet playing Pachelbel's Canon in a giant hall.

Once we had arrived, we were split into two groups for lectures. There were only twenty of us, so two groups of ten - one group listening to the biology lecture (which I was in) and one group listening to history. We had a one hour lecture about cancer, which could've been a little more interesting... The history people got to look at real ancient Greek and Latin manuscripts, and the real signatures of King Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. Lucky them!

We then had lunch in the main hall. It was amazing. It felt awesome because it reminded me of the main hall in Hogwarts, with the chandeliers and long wooden tables, but at the same time I felt like I was eating lunch in a church or cathedral, so it kinda felt wrong. And loads of Cambridge students stared at us, but it was alright.

After lunch, we had a tour around the college. There was a funeral going on, however, so there were loads of people and we had to be quiet. After, we spent the last few hours getting a chance to ask questions to a few undergraduates, which was cool.

We left the college then and walked a little bit to see a special clock which has a giant 'time-eater' bug on it. And we waited for it to turn 3 o'clock so we could hear the rattling of chains, which represents the sound of a coffin being lowered into the ground. Dark, eh?

Anyways, after that, we ran back to the coach and headed back home.

Overall, a very fun trip (made fun by my friends too - it would probably have been more boring without them) and a wonderful experience. It was a great opportunity.

❤️

I love y'all, and goodbye!