Reading

I’m currently sitting in my room, having spent my last evening in Reading with my best friend; seeing as we met on the very first day of University (a story she delights in telling people after a drink or two) it seemed only right. Much of today has involved taking things off walls and packing away clothes whilst wondering how on Earth I’ve managed to accumulate so much junk in the past 9 months! But, being the sentimental idiot that I am, I can’t seem to throw any of it away. Should be fun getting it all in the car! Unable to just get on with the task in hand I thought this was the perfect opportunity for a stock take, the findings of which were that I have 38 dresses and 21 cardigans –  which might explain where my Student Loan disappeared to. Although I still have a lot left to pack I decided it is much more important to do one last post from Reading. I’m clearly very good at prioritising.

Considering I had my heart set on going to University in Brighton I wasn’t really looking forward to starting at Reading. Despite this, I can honestly say that my four years here have been more than I could have ever hoped for. Tomorrow (well, technically today), I won’t only be leaving Reading with a 2:1 in French and English (yay!) but I’ll also go with some wonderful friends and amazing memories. Given the chance I don’t think I’d really change anything from the past four years – apart from I maybe would tell my Second Year self that Port Challenge is never a good idea...  Either way, as this post suggests I’m a little sad to leave; looks like now I’m actually going to have to start being a proper adult. Bit scary, really!

Campus during spring and daffodil watch. Surprisingly they are now dead. 

22 Going On 70

Since finishing my degree I seem to have jumped straight from being a student to acting like an OAP. I feel like I now have a pretty good idea of what retirement will be like, that’s if I actually find a job from which to retire! Today, I have trawled a charity shop for books, done a few crosswords and baked some meringues. I may have to lie down in a bit to recover from all the excitement!

Meringues - the ones that tuned out nicely. Decoration added by Jess! 

When I’ve not been acting like an old person I have been looking for jobs but at the moment nobody seems willing to employ me, something I fear will only get worse once I’ve got my results - which happens to be in the next few days, eek! I’ve been careful not to disclose when they come out, mainly because I’m not entirely sure myself, it all seems fairly disorganised! Once again I’ve been having the familiar pre-results nightmares, one of which saw me crying and eating Weetabix in the Union shop. Strange. These fears were not allayed yesterday when I saw my tutor and she asked if I wanted a meeting about my results; considering I don’t yet know what they are I’m thinking this could be a cause for concern. However, I am still holding out hope that I will eventually find a job, I’ve been toying with the idea of applying to teach English in a faraway land, although this is likely to be another of my plans which never actually happens. I’m also researching to see if there are any jobs which involve the making or solving of anagrams. Apparently there aren’t many of them around! Ultimately, I think as long as I get a decent-ish job, in which I don’t have to wear a tabard, I’ll be happy. Hopefully I can then start saving for my cottage, yay!

Freedom

Sorry about the gap between posts, life has been pretty busy since exams finished! Right now I’m back in Croydon for a few days of home comforts before returning to Reading for the final week or two. I quite like coming home as I can always rely on nothing having changed no matter how stressful the past few weeks of revision and exams have been. True to form, in the last few days my parents have been trying to fatten me up for Christmas, stocking up the fridge with 8 different types of cheese, a crate of Diet Coke and ridiculous amounts of chocolate, and keeping me up-to-date with any recent neighbourhood developments. At the moment there are a few electricity company vans stationed down the road and despite much not-so-covert surveillance on my dad’s part we are still unsure what they’re doing here. It seems that the requirements to live in our area are that you either have to be over 80 years of age or a compulsive dog walker, therefore the sudden appearance of 5 (yes, 5!) vans and a digger is quite exciting! It’s also one of the reasons that I have decided that moving out as soon as possible is probably a good idea...

In other news, after finishing exams I went to see QI being filmed in London. I was fairly hungover but after eating what felt like an entire loaf of bread for lunch I began to feel much more human and so Janine and I joined the queue for QI. Although the queue was fairly lengthy we were too excited to really care, the pique of excitement being when we saw what looked like Joan Collins pass by in a car. We don’t know whether or not it was in fact her, however we are maintaining that it was. Anyway, the actual filming of the programme was really fun and we got to see Sean Lock, Bill Bailey and Nina Conti, a fairly unknown ventriloquist who was actually quite good. Of course, Stephen Fry was there, along with Alan Davies, who was the main reason I wanted to go really, as I've loved him ever since the age of 8, when I first set eyes on him in Jonathan Creek. Probably not something I should really admit to but I'm sure my loyal readers (Janine and Jess) already know this. So, all in all it was a good day out, one that I’d recommend, so much so that I’ve applied for more tickets, although I feel like I might be pushing my luck a bit on this one!

Stamp, just to prove that we did go.

Lyon Memories

It's 51 weeks today since I left Lyon and ended my year abroad. As this time last year I was getting ready for a trip to Rome and enjoying my last days as an Erasmus student I can't help but compare it to my life at the moment which consists of revision and the odd trip to the gym.

So, in honour of my year abroad I thought I would share my top 5 Erasmus moments! I don't think photos can really do it justice but I'll give it a try:

The day we met Jesus at Fourvière.

Fête des lumières and celebrating surviving a trip on the Ferris Wheel of Death.

A night of broken chairs, show-tunes and shots.

Last night out with everyone. 

Trip to Rome!

Nostalgia beats revision every time! 

Le Week-End

I am now over half-way through my exams, so last night to celebrate I went to the cinema to see ‘Something Borrowed’, an activity I’ve had planned for the past three weeks, highlighting yet again that I really do need to get a life. Fortunately, it seems it was worth all the build up and I thoroughly enjoyed it, partly because of John Krasinski but also because of the lack of thinking involved, something that I have been doing way too much of lately. The cinema was also accompanied by wine and ice-cream, a move that I regretted this morning, particularly as I managed to drop the majority of my chocolate ice-cream on my brand new cream scarf.

As I now have a bit of a break between exams, and weekends in Reading can be quite boring, I decided to go to Liverpool for the weekend to get my fix of chips and gravy, cheap clothes shops and to see family, of course. However, just in time I realised that my surprise visit would coincide with a wedding to which I am not invited. Whilst I quite like the idea of crashing a wedding I wasn’t sure the bride would, especially as the last time I 'crashed' a wedding I was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt having just jumped out of a paddling pool – I was about 5 years old. So, as my plan didn’t quite come together I’m having to think of other things to do in order to put off revision for my last two exams. One of the ‘fun’ activities I've come up with is writing a ‘Things to do Before I’m Thirty’ list, which is likely to include such gems as: building a tree-house; getting a dog and naming it Derek; creating my own library complete with a slide-y ladder and opening a tea room. Hopefully over the course of the weekend I’ll think of other, slightly more exciting things to add to it. But seeing as I’ve got less than eight years in which to achieve all these things I should probably get a move on!  

The family pet, unfortunately not named Derek. (Photography courtesy of Lottie Buckley)

Muggate

This week sees the start of my final year exams. Eek. However, I am trying to forget this fact, so instead I will focus on the curious case of the missing mugs, more commonly known (by me) as Muggate.

My story starts in October when I moved back to Reading to start my 4th year of studying French and English. I remember move in day well, I had come straight to Reading from Aberdeen, bringing with me, amongst other things, two mugs, one bearing my name and the other one being a present that had been sent all the way to Lyon. For a month or so everything was going quite well and I enjoyed many cups of tea, sometimes a hot chocolate, happily alternating between the two mugs. Then suddenly they both disappeared! I searched the entire kitchen, friends searched the kitchen and I even inquired at reception, yet there was no sign of either mug. Thus I consigned myself to a life without them and in time I learnt to love my new mugs. Then last night, whilst making a revision break cuppa, I looked in my cupboard and as if by magic the mugs were there!  

The mugs at the centre of the Muggate scandal. 

How they got there nobody knows. While it all remains shrouded in mystery I am just pleased that a bit of variation can now be added to tea-breaks! Perhaps the fact that I am so excited by this is a sign that I should probably get out a bit more, but for now I am just enjoying this reunion of a girl and her mugs. With this Osama Bin Laden business it’s unlikely Muggate will make even the local news, so if anybody has any ideas as to the whereabouts of the mugs between November and May, then please do let me know. I’m hoping I’ve watched enough Poirot and Miss Marple to solve this mystery. 

Easter

Yesterday, I finally printed my dissertation; an activity that I thought blog worthy! I’m so relieved that after 2 whole years I can finally forget about it, although now that I can’t actually change anything I’m more worried than ever, a major concern being that it is in fact rubbish.  In the past week I have also set myself to reading 6 novels, which unsurprisingly hasn’t gone too well, so far I’ve managed 3 and a half... And despite many exam related nightmares and sudden panics that I’m going to fail, I still don’t seem to be able to sit down and concentrate for any longer than 20 minutes at a time!

Anyway, besides revision I’ve not really been doing very much, hence the fairly lengthy gap between posts. Highlights of the last week have been: watching Arsenal vs Liverpool at the pub (my favourite bit being when Kenny Dalglish swore at Arsène Wenger), drinking wine at regular intervals, listening to ‘every number 1 of the 90s’, seeing a man who looked a lot like Ian Beale and going to see Red Riding Hood. I’m extremely grateful that the film version of the story wasn’t the one that I was told as a child! I have also continued with cooking as a means of procrastination, this week making a couple of quiches. The next thing I plan on baking is a chocolate and Diet Coke cake, which sounds so wrong but as they are two of my favourite things I’m seeing this marriage in cake form as being only a good thing. However, as it is still Lent I can’t actually make the cake yet. So, come Sunday morning, in between Easter egg hunts (yep, I am 22 and we still do this) and eating as much chocolate as is humanly possible, I will be baking this (hopefully) delicious cake. I’m assuming nobody else in my family will even be willing to try it, so I will no doubt be taking the rest back to Reading for my extremely lucky friends to try. Something for them to look forward to!

Books and Chocolate. Still not sure why my mum bought 12 Easter eggs.