2nd year blog

I've got a new 2nd year blog. If you wanna read it please go to:

http://hannah-aston2.blogspot.com/

Enjoy! :)

Its over!!!

*waves* at new readers!

In the last 2 weeks I've been out and about a fair bit. Last Tuesday we went to Subway City for a friends birthday which was great fun, mostly cos of the good 90's music! The only badness was walking back to campus at 3am in the morning whilst it was pouring it down. The chips from Coffee and Cream made up for it. Wouldn't advise any of the burgers though cos Nikki got ill from a chicken burger.

Then on Mon I had my pre-birthday celebration. It wasn't that great cos most people I wanted to be there were at home, but I had my flatmates and some guys from other flats. We played Jenga, watched a movie (Confetti) and then jjst sat about talking.

So I finished all of my exams today, with the 2nd German Lang Skills being the last one. It wasn't too bad but I mucked up the last section a bit, cos Maths and graphs don't go too well with my brain. Eh. So glad it's all over now, especially cos I had 2 hours of sleep last night. Just gotta wait for the results. Apparently what they do is they send you a big pack thing with results and other stuff in it to your home address. The results might go up on MAP as well.

Typically just when I make some new really good friends it's time for most of them to go home. I decided I'm gonna continue with my job here and if I can't afford to live here or get too homesick then I'll pack it in. I am quite worried about it though to be honest as it looks quite lonely.

I have so much stuff to organise in the next week and a half too, and it doesn't help that next week I'll be at home so I can't do much of it. I've gotta take some stuff home and then figure out what I won't need here for a while and take some of it up to the new house. Also need to buy some stuff for moving and new stuff for next year, cancel contracts, set up new contracts and get some more insurance.

As this could potentially be my last post for the year (I don't actually know if I'll continue this, or start a few blog for 2nd year adventures. Depends- will my summer be that interesting and worthy to report about?)I feel I should reflect on stuff. I feel a bit of a twerp but hey it'll help me plan for next year and maybe help some people out.

* Spend less money on clothes (Okay I didn't buy THAT much, but it doesn't help. Gonna be tough whilst at RI but hopefully it'll work)
* Hopefully spend less money on food (Started working on that and its been going well- buy lots of stuff under a quid. Last time I bought 2 weeks worth of stuff and spent £11.)
* Maybe go out a bit more or spend more time with people.
* Keep my room and desk tidier.

If I think of any more I'll do another post.

Long time no update

I should've updated this a while ago cos a lot has gone on.

Everything at RI is okay now and I'm enjoying the work a lot more. They said that they might be moving me up to menswear on the fitting rooms soon which I'd like. I've been doing a lot of extra shifts lately cos I need the money and I'm panicking about bills over the summer cos I'm gonna be in the house on my own. I'm hoping I'm gonna make enough profit to put more money into the fund for next years accomm but some of that is gonna go towards bills when I move in in June. So I planned out what electric I'm gonna use, for how long, and other ways that I can save energy. Hopefully it'll work out ok. I also need to go and explore Erdington cos I can't remember the way to the house, nor do I know where anything is.

A lot of people have gone home or aren't really doing anything much so its been getting boring and lonely. One of my friends has fallen out with me for some reason and he won't speak to me unless he needs help with an exam. Really annoying me. I've also had a few annoying/slightly odd people previously mentioned in this blog try and contact me again. Gah.

Only had one exam since the last post and that was Socioling on Fri. Didn't go too badly but it might have been one of my weaker ones. I dunno. Didn't get a lot of sleep for it (maybe about 4-5 hours) cos I was worrying and the usual aforementioned flatmate was up to his old tricks of loud music and shouting with his friends at stupid hours. Friday night was much worse and I only had 3 hours of sleep cos he decided to do it again and everyone else went out and came back drunk. Thankfully last night was peaceful and I'm hoping tonight will be too cos I have work tomorrow as well.

The aforementioned flatmate also decided to steal all of my milk (bar a quarter) plus someone else's in an entire night. Residence can't do anything about all this cos their communication is broken. Utter naff!!

More exams/work

I meant to update this a few days ago cos up until today I've had a few lazy days this week where I haven't done as much revision as usual.

Last Tuesday I had my German oral with Elisabeth and Gertrud which went fine. I got a bit stuck at some points but I overcame it so I'm fairly confident that I got a good mark.

Then Wednesday I went out with my friend Steffi from the German Soc to enjoy the sudden burst of sun and to get lunch and go job hunting. That was really nice, and I got a few job offers and handed in a few CV's.

Thursday I had the German listening exam which had some hillarious bits in it (a man doing the shouting like they do at the market who lost his voice half way through)but which was easy apart from the odd word.

Friday I went into work with my friend Adam to give them the letter which I'd changed a bit- considering resigning, cos my flatmates pointed out to me that I might not get another job cos I have to move out of Lakeside in about a month. So I thought that I'd look about first, wait until I got another one and then leave. Then we both went and did more job hunting. Handed in a few more CV's and applied for a job back home with Mum.

Saturday I went into work scared ****less of what they were gonna say. Both of the ladies who'd shouted at me were all smiles and friendly (Blah. I'll take it, but 'm not one for being patronised.) I got called into the office in the afternoon by the head manager Vicky to talk about it but she was genuinly being nice and said she'd thinking about changing my responsibilities to something easier and apologised for people shouting at me. So that was ok.

Sunday wasn't too bad either. One of the other girls started on me saying I was too slow so I had a go at her saying that I have a disability and she backed off. Now she's being all nice and unfortunately I'm covering her shift tomorrow. I need the money but I'd rather be here or have gone home. (I can't decide yet.)So cos things are going better I am now staying at RI unless things go bad again or I have to pay full rent for our house rather than the reduced summer rate.

Today I had my Translation exam which I am chuffed about cos Christina said she could see that I did loads of research. Started back on the re-capping for Sociolinguistics on the 23rd cos I've finished all of the revision for it.

I am having serious problems trying to sort out my birthday cos its bang on the last day of term and everyone finishes exams before me and are going home/on holiday etc. So I am considering cancelling the event I had planned and going home cos its making me miserable.

Should be going to bed now.

Exams/work rubbish/Collectormania

A lot has happened since I last updatht went okay but I wish it had gone a bit better. I'd say that I passed but I either made up or missed out a little bit of it cos it was just stuff I didn't know. The odd bit we hadn't even done. Plus some people in the room next door starting playing their musical instruments.

Then on the Weds I had grammar and Tools for Translators. Grammar was okay apart from the fact that I started doubting myself cos I was so distracted by the same people again next door, this time tuning their instruments. It annoyed me so much that I'm reporting it, and I advise anyone else to do the same.

Tools really wound me up to the point where I nearly left and let myself fail the module. Basically we had to align 3 source texts (Eng) with their target texts (German in my case, French for the others). It's kinda like Excel cos you have to split paragraphs which are wrong grammatically and put them back together, and the paragraphs in German and English have to be exactly alike with a line connecting them. The first one was fine, but the second one was in ye olde English and Stefan decided to split sentences into individual words at times, so we had loads of paragraphs which needed splitting and putting back together like "The. duck. is. the." kind of thing. Anyway this 2nd one was the toughest thing ever and he said that level 3 was the hardest but it actually wasn't. I got it all done in the end but I was there for 3 and a half hours.

Then I went home cos I was feeling ill by this point and I needed to relax. I was dreading phoning work and I was right. I gave them 5 hours notice and I get shouted at and told "This is unacceptable and they're very disappointed in me." I couldn't face them today cos the last thing I need is being shouted at when I'm ill so I left it and I've decided to hand in a letter of resignation. I figure that being at a job that can upset me that much (I was depressed all day Saturday) has no point. Weighing this up to Build a Bear, they were actually a lot better bar the accident so I'm thinking about going back. I'll hand in the letter this week when I feel up to going in.

Decided to go down to Collectormania today to see what was going on and cheer myself up. It was so worth it- I got a photo and autograph with Eve Myles, John Barrowman and James Marsters and I got some great compliments from them: James said my outfit rocked...erm actually thanks to River Island. I was wearing a purple beret, (ok courtesy of Accessorize) purple cartoon top and orange jeans from RI. Eve said I looked colourful. Ahh I love those people. I'm now really tired but it was so worth it. Back to revision tomorrow. Blah.

Exams begin!!/I hate you work.

Its week 25 now which means that exams have begun and last until the end of term, which is actually my birthday.

Last week nothing happened much apart from the fact that I made an official complaint to a residence tutor about a very noisy member of our flat. He came round and most of us got to throw in our two cents about how recently he's been cranking his music up fully at 7:30am and keeping us awake for hours on end. He's also been doing it at random times during the day now as well. I'm hoping he'll quieten down but as I have 3 exams this week he's officially doomed if he makes any noise.

Tomorrow I have Landeskunde at 3-4pm, then Weds I have German grammar at 12-1pm and then have to do my Tools for Translators paper from either 1:30pm or 2:00pm onwards. I can pick it up at 12 but obv in my case I have an exam and need lunch. Then I'm going home until Sun-Mon.

Work really upset me yesterday to the point where I'm thinking of leaving already if it doesn't improve. One of the managers completely overreacted at the fact that I said I thought I should tidy up a bit. Apparently I was being unproffessional, shocking and offensive, when all I was doing was being honest and trying to do my job! She thought I meant that everyone was slacking. So I've written a letter of complaint because she made me incredibly ill yesterday.

In other news, we had our first fire alarm for ages at 5:45am this morning. It lasted about 20 mins. Hope there aren't anymore this week.

Stop spending!!

This week I've bought a poster, 2 boxsets, 2 pairs of jeans and a t-shirt. Oh and the tickets. So I'm gonna try really hard to economise now where necessary until I need a big food shop. Looks like I'll be living on soup, pasta, the odd bit of rice and noodles and cereal then.

Work was a lot better this weekend as I got the hang of things better and was left to myself a bit more. I actually quite enjoyed it even though it was mostly putting out rejects all day.

Home and back

Tuesday was poo. Went to my Tools lecture and it was tough. Guy problems ensued (speaking of guys problems I think the guy I mentioned in the posts when I got here is still hung up on me...oh dear.) and I tried going over the aforementioned work which got me wound up to the core. So I missed the rest of the lectures and went home.

Had trouble getting there but it was definitely needed and I feel better now. Going back again in 2 weeks cos I get to meet John Barrowman and James Marsters (Torchwood & Buffy fame.) Now just gotta break the news to work.

Exams are just around the corner- I have 2 in less than 2 weeks. Eeep. I have a presentation tomorrow so noise better not start. Off to bed soon.

Start of a good week?

I got a bit more sleep last night. Decided I had 2 options if I still didn't get a ufdll amount: A_ Get drunk and try to sleep better like that. Am now drunk and can't bothered to correct my mistakes, and people are still awake and noisy so no point in going to bed yet. Have an 11am and need to go for a few reasons so hopefully I'll make it. Might go home though but haven't packed. Maybe I'll do it now.

Have had a day of doing no work apart from lectures which I think I needed. Still got stuff to do mind.

Arrrrgh

I've had about 4-5 hours sleep cos of noise last night until half 3am yet again. I'm so so sick of it, and I felt so awful that I didn't think I'd cope at work. Didn't have any phone credit so I had to get my mum to phone in for me as well. Turns out they still needed confirmation from me so I had to go out and get phone credit in the end. I felt like I was in another world I was so tired. So if it happens again tonight I'm gonna ask to do my media presentation early after translation and then go home and come back Wednesday evening as I have another presentation on Thursday. I have lectures tomorrow and Tuesday but I wouldn't be feeling up to going, and even if I did go I'd probably make myself worse.

I just hope it doesn't happen again when I have to go to work. I'm also revising for exams and everyone else just seems to be bumming about.

Rant time

I really have had a rubbish week and right now what I want the most is just to go back home for a few days if it doesn't improve.

I was having panic attacks on Wed night cos of my poster presentation for sociolinguistics the next day and then when I got to the lecture Gertrud wasn't even there. Due to that I had to miss my German lecture before that as well. So now I have to endure another night of panic attacks.

Then last night everyone in my flat went out to the guild and stayed up being really noisy until 4am. Thankfully I didn't have work until 5pm today but I wanted to get up early and do stuff and I couldn't. I'm hoping that the same won't happen tonight cos I'm feeling exhausted and miserable and can't take 2 nights in a row.

Work was ok, but I am starting to get fed up already. Because there's so many staff members, no one knows who you are or if you're new so you end up running around like a loon yourself trying to get yourself organised. No one is explaining things full enough to me and gives me a funny look if I do something wrong, like a cock up I made at the end today with sizing all the jeans. They're so strict about it- "If you have 3 of the same pairs in a row then you have short, reg & long on each." And then when I've been assigned work and done the job (like sizing) someone will go and check it, like they can't trust what I'm doing. It makes me feel like a complete idiot. So I'm not looking forward to going in tomorrow really.

On the brightside I got an email from Vicky from the languages for life project saying that she'll pay me £50 to go back home and talk to yr 12's about languages at Aston. So doing it.

Its all go again

I found out that my sister reads this as well, so hi sis!! :D

I totally should not have made that comment about Christina- pure jinx that was. I was late anyway to Translation cos I ran into Beth and Karina up Coleshill and when I got there there was a big sign on the door saying she was ill. Again. It was sad :( I hope she's okay.

So I go home and think, "Ok you might as well send your work to lecturers online." I log on and send emails telling everyone I'm sending work and then MAP locks me out. I thought someone had hacked me first, then after a convo with Nikki I realised that it might be the library fine I owed. I go to the library and queue for about 20 mins cos it was really far back, and the woman says I don't have a fine. (Thank God, cos if I did, it would've been about a tenner cos it ran out at the end of term. Shout out to Anne at the lib who renewed it and didn't give me a fine.) Got really confused, so I went to the ISA helpdesk and they said it's their fault. Bah. It was ok in the evening though.

I have 2 presentations due soon- one on Thurs for Socioling which I'm in the process of learning, and the other for German Media which I wrote this evening and haven't learnt yet. So I've learned that I personally can't have a quiet first day back.

Today was quite cool- helped Beth and found out that we have a lot in common so I'm chuffed.

Going to meet Steffi from the German Soc tomorrow for lunch or coffee.

Back at Aston

Here I am sitting back in my room.

Got back yesterday afternoon after a really tiring walk to the station with two bags nearly my own weight (and I don't weigh much). I now have bruises on my shoulders and they've tensed up a lot. Then I had a painful walk back from Tesco with heavy bags of food and bottles of bleach, detergent & washing up liquid. Somehow managed to revise.

The noise has started again at night but thankfully I slept better than usual cos of my earplugs. I feel more calling of security will be needed.

Today was my first day at work (River Island) and it was quite good. They didn't put me on anything too complicated and it was only size ordering, tidying and then going on the fitting rooms. I met lots of nice people though- 3 girls who seem like they could be good mates, and 2 or 3 boys. Looking forward to going in next week.

Lectures start again tomorrow. Ahh, good old Christina "This is a German spoon!" Schaeffner.

Holiday post before I come back

Here I am sat at home cos a few things have happened and I should probably stick em in here before I go back and get caught up in doing loads of things. I have to go to Inland Revenue and claim a load of tax back and sort out finance stuff for next year mainly. Gotta pick up on revision as well cos I have Landeskunde in 3 weeks or so and then a Language and Socioling exam in May.

I did go to Bierkeller in the end and it was pretty fun, but instead of there being loads of us there was only me, Martin, Kylie, Holly, Martin & Jenny. We couldn't stop laughing at how a supposed German beer party was hosted by a very English man called Mr Bill. There were a few songs in German or the odd German word thrown in, but mainly all English songs. Still we had German hotdogs and several pitchers of a cocktail.

Basically been revising over the hol and seeing people over the past few weeks. I'm gonna miss my mum and her stupid German jokes (the latest of which is, "What's woo-hoo in German?")

I think I have another guy clinging onto me a bit cos he keeps asking me out. Even though I've said no for the 3rd time now. So I explicitly said today that I wasn't attracted to him. Brace yourself for a lot of this people!! I am looking forward to going back and seeing a few guys though.

I start my first shift at River Island on Sunday and I'm back at Aston on Saturday. Oh, and we have ants in our flat...niice.

I have a new job!!!

I've now done all of the translation assignment and just need to keep looking at it before the exam.
Got some books out on Tuesday for the history assignment, read the important parts, photocopied them yesterday and have started writing. I have a paragraph and a half to go and then I can just concentrate on revision. Yay for getting all the assignments done, not so yay for the revision.

As a result I A) Missed pub golf with my flatmates on Tuesday night B) Got kept awake and had panic attacks today and the night before, and 4 hours sleep both nights.

Thankfully now I've started the essay I'm ok now. I think I photocopied too much- I must've done about 50 pages, and they all got messed around.

Am worried about one of my friends who is ill I think and who hasn't been to any lectures since the start of term. He's gonna fail a lot of modules.

We watched a good Bavarian film today in Socioling. It's called, "Wer frueher stirbt ist laenger tot." and it's about this boy who thinks he'll end up in purgatory because he thinks he was responsible for his mother's death. What he does to repent is so funny.

Have been having guy problems for the past few weeks which I think contributed to the stress. I think things are looking up between us though.

Went for the job interview at River Island on Wed and they called me back in the afternoon to say that I'd gotten the job. It's 4 hours on a Sat and Sun each, which is way better than what they originally asked me to do: Mon-Fri 5-9pm. Woo hoo :D I have an induction today at 3pm-5pm. Not sure if I'm gonna go home after that or on the Sat after Bierkeller. The German Soc have been invited to Bierkeller down by the Mailbox where we can drink beer, dance on tables and listen to a German oompah band. HAHA. Looks like a good laugh.

This may be my last post of this semester, but I may report back tomorrow or at some point during the hols. We'll see. Off to bed now cos I need to pack more, have a shower, finish my essay and go to work.

Still assignment mad

I've done all of my assignments bar a quarter of the translation one which I'm hoping to finish before I go home. WOO! :D But I found out that I have a history one due in at the same time as all the others too, so I better crack on with that asap.

This week I actually went out (twice) which I really needed cos of having done all of this work straight for 2 weeks. I hadn't been out in almost a month anyway which was shocking!! So it was quite nice to be back at Stammtisch with everyone. Steffi and I had a long convo about men. Then yesterday I went out to my mate Dan's pub golf which was a good laugh.

The only downside was that we've had 2 fire alarms in the past 2 days- one at 4:30am and the one today at 7:00am. I'm waiting for another tonight to put things into motion.

Today was pretty cool cos I did the open day which I said about but I'm shattered now.

I also have a job interview at River Island on Wednesday. Yay. I'm hoping I'll get it, but the position is Mon-Fri 5pm-9pm which is too much for me so I'm gonna have to wangle things around a bit.

And finally- I've been told that I have a reader! HA. So, to James Seymour if you read this then *wave*

Assigment mad

Worked out that I have about 6-8 weeks until my exams and till my assigments are due in so I've decided to start work on all of the assigments now to save me having to juggle them and revision in the hols. So I haven't been doing any homework and may get done for it, but it's not as though I don't have a valid point. I'd advise anyone else to do the same, cos I have 4 assigments. I've done 2 already and am working on the other 2.

Am helping out LSS next Saturday with fresher tours and stuff so I might see people around. I get paid :D

I should really update this thing

...I had no idea it was that long ago.

Here's one big advice post cos I've had a week full of bad luck.

Can't remember what happened the week after that, and can only remember this week. I got back from going home and had a letter saying that I hadn't handed in my culture essay from last semester to the LSS office so I could get 0 marks. I wrote a letter to the head of the exam board but I haven't heard anything yet. So I hope I don't get no marks. Note to you all- always hand a copy in at the office!

Don't sign up to anything either- some stupid girl in New Look made me sign up to a card. She was about my age and had no clue what she was selling. It results in financial problems, which hopefully I won't have if I can cancel it soon.

Turn up to lectures because it affects other students- there were only 3 out of about 10 of us in Sociolinguistics so Gertrud couldn't teach us yet again. All the decent books are out of the library but I've been doing some reading, and will start revising at the end of this week. This semester I have 4 exams, 2 of which I really need to focus on bigtime (Socioling and Landeskunde) and 2 or 3 essays.

I had to cancel on that "friend" again cos of it. She blew up. Don't cling to people, it's scary.

Take loads of vitamins cos you're gonna get loads of colds. I've had 2 in 2 weeks this semester, though it's not as bad as last.

Get a Tesco Clubcard cos you save money and it rocks.

I signed the contract for my house in Erdington this week. Woop!! Can't wait to move in.

Translation is NOT all around us!! LIEEEE.

I found the card a few days ago- in my wallet. Duhhhh.

Translation is hillarious- we had an entire discussion about when to use greaseproof paper and Christina bought in German spoons. "This is a German spoon. This is an English spoon." We think they should invent a magazine called "The Nan." Christina bought us German choc as well. <3 to you Schaeffner.

Laura and I went to the police station today to do our "Translation is all around us- really?" assignment. It SUCKED. They have nothing. He said that they get interpreters in when a foreigner comes in but didn't say HOW so we reckon that they kind of point to a seat and are like, "You. There. Sit. Komprende?" Was quite funny though. We're going back on Sunday pretending to be French and German.

Weds afternoon was completely wasted. Note to students: The campus no longer stocks the German mag Stern. BOOOO. We spent the entire afternoon looking for it for Media cos Stefan said they had it. I think an axe murder is in order.

The "friend" I met last week takes things way too personally. I've been busy all week so couldn't always reply to her Facebook messages and told her that. She asked to meet on Wed but obv. I couldn't. She texted me saying I was being harsh and I explained what'd happened with Stefan, but she's now in a pure huff and has gotten rid of me off Facebook. I've met her properly at the guild once- Over reaction much?! People are strange.

Yay I have a house!!

Since my last post:

Keysurf threw me off at 2am on a Saturday when I needed to keep my eye on an Ebay auction for a costume for the Fairytale Ball. They hadn't taken the money for it cos something went wrong. Thankfully Aston have come up with a solution and you can get cheaper Internet through the mobile companies 3, Vodaphone or T-Mobile. I won the most expensive costume typically but it looked good last night and was worth it.

On Wednesday I went with a friend of Nikki's, Sally, her flatmate Laura who I met before my Translation exam in January and their friend Ed to view 2 houses in Erdington, which is a 15 minute bus ride away, cos I didn't get into Aston Brook Green. The first was a bit shabby but being done up and quite nice. Then we looked at one in the evening and we knew it was for us. It's very homey with big bedrooms and it's £50 per week. So now we have a house- yay!! :)

Thursday was so pointless- its been RAG week this week (charity raising week with events every day) and Wednesday night was the pub crawl. Everyone went on it, bar myself and a few others cos I figured I could just get drunk on Friday (which I did, coming up in a mo) and should go to my 5 hours of lectures. So I go to lang skills, and there's only myself, 2 of the French erasmus girls and Elisabeth, the lecturer. Then I go to Socioling expecting to be the only one and Dan turns up. Gertrud couldn't do the lesson properly because we were all supposed to be doing group presentations so she let us go and told us to do research. Lang skills in the evening wasn't much better either.

Stammtisch sucked. Only a few people turned up and then left. My friend came down and then started flirting with the guy I like and got off with him. So I went home in a mood, ate chocolate (which someone had already opened!!! Really annoyed) and watched Torchwood.

My Aston card is a bit bent and the printer won't take it so they gave me a printing card. Not paying £10 for a new Aston card!

Facebook is gonna take over your life- I met a new friend called Stephanie who likes the same music and TV shows as me and she's coming over next week for a Buffy marathon.

The Fairytale Ball was fab, though I'm feeling the effects now. I went as a black and pink cat. Ran into a few people from classes, Laura and Ed. Then ran into Adam and we ended up talking a lot. He kept buying me cinammon shots and Smirnoff Ice and I'd already had a large bottle of Becks Vier, so by about 1:30-2am (I'm guessing, cos I dunno what the time was) I was very drunk and was nearly falling over. My friend Stephanie had to take me home and then I woke up this afternoon not knowing how I'd taken off my clothes, gotten into bed, and put my pj's on back to front. AND- I lost the damn printing card. Twat. So I need some more paper for the printer at here. I don't think the library staff will be pleased if I go back and say I've lost it already. Adam thinks I ate it.

So yeah today I tidied my room in an attempt to find this card (I haven't done this desk actually, I should do that) then felt awful so lay down for 2 hours. Then I decided to go and get a quid baguette- the shop has CLOSED. There's one round the corner, but it's a quid dearer and still- that place was fab. I'm really sad!! So I went to Tescos.

Now I'm thinking about watching another movie after I've done a few more things.

Accommodation looking up

So much has changed since my last post.

As soon as I got back from home I spent a lot of time online looking for people to live with and places to look at. I advertised on several sites and I've had 4 replies- one place in Perry Barr with someone I don't know, two in Erdington with people I don't know and another in Erdington with someone I know. I also found the UNITE accomm, (The Heights and Curzon Gateway) and I've applied but its gonna be just as expensive as Lakeside will be next year (about 100 quid- I feel for all you Freshers next year- I'm paying £96 at the mo) So I also went round the Bullring and the Pallasades this week and handed out CV's, cos if I have to go there I'm gonna need a job!! A lot of shops don't want anyone for a few months though but some said that they might do.

Went and had a look around Aston Brook Green and I ran into my friend Yumi from the German Soc. She's looking for a place too with her friends, so we teamed up and applied today. Please keep your fingers crossed for us cos its only £43 per week.

The German Soc is the best, it really is. We made one of those paper things where you have to select a number and a colour and they had dares underneath. I had to stand up in front of everyone in Einies and declare my love for Dudley, the security guard, in German. It was so funny!!

Accommodation troubles

Okay so the rest of this week:

Wednesday I had off, so I went and had a look around town. Got a fourth ear piercing.

Thursday morning I had 4 hours of lectures in a row. I don't recommend that at all, especially if you don't get much sleep! German Language Skills is still fine, and German Language Past and Present looks really interesting. Then I had another language skills in the evening. Went to Stammtisch and decided I better text a load of people to ask about getting a house together next year. Everyone I asked has decided and won't let me into their group. I got really upset, drank loads, then stormed off at 1am without telling anyone and sat on the comp for ages. Emailed a few tutors here and some old ones back home. Then on Friday I decided I just didn't wanna be at Aston at all so I left without telling anyone and here I am posting at home. I've now had a text from one of my flatmates telling me she wants to talk about it when I get back. I prefer talking to the tutors to be honest. I'm going to see Kate on Monday as she's my personal tutor and I'm also going to see Pierre cos I get on well with him and I trust him.

I have a plan which involves looking at Aston Brook Green which is about 10 mins away and run by the Guild, but I still don't really wanna be on my own, although there are perks like not being kept awake most nights. It's not just that people didn't tell me that bugs me, but its the fact that I have to go through a lot more stress and figure out a way to pay the rent on my own. I'm handing out my CV again when I get back. I need to budget anyway cos I spent a lot of money this week.

New lectures

Meant to start posting on Monday but the lecturers keep throwing homework at me. This term looks tough cos I have loads of assignments- so far I know I have 2 for translation and one exam, (although the coursework is only 300 words each) a presentation essay for german media, a report and take away exam paper for tools for translators, a presentation, essay and class test for history and a test, and at least 2 courseworks for german language. That's a lot!!! Eeep. I've already started work on my history presentation though as I'm up in 2 weeks.

Okay so onto the individual lectures:

Translation is still going really well. Christina says we all passed but no one got a first. The lesson was pretty funny as she can be quite random. She started talking about nouns when talking about a French sentence and then she was like, "It's not a compound noun like DOORKNOB." Random. Then she kept looking at myself, Dan and Evy for French help- we do German! Don't look at us, we're irrelevant :D

German Media seems good to me as I did Media at A Level anyway. Stefan Baumgarten is hillarious. I said that German is my fave language and he said, "Yeah and your fave band is Rammstein." Uhh yeah....maybe the shirt gave it away!

Tools for Translation seems fine. Hopefully I'll be able to master the electronic resources.

The German History Seminar is fine but I'm not liking the lecture at all.

I have 3 more classes to report about, although 2 I did last term as they're still Language Skills. Should be fine.

Going to meet my mentor Hannah tomorrow at the library. Then I might have a look around the Bullring but I still have research for history to do, written work and some reading. Roll on end of Thursday for Stammtisch! I went home at the weekend and Mum got me some German beer. Had a helluva lot of trouble getting back.

Last exam

Last exam went okay. I answered the question I knew in most detail and wrote about 2 pages. Was out in about an hour. Now I'm bored again. Might be going out to the pub but I dunno yet.

I haven't heard anything from him yet :'( Methinks 'tis a no.

Hurry up

I had a nice lie in today. Makes a change from 5-6 hours of sleep on an exam night.

Today I:
Asked someone out for a drink (waiting to hear the results but they're most likely gonna be no or nothing said at all.)
Did revision for the history exam with Holls and Karina.
We went to the German Soc. Ate way too much food!!!!!

I can't wait until the exam is over tomorrow. Hopefully it'll go ok. Me, Karina and Holls are going out to Gosta's for drinks :D

Now I finally have one exam to go

I did have a German grammar test today. It was a piece of cake. Now I'm bored. I just want history to be out the way on Friday.

2 more down, 1 to go.

I haven't had a proper night's sleep in 2 nights and I'm losing my marbles lol!!! If anyone is willing to buy me a new brain or donate I'd be very happy.

The Study Skills exam was this morning. It was so stupid- I get to my special room and they didn't have my paper. So I follow this guy to the exam office and this woman comes out and says that someone was supposed to arrange something for me but never got back to her. We're walking around LSS and then we find him. He says I;m in the main room with everyone else. After all that. That exam wasn't that great but I probably passed. It's a pretty pathetic course anyway so just so long as I don't fail I don't mind. Forgot to put my name on my paper tho and I realised at the beginning of the Ling exam. Emmanuelle said it should be okay tho cos the person she's given them to is Kate, the current head of German and my personal tutor. She hasn't emailed back yet though.
I get out of there, go home and then go to pick up a parcel from Mum. Then I think, "I swear I left my German watch in there." So I go back and it's locked. I go to all the trouble of knocking on Pierre's door and asking him to find it and its at home on my damn desk. So yeah, new brain needed. And lots of sleep. And dieting.

Linguistics was so easy.

Apparently I don't have German tomorrow but I'll turn up anyway just in case. Then I just have history. A bunch of us are off to the lib tomorrow to compare notes.

Herzlichen Glueckwunsch zu meiner Mutter an ihrer Geburtstag!

Happy Birthday Mutti :D <3.

Bought hats today. Woot :D I found the replacement one (albeit brown and not beige like the last one) for my fave hat that I swear someone has nicked. I'm asking the cleaner. I have a serious beret problem. The Bullring was really packed- I reckon its still the sales. Then I went to the quid baguette shop- its fab seriously. You should all go and get one, a bag of crisps and a drink.

Bank is being smelly and said that I have to ring a certain number for them to extend my overdraft. The letter is at home.

Study sesh with Dan tomorrow.

Stammtisch yesterday

The ice skating was so funny! I'm absolute rubbish so I spent the whole time clinging onto Martin, the vice president of the German Soc, for dear life. He was so lovely bless him, he skated with me and helped a lot.

There was no one in Einies at all- like us and one bunch of others and that was it the whole night. Hence they kicked us out at half 11. It was good tho as we got talking about what we wanna do together this year and we're all hoping to go to Hamburg at Easter.

Then Sven and I went for chips, found some leftover Gluehwein in my cupboard and nattered.

The DSA were supposed to deliver my stuff today and they never came.

I think my cheque from Build a Bear has expires cos they stupidly wrote it on the 10th December. It didn't get here until 2nd Jan. I think they expire within a month. Seriously, do not work there. Naff company even if it is a fun job.

I really wanna ask someone out at the mo. He's lovely <3

1st exam

I actually got sleep for once on an exam night!!! I think I got about 6-7 hours.

Translation 1 was pretty easy. The end was a bit tough as I didn't have a dictionary and the text was different to what we'd done before. Still I'm pretty chuffed. 1 down, 4 to go! Now I don't have any until next week.

Going to get pink highlights done at the guild in half an hour. Yay :D

Going ice skating with the German Soc tomorrow.

2nd semester

I've been back here at teh Aston for about 2 days. Everyone else is revising and I'm done lol. Bored. Bring on the exams!! Really excited to see everyone from Stammtisch on Thursday tho.

Well this looks like a blog of random comments for today.

I've grown really attached to this bed here in my room. I can't even sleep properly in my bed at home anymore!!

I miss the home TV. TV's are very useful at uni for those bored moments. Right now its laptop and DVD central.