University life.

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I haven't posted something real in this thing for a while. It's mostly just been lyrics. To be honest, I haven't really had much of interest to say, bar what I've been up to.

University is going really well. Amazingly well, infact. I love my new course (History, archaeology and heritage management for those not paying attention), I love my housemates, and I've made some lovely friends. I am genuinely happy and I feel genuinely welcomed and at home - as opposed to last year, where I didn't make any new friends, I hated my course, and felt incredibly lonely and homesick most of the time. I have felt down at times, but for the most part, life is going pretty well right now.

History is taught in much smaller groups than Psychology was. Instead of 300 or so students in each lecture, we have only about 30 people at most. On Monday one of my lecturers walked past me and a friend who were chatting, and said hello. That was something that would never happen with Psychology unless you really made an effort to stand out - I am now actually a student, and not just another person in the crowd. We also have seminars, which are small groups of about 10 students sat around a table, and given the opportunity to discuss the subject and debate ideas. This was something we also never did in Psychology, and I was always given the impression that they didn't care what your opinion on a subject was, you had to regurgitate the book or the lecturer's views. I love the overall more personal feel of the subject, it was one of my main hates of Psychology (that, and the course material itself).
This is also emphasised and helped by the trips that we regularly go on - I had 2 last week, and another on Monday. There's usually about 10-20 of us there, and everybody is super friendly and chats and has a laugh and a joke together, and I've made several new friends on the trips. It's a much easier way to get to know people, as you can all chat and laugh about what you see (you have to find some amusement in staring at piles of rocks that were once a burial or a house all day). I know this would never have been possible with Psychology (aside from taking you to a mental hospital, there's no real trip potential), but it does make the course a lot more enjoyable - North Wales has a lot of significant historical sites, particularly in pre-history - so it's great to be able to see and touch the things you're studying (or at least the remains).
We also are set work to do in the seminars each week, so we're always kept busy doing reading and research - you can't sit around doing nothing, or you won't be able to join in the seminars (which are compulsary). I love this - it keeps me active and I have to make sure I do work, whereas with Psychology it was very easy to never do anything, as you would have weeks with nothing to do, and all of a sudden, 3 deadlines and some exams. The work was never spread evenly across the course as it seems to be with History.
My timetable is also excellent - I have Mondays off, and none of my lectures start before 11am. On Thursdays, my lectures start at 1pm, which is ideal as I have the rock night, Trash, on Wednesday nights!

Right, so what else?
Ah yes, housemates.

I'm living with 3 others - 2 girls and a guy, Kayleigh, Cookie, and Rob. None I really knew beforehand, but we get on amazingly well and we are the best of friends. They have similar interests to me and we have similar senses of humour. I really couldn't have asked for better people to live with. Yes, they are a little messy, and yes they smoke inside (they're all smokers), but I can deal with that. We go to the rock nights together, which is great as last year I had no one to go with - not that I didn't get on with the people I lived with in Halls, but we didn't really have much in common. They would rather go clubbing than to Trash. Because of that, last year I never really met anyone I clicked or had lots in common with. I had one main friend, Kathryn, who I met on my course, but that was it. We still get on well but we've drifted apart a little now, both having found our own seperate friendship groups.
But, because Rob, Kay, Cookie and I have similar tastes, I've also met other people with whom I have lots in common with - for example blonde Dave, Dave Angel, Brum Dave (I don't know why they're all called Dave), Kerrie (Kay's older sister, she's lovely), Mat, and Louis. Coupled with my new good friends from my course (Hannah and Charles, mainly, but I feel I can speak to almost everyone on my course), and people I've met through fencing (I recently took it up), I feel very happy and also rather popular here! At home I always loved how I could go to Wetherspoons on a Friday night and bump into loads of people I knew. I know it's not quite like that here (I've lived in Harlow much longer, for one thing), but Trash on a Wednesday night has begun to be the same - I bump into loads of people I know, who all do Star Trek Vulcan signs at me. :D
The only thing missing, really, is a boyfriend - Dann and I are seeing how things go at the moment, but nothing is particularly certain yet as I'm so far away. I've been single since April (although Dann and I have been kind of on-off since then) and it's only been recently that I've actually completely gotten over it and began trusting people again after the way my ex broke up with me and some of the things that happened between Dann and I more recently. I am ready for a relationship now, but unfortunately I've not met the right person yet. Here's hoping though!

Kay also dyed my hair a lovely dark red colour yesterday. Today I'm going to dye my fringe black, so it's back like old times. I've been meaning to do it for a while, and have only just gotten round to it. Yay!

I'm bored of typing now. Here is a picture of my house:

And here's a picture of the view from my road. It's hard to tell when the photo is shrunk like this but you can see the sea and Anglesey in the background.

/end.