Over the past 3 years (is it really that long?) it doesn’t really feel as though much has changed – but I guess it has. In precis my time since last posting has gone as follows:

-I met a lovely american boyfriend in Oxford and called him Brett

-I got to wear a silly hat and was given a piece of paper saying that I finished a degree

-I moved to London town with the bf

-I got a job in London town

-I decided to move to the USA with the lovely boyfriend

-Decided not to move the the USA after they said they didn’t want me *sniff*

-My mum got married and moved house

-Brett got bonked on the head wearing a silly hat

-I met the bfs american parents

-My sister finally moved out of mum’s house

However, it essentially feels as though I’ve spent the last 2 years sitting in the flat or at work doing not much really. I have an okay job as a researcher for FremantleMedia – though I have to involve myself in horrible things like The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent and American Idols (Oh, and Take Me Out, eurgh). I have a…pension?! How did that happen?

In bigger news my mum got married!!! Yay! And the wedding was lovely – I walked her down the aisle and everyone cried all day with joy… So much joy! She got married in Beaconsfield registry office to the sounds of non-religious music. Apparently if the original intent of the music was religious then the state cannot use it in a wedding service (what bollocks!), so having no back-up we frantically had to search for alternatives. I walked my mum down the aisle to what sounded like backgroundy lift music. Maybe that’s why people were crying?

I’ve just returned from the big ol’ US of A. Me and Brett went for Christmas and I got to meet his parents for the first time. They are lovely, his brothers were lovely, his aunts and uncles and cousins and nieces and nephews and step variations thereof were all lovely. And my stomach is now the size of a small air ship.

And…finally having lived together for two years and with Brett’s visa soon to expire we will be applying for a non-married partner visa so he can stay in the UK, with a view to naturalising. He’s got himself a training contract with the silly law firm Slaughter and May so we are pretty set to stay here now – although this involves me being the only breadwinner for 12 months whilst he does his GDL! The selfish arse.

Maybe the US will happen another day.

And that’s a selected version of my life for the last three years. If anyone feels like visiting do just pop on over above the World’s End pub Camden Town.

Ta ta.

I moved back home after finishing uni, but slowly realised that the job-potential in the homelands was somewhat lacking; so I started looking for jobs in Cambridge again, as well as at home, and the grass looked a lot greener on the Cambridge side. And indeed it was, I was offered a job as a student supervisor at uni, like a teaching assisstant for undergrads (an odd concept, but I wasn’t going to complain!)

So I moved back to Cambridge and am living in a shared house again. My room is fairly broomcupboard ish (I don’t have a lens wide-angle enough to photo it to show you…) but at least it’s cheap and warm! And.. humid, since my washing dries above my bed… Still! Cheap!

I worked one day in my supervisor job but then got offered something better, so I’m now working as a web developer / photographer type (mostly the former) for a Cambridge college! I have my own office, (which is bigger than my bedroom) and my computer and my desk and whatnot. I suppose it’s not a bad working environment really (see photo)

Well that’s a very condensed version of the past 6 months, but I have to go and sleep now. I hope the rest of you all are enjoying your last years of uni / working life! I trust we’ll meet up around Christmas at some point for fun and games and merriment! Yesyes!

John.

I HAVE A JOB!!!! After an epic year of job hunting I have finally found one. I will be a trainee auditor, clearly the coolest kind of bureaucrat. I am in a specialist team that only deals with the not for profit sector. That means that a large amount of the people I will work with are nuns, NUNS!!! I have been told that nuns are lovely but not always great at  understanding finance.  On the down side this has signed me up for another three years of exams. Working and studying at the same time sounds intense but hopefully it won’t be tooo stressful. The job is in London so not bad for meet ups (Especially you Tim, I will hunt you down.), but I will probably live in St Albans and join the army of commuters.

BUT before all that I still have my exams to get through. The first one is tomorrow (so I am currently procrastinating) but I am lucky enough to only have 3 and so finish on June 7th. Then freeedom!!, well until August.

I better get back to cramming.

P.S can someone forward me Robyn’s wedding photos, my email is rosie.day@tiscali.co.uk

So yeah, everything’s fine so far and that’s all there is to say really ^^ I have no internet in my accommodation but we’re doing our best to sort something out… most practical solution would seem to be buying a key (?) so that we can access the school’s internet ( or I think that’s what it does anyway…). If anyone has any advice about this, that would be awesome. COUGHJohnCOUGH. Unfortunaely we can’t get a router because our accom is actually within the school and apparently it’s not allowed. And there’s no wifi. So yeah, help please would be grand if anyone can suggest anything

France is HOT. I know I’m on the mediterranean and everything but I really didn’t expect it to be quite so summery here in October! It’s great, I’m getting a tan already! The town I’m living in is very nice, though a bit quiet and there’s not much to do in the evenings (though there is an Irish pub!). I think we just need to explore a bit to find out that kind of thing. During the day it’s very nice here, there are plenty of shops with everything you might need – although it turns out the French really don’t like to work that much. Absolutely everywhere (apart from cafes etc) close for lunch between 12:30 and 2pm, and on a Sunday nothing is open at all apart from, again, eateries. But the people at the eateries seem to like to make it very clear that they do not want to be there, and can be quite rude. That’s the French I suppose!

I haven’t started teaching yet, and don’t really know yet anything to do with my timetable etc. I have about a week of observation and then I think I begin classes sometime next week or the week after. And then a few days after that it’ll be half term – whey!

So, I should pop off now. Hope everyone is having a great time doing what they’re doing :] A bientot!

So, most of us are going into our third year of university soonish (omg, WHAT), and for me that means a year out in the Merde, teaching English to French school kids. I’m not gonna lie, I’ve not done much to prepare myself so far. Because of this, I’m feeling pretty nervous about the whole thing and haven’t really got excited about it yet… but hopefully once I’ve sorted out a place to live, got over the trauma of going out to France all on my ownsies to move in with foreign strangers, and managed to deal with all the legal housing/bank account stuff that I can barely understand as it is in English, then I’ll settle down and have a great time.

I’m going to be teaching in three schools: my main one is a lycée (kind of like a sixth-form college but there are three year groups), and two collèges (secondary schools). They’re in a really nice area, in the south of France near Aix-en-Provence which is a lovely town I’ve visited quite a few times, and also near Marseille, so I’ll be quite close to the coast. My friend Amy (who I think everyone has met?) lived out there for a while and her mum lives in a town very close to where I’m going to be, so it’ll be nice to have a contact out there in case of disasters.

All in all I’m pleased about where I’ve been placed and the schools I’ve been assigned to. Although working in three different ones seems like a lot, I think it’s quite common to be placed in more than one, and one of my friends who was out there this year found that even though the kids in one school were a load of chavvy French brats, the kids in the other were much nicer. Hopefully mine will all be nice, but even if not, in all the different year groups across three schools, there’s got to be at least one nice set of students. I hope :]

So, yeah, I just thought I’d tell you a bit about what I’m going to be up to next year. As I said, I haven’t found housing yet, which is kind of my main worry, but it’s very common not to have that sorted out until a couple of weeks before, when you actually go over there, stay in a hostel for a bit, and visit estate agents and stuff. Some of my friends have been provided student accommodation by their lycées, but I wasn’t lucky in that respect Fingers crossed it’ll all work out for the best, anyways.

Onto more general stuff, I was really sorry to miss Quasar the other day because I was feeling poorly Hope you all had a great time, and maybe we can meet up for coffee or a picnic or something soon? Let’s plan things! *puts on planning hat*

My holiday has been pretty good so far… I spent a couple of weeks away with choir – we went on tour to Cornwall for a week which was loads of fun, and then came back to campus to sing at the degree ceremonies, which was also awesome. We did ten ceremonies across five days (paid ) and the rest of the time we had the whole of campus to ourselves, went out for pubbing and clubbing and curry-ing, etc. Funnnnnn times (although a load of people went down with swine flu, which was sad times but I wasn’t one of them, luckily for me).

Next week I’m going to Wales with some friends where we’re aiming to squeeze ten of us into a six-person caravan, which should be interesting…then I’m going to Wales again at the end of August with the fam. It’s clearly the place to go, eh John?

That’s pretty much all my news! This was long, so I think it’s best to end it here before I bore your socks off (sorry if this has already happened). Hope you’re all having a great summer and hopefully see you soon.

Peace! x

There was a man meet! It was good fun and photos will be added to the Whasblog gallery. In other news there was also an elusive-mouse catching event to entertain and amuse. Should have got photos of that! Never mind. Thankee Adam for organising and no doubt another one will follow once people are back from holidays, Airsoft anyone? I’ll stick a photo or two in here too to show what we got up to…

Powerful demons were summoned. Powerfully.

Powerful screens powered powerful games. Which defeated us powerfully.

Well whilst I may not have been (cunning) stunt aero-planing or jumping from buildings with nothing but a loin cloth, this holiday I have actually managed to find myself a job in a certain branch of Jessops. Employment for the win. Although I still don’t know how much I’m getting paid to be there, it will be a surprise. The work is actually good fun, I get to look at and talk about cameras and photographs all day. Unfortunately I’m still annoying enthusiastic about it, which is probably really irritating all the other staff. Tough poops!

Whilst I don’t want to take away the suspense from Soph’s blog upon returning from France I shall just pass on a bit from her excursion. After a fairly… interesting and not-completely-to-plan journey, Soph arrived almost a fortnight ago and has been conducting plenty of hard labour in a French mountain work camp. Not to be confused with prisoner of war camps, or WWII style ‘work camps’ I am led to believe. Digging trenches, clearing shrubs and fixing doors have been some of the items on the agenda, although not without a weekend off to a pretty canyon. Anyway, no doubt you’ll hear more upon her triumphant return.

What’s everyone else up to? Did you make it to Wimbledon this year Robyn? Will you ever return from Australia, Tim? Will Adam buy more torches? Only you can tell. Looking forward to hearing from folks.

Bai2u.

Anywho, it is really nice to be back, especially after such a busy last week of term. I did eventually manage to get my various essays and other pieces of work done on top of the rehearsals and concerts, despite feeling like I was going to turn into a glob of pure oozing stress at any moment. The concerts all went very well and I’m still loving my music and not planning on cutting down on any of it, even if I do get stressed out when concerts collide with work. I will just have to be more organised next term. :happy:

I’ve managed to get myself some work for the holidays which should be a fairly decent booster for next term’s budget (and also Christmas present expenses). I’m registered with a job agency who get students lots of temporary work in different areas, so my first up-coming job is waitressing this Saturday from 12 noon to 12 midnight – long hours but good pay, which is fine by me. I also did a typing test thingy on the computer there and the lady seemed quite impressed with my skillz (apparently I’m ‘secretarial standard’ – cool huh?) so hopefully I’ll get some secretarial work too, which involves less tiring standing up and more lazy sitting around. :happy:

Ok, moving on to exciting things! I’m planning a dinner party at my house sometime in the holiday when everyone is available – so far Friday 4th January (evening, obviously) is looking like quite a likely candidate, but please let me know if you have a problem with this and the date can easily be changed. Also, please let me know if you ARE free on Friday 4th, because that would be useful to know as well. And in the case of people who have work, let me know when your shift finishes and how much time you’ll need to go home and slob for a bit before coming out again to pahtay! :3

I think that’s pretty much it. Hopefully see you all very soon, folks! Muchoes love xxx

 Firstly my job. I’m going to try be be very diplomatic here to avoid any possible legal ramifications. Basically it seems that come January I may be the most experienced lab worker still working in my lab. Today was the leaving party for one of the other lab techies whom i work with. She is one of the nicest people i know and i will genuinely miss her. This wasn’t so bad (there were chocolates and a pub lunch thrown in) but today my boss also announced that she would be resigning this christmas which means i will have to learn as much as possible about running the lab before she leaves (difficult since there is also about a dozen other things that need doing but i digress) . Finally the only other lab worker ,who is a temp like me, will also probably be leaving  this Christmas. As a result i will probably be the only one left come January (i’m contracted to work till mid Feb). While i’m sure new staff will be brought in it is still kinda scary.

Secondly my search for after work voluntary work has hit a snag today and it looks like i won’t be able to do voluntary work in a hospital on time. this is bad as i’ve said i’d do that in my personal statement.

On a positive side i’ve just received my invitation to senior prize giving so i expect you will all be getting them soon.

It is on Friday 11th January 2008 and starts at 8.00pm. (need to be in seats by 7.45pm) it is a formal occasion and replies need to be in by Monday 10th December.

Basically I now work in the QC department of a food technology lab called synergy in high wycombe i’m not sure how much detail i’m allowed to go into given the secrecy contracts I’ve signed but suffice to say the work ain’t bad and the place  is awesome,  smelly, but awesome (flavourings stink. Fact). So far my work has been moving paper since but that might change soon.

Unfortunately there have been some bad points. The main one is that i need to get up at 5:30 a.m. in order to catch the bus to get me to work which also means i’ve started going to bed at 10:00 p.m. for the first time in years (i feel so immature). Other than that no major gripes.

What startled me was the speed at which this has happened. Basically i learned of the job on Wednesday, I was interviewed on Thursday and was offered the job on Friday to start working today (monday). As a result i only handed in my 2 weeks notice to waitrose on Sunday so for the next 2 weeks i’m working 7 days a week (except for 2 days up at Sheffield for a open day) 

Other than that not much has really been happening to me (there hasn’t been time).

Look forward to hearing from you guys.

It’s been a reasonably eventful week for me. This week all of our seminars and tutorials started so I’ve been a bit busier than last week when I only had three lectures. I’ve been getting involved in various musical things; as you know if you read my last blog I got into the choir last week and our first rehearsal was last Thursday. We’re singing some really great things, including a few jazzy classics: Moon River, Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head and The Pink Panther. In the rehearsal we only sang the first of those so I have yet to find out what the other two arrangements are like. My first chamber choir concert is the 4th November in a place near Stratford-upon-Avon – sadly it’s on the same day as me and John’s 3rd anniversary so I won’t be able to see him that weekend .

I’ve also joined the Wind Orchestra (woodwind and brass only) and on Monday I went to a ‘free’ rehearsal with the Symphony Orchestra (strings and wind). On Tuesday I played in my first concert with both of these ensembles, after just one rehearsal for each! It was a free concert where anyone could turn up and play, as a sort of taster for the Symphony Orchestra, which had its auditions today for people who want to go on and become members. I thought mine went really badly because I was so nervous that I mucked up pretty much every aspect of the audition, but they gave me a place anyway. They must be desperate for French Horns… But going back to the concert, it was really sweet – five of my flatmates came along to watch me play. :happy: I feel so loved.

Anyways, enough about my musical escapades. Today I had my first shift working as a Library Assistant as part of Warwick’s work scheme for income-assessed folk. I only do five hours a week and it’s split into two shifts, so today I had my three-hour shift and tomorrow morning I’m working 9.30 – 11.30am. It was ok. It’s more stimulating than envelope-stuffing (which I did for a few days at Ellen’s mum’s work the week before I came to Warwick), but I was working in this section where I was handling lots of old magazines and newspapers (all about ethnicity and racial equality, if you’re interested) and they were very dusty. Also, three hours of sorting magazines = very inky hands. Tomorrow I’m going to be working on the ‘shelving team’…do you think it’s like the A-Team?

After I got back from work four of us from the flat went into Coventry. I’ve identified where the station is, which is handy, and we also bought a few things for our flat: a toaster, a draining rack for the washing up, and…a massive set of poker chips! There’s a really cool games shop there – they had this section for giant outdoor games; playing cards about 2′x1′ in size, giant snakes and ladders, giant naughts and crosses…it was awesome.

I haven’t even started talking about my course! Sorry for the massive post, but I’m not done yet… I’m so loving my Medieval and Renaissance English Literature module; it’s the best! We’re having Middle English Language classes on Tuesday mornings, which are so much fun. We get set a few passages from ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’ to translate each week and then we go through it as a class. The lectures are also great, and the seminars and everything. French is good too – I had my first oral class yesterday which wasn’t as scary as I thought it might be. It’s taken by a university student from France (who is doing much the same as I’ll probably be doing in my third year), and it’s really relaxed. The only scary aspect of French so far has been the Written Language seminar, which is taken by a very intimidating French woman. She was reading out our register in the first lesson on Monday and she’ll stop on a random person’s name and stare at them until they say something to her in French… I don’t mind speaking in French if I’m asked a question, but how do you think of something random to say when you’re just answering your name on the register?

I think that’s about all the interesting news I have. I’m glad everything seems to be going well for those of you who’ve blogged recently – as for everyone else, keep in touch! I want to know everything that’s going on in your lives!

Take care all :happy: