Thursday 19th March 2009

Ok so I was so tired today after a long day that I fell asleep on the sofa by 6.30pm. While it was great to get some kip, I now find myself at 1am wide awake as I had my full 6 hour sleep. I can't tidy my flat as it's so late and will disturb my downstairs neighbour, can't do a wash, hoover, walk around too much etc. It's quite frustrating that I had that much sleep. Especially since today, Thursday, is my longest day of the week at Uni, I have a 9am lecture and I won't leave for home until about 9pm.

Tonight it will be our last Discipleship Explored. David has been away at a conference since Monday with Glen so it will be nice to see him, it's surprising how different the chaplaincy is without him. It is sad that the course has finally come to an end, even though it was supposed to be just for the winter term and specially extended due to begging, lol. I have been looking back at my Christianity Explored booklet with pride at how far we have come since that first session. I feel especially proud that Vicky will be baptised and confirmed this summer.

The first question we ever had to answer was "If you could ask God one question, what would it be?" Mine was 'Do I have enough time left in my lifetime to make up for the bad I have done and be forgiven?' Well, I didn't fully understand how things are back then, now I know that we are all forgiven the second Jesus died for us, it is a question I would never ask now and laughed when I read. It seems a lifetime away since I thought that way and I am so very grateful for the opportunity to take the course.

I submitted an extenuating circumstances form today for all modules. My tutor Dave Harwood helped me fill all the dates in and it went quite well. It is an amazing weight off my mind to know that I'm excused for my absences especially since they were beyond my control and I will only be judged on my actual merit. It is a shame that there are no more practicals now that I have someone that will take me to all my lectures and classes. I feel somewhat cheated as it's too late. I am however very privileged to have been allotted 50 hours revision with a personal tutor and I am looking forward to understanding my subjects before my exams.

I was fortunate that I did so well in my previous exams and classes, overall I have a good average when my absences are cancelled out. I have put in reports and essays etc even if they were late which now doesn't matter - yay! I had my assessment yesterday so now I have a Dictaphone that I may borrow from the library and I will be able to purchase Microsoft Office for a fraction of the price so that I may open portal documents at home, I will be given a printer with a scanner so I can work at home because I can't use the library, the personal note taker who will help me get to lectures, the revision tutor and my laptop refund was approved, woot!

Sorry to keep going on about it but it's such a relief to know that I can now get on with passing and I finally have the help I should have been getting since September. I think it's a recognition thing more than anything else it's nice to know that things out of my control won't stop me anymore. I am looking forward to going into a lecture with the lecture notes, Dictaphone in hand, prepared and not preoccupied then going into a small room for my exam so I can concentrate on the questions not my surroundings.

I should write about my week before this post gets any more long and rambling. I think it was a week Sunday since I last posted, I'll write what I can remember. Sunday night we continued our lent course we are doing at the evening services. That was good, we watched a little video on street pastors. I don't remember much of the week as I was in bed early every night and the days sort of merged. Monday I was in the chaplaincy as usual, Tuesday was Mumsies birthday, in the morning I bought a cake and some candles then went to mums and surprised her with them. I stayed with her for the day then she went for a meal with Karen and the kids. Wednesday mum and I went in town and she bought her walking boots.

Thursdays lectures were great, Island habitats and diversity. Discipleship explored I remember of course, we had sausages in barbeque sauce, mashed potatoes, peas, sweetcorn, cheesecake and apple crumble with custard. We had such a good discussion that it carried on until 9.30pm!

On Friday morning we had our plant test. We all went in and were given test papers. We had an hour to look at all twenty four plants. I was confident I knew all of the common and Latin names but I found out when we went in that we had to know the families and genus too! I wasn't able to learn them in an hour no matter how much I tried and wrote them all out. The first part of the test was then comparing data and plotting an extensive three-part graph. The information we had were from three parts of grassland and what percentage of plants were found in the three different conditions, wet, well drained, bright sun etc. We had to write about the different habitats.

The next part of the test was doing some calculations to figure out the percentages for example of Buttercups in each area and comparing them to the other areas. There were two different comparison methods. That was pretty complicated and hard I found. During this part of the test the lab tech approached us individually and handed us our plant test sheets so that one by one we could go to identify the plants. I got the genus question wrong and the family question wrong but I got all the other Latin names and common names. Each question was worth 4 points altogether, a point for each part of the Latin name so like Ranunculus Repens and then another point for each part of the common name like Creeping Buttercup. I got 24/32, all of them right. I don't know how everyone else did but I think I did pretty well. We haven't had the rest of the results yet, I think we get them today.

Saturday I spent with Mumsie, we went to the carboot sale and I got loads of clothes for my neighbours newborn Daisy. In the afternoon I put Norton on her pc and she cooked us a lovely dinner. She babysat in the evening and I had an early night. Sunday morning Vicky and I went to church, St.Matthias.



Sunday after church Vicky and I went window shopping around town. We didn't really mean to but we spent the whole afternoon in town. Vicky then treated me to Subway which was really gorgeous. I hadn't had Subway for ages and I really enjoyed it a lot. We then went back up to church for the evening service. We continued the lent course and watched a video on a church in Devon that opened as a cafe for clubbers and how successful that has been. That was an eye opener.

Monday I started out at Uni then met up with my mum and Pat in town. I got an advance of £100 from my loan at student finance. I had some books I had ordered from the Genesis talk that I had to pick up from the Christian book shop, while I was there getting them I bought some bracelets, a pen and a new Manga Bible. It's so cool, it has Manga pictures as expected but it also has a really great concordance at the end and a guide to reading the whole thing in a year. I was very impressed. I gave my mum £20 which is my half of her walking boots she had for her birthday. I also paid for some shoes she got as part of her Mothers day present, I have something else I got her too but I can't say what as Mothers Day is not until this Sunday.

When I got home I spent the rest of the money I had on cat food, cat litter, shampoo, pasta, bread, beans etc etc, nothing exciting so then I got depressed that I had no money and hadn't bought anything exciting. It's my brothers birthday today and although I have him a card I didn't get him a present so I feel a bit bad. I don't get paid again until next Thursday so it's going to be a long week. I wonder when I can get that laptop refund...... anyways, Tuesday was a field trip which was really exciting.



We were at Dartmoor as part of Ecology. We had to fill out a survey style booklet about the landscape, plants, agriculture, tourism effecting the land etc. It was absolutely fabulous weather it was glorious. We didn't have to do very much and it was a lot of fun.



We filled out all the information and had a little talk then we walked to a nearby Quarry to see the different terrain and to eat lunch. Vicky and I shared one lunch between the two of us I had bought two sarnies and Vicky had a bag of crisps and a cake we shared. It was really a very beautiful place, I am hoping mumsie and I will go there again soon.



After lunch we had to take three different 1m x 1m squares and note the percentage of plants, Gorse, Heather that kind of shrub. We chose dense coverage for some and mainly grass areas to compare. We then all got back on the coach back into Uni. We were pooped when we got back to the chaplaincy after 3pm. Laura was in there with Steve. We grabbed some more lunch there for £1, bread and cheese, cherry tomatoes and a cup a soup before I had my assessment interview with Nigel from disability assist.

I was then in bed asleep by 7pm last night pooped. This morning I went to see Dr.Dave (my tutor Dave Harwood) as explained before. After that about lunch time I did the extenuating circumstances form and spent most of the rest of the day in the chaplaincy. Vicky was in the library getting help with her maths. We have our exam on Monday and have to do our online tests this week too. I was supposed to see mumsie this evening but she was at Katies, then she was going to Cheryls. By 6.30pm tonight I was going to sleep so I'm not sure when I will see her now.

I'll try and write again sooner so it's not such a long post in future. More pictures on Facebook. Love ya ! xxxxxx

Sunday 8th March 2009

Hiya all, this is going to be a super condensed blog I am afraid. I am at my mums waiting for her to get back from my nans. Since I last blogged millions of things have happened and I won't be able to write about them all but I will write as much about the last week as I can before mumsie arrives. Last Dartmoor walk pics are on Facebook if you're interested.

Last weekend first, Saturday I spent the whole day in the library at uni revising for exams. When I say the whole day, that's what I mean. I was there from 7am until late evening. Nothing exciting to report, I did little revising, a lot of chatting and a lot of facebooking. I learnt that the library is not the place to revise. Saturday night was a non event because I was asleep by 8pm, it had been a very long week ending in a statistics exam Friday.

Sunday morning I woke early and got showered etc then went to church - St.Matthias. It was a lovely service even if Vicky didn't show which meant I sat alone. I stayed for tea after and chatted until about 1pm when I went I texted Vicky and met up with her in the uni library for more revision. It was a productive afternoon and a lot of fun too. We checked out places in North Devon for a retreat for the summer online.

Sunday evening Vicky and I went to St.Matthias for the evening service which is always lovely and quiet. Afterwards we got burgers. Monday morning was our chemistry exam. It was as scarey as ever. My anxiety is always very high on these occassions and the fact that I struggle with chemistry doesn't help. I answered as many as I could and hoped for the best. In the afternoon I sat in the chaplaincy and chatted with everyone there. Monday night I went to bed early.

Tuesday morning I woke up super early and went to the library before classes. I revised all morning then went to the chaplaincy at lunch time. I got stuck in there then my anxiety playing me up and couldn't then go to my two chemistry lectures in the afternoon. (We had a new lecturer). Instead I went to moan at the disability services advisors for not getting any help towards my course yet. The fact that the course ends in a few weeks and I have struggled on since September without any of the help I deserve really upsets me and I had a bit of a cry. It must have worked because I am being referred to Occupational Therapy. As soon as I am assessed I should be able to get my laptop refund and help with things like a small seperate room to do exams in, extra time etc.

Tuesday evening I was supposed to go to Christian Union but I had had a really fragile day and just wanted to go home to bed so I did just that. Wednesday is my day off although I didn't do any relaxing. I went and sat in the chaplaincy all day. I had an appointment at 1pm with dissability assist to discuss my file and case. I had to explain how my illness affects me day to day. In the afternoon I revised and chatted with friends. Vicky and I went to the library and worked on a Biology past-paper. I quickly went home for tea then was back within an hour to attend a talk David had organised. It was called 'Can we believe in Genisis today?' It was part of the Darwin 200 thing that the uni is doing at the moment (loads of different talks and events celebrating Darwins anniversary) by a Minister who was actually Glen and Maureens lecturer when they were at uni doing Theology. It was fascinating, I really enjoyed it as it was Creation/Evolution and how both can be true and compliment eachother. Vicky, Isabel, Kev, Jenny, Glen, Rowan, Roger, Maureen, Trevor, and Talan were all there too.

Thursday morning was lectures on Ecology followed by lunch in the chaplaincy. The usual great time was had by all, Jonny was there in the morning then Glen took over in the afternoon. I spent a lot of Thursday writing a lab report as well as being distracted. Vicky and I had to go to lab for a few hours where we were told our Chemistry exam results - both of us passed - woot! then we were back to the chaplaincy again. Kev, Peter, Steve and Rob were all in. Steve, Peter and Rob were playing the keyboard too, that was a lot of fun. (See Facebook for pictures). The usual Thursday night things happened next. Steve entertained us with the music from his laptop while David was away, Vicky and I set the table for Discipleship explored then at 6pm Jenny and Peter were back for the meal.

We had a wonderful beef and mushroom stroganoff with jacket potatoes, followed by apple crumble with custard and toffee cheesecake. The leftovers were put in the fridge for the next day. Our video was really good this week, very thought provoking and the talks were on the same passage Roger had preached on the week before so I found it particularly interesting as I knew more about it. We all did the dishes together and went home. I had an early night ready for the exam the next morning.

Friday morning was lab. It was brilliant!!!! We had a mini field trip which I thoroughly enjoyed. First of all I got split from my group, (Marc, Lucy and Lisa) so I had to work with two guys in my class I had never spoke to or seen before which was scarey and we were working outside somewhere I hadn't been before and Vicky hadn't turned up to stand with until I got used to the place. I managed to keep my anxiety to myself and did very well all in all.

We had to take a metal grid and put it on the grass then identify and count wild flowers. It was such a lot of fun I got so engrosed with the work that I forgot where and who I was. There's a lab technition called Owen I really like who kept checking on us which made me feel at ease. I will have to manage without Vicky and my other freinds next year so I am trying to cut the apron strings but I do still get anxious. When we got back to the lab there were 24 pots with plants in that had lables with the latin and the common names on. We had to write them all down to memorise for next week. Noone was very interested in doing this and decided to look them up later online with the list on our handout. I stayed to draw the plants and start trying to identify them. (My chosen degree I will be specialising in plants I have decided).

I got chatting to the lecturers and lab technitions about the fact I want to go on to do a plant degree and they suggested I do some work over the summer with our main tutor Stuart Lane so I will be looking into that definitely. Speaking of the summer I forgot to mention earlier that I spoke with Angel on one of the library nights during the week and she invited me to go visit her so I will be going to New York to see her probably in May as it's cheaper than August by over £200. More about this nearer the time, very exciting news! I saw a flight this morning in a shop window in town for only £239 which is super super cheap, whether it will still be this cheap in May is another thing. The cheapest I have seen so far online was £306 but that's booking by next week and I don't have the money until 27th April.

I ran to the chaplaincy after over-staying in the lab chatting about the plants to appologise to John for missing Bible brunch and for a quick super milky coffee which I had to chug and burnt my tongue then ran to the hall for my biology exam. Vicky had just woke up after oversleeping and just managed to screetch in as the doors opened. We all filed in and did our best. I feel quite confident that I did alright as none of the questions were a surprise and a lot of the topics I revised were covered. I think as long as I got the plant questions right then I will have enough right to pass. Fingers crossed.

After the exam we went and spent the afternoon in - you guessed it - the chaplaincy. I had enjoyed the lab work so much in the morning and Vicky had missed it so we spent our time going over the work again and starting to learn the latin plant names. I really enjoyed that. I made flash cards with the names on and drew little pictures of each one then we tested eachother. Afterwards we went to the library when the chaplaincy closed at 4pm to continue learning the plants.

Vicky treated us to burgers in Fat Mammas on the way home. I had a swiss burger, my favourite, blue cheese and mushrooms and Vicky had a french burger with fried onion rings and brie we also had beer-battered fries, I had hot chilli dip and Vicky had ketchup. We stayed on the corner chatting for ages before going home. I had a beer and went to bed quite early as I was just exhausted. I watched the rest of Scrubs season 6 in bed. (I have season 1-6 on dvd I have been watching and lending to everyone, Vicky is on season 5, Katie season 3 and my neighbour Heidi is on season 1).

I forgot to tell you that Heidi has had her baby too! She had a beautiful baby girl last week. She is called Daisy Leigh and is just so small and gorgeous. I managed to cram a bit of knitting in over the week I forgot to mention, I made her a hat with ear flaps and some mittens with sleeve strings in pale pink glittery wool that I made her bootees in a few months ago so it all matches. I will try and get some pictures as soon as I have time to go and visit. Keep checking Facebook it's much easier to use than here.

Mum's just arrived so I have to hurry. Yesterday, Saturday morning I woke up stupidly early because I had been up all week and my body was used to it so I took the opportunity to clean my house. Not very exciting for my first day off in weeks but very neccessary. I tidied, hoovered, did washing, cleaned the bathroom, did the mountain of dishes and then I was exausted again so I chilled out on the sofa with the cats in the afternoon. In the evening I went to mums and we went out. We went to see my Uncle Andy at a gig. It was a lot of fun. He is so good it's a shame the audience wasn't bigger but it was fab. There was an entertainer called Wacky Wez that really made us laugh, he did a quiz thingy and he danced a lot, really funny guy. He came out in an afro wig and huge star sunglasses at one point and danced all over. I filmed it with my mobile so he came right over in front of me, I wish I kjnew how to convert the film to put it on YouTube. I'll figure it out and put it on Facebook some time.

Afterwards, Andy took me to Zero's. I haven't been there for weeks it was really good fun. He bought me a pint when we first got in there and I had already had a few halfs with mum at the social club so I was drinking it a bit slower. Andy insisted I drink up so we could move downstairs so I did then I felt a bit tipsy. Downstairs we sat on the dancefloor in the corner watching everyone dance and had a great time chatting and laughing. Afterwards Andy grabbed a kebab then dropped me home at about 4.45am.

This morning I woke with a fright as I got a text from Vicky - "Aren't you coming?" it was only 10 minutes to the beginning of the service 10.20am so I was already going to be late. I jumped out of bed, brushed my teeth and my hair all at the same time, quickly put my clothes on, shoes and coat all at once and ran out of the flat to get the 10.30am bus. I don't know how I managed it but I did. There was a connecting bus waiting for me as I arrived in town that I jumped on and I arrived at Sherwell Church just as David was starting his talk, I had only missed one hymn, yay. Anxiety was the last thing on my mind I was just relieved to be there and went straight in and sat next to Vicky. David was fabulous! Nothing like the normal church talks or sermons, he commands an audience. His disciples had funny voices and his Jesus was so animated I listened to every word and laughed out loud as did everyone else.

After the service Vicky and I stayed for a cuppa in the Sherwell Hall and chatted with some of the lovely older ladies and of course David before we left. Vicky bought a chicken and bacon baguette that she shared with me and then I took her around to where we had had our mini field trip to show her what we had done and the plants we had seen on Friday to help her identifying them this coming week. I don't want to blow my own trumpet but I have learnt all 24 of the plants, latin and common name, I worked quite hard at it so it was easy to point them all out and fun. We will have eight random plants to name on Friday that's all but I may ask him to test me on them all, lol.

I then walked through town to my bus and then I arrived here and wrote this. I have no idea when I will be able to blog again because as you can see my week is very full now. The only time I have to myself is Tuesday morning and Wednesday. Tuesday is my mums birthday (one day before Holly I believe) so I'll be with her before Uni then Wednesday we are spending the day together with Katie and Sam. Saturday is the chaplaincy walk so even Saturday won't be a day off this week. I can't wait for the three weeks off at Easter I feel like I really deserve it. Next week Wednesday Mum and I are thinking of going to London because the coach company is doing a special offer, Plymouth to London for £1! Normally about £36 on the train is way more, sometimes £82 if not booked in advance it can be over £130 on a Friday. None of us have any money though and I'll be even more tired by then so we will see.

In the meantime, wireless in the chaplaincy so when I bring my laptop into Uni I am on often to update my status and keep it on while I'm in the library or chatting in the chaplaincy etc. I will try to get on to blog but it's just not possible to read all of the posts and blog myself. Vicki your blog is wonderful, Holly is adorable and I hope you all have a great day for her birthday. I'm looking forward to reading all about it even if it might be a wordless wednesday the pics will be good I'm sure. Tonight I am back at my own church St.Matthias and at least our exam weeks are over so I may have more time to blog this week. If not, love you loads, miss you and hope to speak to you soon.

Oh, is it still ok to visit you in the summer? Or do you want to visit New York in the summer? I was thinking perhaps I could get Angel on a plane and bring her to yours on an internal flight for a few days if you can't travel as easily? I haven't talked to her yet though and she is quite scared isn't she? Or if it's still ok for me to visit you and you have figured out your schedule, can you please let me know when is best to visit you? I am not sure which is cheaper, direct flight to yours from London or from Nyc internal flight. Whatever is more convenient for you anyway, hugs! xxx