I know I have completely ignored this blog for ages but today I decided to just sit down and tell you all what has been happening.
Two and a half more weeks and it’s end of term. This term went by so fast. It’s hard to believe that it’s almost over. It will definitely be weird to go to Germany and not have all these people constantly around me.
It suddenly got quite cold making Service quite unpleasant at times. The water is quite cold and so is the weather. Service is still fun, the cold is just something to get used to. So many people have been sick lately and sadly I am one of them but it’s not too bad. Just have a cold.
On the third of October we had something called Cinderfella. Basically what it’s like miss world or something like that but with boys instead of girls all dressed up. It was quite hilarious but a few things were really exaggerated and not necessary.
At the end of October we (German first years) cooked for the German second years and the German teacher, Christian. That was also the night of the African national evening and I was really just running around from one place to another. The meal was amazing and everything turned out really well except the national evening it self which was fun but I guess certain parts were a little disorganised. In the end the national evening was still quite fun.
We also had Halloween party at the end of October. Not everyone went but quite a few people found it really fun to get dressed up for it and the Americans came around to the houses trick or treating. In the end one of my dorm mates and I managed to get a lot of sweets from the party and also a bottle of coke. We then spend the night watching a movie.
Two weeks ago we, first years, had first aid week while our second years went to London to relax a little after all the work they have been doing. We had 3 days of first aid classes where we learned all sorts of things like how to perform CPR and so on. Quite a lot of the things we learned were common sense though. At first it was weird to be here without the second years. The whole campus was so empty with only half the amount of people here but it was still nice to just get to know the other first years better.
Tomorrow I have my lifeguards practical and theory exam. I’m guessing it’s not the final one but I should still pass it. We got folders for Lifeguards with around a 100 pages of information. Luckily we had first aid prior to this but I feel like I have forgotten quite a lot of it already.
Then next week Friday we first years start our end of term exams. Quite a few people are either excited or nervous about them. It’s weird to think that many people here have never had exams before and these will be their first.
Lat week Saturday it was on of the German second years’ birthday. So on Friday night just before midnight some of us Germans went over to Sunley (one of the houses) for her showering at midnight. After we showered her (which is a tradition here, you shower someone at midnight on their birthday) al the Germans who were there said we had a surprise for her but that it wasn’t in the house. So we took her, still dripping wet and without shoes, outside and started walking her in direction of the sea front. After a while she asked us where we were taking her and then she understood that we planned on throwing her into the pool and she tried to run. Luckily one of the boys managed to hold her and we carried her down. At first we had though of throwing her into the outdoor pool but we thought that it would be too cold so we opted for the indoor pool instead. It was quite a fun experience.
Then on Saturday morning we had our street theatre in Cardiff. At around 9:30 am we went to Cardiff. The street theatre was for Amnesty International and it was about the Monks in Burma. It was quite successful and we got about 4000 signatures from people in Cardiff which will be sent of to Burma in the hope that they will let the people in prison go.
I was surprised to see how many people didn’t care or know about what is happening and how they thought that it was actually really annoying and a waste of time. Some people in Cardiff were really happy that we were trying to do something about it and they really appreciated it while others told us off and to leave them alone.
After the street theatre I went to my Link Family which was really nice. It’s always good to get out of school for a day or two every once in a while.
This was just before we started the street theatre. We were dressed in red to represent the Monks.
On Sunday we started something called Secret Santa in our house. This means that everyone pulled a name out of a hat and the person’s name you pull out you need to give things to. You can give that person anything you like, for example notes wishing them a happy day, sweets, chocolate, stories pictures or even something like what my dorm mate’s secret Santa did: clean their corner of the room for them. I was very surprised when I saw my dorm mate’s secret Santa cleaning her corner for her. It was really impressive and a really nice thing to do. The person I am giving things to I haven’t really spoken much to, which makes it really hard because I don’t know what he likes but I still try by giving him little notes or sweet or chocolate everyday.
On Monday while I was in choir and I opened one of my choir booklets I notice that someone had stuck a note into it. The note turned out to be from my Secret Santa. I found it really nice of them to think of putting a note into my choir things, it made me really happy.
On the 4th of December there is a concert in which the tour choir will be singing. Bryan our instructor is quite keen on getting all our songs to be perfect. I wonder how it will end up. Then in March for project week we are definitely going to Poland. The tickets have been bought. I am really looking forward to it.
Well I’ll stop here for now and go study for my exam tomorrow.
I will add more pictures sometime later this week.
Miriam
