2008.

2008 has been a strange year. Lots of things have changed in a short space of time and the first half of the year seems a world away from the present.
In 2008 I climbed Snowdon, went to London with my lit class (♥), went for interviews in Manchester and London, went to countless Open Days, re-sat AS level exams in English Lit and History, sat A Level exams in English Lit, History and German (+ an AS exam in the sham that is Critical Thinking), left school, dressed up for the Leaver's Ball, painted pigs in Llanberis, went to America with my family (California - Arizona - Nevada), went camping in St Davids with Harry, passed my driving test, passed my A Levels (AAC), was conned out of a Leeds ticket and went on a mini-roadtrip instead (Liverpool - Oxford - London), moved 251 miles away from home, turned nineteen and started University. In 2008 there were tea parties and driving lessons, gold medals and revision, pretty dresses and moustaches, tapas bars and tea-cup shots, tears and laughter and a lot, a lot of nerves.

Merry Christmas.

It's CHRISTMAS.

Een Plesierige Kerfees/ Gezuar Krishtlindje/ Tchestita Koleda/ Nadolig Llawen/ 祝你聖誕快樂/ Glaedelig Jul/ Vrolijk Kerstfeest/ Merry Christmas/ Hyvaa joulua/ Joyeux Noel/ Froehliche Weihnachten/ Kala Christouyenna/ Selamat Hari Natal/ Buone Feste Natalizie/ Kurisumasu Omedeto/ 즐거운 성탄절 보내세요/ God Jul/ Wesolych Swiat/ Feliz Natal/ Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva/ Feliz Navidad/ Srozhdestvom Kristovym/ Nginifisela inhlanhla

Autumn Term.

I'm so happy I'm home.
This term has been long and at times hard and it is a huge relief that I can forget about all things grown-up and Goldsmiths for the next four weeks and relax and enjoy the time with my family and friends.
On the whole I've had a good first term; I really enjoy my course and the people I have met so far have been friendly and kind. However, University has differed greatly from my prior expectations and there are often large amounts of free time between lectures and books. I am grateful at these times that I can entertain myself easily, and obviously in a city as big as London there are plenty of things to keep me occupied. All the same I couldn't have made it through the Autumn term without the following distractions (and then some). ♥

"Smoking Kills".

Charlotte stayed for two nights and left for York this morning. We had a great time and did lots of fun things:

1. Twiglets and Malibu at the Goldsmiths Tavern with Jenny, Rick and Aaron.
2. Silly hats and pretty dresses in Topshop; lion rape and Welsh on whiteboards in Hamleys.
3. Made it to the Tuesday Night Pub Quiz AT LAST: Sparkle Motion, mulled wine, copious Christmas tree photos and feet. Sadly we won neither Macbook nor Gingerbread House kit.
4. WICKED♥: Note the OMG van in the background. Good times.
5. Ian McEwan talk on Wednesday evening, while Charlotte napped and Harry? . + We hate Dr Oetker and his stupid lying Gingerbread House Kits.
6. After Charlotte left: Platform 9 3/4, Science Museum, Topshop, Spaghetti Bolognase and Studio Ghibli.

One more day left now! We are catching the train to Oxford after my last seminar tomorrow and my auntie's partner will drive us back from there. Eeee, I can't wait.
Here are some of the week's photographic highlights:

Essays.

Essays are over and done with at last. I am SO happy! Only a small Great Gatsby analysis for my Creative Writing workshop in the morning and then I'm free, free, freee of work for the rest of the year.
Harry is still ill and has been in bed all day. Shocking stuff. Charlotte is arriving tomorrow, yayyay. I just hope he'll be better by then.

Sunday.

Harry arrived at mid-day with a suitcase so large, I could easily have curled up inside without a moment's hesitation and room to spare. We went to Greenwich Market after lunch and ate 'churros' with hot spiced apple juice in polystyrene cups as we browsed the stalls. Harry bought me a beautiful skirt as the market was shutting for the night, then we went back to New Cross where I cooked pasta and put a poorly Harry to bed for 8 o'clock. Now I am flicking irritably through my literary theory textbooks and thinking who cares what realism means anyway? Blah. Five more sleeps.

Beauty and the Beast.

Last night I visited "Baker = Charlotte 'I like yolks' Hindley" [front row in a homemade villager's skirt in the photo] in Oxford for the grand opening of the OULES (Oxford University Light Entertainment Society) Christmas play, Beauty and the Beast. It was very much fabulous and I left the theatre feeling happy and lightly entertained. We also attempted to watch Princess Mononoke at a Mansfield Film Society evening, but there were projector problems, so we ate our fair share of mince pies and then left. We were after all the only ones there. Instead Charlotte and I watched Black Book into the wee hours. It was a really good film, but we went to bed feeling slightly downhearted (Nazis as always = bloody) and more than a bit confused. Oh, and the Porter man thought we were sisters (so we told him, "No! We're just good friends..")

I left Charlotte this morning after breakfast and returned to London following a brief felt hunt (success at last!) and a sneaky peek into Borders. There, I did a little Christmas shopping in Covent Garden until my arms grew tired and I headed back to New Cross Gate.

Advent.

I've had a busy weekend, filled with a series of diversions and a last minute bout of essay writing and now I feel like I could curl up in bed and sleep until Wednesday. Unfortunately, however, I am not free of the essay factory yet and at some point between now and Friday I have to churn out another 1500 words on the critical interpretations of Frankenstein, or some such nonsense. -_-

When I came back from the library this evening I began to arrange my University-room Christmas decorations. I have a mini tree made of black tinsel, a set of small, colourful baubles, some new fairy lights and some Christmas tree pegs for attaching cards to the wall. I don't know whether I'll actually receive any cards while I'm here, but they look nice all the same. I also want to make some paperchains over the weekend. I wish I had some cool origami paper to make them with, but card of the Paper Mill Shop variety will have to suffice.

Oh and on a loosely related topic, (paper chains > paper envelopes) I'm in the process of making Harry an advent calendar. It's super cool, even if I do say so myself. The first set arrived in Cambridge on Saturday, but I wrote strict opening instructions on the outside of the package, so Harry opened it today. It sounds like he was pleasantly surprised.

I'm going to Oxford tomorrow to watch Beauty and the Beast. I couldn't decide whether I had time to go, what with essays and the like, but then I thought (a) it's almost Christmas, (b) you won't do any work on Tuesday anyhow and what's more you haven't seen Charlotte in over five weeks. That's so unreal. But yay for tomorrow evening♥.
+ Eleven Days.