One Wheel Short of a Unicycle...

Basically I've had a cough for the last 5 weeks and over the last week it has got gradually worse and worse up to the point where I coughed up some blood! At that point I thought hmm, better go see a doctor. I went last night to see a "replacement" doctor as mine is currently on holiday, and he said that "you may have a viral infection, you may not", and that coughing up blood is normal if you have a cough for a while. He then proceeded to talk in medical terms and lost me, but concluded that the prescription, (the "patient information leaflet" that came with my prescription and it says that tablets are used to treat bronchitis and pneumonia!), he gave me "may or may not help". What a helpful guy.

Shocking isn't it, I now like taking the math's tests. This is all down due to the fact they are taken online in your own room- with your notes of course, but the best bit is the practice paper questions. Basically I log onto the local network and take a practice test and it tells me how i did (100% of course :-) ) but it also goes through the methods of the answers. You may say, so what you have the methods big deal. But if I were to tell you the only difference between the actual test that is marked by my lecturer and the practice paper is the numbers in the question, it becomes clear why I now like math's tests! All I have to do is the same method, but with different numbers! So unless I somehow forget how to use my calculator in the near future- which is not likely!- I should get at least 30% of my module without too much effort!

*Celeb Watch* The England rugby team were training again today on the first's rugby pitch, didn't get to see them train though as had to go to lecture.

Our block has been reported to the Health and Safety Department for failing the fire alarm test...twice. On both occasions it was around 7 on cold, wet mornings and we failed because we had peeps who didn't hear the fire alarm (probably because they were drunk still!) and had to be woken up by the sub wardens!

*Celeb watch* Apparently Paula Radcliffe was at the Union cafe yesterday

Systems engineering, whats that all about then? Well to answer this question, you must first ask yourself why a car can be allergic to vanilla ice cream. This was what I was told yesterday, and we had to spend the next 2 hours evaulating this question and write it up in a 2 page report to be handed in at the end of the 2 hours- hmm... So that leads me to conclude that systems engineering is about thinking about the most absurd question you can, and then write a report on it, just for the hell of it. Anyhoo, if you want the answer to the question visit:

http://www.americanautoclubuk.com/articles_gm.php

This weekend I went home, still suffering from freshers flu i.e. a cough and the sniffles, for the first time since I went to uni. It felt a bit weired at first, but soon all was ok. On the Saturday we went out with the Calvers to visit Sudbury Hall (near Ashbourne), and had a pub meal at the Vernon Arms- which was very nice. On Sunday I went to visit my grandparents before coming back to uni to find out that I had even more work to do :(


Here are some pics of Sudbury Hall:

Since I have been so busy with freshers week and starting my course etc, I have been delaying starting my blog. So here's whats been happening;

Started my course on 3rd October but the lectures started on the Thursday (6th). So far all is good, but I can't believe the amount of peeps that actually fall asleep during lectures. I don't mean just nod off, I mean fall asleep and start snoring!!! It is probably due to the fact the rooms are all really warm, and the lecturers (one in particualer who manages to talk non-stop for the whole 50 mins), are not "teaching" us anything new atm i.e. it's all A-level stuff atm.

The only problem I have had so far is with the programming lab work- which is probably the most important part of the course! We arrived in the computer room and had to wait 10mins for the lecturer to turn up and then another 10mins for the photocopies to be made. Once we got started, me and my assigned work partner got to work on the programming (using C++ visual studio 6). First bit was fine, creating the "hello world" programme. But then we had a problem. We were given a huge piece of code and told to input it into the program and see what happens, and o btw the code is wrong. 8 errors is what happened. Eh? now what do we do? We called over a so called "helper" person, who didn't actually know what we were doing, knew nothing about the programme we were using, and probably works in the sports science department. He called over the other so called "helper" whom proceeded to look at the code and came to the conclusion that there was an error in the coding somewhere! Then he said (in an avid merrion bo selecta accent), "there is an error somewhere, you should have been taught this already" and walked off. O great, so on the first time ever I had looked at this programming code I was meant to magically "know" what the problem was, hmm... But then, and it gets better, both the helpers and the lecturer walked out the room never to appear again in the whole 2 hours I was there!

*Celeb Watch* Last week I watched the England Rugby team's training and found out that Matt Dawson really is small. Also I met Colin Jackson wandering around the campus and he had, as always, a huge smile on his face.

Last weekend saw the end of freshers week, and what a week it was. Everyday was packed with activities to do during the day, or places to visit, and nights out in the evening. I couldn't go to them all, (as it is very tiring), but what i went to was great.

On the first day we had an informal "buffet" meal in our dining hall which was followed by a disco. I met soo many peeps in this first evening from all over the country and made many friends.

I spent the following day walking around lufbra town centre with the peeps from my block trying to find a cowboy outfit for the cowboy and indian themed night out at the Union. We eventually found a toy shop that sold a hat with a badge, guns etc, and happily handed over £4 for the cause. Little did I know that when I got back the hat was way to small for my head- couldn't check b4 as it was in stupid vacuum formed wrapping, but I still went wearing my badge, guns and bandanner thingy. It was another amazing night out where I met tons of peeps from all the halls around campus and got into alot of "friendly" banter, which we had to practice for the sing-off later in the week. When I say banter, I mean generally yelling at the top of your voice a song that the returners have madde up when they were drunk and thought sounded really really cool at the time- basically just taking a football chant and changing the words. Such as:

"You are my Royce Hall, my only Royce Hall,
You make me happy when skys are grey,
You'll never notice how much I love you,
Until you take mt Royce Hall away.
Nah nah nah nah nah..."

The other songs are along the same lines but alot, and i mean alot ruder!

The next day we hopped on a bus to Leicester to go ten pin bowling and play laser quest. We arrived at about 12ish and played 2 games of bowling and then asked our hall rep what we should do next as the laser quest was full. She said something like "erm, whatever, you got another 4 hours to kill so, play more games of bowling?" Another 4 more hours to kill!!!!! We ended up playing on the arcade games/lots of games of pool to kill the time- which btw wasted alot of money!

Over the weekend I went to stay with my Aunt and Uncle so missed the sing-off -which was apparently rubbish and was won by Faraday or as we are meant to call them Faragay- Royce Halls greatest enemy.

The following night there was a bingo night (o wat joy) followed by a pub quiz, both of which we didn't win anything! Then we had Hey-Ewe. Hey-Ewe is the social night out for all the sports clubs and socials where every drink, and i mean every drink is £1 only! It turned out to be a rubbish night as I lost everyone and ended walking back to my block only to find 2 other guys who walked back too because they lost everyone!

The conclusion of freshers week was the Freshers Ball. This was truley an awsome night out. There was laser quest, fairground rides- including dogems!, mini golf, and the comedy club. Not to mention the great acts, (phh yeh right- liberty X great, i don't think so!) The Faders and celebs from Hollyoaks (Becka and Jake).

There are way too many pics from peeps in my hall which can all be found on my hall's website: www.roycehall.co.uk

At the moment I am studying Electronic and Electrical Engineering at Lufbra Uni. The course is 5 years long with a sandwich year in the 3rd year. This is not a year of eating sandwich's but a year in which I will work for a company and get paid! Hopefully this money will help me repay my loan, or it could be used to buy a new car...

Anyhoo, atm I'm living in student accom. on campus (Royce Hall- the best hall on campus) which isn't as bad as it sounds. I applied for an en-suite room (as everyone does) and failed to get one- no suprise there! But I have ended up with a room right next to the shower and toilet which I only have to share with 3 other peeps. So all is not bad. The block I'm in has 3 floors with about 20 peeps (ratio of 13:7 girls, with 5/7 girls on my floor!) in total living in it, and the sub-warden (who has an apartment on the top floor- right above my room so music can't be too loud :( ).

I'm in catered accom. so i don't need to cook, just roll out of bed walk to the dining hall and eat, and then go back to bed- unless i have a lecutre of course. The food is gr8 as we have an Italian chef so it is mainly pasta every day and cheesecakes/ice cream- i'm not complaining!. But there is always another option like fish and chips or pizza for those who like unhealthier food e.g. me (sometimes). Thats about it really, the sports facilities are out of this world (as you would expect for Lufbra being an international sports academy for every sport imaginable- even ultimate frisbee!), and the Union is also a great night out.

Here are some pics of my room: