Eyes and Ears.

As Easter approaches I am welcoming the break with open arms. Never have I felt under so much pressure at Uni. A performance assessment, journal, reflection and viva in one week is more than I can really handle. Luckily the performance was out of the way by Tuesday. Yes we were aware of our horrendous make up.

After many late nights my journal was finally finished and we could celebrate our last few days together. Not only did we have the Easter break, but we then went on to placement and for most of us that would mean over a month apart. Our heavy work load meant I hadn't thought much about it but as the last day dawned on me the reality sunk in. Something that had also slipped our minds in the chaos of work was that we had not found a house for next year and were quite possibly the only students in Leeds who had not signed for a house in panic at Christmas. With this care free attitude it only seemed right that we looked on the last afternoon of term. With our hopes not very high we were surprised by the amount of beautiful, or "Culture" houses as Nom so beautifully put it. I believe she meant "Character". After sitting in the beer garden at the Royal, I felt incredibly excited at the prospect of next year and my hope for a twee house seemed to be coming true. I envisioned us on our cobbled street, sitting in our yard in the summer with red wine and purple cigarettes. And of course it would be perfect for our cat.

Later that night Jenny and I decided to head out to local hot spot Nation of shopkeepers. The live illustration seemed interesting and we certainly deserved a night out after the week we'd had. We started the night at my house, "The Manor" as we affectionately call it, with three different bottles of red wine. Each bottle got progressively worse tasting but by the last bottle I'm not sure if either of us cared. When we finally arrived out we bumped into my house mate Stacie, clearly she had been out for some time and was more than happy to see us. Seeing Stacie out made me wish our other house mate Hannah was with us too. I was going to miss all the girls so much over the next month and thought about how strange it would be not seeing them everyday.

The red wine had kicked in and after not being overly impressed by the illustration we headed on to Hi Fi. Unbeknown to us, the night was a dub step night where everyone danced as though they were trying to push a balloon under water but struggling with the pressure. Me and Jenny thought that it would be a good time to bust out the lasso dance move, it was not. Not satisfied with the music we headed over to Wire for some current Indie anthems. We had some more drinks and a bit of a sing along. After a dance to Wild beasts we knew it was time we headed home. The taxis dropped us at a stop that was equidistant to both our houses. After a short walk home and a quick call to my boyfriend I was safely home and ready for bed. My phone woke me up the following morning to find myself fully clothed and still in my coat, with my lap top playing Eastenders on iplayer and a bowl on super noodles on the pillow next to me. All in all, a fabulous way to end the term.

Once built a steamboat in a meadow

I decided I needed a trip home to Luton. My family were having a small get together on the Saturday and with being at uni I always seemed to miss out. I had got the train down to London two days before to see Joe. I hadn't seen him for a while because of Bristol and I was missing him terribly. We spent two lovely days together and on the Saturday morning I jumped on a train from Paddington to Maidenhead to meet my parents. It was a lovely day and the walk in the countryside did me good. We saw a horse and I tried to get a picture with it but it scared me with the weird noises it seemed to make and I didn't want to wait around for it to charge.

On the Monday afternoon, after coffee with my Grandparents and a bit of shopping with my mum, I headed back to London. Almost instantly I came over all funny and desperately wanted to see my mum again. But I couldn't as my boyfriend some months before had bought us tickets to see The Tallest Man on earth and there was nothing that would stop me from being at that gig. I had been looking forward to this night for months, a night listening to beautiful music with the one I loved, I couldn't think of anything better. We jumped on the Hammersmith and City and headed up to Shepard's Bush with our bottles of Rose. The evening certainly didn't disappoint. The location was incredible and just added to the mood. With every note perfect song, tingles were sent down my spine. I felt like I had died and gone to heaven, being with Joe made it that much better. Still in high spirits we headed back to Whitechapel for a round of drinks, we ended up staying till closing then heading home for more drinking and general good times. I can honestly say it was one of the best nights of my life.

Old Rosie

Why am I getting so bad at keeping my blog!? Even after vowing to keep up to date with my writing I am still getting ridiculously behind. Anyway, I am going to write this as if it was still in fact the week in which it took place, not actually two weeks after the event. So it was Becki's birthday (21st to be precise) which obviously meant there was an excuse for a party. I forgot to mention that Becki is probably the most OCD person I have ever met and has been planning this party since we met nearly two years ago. I'll let her off for this as it's an important birthday and no one wants to pass up a good party and of course ROAD TRIP. We all gathered at Hessell View early on the Friday morning, ready for the long drive down to Bristol. The four hour drive went quite quickly as we discussed everything from boyfriends, long distance relationships, art, university and our peers. I felt quite bad for our car driver Nom, as she probably knew about two of the people me, Rob and Jenny spoke about.

As soon as we arrived we headed into the village to try the local ales. I couldn't help but feel like a total outsider as we walked up the tiny high street. Was this village that tiny that they knew when there was a new person in town? Now living in Leeds I wasn't used to having an identity other than "student", "art student" if I was lucky. We settled down into Becki's local, where she seemed to know everyone. Jenny and myself decided to try the still cider "Old Rosie" unaware of the percent, which would later take its toll on us. All I can say is that it was delicious but if I had had more than one I would most certainly have been carried home moments later.

We did eventually decide to head back and get ready for the evenings events. Becki's party in a prison, yes, that's right, a prison. Becki had hired the gentleman's club of a prison where the convicts were going to be the bar staff (or so we had all presumed). I have to admit I was pretty excited about the idea of a prison party, even after Jenny had tricked me into thinking red lipstick was a good fashion choice for the night. I don't recommend it being as pale as I am, it also requires you running to the toilet every five minutes to check it hasn't smudged all over your face. If only I'd known this before leaving the house...We headed for the coach taking us to the party with wine in hand, it was about 7PM but it felt about 10PM, the downside of drinking still cider at 4PM. We arrived at the prison, not to be greeted with armed guards and a barbed wire wall but a quaint village hall. And not a criminal in sight, might I add. We quickly got into the party spirit, grabbing a drink and hitting the dance floor to dance non stop for five hours to every RnB classic. Not normally a fan I still somehow found I knew most of the words to every song. After trying Tequila Rose and breaking my camera (not related) I knew it was time to head home. Again it was back to the coach to reminisce about the evenings antics. I only managed to stay awake for another hour and swiftly headed to the futon for some well deserved sleep.

The next morning, feeling rather fragile, I headed into Bristol centre to meet my old friend Emily. We'd met when we were about 15 and had been friends ever since. She moved to Bristol two years ago and with me being in Leeds it was hard for us to see each other. The excitement of seeing her kept my hangover at bay. We went to "Rockatilla" for the most amazing milkshakes, probably not the best thing for a sensitive stomach really, but none the less I drank it. I had an amazing morning catching up and taking in the sights of Bristol, which is beautiful for those of you who have never been. I got back to Becki's at about half four and by this time I was highly emotional and all I wanted was to curl up with my boyfriend and sleep. And I did (minus the boyfriend part). I spent the rest of the evening watching BBC 1 on the sofa with Becki's mum, it was more than delightful. I awoke on the Sunday feeling fully refreshed and ready for the day ahead. My hangover had finally passed. We trecked (by car) to the top of Wotton hill in the glorious sunshine and gazed out over the beautiful countryside. It was at that point that I wished I had my camera most. It was incredible up there, and so silent. I have never heard such silence in my life.

After basking in the sun we drove to Dursley (I am told this village is meant to be horrible and that is why J.K Rowling named her horrible family in Harry Potter after it). We settled down in a quaint pub to drink real ale, only half a pint of course. There were dogs sitting by the fire and Old boys all wearing their ties. It was amazing, I felt like I had walked into another era. I could see the appeal now for living in the country, all the fresh air and greenery. Being a city girl however I'm not quite ready to give up my Oyster card just yet.

Other towns and cities

I've been neglecting my blog already and I've only been writing for a month. But on a plus side this does mean I have a lot to write about. My boyfriend came to Leeds on Monday night as we were going to see Yeasayer at the Faversham. We've been together over a year and I still get butterfly's for the whole day when I know I'm going to see him. Cringey I know but I honestly cant help it. Unfortunately the gig was not all I had hoped it would be, too many samples and at some points I was sure they were miming, Cheryl Cole eat your heart out. Although saying this we did have an amazing night. A little dance with the one you love, a couple of drinks and some flaming hot monster munch (what can I say, we were hungry) is a pretty good night in my eyes. Walking home in the snow and making a pit stop for some scampi and chips rounded the evening off nicely.