My name is Becky, and I am a second-year student studying English Literature and Politics, which means I have to think about lots of things that hurt my brain. I live in town but am a proud County member. Last Friday 13th, I broke my little finger and spent the morning in A&E – spooky!
Monday, 12 February
I went home for the weekend to see my cousin’s baby be christened, so I woke up in my own bed, which was nice! Less nice was the knowledge that it was 8am and I had to move.
My train journey was fairly smooth, then on arrival to Lancaster I met my friend so we could walk up the hill together. I hate the hill we live on. We got home, I showered and we watched some Olympics – I ate an Alpro yoghurt for very late breakfast/lunch.
My housemate has a car, so she drove us to the University, then although my intentions were good, I’d be lying if I said I went to my lecture. Instead, I journeyed to the library and began to read for my upcoming essay on migrant populations.
After a solid couple of hours, we decided that it’d be more fun to make rocky road biscuits, so we drove to Sainsbury’s instead, then baked. We watched University Challenge (I got a question right!), and I tidied my room, changed my bed and went to sleep watching Friends.
Tuesday, 13 February
Pancake day! I woke up fairly early, at 9am-ish, and did some exercise, made a granola and yogurt buddha bowl, and watched some winter Olympics. Are you sensing a theme? I tried to make some banana pancakes, but they burned so I just ate some strawberries instead.
I went to the University for my 12pm lecture which was on Latin American politics and was very interesting. After the lecture I did some more reading, then met my English presentation group to discuss our upcoming presentation on “Surfaces”.
I then had an English lecture about the presentation, which was very useful. After the lecture, I went home, cleaned up and went to the gym. I met my friends afterwards, and we ordered Dominos and watched The Devil Wears Prada. It was a lovely night!
Wednesday, 14 February
Happy Valentine’s Day! I woke up, did some exercise and made granola. I then did some reading for my upcoming essay, and my housemate and I decided to go to Williamson Park to do some work and look at the butterflies!
No work was done but we did see lots of cute dogs and other small animals, so I didn’t mind too much. I then went to the Ian McKellen talk which was incredible and inspired me greatly. Then, I had a SCAN meeting, went to the library and did some work before returning home.
At home, I had a quick meal and got ready to go to Sugar – it was a fab night! Thankfully, Sugar wasn’t too full of couples/singletons making out, so I had room to dance, and the music was good for once!
Thursday, 15 February
My 9am lecture hurt my head. An hour and a half of Peace Studies after three hours sleep is not the easiest thing, but Conflict Resolution is quite an interesting topic, so I didn’t fall asleep.
I had a focus group immediately afterwards on sport participation at the University, and then headed to the library to cram in some reading for my seminar two hours later. I ended up reading a bizarre short story, then headed to my seminar. It was an hour and a half, and about the strange short story I’d read (called Yorick, if you’re interested). Safe to say, my hangover from the night before was in full swing.
After the seminar, I went into town and bought myself some new earphones and glasses, because I love to treat myself. Two of my best friends rang me to say they wanted to meet in the new Gin Palace to discuss a business idea, so instead of going home or to the gym as I had intended, I found myself knee deep in a gin menu discussing things that I frankly have no idea about.
A couple of gins and some pesto pasta later, I ambled along to The Storey to watch the opening night of The Vagina Monolancs. I saw my friend and former freshers’ rep in the foyer, so I went in with her to watch. It was moving, funny and made me cry – pretty much all you could want from a performance!
On the way home, I phoned my best friend who lives in Sheffield to organise a weekend getaway for us: I haven’t seen her since early January so I miss her! After my long, long day I finally stumbled into bed and became unconscious very fast.
Friday, 16 February
A lie in was well needed and appreciated. I finally become vertical around 10.30am. I was feeling very 80s today, so I wore my blue mom jeans with a yellow crop top, my vintage Nike trainers and fishnet socks. Who. Is. She? My funky outfit gave me the strength for my day, and I bought some grapes from Spar because I was feeling hungry.
I did a bit of work, then went into LUSU to meet the Schools Volunteering co-ordinator to organise a placement in a primary school which I’m very excited about. I then went to my 1pm lecture on graphic novels, in which I booked train tickets and a hotel to Leeds for the weekend (oops). Graphic novels aren’t my thing, which is a shame, but it was quite interesting!
In the library, I went to a meeting about my presentation and realised that my to-do list would probably be taller than me if it was a person, which wasn’t the best feeling. I then ventured to Bowland Bar to meet the News Editors to talk about the upcoming FTO elections and our coverage, then met my friend Matt, who I went to Malaysia with over the summer, to rant about my life and business levels. It did make me feel better, but I felt bad for Matt’s ears.
I had a Peace Studies seminar at 5pm, which I honestly look forward to every week. It’s always so random and insightful and leaves me on a good note for the weekend. I got the bus into town to meet my housemates at Spoons and have a meal – a classic veggie burger – before wishing my friend Jordan farewell, as he’s going home for the weekend. We then walked back up the hill and watched the last episode of Hunted, which made us all cry!
Saturday, 17 February
I woke up early because I had a train at 10am to go to Leeds! It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago, so I was meeting my friend, who now goes to Sheffield University, to catch up. My train journey was beautiful: through the hills, via Halifax, etc.
When I got to Leeds, my friend and I shopped for a while, then we got on the bus to Tropical World as recommended by another friend. It’s like a bigger Williamson Park, and it has an indoor rainforest area which I loved.
We walked to the park and chatted for a couple of hours, then made the perilous journey to what I can only describe as our personal Bates Motel: the hotel I panic-booked the day before. I realised I had forgotten my pyjamas so sported some questionable Primark Harry Potter-themed ones, which kept me warm in the near Arctic conditions of rural Leeds. We dealt with the cold by getting very drunk. Then woke up to a noise complaint. Oh, Leeds.
Sunday, 18 February
Check out time was at 11am and we woke up at 10am, but luckily (!) the shower didn’t work so that wasn’t an issue anyway. We walked to the nearest village, Morley, and found a Wetherspoons! Hallelujah! A few coffees later I was feeling up to the day, so we went charity shopping in lovely Morley, then got the bus back into central Leeds.
Determined to find a bargain, we ventured to the Leeds version of the Northern Quarter (think Manchester, but less cool because it isn’t Manchester). We mooched around for a while, got some frozen yogurt and then made our way back to the train station.
I made a to-do list for the week ahead on the train, and realised how busy I’d be, which scared me a bit, so I just carried on looking at the scenery. By the time I got home it was 6pm, so I ate some pizza, put on some PJs, started to wind down from the busy week, and prepared to start all over again!
