Distractions

Posted by Alex | | Posted On Thursday 1 July 2010 at 14:45

Time for another update. I am officially no longer a student of Cardiff University. Well, at least for another year. I passed Second Year, and with an average quite higher than I was generally expecting. Based off last years "general scraping in" I was going to be happy with a 55 for everything - in fact, I'd have been ecstatic with a 55 average, considering languages mark out of 80. Instead, I was granted the pleasure of a 65 average, boosted up by my spectacular 70s in Catalan and Italian Culture, and only lowered by my average performance in Spanish.

So, boosted by that high, I can genuinely say "I cannot wait to move out again!" - in fact, I've only been officially home-for-good since Monday morning, having spent my last night in the Cardiff House on Sunday. It was nice to sleep there one last time, but kind of disconcerting to see all the items of the new housemate sitting, accumulating dust, while I selfishly kept the room as-near-as-dammit to the end of the tenancy. Yet, since being home, I've been bored out of my skull.

The thing is, when you're going to go to a foreign country to live two things are of vital importance:

1. You're going somewhere new. You're either going to be scared, or you're going to love it. Personally, I am loving the thought of getting the hell out of this country for a year.

2. You have a shorter summer than everyone else, and you're not here after it, so nobody wants to employ you. "Oh hai, I'd like a job...for six weeks." doesn't really cut it in the World Of Work. It's the one downside to all this - since it means I have money for fleeting instances, while bills are still floating in from the house that I am obliged to pay. Joy!

In light of all of this, I've come up with the ingenious plan to visit my local tax office and finally get around to reclaiming back all my erroneous tax from the last 10 months. That'll be a nice £55 which should save my pockets when the dreaded Water Bill arrives in Cardiff. Then, it'll be off to Natwest to beg them every so politely, with maraschino cherries on top, to let me at my Third Year overdraft limit that little bit earlier. Yes - I'm that type of student. Sorry, and all that, Mister Tax Payer.

Anyhow, I'm just blogging to pass the time now. It seems one can only sit in the garden/sit in the lounge/sit on the laptop and read Iain M. Banks/listen to steampunk-esque music/play Assassins' Creed 2  so many times before the cabin fever sets in, and one finds the need to either break one's skull against a wall, or spork one's eyes out, just to add some spark to the day. Sure, I've been for walks. I've found diversions. It's just not enough when you're 'below the poverty line' in terms of your finances, and there is nothing to do for free in this heckhole except walk from A to B or look at things.

As such, I now have a "website of interest" for today and yesterday: Sleepycity.net where Urbexers (Urban Explorers) go scuttling through the metro systems of Paris, through the sewers of London, and over the rooftops of Manchester. In short: if you like architecture, or things that you don't normally see in your humdrum lives, check it out.  Which is exactly what I am going to do now!

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