I was so, so, so glad for 12:01 to arrive on Thursday afternoon. 12:01 meant sleep. 12:01 meant reading for fun. 12:01 meant watching The Great Comic Relief Bake Off. 12:01 meant that I had handed in all three of my assignments.
As you probably gathered from last week’s post, essay writing is not easy! When I put it into perspective, cranking out 4000 words really isn’t too horrendous once you get down to it – especially because it wasn’t even 4000 words straight. However, the daunting feeling of having deadlines, and three at that, just made my tummy flip. Handing essays in is weirdly nerve-wracking – I don’t know what it is about it; all it is is dropping sheets of paper into a slot and clicking a button that says submit on the computer screen. I still can’t get into my head why it’s so difficult. But! Clicking that button means that I have submitted my third essay for uni! It doesn’t seem so long ago that I was handing my first one in!
So this week, up until Thursday, was really quite stressful. I have really appreciated sleeping this weekend, but the feeling of satisfaction after I’ve finished an essay, looking at the word count and saving it as a PDF is surreal; it means I’ve done it! My essays were on a really broad range of topics this time round and they really challenged me, which I guess is a good thing. It would be rare to see the A-level or GCSE syllabus covering the Haussmannisation of Paris or discussing why truth is important and they are both subject areas that I have really enjoyed. They are so relevant to today, even though we may not think about them directly. I think it’s really important for my subjects to be relevant, not only in the content but in the skills they provide and the perspective they give us on society.
That’s enough about work for this blog! I have had the best weekend ever this weekend! I’ve seen my mum, dad, my best friend from home and her mum! My parents had arranged to come up this weekend a couple of months ago and it really could not have come at a better time. I just needed a cuddle so badly. They always know how to calm me down, which is always so much better in person than a phone call, even though chatting on the phone is always great! We went to Blackpool on Saturday and it was beautiful. The tide was all the way in and was splashing right over the wall as we walked along the promenade towards the tower. I have posted some pictures for you to have a look at (You’ll see in one of them there’s just a man walking towards a massive wave…I don’t know why either…) so you can see what it was like! We went all the way to the Tower and to the Blackpool Winter Gardens, which brings back some fond memories, as I used to compete in the dance championships there when I was younger! Then we headed back along the prom and went to one of the arcades and it was brilliant – I adore things like that! It’s just the nostalgia, I think! My mum, dad and I all played a couple of rounds of bingo in one of the arcades and it was just the best! My mum has a lucky streak and won a few games, so we are now the proud owners of 5 sticks of Blackpool rock and a teddy bear with an ‘I love Blackpool’ hoodie on and he is adorable! We’ve decided to name him Bingo!
When we’d finished in the arcades we thought we’d have a quick nose around the Pleasure Beach! I didn’t realise it was so huge! My mum was telling me about how she used to come to the theme park when she was younger with her family – it sounded like so much fun and it really made me think that the park must have a lot of history. But in its modern state it’s pretty fab, as you’ll be able to see (hopefully) from the pictures. We rode on a little train around the park, so we could try and see it all in quite a short space of time, and I can’t believe how big it is, still! I had such a lovely time, it was great to hear the seagulls screeching and the sea washing up on the rocks and to smell the sea air and the waft of fish and chips. Speaking of which, we went to an amazing fish and chip shop, Pablo’s, for a bag of chips between us. I don’t know whether it’s because we were at the seaside, or whether it was because I just needed something warm and gorgeous, but they tasted amazing, especially covered with loads of vinegar. Afterwards we headed back to where my mum and dad were staying, all had a cup of tea and then crashed out! It was the best day!
My best friend from home and her mum travelled up on Friday to see me and it was just the best thing! They came to see me for a chat in between lectures and when my mum and dad arrived we all went for a Chinese in ‘Dip, Dip’, the restaurant I go to with my flatmates! I haven’t laughed so much in a long, long time – my friend and her mum are such a pair and I love them to pieces! We had beautiful food (waaaay to much beautiful food) and they were beautiful company! Everyone in my flat is lovely, but sometimes you just need a cuddle from your bestie, especially after a long week and such a long time of not seeing her. It was so, so lovely to hear all about how she is getting on at college (she’s take a year out to get a little more hands on experience in the animal world, because she wants to do marine biology) and to hear about all her new friends and what she’s been up to! I really miss our little in jokes and little quirky weird-isms – they are wonderful! I was so sad to see her and her mum leave, but we’ve already arranged to meet up when I’m home – it’s going to be fab!
So, I guess this was really more a post about my weekend, but when you have a weekend as great as that it would be a shame not to share all the memories with you guys! We’ll see what next week brings – we’ve started to look at some new material in my lectures now, so I’m looking forward to that! I am also considering joining up for SCAN, our student newspaper – so watch this space! I’ll let you know how I get on in the next few posts!
I hope you’ve had a lovely week! Thank you for reading!
History Hugs,
Eleanor :0)