{"id":869,"date":"2018-12-02T21:19:07","date_gmt":"2018-12-02T21:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/fass\/?p=869"},"modified":"2018-12-03T09:19:28","modified_gmt":"2018-12-03T09:19:28","slug":"its-beginning-to-look-a-lot-like-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/fass\/uncategorized\/869","title":{"rendered":"It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi everyone, I hope you’re all doing well.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re just at the start of week 9 here at Lancaster Uni, the penultimate week before Christmas break. Many people have deadlines in week 10 before leaving for Christmas, so many are running around like headless chickens; but this year (the first in all three so far) I am not one of those people. Since two of my modules are specialist subjects (5,000 words each), and my third requires 4,000 words, it\u2019s safe to say that I am stressed, for sure, but overjoyed to have the Christmas break to complete these essays (particularly as most of my attention so far has been directed at my dissertation).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tomorrow, 4th December, is my 22nd<\/sup> birthday: I have two-two hour specialist seminars back to back: just my luck! Never-mind… because after that, I’m going to Kaspa’s<\/a> deserts with my flatmate to claim my free birthday shake!<\/p>\n

This weekend was written off for me to celebrate, since my good friend Alice came up to visit me from the Friday to the Sunday. Alice and I became friends in first year when we were put together in Aldingham (one of the Furness blocks), and we (plus four others from first year accommodation) moved in together for second year. Although we kept the house on for third year, Alice moved to Milton Keynes to pursue a year in industry, where she gained a position with Audi doing business analysis, reporting on market performance (within the supply and planning sector.) Pretty outstanding, right? There are wonderful opportunities to explore with regards to sandwich degrees and placements<\/a>, and if that’s not for you, there are also plenty study abroad opportunities which I would definitely suggest considering. If I could change anything about my uni experience, it definitely would\u2019ve been having the courage to go abroad in my second year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway – back to me! It\u2019s my birthday!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alice arrived on Friday afternoon, so we treated ourselves to a haircut, (although Prestige is quite good, they were fully booked. Because of that, we discovered Tao<\/em> hairdressers, where we managed to get our cuts done at the same time. I would definitely recommend checking this out, I’ve definitely found my new favourite hairdresser).\u00a0Later that evening we all went as a flat for a couple of casual drinks (I\u2019m pretty much over the Sugarhouse\/going out scene – but trust me, all of this is very much to look forward to if you are becoming a fresher!) Then, Saturday evening we went for a meal at Pizza Margherita<\/a>, an Italian restaurant in town, which was followed by a bottle of wine and many more drinks… although I say I am done with the going out scene, we ended up in Generation and Hustle… Crafty Scholar… Mint… Cornerstone (formerly Sphere) is another, which I would definitely recommend on any night out if you’re looking for a more sophisticated vibe.\u00a0Sunday we took a trip to the Manchester Christmas markets for a cheeky bit of shopping.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Manchester Christmas Markets<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Later today I have to trek to Preston to apply for a National Insurance Number: Being from Jersey I was never given one on turning 16, but require one since I am now employed here in Lancaster. So, lots of travelling, but it\u2019s refreshing to see some different scenery now and then.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For my final birthday treat I am having a hot towel massage on Wednesday post-lecture. One group who make use of Lancaster University\u2019s Chaplaincy Centre are the trained therapists who make up the Natural Healthcare<\/a> group. I discovered Chryssie, who offers a fabulous range of massages in exam time last year. Chryssie is particularly great for anyone in need of a little help to destress during busy periods such as exam season. I think it\u2019s fantastic that we have such services on our doorstep, and it\u2019s important to make the most of them.<\/p>\n

Forgive me that this blog became egocentric, but I hope nonetheless that it has highlighted some of the general features of living in Lancaster, and updated you sufficiently on what I\u2019ve been up to. Next time I\u2019ll try to incorporate something more academic\/ philosophical, perhaps such as my final conquering of Sartre\u2019s \u201cLook\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Until then, take care, and go easy on the mulled beverages.<\/p>\n

Ellie\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi everyone, I hope you’re all doing well. We\u2019re just at the start of week 9 here at Lancaster Uni, the penultimate week before Christmas break. Many people have deadlines in week 10 before leaving for Christmas, so many are running around like headless chickens; but this year (the first in all three so far) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5DvUs-e1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=869"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":875,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869\/revisions\/875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}