This is my blame

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Yes,

I am on twitter

as a lazy, poor-man of the blogging world.


Sorry all, follow me there, but please stick around here for more insightful, complex and interesting blogs; rather than my day-to-day silly stuff.


Thanks!

Hello,

I did not intend for a month-long hiatus but that's the nature of blogging really. This does remind me that real blogging is far superior to micro-blogging; Twitter really is a poor man's version of this!

I am still in Leicester, still living in Clarendon Park (the best suburb of Leicester, and will be next year too, and still looking forward to the times ahead...for things can only get better!

Second year, second thoughts and the second round

Hello, well, blogging has just become a whole lot easier! All I have to do now is log in on my new iPhone application and voila, the first blog in months! It has been too long since my last one, and since I had planned to keep a regular load penned from Germany, on my summer job for Eurocamp, this is well overdue. The time out there (late July until mid September) was defiantely well spent. Travelling by coach, train and car to Herbolzheim, in the state of Baden-Wuttemburg was great fun, and when there I had an easy job cleaning mobile homes, manning reception when guests would arrive and other easy, enjoyable tasks. It was more like a holiday than a job as I could go swimming and diving, to the gym, cycling around the local area and the Black Forest, or catch the train to Freiburg for a taste of the big city. In my last week, Sarah came out, we hired a car and went camping at a beautiful big lake and then venturing the short distance over the border to enjoy Strasbourg, in France. Such great times. I then flew back with eastjet with Sarah, Eurocamp payed for my flight which was well safe of them!!

Anyway, more recently I've almost finished my second week of this first semester in my second year...time is flying yet again it seems. To be honest, moving into my new rented house with Jon and Natalie, running the fresher's fair stall for band, going to the Heineken Cup 1st round match between Leicester Tigers and Ospreys and other various times eating and socialising out and about have made for a busy but great time. Most evenings, I've been spending the time round at Sarah's place - it's great to still be together now and we really really do know each so well, I know myself inside out and know Sarah just as well.

Also, I have a new part-time job. I am working for the Audio Visual Services at my Uni, involving preparing lecture theatres and some reading rooms each morning. The only things to check are OHPs, lights, the occasional screen, microphone volume and turning on the PC and monitor and takes me about 45mins to 1 hour to complete...only catch is that I have to do the work between 7:45am - 8:45am, Monday to Friday! I must be mad. The money is good at £7.35 for the morning's work so I'm not complaining!

Adios from Leicester, get ready for more blogs, coming soon!

I'm a nomad, a wanderer and a seasonal migrant worker!

Hello, there's been lots going on since the last post. I've got a confirmed date for my Eurocamp/Keycamp job in France: Sunday 26th July until Tuesday 15th September! Yes, I'll be in France for quite a while, 7 weeks to be more accurate. I'll hopefully get to blog and post photos in between the work. It's all exciting and I've already spoken to one other student meeting at the same train station as myself, through Facebook.

Otherwise, I'm enjoying my iPhone 3G and its varity of applications on offer. My favourite one is called RunKeeper and I use it when out cycling. It tracks your cycling, walking or running route by 3G, pinpoints you on a map and gathers other statistics which can be then uploaded to its website. The other day I ventured on a large road cycle which was just over 14 miles (probably around 20km). I uploaded it to here!

Also, I've realised that Sarah's hometown of Cheltenham really is a proper Regency town with great surrounding countryside. Her friends and old teachers were very kind and friendly when I was down there only two weeks ago. I'll definitely return before the end of the year.

Recently, I've realised how often and how frequently people are always on the move. It's a constantly changing lifestyle: relationships and experiences in motion, an exhibition in 360 degrees taking place over vast geography. The people that really struck me was a friend-of-a-friend at University, Mimi (Michella Irawen) had grown up on Pulau Sulawesi (an Indonesian island), lived and gotten her school education in Singapore, university at Leicester University and frequent holidays to see friends in London. Recently, she managed to visit New York and Paris too before flying back to Singapore and Indonesia before graduation. Amazing...what with studying alongside Italians, Americans and performing with French students at university, migration staggers me.Also, with my sister and mum in Egypt -- this being my sister's second visit to northern Africa, I feel amazed how accessible places are to us all.

This weekend, I'll be seeing a friend from my backpacking trip from Thailand to Singapore last year, Hamish Shah. The name alone states how multicultural the world really can appear sometimes. Maybe that's all it is: an appearance.
Ciao for now.

Belated Father's day Blog

For Dad!!

(This was taken at Lyme Hall, Cheshire a few years ago...Dad by the lake, in front of Lyme Hall)

The Summer Ball and the summer.

[Sarah and I, University Summer ball, Saturday 20th June 2009]

Here's a song, 'Sarah' by Bat for Lashes...random!
Sarah!


Good times! Truely excellent :-D


The ball was manic fun. We arrived at around 9.15pm, saw the first band (The Pidgeon Detectives) at 10pm - they were a pretty good opener. I had heard of a few of their songs and were fairly good at what they did.

In between, we socialised, drank and enjoyed the other DJs in the two other rooms. There was also the Redfearn bar which had been converted into a casino for the night, but I ran out of time to visit here before its closing time later on...

So, it came to midnight and all was going well. Then, The Bootleg Beatles arrived on the main stage - to possibly the biggest and hottest crowd ever at the Student Union. With everyone in suits or dresses it was a crazy time: singing, dancing and applauding in generous amounts to this superb tribute band!

From then on, it was all about the DJs -- my favourite had to be the Ministry of Sound event in the Lounge. It was small but uber-cool. Brilliant mixes and mashups in a cool atmosphere that actually did remind me of the Ministry of Sound nightclub in Singapore.

Then, it came to 6am and it all ended. Amazing night, all encapsulated by this photograph of the SURVIVORS!:

Post-exam times

So, that's it. First year of university: completed.

I could spiel in such convoluted, complicated and crazy as the times I've had....such as those unintended nights out which are just fantastic, or trying out what a new church is like (and returning to find your bicycle stolen when locked to a lamp-post :s ), or bad news from home, or the pomp and circumstance of the Queen opening our brilliant new library, or the large amount of money management I never though I'd have to relearn after my gap year travels...

...but most of all, it's the fun in the sun at the end, when you can really reflect upon the months since you first arrived. Only clicking through photos on facebook reminds me that it's surpassed all my expectations and confirms that it was the best choice I made; [that is completely clichéd but completely true].

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Otherwise, I bought the Times today, mainly for the Good University Guide 2010. My course is rated as joint 12th best in the UK with Southampton and my Uni is rated as joint 15th best overall, with Southampton again!