Take Two

So here we go again. I’m back in Exeter, in my new house, a week away from starting my second year at University.

Having just read James’ blog from yesterday, he’s actually said part of what I was going to say about first years on the campus, though probably in a far more interesting and gramatically clever way. Also, while he’s enjoying strutting his second year status around the silly smaller students, I’m avoiding them like the plague. I’m not really sure how, or even if, one year has really changed us from the lost and confused first years that are running around the university right now, looking for either their next class or cheapest source of alcohol. I went up there the other day to check some things online the other day (because I couldn’t live without internet for a day) and it was like a ghost town, the day before the first years arrived. But after going up there yesterday I think I’ll stay away until my classes start.

…I think maybe I’ve become more antisocial since last year then, if nothing else. I was full of an overwhelming need to fit in then, when I started university. And I guess that’s what makes me feel so far removed from those first years now. So many of them come to university trying to start a new life, pretending to be someone else. Well, I wasn’t quite like that, but for the first couple of weeks I was just trying to do stuff that wasn’t me, trying to fit in with people who I didn’t actually have anything in common with, and would realise later in the year that I didn’t particularly like.

Anyway, the point is that, antisocial or not, I just don’t care about any of that now. I’m happy with what I’ve got, I have much better friends back home than I’m going to make by going out and drinking here.  I need to actually do well at university this year, while also working 12 hours a week for this new job, doing some website stuff for James, and hopefully having some time to do what I want in there too. While the University’s suggested amount of personal study time is insane – I worked it out that they suggest you do 50 hours of personal study per week, outside of classes – I do actually need to do more than the 5 (if that) hours per week I did last year.

I’m not being entirely antisocial though. Having moved into a house with 4 other people, I can’t really shut myself in my room the whole time. It’s a bit odd actually, I lived in a flat with 2 of these people last year, and they never seemed to want to do much with me at all. Since moving in at the weekend though, they’ve been talking about all these places we could go, all the things we should do, and actually talking to me. It’s not that I ever had any disagreement or problems with them last year, but we seemed to have come to an understanding by the end of the year that they didn’t want to invite me to go anywhere with them, and I didn’t want to watch daytime TV with them. Maybe they’ve just forgotten over the course of the summer that they didn’t particularly like me, or maybe they’re just making more of an effort now that we’re stuck living together for another year. So in return, I have been trying to spend a bit more time out of my room with them. Saying that, I did sleep til 2pm today and I haven’t left the room much since other than to grab a drink. I guess I should do that soon.

We even played pictionary last night. It’s amazing the things you find to entertain yourselves when there’s no TV in the living room. So after a 2 hour long game of me drawing dogs that looked like cats, and parrots that looked like dragons, apparently me and one of the other guys now owe the 2 girls a meal or something. Apparently we’re going to play for double or nothing on wednesday, this might be a bad idea.

There is in fact a reason why I’m being particularly antisocial today though. Steph, one of the girls in the house who I’d not met for more than 5 minutes before this week, is trying to get the entire house to go to dance classes. Since she’s on some dance commitee, Emma also likes dancing, and can also get Tom to do anything she says, this makes it difficult for me to disagree. Since I seem incapable of saying that no, I really don’t want to learn to dance, I’ve been struggling to find excuses. It’s difficult to flat out say no when I am trying to be sociable with them, and it’s not like I do much else. But I really…don’t…want…to dance. Fortunately I think after this week it falls on the same evenings that I work, but I’m having trouble getting out of it today.

I’m getting hungry now though, so I don’t think I can stay in my room all day.

Jobs for Joes

So I guess I left the last blog on a cliffhanger. Not entirely intentional, mostly just because I’d already gone through the better part of 1000 words, forgot about it for a while, came back later, and just hit submit.

But yes, I’d been looking for part time jobs for when I go back to university. I was starting to lose hope after looking around Exeter, and I had come somewhat unprepared. Half of the places asked for CVs (which I hadn’t thought to print off), some wanted me to go apply online (I had no internet there), one wanted me to go online, download an application form, print it off, and bring it in the next day. Couldn’t they just GIVE me one? Oh, and then some were in fast food places. No, just no. GAME were looking for someone, but it was only 4 hours a week and chances are they’d have filled it by the time I got a chance to bring a CV down. Some bookshop wanted someone but stated that you’d have to be around in the holidays, and I’m not willing to spend all of my holidays in Exeter in an empty house.

It wasn’t looking too good really. But I did have one other possibility. I’d seen one job advertised on the university website, so I gave them a call when I was down in Exeter. I was in luck, they were doing interviews at 11am the next day! Well, not that much luck actually, since my train was booked for 12pm the next day, and there was no chance of me making that in time. Still, no problem, I could just buy another ticket.

Of course, then another problem came to mind. All I had with me to wear was a pair of jeans and a couple of t-shirts. I couldn’t really go to a job interview like that. Usually I’d have given up at this point, but after seeing what else there was available (pretty much nothing) I didn’t want to mess up this one chance. The pay was pretty good too, and it looked pretty flexible for students. It does involve phoning people up, which I’m not a big fan of.. but I’d rather that than work in a supermarket (which I’ve done before, and never want to do again). I could bear it if I meant I could actually afford to spend money on nicer things than budget food.

So I went back into town again and bought myself a cheap shirt, pair of smart trousers, and tie. Then I realised that wearing trainers wouldn’t be the best idea either, so I picked up some cheap smart looking shoes too. I needed some more since I ruined my previous ones at Reading Festival anyway. Then for good measure, I decided to book myself in for a haircut the next morning. Overkill? Well, I’d find out the next day, I guess.

That night I realised that sleeping in an entirely empty house is kinda creepy, but I was so tired from the previous night anyway that it didn’t matter, and I slept through from around 9pm to 9am.

The next day answered my previous question – Yes, it was overkill. While I still wouldn’t have felt right going to an interview in jeans, t shirt, and trainers, the tie was definitely overkill. Half the people there weren’t very smart at all, and I felt a bit out of place. And it didn’t seem so much an interview as a formality, as they had me filling in Tax forms and asking when I could start within minutes. But, in the end, it doesn’t really matter much. It wasn’t worth the risk not getting it, and the extra £50 spent on clothes and an extra train ticket will be quickly made back.

Hurray, I can stop complaining about money now.

Summery Summary

So it’s been a while since I updated. Even longer than James! I have to do something about this…

I could blame my lack of updates on the fact that I was away for part of the summer. But really a) I’ve been back 2 weeks, b) I had plenty of time before that when I didn’t update, and c) I borrowed Greg’s computer enough times in the time that I was away. So I really, I have no excuse other than the fact that I’m lazy.

So let’s see, what did I do this summer?

After a short period of relaxation/boredom at my Mum’s house in Cornwall, I moved into a room in the Southampton Solent halls for 6 weeks. This was not a particularly nice place, but it was a bed, cooking/cleaning facilities, and (most importantly?) free internet. While it wasn’t particularly close to my friends, it was at least in the same area code, and I was able to get a bus or train to see them easily enough.

Unfortunately having a social life, but being a short distance from it meant that my bank balance went down rather rapidly, until it hit 0. Then it kept going down. I’ve done pretty well up to this point in managing my money. While my parents are quite generous and relatively well off, what they give me combined with my student loan does not fund any more than my rent and food. Socialising is just not covered by my budget. Fortunately, while at University, I don’t -have- much of a social life, so this isn’t a major issue, and I can always forego a meal every now and then if I have some night out planned.

So when you’re seeing a movie, going to the pub, and eating some sort of fast fast food at least once a week, as well as spending £3-5 on transport every other day, it’s a bit of a shock for my poor bank account. Of course it seems to be the theme of my blog that I talk about the bad points of a situation (happy things just don’t make good blogs I guess) I think it was money well spent. While not as eventful as my previous summer in America, I had some fun times, and it was nice to spend some time with my friends.

The big spending point of the summer was Reading Festival. Fortunately I had already paid for the £160 ticket earlier in the year, which I had funded with some short term work. For those that are either stupid or American (no, I’m not saying the 2 are the same, but most Americans I’ve spoken to think Reading Festival is something to do with books) is a 3 day music festival where you can see various popular rock bands. I could go into a whole 1000 word blog post about just this, and I intended to. However it’s a bit late for that now, as this passed over 2 weeks ago, and it’s just not cool to blog about something that long ago in the blogosphere. That, and I don’t remember half the things I wanted to say. The highlights of the weekend (for various reasons) for me would be Biffy Clyro, The Subways, The Killers, The Raconteurs, Rage against the Machine, Bloc Party, Tenacious D and Last Shadow Puppets.

Unfortunately the cost of the weekend didn’t stop at the tickets, with food and drink being about twice what you’d usually pay for it (£2 for a Coke, £3 for chips, £5 for a burger, £4 for a pint of beer/cider.. you get the picture) and I racked up about £50 on the rest of the weekend. But, considering that you’d pay £20-£50 to see any of the bands I named above individually, it’s still a bargain. I needed my fix of live music, one thing I can’t afford much these days.

So after that I spent a couple of weeks staying with various friends, which culminated in going out with a group of people for Greg’s birthday. Twice. (that reminds me, James, you owe me some amount of money still!)

When I was done there, I came back to my Mum’s house in the middle of nowhere, where I’ve been relaxing up until yesterday. As I’ve said before, it’s nice here for a short time, and the free good food is nice, but it quickly becomes boring. I’m looking forward to going back to University now actually, and perhaps another quick trip back to Southampton before then.

I did have something to do for the past 2 days at least, when I decided that it’d be a good idea to make a trip to Exeter to look around for jobs. As is easy to tell from most of my blogs, my money situation while in University has not been good. Jobs that suit students (or that are even willing to give students a chance) are rare, and at this point I’ve been pretty much willing to take anything if it means I can afford to buy anything more than cheap food. I need a laptop, I want to travel some more next year, and I’d like to be able to buy a 360 at some point, and some games for it would be good too. There’s only so much of this that I can afford through my parents savings and christmas/birthday money, so I needed a job if I wanted to be able to afford anything.

Fortunately, I found something.