Settling Down...
Where the first couple of weeks here at Uni (College actually refers to some other, earlier form of schooling here) were mostly filled with fun, bonding, parties and social activities, it's pretty clear to see that everyone's calming down as work builds up. Not to mention the monetary aspects to heading out to the pub/club more than once a week can get quite expensive, especially when combined with transportation costs, club cover charges and the inevitable late night snack purchases.
Uni is more oriented towards individual study rather than excessive lectures multiple times a week and rely heavily on essays/big tests rather than smaller assignments to make up your final grade. Though I do enjoy the "free time" this provides us with here, it also means a ridiculous amount of emphasis is placed on only a few big pieces of work and increases stress quite a bit. In any case, I used some of my free time to make sure and get a couple of early essays out of the way as well as delve into some "Additional Screenings" for a film class that painted such screenings as optional when they in fact... were not...
Gutter Trash on Ice...
After realizing that American Football's intense commitment and pace weren't for me, and having not been good enough to play on the equally serious UEA basketball society's team, it was all down to Ice Hockey as the final sports club I'd check out. Luckily, it's proved to be one of the most enjoyable aspects of my time here at Uni so far. The group of people involved (Captain, Vice Captains, team members etc) are all really great people and provide quite the atmosphere for learning and developing skating. I, accompanied by 1 or 2 flatmates and sometimes the majority of my floor, have been to the rink outside of scheduled practices in order to continue building on the preliminary skills taught to us. Both necessary and enjoyable, these trips help me cover areas where I need more work and let me focus entirely on the task at hand.
The Norsemen are the rec hockey team for the city on which a lot of the UEA club leaders play.
Not only is this good exercise (when I push myself, which I mostly do) but it also kind of clears my mind. When I'm out there practicing, a similar experience to doing some cardio or lifting weights, my mind rests on the task at hand and kind of assuages both the stresses of school and pangs of homesickness I experience every so often (more often some days, especially when I have more free time). It'll be a great day when we finally get scrimmaging and I can apply any development in my skating ability (which is just above dismal) to the game of hockey. Yeh!
Amsterdam bound...
The international student club here at Uni has a pretty great Amsterdam trip planned out for the 10th, including 2 nights in a hostel, travel to and from the country and some promo for nightclubs there. The entire cost is equivalent to 1 roundtrip ticket through KLM, so it was a no brainer to go with the club's travel package rather than shell out more dough for essentially the same thing. Sure, we'll be doing bus and ferry rather than flying, but I guess I can just get more reading done (probably not).
Now that there are a few of us going on the trip, it's time to start researching and getting excited for my first big excursion of the trip. Hell, I've spent a month lying around Norwich which has been nice and overall pretty fun, but there's only so much this city has to offer. It will surely be fun to get out and explore, perhaps inspiring me to get the travel bug and spend less on food/drink in order to travel more. Scotland's not far, for instance. I've never been to Ireland. In any case, I'm sure to snap quite a few photos on the trip since I don't have much for you this time. My camera died right as I was about to take some photos of the latest flat trip out to the ice rink and so you'll just have to sit tight for more soon. Sorry!
Writing...
The city of Norwich and the UEA aren't exactly adjacent in the way that it's roughly a 45 minute walk from the center of campus to the center of town. Though I've never done this walk, I've bused it quite a bit. Venturing into the center provides a much-needed break from the aesthetics and distractions of campus life. Not to say that my flatmates are merely distraction, just that I find I'm more creatively productive when I remove myself from the typical and everyday routine-based environments here on the UEA campus.
I've spent my fair share of walking around the city and seeing all the different little nooks and crannies of the center, trying to get a lay of the land and discover anything tucked away without just googling "best kept secrets" or something. I've discovered the Mm..Food vinyl in a record shop, for instance, and had to purchase it. Getting it home might be tough but whatever, it was a direct result of one of these walkabouts and I'm really glad I took the time to do it.
With these walks has come a kind of rudimentary knowledge of where things are and a sampling of the local cafes. Yes, as stereotypical as it might sound, I have spent quite a few hours writing (whether screenplay or novel) over coffee at a back table in a cafe in the center. Headphones in and instrumental music pulsing (trance, downtempo, mellow hip hop = best for me) let most of the outside world be blocked out and focus turns instead to the creative task at hand. On top of this, my new favorite cafe located in the same building as the library has some kind of wireless network that doesn't gel with my laptop's Airport and so I don't have the added distraction of the net which is one of the most seductive and time consuming things ever. EVER. Plus, I can pop over to the library and have a browse once I'm feeling brain-drained. We'll see if this results in good work or not, but for my sake, let's all just cross our fingers that it's some nice fiction.
The Forum building, home to the library and cafe.
Until next time, my friends, I'll try and do loads of exciting stuff to make sure every post is a better read. Always improving (except when I'm feeling lazy, like most days)!
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