I've really got to get into the habit of updating this more quickly after events, as time steals away my recollections more and more, and so I end up with an all too brief summary, which isn't good!
So, I did indeed visit Lizie in Aberystwyth at the tail end of May, stepping onto the train mere hours after my final exam. The journey was smoother this time, the route only needing a single change, and flew by thanks to Mr. Kerouac's company. What followed was a splendid few days much in the vein of last time, featuring fantastic fish and chips, several wonderfully cheese-filled nights out, some excellent chats with Lizie, and a great deal of Scrubs. Alas we didn't make it to the beach, but I still had a lot of fun and I think Lizie did too, even if I did steal her floor.
After that things began to quiet down somewhat, the last real burst of activity being the Graduate/Summer Ball on the 2nd of June. Antony, Ian, Mike, Ryan and I all went, dressed in our suave suits and ties (Ryan even wore a cummerbund!). We took a bus from the Parkinson steps to the place where the ball was, although ball was something of a misnomer. It was essentially several large tents for dancing in, with tables and chairs and bars, a mini fun fair and various bands playing throughout the night, such as Rachel Stevens, Pendulum, and Forward Russia. The night was a good opportunity to have one last hurrah, and catch up with Viv, Georgie, Kat, Laura, and even Emily! The great drawback of the night was the excessive prices at the bar, something like 3 per vodka shot, so we switched to bottles of wine at 10 a go. We danced a bit, wandered a bit, Mike broke a chair. It was enjoyable, and despite the expense I'm glad I at least went to one ball in my time as a student.
Around the same time I also saw X-Men 3 at the cinema. My first impressions were that it wasn't bad, although you could tell that the director had changed, and not for the better. While flashy and a generally satisfying action flick, in retrospect the director really did a hack job with the characters. Magneto just abandoning his long-time ally Mystique; Xavier turning into a dodgy, sneaky bugger; everyone getting pissed at him for, y'know, trying to reign in a girl whose power could obliterate the world; the rather random, seemingly inconsequential death of Cyclops... it all adds up, and makes me look forward to what Bryan Singer chose to do instead, in the form of Superman Returns.
Mum took my things home a few days before I was due to actually leave Leeds, so I eked out my last days in a sleeping bag, with the bare minimum of stuff. As my housemates had trickled away for the most part by this point, I spent a lot of time playing Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and lazing about, occassionally seeing Ryan and Ian and the odd other person. Then, at last, was the final event of my Leeds life, seeing Camera Obscura with Hannah. I've related enough the way we spend out evenings, and tonight followed the same pattern, although it was my treat as it would be the last time I'd see Hannah before her birthday came along. Camera Obscura are from Scotland and play wonderful indie pop that proved a wonderful way to spend an evening, and they were ably supported by the oddly-monikered Monkey Swallows the Universe.
And so I returned home the following day. It sill hasn't sunk in that I no longer live in Leeds, that in a few weeks I won't be back there and able to pop down to the Cockpit, Nu, the Faversham, Fab Cafe, Clock, or any of the other wonderful places I spent my time in the company of good friends. It's been a long 3 years. When I first arrived, wide-eyed and still hurting from my time with Becky, I met Ryan in my block and so started the longest of my Uni friendships. There were nasty, dark little nights that year, ones that saw me cease to bother smoking of any sort and turn instead to more legal pursuits. Nights naming trees with drugged up curiosos, trying to adapt to a whole new environment. God knows what I'd have done if I'd never gone to LVS and experienced living away from home.
The nightmare of my second year housing was a rough time, but I met good people like Debs, and started to get to know Ian and Mike more, which helped lay the way for my third year. I studied some philosophy, got away from Social Policy, and generally had a wonderful time.
I'm not going to details those three years much, but safe to say it was, overall, a fantastic time. I hope I get the chance to return to leeds often to visit friends over the next year, and that I'll have the fortitude to keep in touch with the people I met. There are a few lingering regrets, the feeling that perhaps I could have done more, seen more, made more of the opportunities that were there. I feel a little that I never got settled truly, the return home in the holidays making term-time seem inconstant and transient. But what's done is done, and it has made me a stronger, more rounded individual.
I'll pause here for now, in mid-June, and catch up further soon enough.
For now, adieu.
So, I did indeed visit Lizie in Aberystwyth at the tail end of May, stepping onto the train mere hours after my final exam. The journey was smoother this time, the route only needing a single change, and flew by thanks to Mr. Kerouac's company. What followed was a splendid few days much in the vein of last time, featuring fantastic fish and chips, several wonderfully cheese-filled nights out, some excellent chats with Lizie, and a great deal of Scrubs. Alas we didn't make it to the beach, but I still had a lot of fun and I think Lizie did too, even if I did steal her floor.
After that things began to quiet down somewhat, the last real burst of activity being the Graduate/Summer Ball on the 2nd of June. Antony, Ian, Mike, Ryan and I all went, dressed in our suave suits and ties (Ryan even wore a cummerbund!). We took a bus from the Parkinson steps to the place where the ball was, although ball was something of a misnomer. It was essentially several large tents for dancing in, with tables and chairs and bars, a mini fun fair and various bands playing throughout the night, such as Rachel Stevens, Pendulum, and Forward Russia. The night was a good opportunity to have one last hurrah, and catch up with Viv, Georgie, Kat, Laura, and even Emily! The great drawback of the night was the excessive prices at the bar, something like 3 per vodka shot, so we switched to bottles of wine at 10 a go. We danced a bit, wandered a bit, Mike broke a chair. It was enjoyable, and despite the expense I'm glad I at least went to one ball in my time as a student.
Around the same time I also saw X-Men 3 at the cinema. My first impressions were that it wasn't bad, although you could tell that the director had changed, and not for the better. While flashy and a generally satisfying action flick, in retrospect the director really did a hack job with the characters. Magneto just abandoning his long-time ally Mystique; Xavier turning into a dodgy, sneaky bugger; everyone getting pissed at him for, y'know, trying to reign in a girl whose power could obliterate the world; the rather random, seemingly inconsequential death of Cyclops... it all adds up, and makes me look forward to what Bryan Singer chose to do instead, in the form of Superman Returns.
Mum took my things home a few days before I was due to actually leave Leeds, so I eked out my last days in a sleeping bag, with the bare minimum of stuff. As my housemates had trickled away for the most part by this point, I spent a lot of time playing Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and lazing about, occassionally seeing Ryan and Ian and the odd other person. Then, at last, was the final event of my Leeds life, seeing Camera Obscura with Hannah. I've related enough the way we spend out evenings, and tonight followed the same pattern, although it was my treat as it would be the last time I'd see Hannah before her birthday came along. Camera Obscura are from Scotland and play wonderful indie pop that proved a wonderful way to spend an evening, and they were ably supported by the oddly-monikered Monkey Swallows the Universe.
And so I returned home the following day. It sill hasn't sunk in that I no longer live in Leeds, that in a few weeks I won't be back there and able to pop down to the Cockpit, Nu, the Faversham, Fab Cafe, Clock, or any of the other wonderful places I spent my time in the company of good friends. It's been a long 3 years. When I first arrived, wide-eyed and still hurting from my time with Becky, I met Ryan in my block and so started the longest of my Uni friendships. There were nasty, dark little nights that year, ones that saw me cease to bother smoking of any sort and turn instead to more legal pursuits. Nights naming trees with drugged up curiosos, trying to adapt to a whole new environment. God knows what I'd have done if I'd never gone to LVS and experienced living away from home.
The nightmare of my second year housing was a rough time, but I met good people like Debs, and started to get to know Ian and Mike more, which helped lay the way for my third year. I studied some philosophy, got away from Social Policy, and generally had a wonderful time.
I'm not going to details those three years much, but safe to say it was, overall, a fantastic time. I hope I get the chance to return to leeds often to visit friends over the next year, and that I'll have the fortitude to keep in touch with the people I met. There are a few lingering regrets, the feeling that perhaps I could have done more, seen more, made more of the opportunities that were there. I feel a little that I never got settled truly, the return home in the holidays making term-time seem inconstant and transient. But what's done is done, and it has made me a stronger, more rounded individual.
I'll pause here for now, in mid-June, and catch up further soon enough.
For now, adieu.