February 10th - 15th
On Sunday my feet were aching from Durham so I decided not to go to the Chinese New Year celebrations. Maybe it was a good thing as I probably would have spent a lot of money on food had I gone. Also, it was very crowded and my friends had difficulties getting around, so it would have been quite frustrating.
I had no classes on Monday, so I spent the day lazing around. This was the first day I started to feel a bit under-the-weather. I was up to my second last pair of clean underwear and needed to do the laundry, but I just couldn't do it. I did muster some energy to get up and go to the Tesco express to get some dinner as I'd run out of bread and bananas, and had eaten my last apple.
Tuesday morning was a nightmare. I woke up to go to class, even nearly got myself dressed, but I was so exhausted and my throat was killing me, so I stayed in. I did get the courage to do my laundry. I messaged one of my flatmates to make sure I headed in the right direction, and it was a good thing as she told me there was actually a map that pointed where the room was (it was not where I thought it'd be).
I spent of bit of time with my laundry waiting in the washer as I worked out setting up the app that we use to pay for the machines. It was really expensive to do one load (3.50 pounds!). They didn't have a separate tray for my detergent so I had to just spray it on my clothes.
The cool thing about the app is that it shows you exactly how much time you have left on your load and it tells you when it's done, so I was able to go back to my room. I also was relieved to see there was a dryer as well. I hadn't seen any dryer sheets at the stores so I had been beginning to think that drying your clothes wasn't common. Before my load was finished drying, I headed back out to Tesco to get another meal and something to eat for breakfast.
The lovely smell of freshly cleaned clothes helped me fight myself out of bed, but not enough to get me to my 9am class. I was really frustrated as this was the day my class would be in the special archives section of the library, but I was on the point of fainting/puking and the nyquil/dayquil just was not working for me.
However, I turned things around by being able to force myself on Thursday to go to my study group meeting. Luckily it was at 11am, so I did get to sleep in a bit, which really helped. The place I met my group was in another part of the Percy building I hadn't been to before. I was very pleased to finally find a place to fill up my water bottle (they had a water jug station set up). I also learned a bit more about how the study groups work from the girls in my class. They basically said the professors dislike them as much as the students, especially since we're not graded on them.
I had about an hour before my next class, so I first picked up the tickets for the plays for my Performance and Now class, and then met up with a friend for lunch on campus.
I then went to my lecture for the Renaissance class I'm taking. We've departed from The Fairy Queene and are now getting into Milton's Paradise Lost, which I'm not a big fan of either, but it's at least more understandable. In my study group I was able to help with the comparison questions as I've already studied both and had to make those connections a year ago. It was a really boring lecture, honestly I hardly take notes. If something interests me maybe I'll write it down, but I'm not planning to write my essays on these texts so I haven't paid full attention.
After class I headed to Boots to get myself a new foundation as I'm very pale and they actually have paler than normal pale here. I then headed to Waitrose to get groceries. I got myself some nicer bread (with pumpkin seeds) as I think it will help fill me up more. Also, I stocked up on nuts, oranges, apples, and bananas. These are all cheap things, healthy, and will help fill me up and keep me from dying.
I decided to reward myself for going to class sick and sticking through the day by picking up some McDonalds (which I have been avoiding for obvious reasons - we have it at home). I got a McChicken (called a Mayo chicken here) and some fries for way cheaper than my eat4less go to, so maybe I'll actually go to McDonald's when I get that craving for junk food. It was also really nice on the inside (way cleaner and more modern than the ones back home). It was also really fast service, even though it was Valentine's day, and the city centre was packed with more people than usual.
I walked home, ate my McDonald's and got myself ready for the play I had to go see that night. I ended up trying out the bus system because it was a bit further out than the other theatres. When I got on the bus I went to tap my credit card, but of course it did nothing, and the bus driver took forever to tell me what I was supposed to do (he was supposed to ask me what ticket I needed and then set it up as you buy from the bus driver, but he was a bit of a dick). Anyway, I paid (the whole time the bus hadn't departed from the stop, which annoyed me as it wasn't my fault the bus driver didn't do his job, as I was told the bus drivers are supposed to ask you first instead of just staring at you and not really helping).
I got where I wanted to just fine. The buses run like Fredericton buses where you have to know where you're going and when to buzz to get off on time. This surprised me as Newcastle had a lot of other modern features, but no announcements or a screen saying the stops was a bit backward for them.
The theatre I went to was really nice. It reminded me a bit of the Great Canadian Theatre Company, from Ottawa (size wise). They had little tubs of ice cream you could get, but it was just 2 pounds less than Ben and Jerrys, so I told myself that I'd get my favourite flavour after to enjoy instead.
I hung out with some kids from my class before the show and talked to them for a bit. I think some of them think I'm American from what they've said to me.
The play itself was really good. It was called the River and was basically about some guy who takes women to a cottage and makes them think he doesn't take like any women there (of course you don't find out he's a dick until the end of the play).
Even though I had a bad experience, I decided to take the bus home. I missed the first one as I was too busy looking at my phone looking to see when it'd arrive that I wasn't able to hail it down in time. I was just 4 stops down, so I could take any bus, so I was fine. This time the bus driver was far more friendly.
I stopped at Tesco on my way back and got some Fanta and my Ben and Jerry's Phish Food ice cream.
Friday morning I missed my first seminar as the fluids were now at peak draining, so I had trouble falling asleep. Also, my male flatmates were having a party in our shared living space (I thought at first was pre-drinks, but eventually realized they were having a malentines party together - male + valentines). I wore ear plugs, which did block out the noise, but were really uncomfortable as I'm not used to having things in my ears.
I did make it to my second seminar and got myself put into a study group for that class, as I'd missed the lecture when that stuff had been sorted out. I was very proud of myself for having the courage to ask as people were beginning to pack up. I normally don't like doing those things, as I feel it's a bit rude (even thought it may not seem rude to others, my social anxiety doesn't like it if anything could even slightly be considered as inconveniencing others - thus the bus incident as an example).
After class I headed straight home. I then slowly got myself packed and ready for York. I emailed the hostel to see if my friends and I could be put in the same room. I got a quick response that said most of us were but some would be on their own. I really hoped that I wasn't one on their own, however as you'll see in my next post, that wasn't an issue.
I then went to bed as early as I could and prayed that my cold would finally leave me.
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