First day of the advent calender!

Christmas is coming!!!!!!!

I am way to excited about Christmas. Today was the first day of December so I opened my lovely Thorntons Chocolate advent calender and I got a reindeer which was very cute. Ive been feeling very festive and I have decorated the flat with lots of lovely Tinsel and a pretty snowflake window decoration. In my room I have paper chains that I made when Ross visited at the weekend.

I also went to see Dina and Haya and we put up their Christmas tree! They went to the college last year so they have lots of Christmas stuff, and Dina is really into it so she bought them a tree. Isn't it cute!!!

Last weekend Ross came to visit me whilst Mum and Dad were at a Spa in Leicester. It was a really good weekend, on Saturday we went to Nottingham to go shopping and they had a really lovely Christmas market there with little wooden huts selling treats and gifts. There was also fairground rides and a choir. It was really pretty and such a nice day out. Then we chilled and watched a movie in the evening after we'd eaten my (rather tasty if i do say so myself) Chicken Korma. I think he probably has a bit of a squewif idea of uni now to be honest as I tried to treat him well and even bought apple pie! Little does he know that tonight's dinner is a baked potato with sausage casserole defrosted from last week and that pudding will most likely be a yoghurt! Hehe. Ah well you cant live like a queen all the time!!!  
Tomorrow I have a big test for my IT module, its all on Excel which Im ok at so i feel quite confident but i'm sure that my revision will pay off as well and hopefully I can get a good mark. 

Hope you are all enjoying the first day of December. Not long now till the end of term for me! I cant believe how fast its gone!! Best be off now and do some revision whilst my potato cooks! Seeya x

My first house!

Hi guys,
I have some very exciting news! After 2 weeks of extreme stress I have found a house to live in next year! The last two weeks have been very intense, we weren't really warned that we'd have to think about this all so soon and so fast but it was a bit of a blind panic and before i knew it everyone was going for house viewings and I didnt even know who I was living with. The whole block is quite tense because there has been many arguments over who lives with who and where everyones living etc. I think a lot of people have been very stressed about it so tensions were high. But eventually it was decided that I would live with Sarah, Anthony (from downstairs) and Sarahs friend Tash from Lacrosse. Ive met her a few times and shes very nice so im excited to live with them.

Anyway so once we had decided who to live with we went to see lots of houses to try and decide what we wanted. A problem we came across quite a lot which was interesting was that many of the houses had one room that was significantly smaller than the other bedrooms. This wasnt really ideal because it caused problems about how we would decide who got that bedroom etc so we started asking the landlords only to take us to houses where the rooms were pretty similar. We quickly found that many of the chain estate agents (Such as Nicholas Humpreys) were very impersonal and seemed to just trying to be con us out of money-" put down £200 now to reserve this house it'll be gone by tommorow etcetc- so we wanted to find someone who was more personable and we trusted morem Our friends upstairs used a private landlord called Andrew Chell and reccomended him to us so we tried him. He only has 16 houses and each of them is very very nice with pine furnature for a much better price than some of the chains. We saw one of his houses and loved it so we are signing the papers for it tonight. I will be living at 86 Station Street. Its a great adventure because I hear Dad talk about his first uni house 'Welton Grove' all the time and its just such a weird thought that in 15/20 years time I might be recalling the good times I had in Station Street. It gives me quite and excited feeling and makes me feel so grown up!

If you are interested in seeing the house I have popped a link to it here so you can see pictures. We have a dishwasher, washing machine, bath and tv. So much luxury!!!
http://www.andrewchell.com/stationstreet_86.html


:)

Added on to yesterdays

I forgot to say as well yesterday two exciting things:
1. A week ago I did 3 hours of auditions for hiphop and if I can make the times for practises I'm going to be dancing live on Children in need on 18th November. They are videoing a bunch of dance groups at Loughborough and i'll get a minuite long slot with my troup to dance!
2. I got elected course rep which basically means anyone in my course who has a problem comes to me and tells me and then I report it to the Programme Director in a monthly meeting. Its quite exciting because I even have to take training to be one in early november!

:)

Hey guys,
Well into uni now here in Loughborough, i've been getting coursework and homework and reading left right and centre. I take 6 module: Spanish, Organisational Behaviour, IT for professional development, Microeconomics, Quantative methods for business and Principles of marketing. My current faves are Spanish and OB, as they are the ones I am best at. The others are quite mathsy which is a little bit difficult but alright. Im very glad I did economics at International Bac level because otherwise I wouldnt have a clue what was going on because our teacher isnt very good. Hes chinese and has a very strong accent which makes him difficult to understand, this is made worse by the fact he refuses to wear a microphone so if you are sitting more than four rows from the front, he is very difficult to hear.
Everyone in my block has a horrible virus right now, luckily I have not yet been infected so im hoping ive missed it. People are being sick and have been ill for like a week. Most of them are missing lectures and I think its spreading round the uni because in my QM tutorial yesterday half the class was missing.

This last week has been lovely because Seb came to visit me. Ive not seen him in over a month so it was great to have him here. We managed to fit lots of stuff in, we went out for dinner, and to a film and also I took him out to the union to show him what its like to party in Loughborough although that was a bit of a flop as everyone else was sick so it was just us. We still had a good time though. He left yesterday which was very sad but i'll see him again soon enough I hope. He really made me miss home so i've decided to go home in a couple of weeks to see my mum and dad and Ross and probaby Seb again as well. Im really excited to sleep in a bed that doesn't creak whenever I move!
Life is ok at the moment, but to be honest Loughborough is a reasonably boring town. Its very small and there isnt much to do at all, so perhaps in a couple of weeks i might go and visit my friends Harriet and Fiona who live in Nottingham which is very close to Loughborough for a bit of a change of scenery.
Harriet actually came to visit me recently too which was great fun.

We had a proper union night out because everyone wasnt sick at that point. There was a free photo booth which is why we got these brilliant photobooth pictures :D

hope everyone reading is well. xx

A month on

I haven't blogged for a while, and from now on these will become a lot less frequent because to be honest, less new stuff is happening. After freshers life has calmed down a bit and I think all of us are beginning to settle into a routine that's a lot more normal. Theres still a lot of stuff to do obviously, but we aren't going out every night and we have all now made friends and become a close knit group.
One thing im really happy about is that ive made friends with these two girls on my course, Dina and Haya. They are from Kuwait and can speak Arabic although they went to an international school. Its really nice becuase they arent really into partying (unlike everyone else at uni) and so i dont leave their company with my ears ringing from music which is nice. On saturday we went out together for a meal at a really nice chinese restaurant (although i think i enjoyed not having to wash up the most pahah) and then we went back to their apartment in town and watched x facto (i miss live tv-sob)
I have also joined the hiphop society and we dance 2/3 times a week so thats been fun. At home i did street dance but this isnt exactly the same. its really nice to try something new though. Im a little sad because it clashes with Salsa and I really wanted to do that but I prefer hiphop as i know how to do it so hey....

Right, im off to do more homework. I have loads!

Freshers ball

Last night was the biggest event of freshers, the freshers ball. Its basically like a prom and everyone dresses really fresh and there was LOADS of stuff to do. We had lots of different acts like DJ Fresh and Yasmin. There was people on stilts, and snake trainers. A profesional photographer and a bouncy disco. Fairground rides and fireworks. It was awesome. The only sad thing was that Gym Class Heroes were supposed to headline and I was excited to see them, but they pulled out at the last minuite because their main singer Travis McCoy had a viral infection :(

Here are some photos of my block all dressed up in our gladrags!

and this is Me with Dina and Haya, who I have met on my course and made friends with.

Action project

Yesterday I got involved in the monthly action project. Its like a volunteering thing where we went to a local primary school and painted for them. We pretty much painted their tables with varnish but the better artsy people got to paint rainbows and stuff which was awesome. It was fun getting involved as if you go to these action things  you have a chance to be on the hall committee when that time comes and I think that would be quite fun. I think ive decided while Im at Loughborough I would like to take on some kind of role of authority to put on my cv etc.
Anyway heres a photo of us all in our free tshirts "Action Woman"

I dont know what to call this one!

http://www.lborosu.org.uk/media/new/index.php?section=lsutv&id=555

14 mins in is BillMo! Sorry guys its really rude, dont yell at me, i didnt write the lyrics! i am in there somewhere, but right at the back and at 5 foot 2 i doubt you'll catch a glimpse!

Last night I did a pub quiz with my friends which was a laugh however we didnt win. 

Yesterday I had two more lectures, again Quantative methods for business and organisational behaviour. The lectures are HUGE! OB has 375 people in it! I think its SO interesting though! It makes me wonder if I should have done psycology at Ib level instead of history because its fascinating!

Its been a rough week for my friends at home as many have found Long Distance very very difficult and have broken up with long term boyfriends. Big shout out to Hannah- if you are reading I hope you are ok! <3 It makes me feel slightly better and me and Seb as we are not fighting at all and actually he's being a stella about it all. He hasnt been clingy and because of that Ive wanted to make time to chat to him. So both sides win! Not gonna lie though, its been really hard and I miss him a lot. But hes coming to see me on the 25th so just 20 days to go now. Ive skyped a lot with Mum


At 11am I have IT for professional developement (erg) so i better go and eat some of my rather horrible own brand sainsburys shreddies. Not a fan! Bought a packet of rice krispies and went all out but feel i really ought to finish the rest of the own brand before i start them..... hmmm!

First lecture!

Today was my first two lectures, I had Quantative methods for business at 9am which was a bit of a struggle to get up for, and then Organisational Behaviour at 2. I was a bit worried for QM as its quite mathsy and i thought i'd not be very good at it, but there are two groups one for the people who did like a level and one for people like me who either didnt do it or did do it past 16 but arent very good. To be honest with you the maths is very very simple for me, but i think on average i'd rather be the best of the B class than the worse of the A class. I got set quite a lot of homework as well which is a bit dull. Im still getting to know my flatmates, and although ive only been here a week now it feels like i live in a bubble where there are only about 10 people i can interact with. I have met a lovely girl called Vannessa on my course who I met on the open day a while back and really liked. She got in so we;ve been sitting next to each other which is nice.  All the lecturers are asking us to call them by their first names! Its really weird as I have always called my teachers 'sir' or 'miss' (normally said like siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiir, or missssssssssssssssss) I can see why they dont really want this, but calling someone who probably has more intellect in his baby finger than in my whole body 'Dave' seems mighty disrespectful to me!
Last night was the sing off which is an extremly competitive part of freshers week at loughborough. We all dressed like monsters and sang our hall song at the top of our lungs. I felt very patriotic to my hall!

JJ-KK block on the prowl!

Photos of me with back combed hair with new friend Ellen i met online and have since met in hall, and below with Alis.  My hair has never been so big. I tell you, showering when we came home was awful- blue face paint and hairspray is hard to come out!!

Just a few photos for you to laugh at

I was a Sumo today!

Day 6 already!?!?

Hey guys, im sorry for not blogging at all over the last few days but ive been SO busy. BillMo lays activities on for us day and night. So far the highlight was when we had a girls v boys night and we split into groups and then chanted things at each other. It was really funny! The union is so big, i really dont think ive ever seen so many people in my life-its very overwhelming. As well, the campus is really huge so I haven't ventured very far yet. I think that as lectures start tomorrow (booo) things will probably calm down, especially during the day. But ive still got another week of freshers activities in the evenings. Im not sure whether i'll manage it as we have been getting to bed gone 3am and im SO tired. Last night they organised a quite night so we could go home and get some sleep but it still finished at 11.30 which is really late in my book.
Yesterday i took part in my first RAG raid which was in Sheffield. They bussed us there wearing our silly BillMo tops and then we walked around collecting for the british red cross. It was so tiring but it was great fun, and we got to have a pub breakfast which was delicious! I have been managing to cook quite well which I am suprised at given its freshers, but all the activities dont start till 8ish so we normally have about two hours to ourselves to get ready and eat etc. I have to say though, although freshers is awesome, i feel like a need a 3 week nap. To be honest I really want to be at home in the night times as my bed is horrible and Im missing Mum Ross, Dad and Seb quite a lot. During the day it is fine as I am busy but sometimes at night im like ohhh :( There is a huge spring in my bed which is a bit annoying!
Here is some photos of my flat mates if you are interested!

 This is Ali, Harry and Alis (pronounced Elise-not Alice) Ali and Harry live across the hall way but Alis is my next door neighbour and a proper little Mum. Ali and Alis both live pretty close to me! Ali is in Ayslebury and Alis lives in Watford! They also have another boy living across from us, a returner called Ryan who is from Milton Keynes, so we basically dominate!

 This is Steph and Sarah who are my new Welsh besties. They have me saying things like 'Pet' which is a bit odd. :P They are both really lovely girls and they went to the same school so they are already good friends. Steph doesnt live in our block but she pretty much spends all her time here which is nice! Sarah lives in my flat. So far there are still only 3 of us, but we wait with trepedation as the two new people should be arriving today. We persuaded the guy at reception to tell us they were boys but we couldnt get anything else out of him. Im trying to keep an open mind but I would have preferred a flat with all girls because you dont have to make as much effort and also they are dirty and untidy. Also in KK (the flat across the hall where Ali and Harry live) the returner boys have set up a tv and playstation in the kitchen to play Fifa. JOY...  boys keep it in your room, waste of our lovely kitchen!

This is just a photo of all the girls who live here minus Alis. This is literally it, we have an entire block and this is all the girls. I knew Loughborough had a 4 to 1 boy girl ratio but its extreme. There are like 30 boys living here. Ahh well, maybe it means closer girlfriends :)  So we have
Ali, Johanna (Swedish), Yanni, Me, Steph and Sarah.   Johanna is the only girl below the top floor poor thing, she lives with JUST boys. ew! Yanni lives in KK with Ali. 

Well i think thats all for now because I want to watch the doctor who finale before the other girls get up. Today on the line up is bouncy castles and a bbq which should be nice. And then tonight is the 'Sing Off' I actually think its pretty harsh to put that the night before lectures start because its meant to be crazy! There is activities after it but i think i will come home and try and get a good nights rest. Im really hoping to be in bed by 1am latest as my first lecture is at 9.00am and Im meeting a girl i met called Sian at the Union at 8.30 to walk there because it is a treck.
So yeah, all done now, but im going to try and keep updating regularly now we come to the end of freshers but please bear with me as I am SO busy. Big shout out to The Isitts who sent me my first piece of post! Very exciting so thanks a lot.
Love to everyone
Rach x

Wow what a night!

Last night was my first night at Loughborough, and after a few wobbles when Mum and Dad left I had such a good time. when they first left i was freaking out, but Sarahs parents left soon after so it was so nice to have a cup of tea and a chat with her about it all. I felt 100 times better. It was a bit bizarre though because there are 5 rooms in our flat and at 3pm no one else had arrived. However shortly after than a girl called Alis (pronounced Elise) came and shes also lovely. Turns out though that we have returners in the other two flats which is a bit of a let down- but they wont arrive until Saturday so at least we get extra space until then!
At 4pm our blocks 'reps' came to get us and we went on the lawn to play getting-to-know-each-other games, like I have never and the game where you say three facts and one isn't true. It was fun but one boy said something a bit odd that i thought was bizarre to admit in the first hour of meeting everyone!
After that we were taken for some dinner, which was a burger and chips, I couldnt face eating though as mum and dad took me out for a massive burger at lunch at a pub! So I didnt eat anything- something I think i regretted at 4am when i got really hungry but couldnt be bothered to go and get food....
Currently I am trying to force breakfast down myself, but for some reason I dont feel like eating.... I think its because the cereal we bought isnt very nice. I may have to try some other brands before finding the one I want. Seems a pity to waste so much cereal though....
After the food we had to sit through an HOUR lecture about safety. at 7.30.... to be honest i dont think anyone was listening and I almost fell asleep because they dimmed the lights so we could see the projector. Hope they dont do that in normal lectures! teehee.....
Then it was back home to get ready and go out for clubbing. Chanting the rowdy BillMo song which seems to be more of a bunch of random made up words. we headed to the union. it was insane, there was so many people, it was very sweaty- i cant believe thats what its like when only 3 halls are there.... not sure i'll cope with more!
Anyway today Sarah, Alis, and a girl we met called Ali, plan to have a duvet day to recover and watch my One tree hill boxsets. We'll also explore! :D

If anyone wants to send me post or w/e my address is:
room JJ205
William Morris Halls
Ashby Road
Loughborough
LE11 3TQ


seeyaa

I'm here!

Hi guys! Mum and Dad just left and I am freaking out. I feel really sick which im hoping is nerves and it feels so weird :( We've had an awesome day so far though. we decorated my room and unpacked etc which was great and now i'm just waiting for the BillMo stuff to start at four, when appaz we are going on a tour or something. We went out for a big lunch and it was nice although i couldnt finish all the food. So far it looks like there will be 5 girls in my flat- but only one of the others is here. She is called Sarah and she seems nice from what I can tell so far!
Here are some photos!

I miss you already mum and dad :(

Loughborough is tommorow!

Well today is my last day- eep! Its been a cool few days, been doing a lot of goodbyes. On Saturday, Seb and I went on our last date before I leave tommorow. It was lovely we went to a nice restaurant called Verdis, but it was also a little sad because im going to miss him alot.

 

 

Mum and I have also finished packing the car which is really cool, and in the end-no- i didnt need the roofbox. There is still one bag to go in because theres stuff i still need tommorow like make up and straighteners, but its not mega huge so im pretty sure if I fit in, it will. Fingers crossed anywhoo! I cant believe im actually leaving tommorow, it feels so weird to be going out into the big wide world all by myself. Im going to have to be really brave and try not to hide in my room with my teddy. Me and Mum made muffins in order to bribe people to be my friends so im hoping that a muffin and a nice cup of tea will be a good talking point and help me make some new friends.


The next blog post on here will be from Loughborough itself- so remember to tune in to find out what goes on, and i promise to pop lots of photos on there for you to see, and who knows, if im feeling techy-maybe i'll do a video :D
Love to everyone reading. wish me luck!

the pile gets bigger

Will I ever fit it all in? Moreover... will we ever carry it all up flights of stairs to my room.... hmm. I feel like we may have to rope in some Loughborough boys!  Rugby players watch out-27th September you're heavy lifting!