Life Lately

My first week of lectures has been and gone, I'm already half way through the second week of the second term and I've only just felt like I have enough time to blog here again. I was going to wait to return to normal posting until after I'd posted the second half of Semester One Memories but that's going to take such a long time, people will think I've forgotten this blog even exists. So, the second half of the list is on it's way but I'm going to carry on blogging normally in the meantime.

Well. My first week back. I actually had to double check that I really was only on the second week of term because it feels like we've been in lectures for ages. We weren't exactly eased in to this term either. I wrote over 5 pages of notes for all the lectures I've been to so far (which is a massive effort for me!) and I've already had a lecture that has pretty much destroyed the way I view human life.

Sounds intense? I'm not even exaggerating. We had a module related tutorial for Biological Psychology and the topic of free will came up. I go into more detail on my student blog (here) but basically:

After we had all given our answers, the student-in-charge then told us that there was a lot of evidence that the voice in our head (your conscious voice that you think with) was really nothing more than an illusion. He went on to explain that decisions are made by neurons. Your neurons fire in a certain way and then, something like 500ms later, you “consciously” make that same decision. Except you haven’t actually made the decision. Your brain made it because it has been “wired” to make that decision, thanks to past experience, genes, your environment… All the decisions you have made have been determined, they have been made because of neurons firing in a certain way and you thinking that you have consciously made that decision is merely an illusion.

I would have explained it better but biology is definitely not one of my strengths. That's the simplest explanation ever but it gives you the idea which is all I wanted to do. What's more important is the whole "free will is an illusion" part. It's been over a week and I'm still torn over whether I still believe that free will exists or not. What do you think? Have you ever thought about it? What about after reading the above paragraph, what do you think now? I'd love to know, I need answers to try and sort my own opinion out!

On a lighter note, the social side of the last two weeks has been great fun. It started with the night out for Charlie's birthday the weekend before lectures started. Charlie turned 19 on the Thursday and on the Saturday, four of our friends from home (Chavs, Nat, Becky and Naomi) all came down to Swansea to celebrate.

I can't explain to you how amazing it was to spend the night with Chavs and Nat. I've missed them so so much since I've been in Swansea. It really sucks not being able to see them every week. Plus, those girls are absolutely hilarious on a night out. I definitely think that night was one of the best nights out I've had since being in Swansea. There was an amazing moment when we ran in to my flatmates in Odyssey and my friends from home, my flatmates and Charlie's flatmates were all dancing together in one of the podiums. Charlie was bursting with happiness at the sight of everyone mingling together. It was just so much fun!

I ended up spending the night in Chavs and Nat's hotel room; poor Chavers ended up on the floor so that I could sleep in the bed. I still feel bad about that! It was so funny when we got back though, Chavs was just led on the floor spouting absolute rubbish. It sucked having to say goodbye to them at the train station the morning after but they both promised they'd be back down as soon as they could (I'm holding you both to that by the way!).

There was a fail of an night out on the following Monday though. I guess it was balancing out how brilliant the weekend had been but still, it could have been a lot better. We all rushed to buy Aniball tickets during Monday afternoon and desperately tried to make animal costumes to wear for the animal themed event that was being held in Oceana. None of us had been planning on going but we were quickly convinced otherwise. Oh how we wished we'd stuck to our first decision. It took us an hour and 20 minutes to get into the club and it was so packed in there, we couldn't reach the bar or the dance floor. We left after less than half an hour. Such a let down!

A majorly exciting part of last week was booking our plane tickets to Italy. Italy!!!! You have no idea how excited I am for this holiday. One of my flatmates, Anna, has invited me, McPake, Alex, Meryn and Ainsley to stay with her in her home in Italy for two weeks in the Easter holidays. I freaked out when she asked me. She's got so many cool things planned for us to do (we'll be staying in Bari) and we even get to spend a day in Milan on the way home! I am SO excited for this. I have always wanted to go to Italy and aaah, it just makes me so happy to think how amazing it will be!

The week ended how any good week should, with a day spent watching rugby. This Saturday saw the Six Nations Championship begin. Wales' first match (and I think the first match of the tournament) was against Ireland. Eager to make sure we had seats to watch the match, Benj and I were in JC's an hour and a half before the start of the match. We made sure we had seats that had the best views of the screens and excitedly waited for the match to start. I think the drinking started properly after the first 20 or so minutes of the match. I don't want to go into just how upsetting it was to watch my team lose but I will say that it explains why I didn't end up leaving the pub until 10pm that night. I was convinced when I got back that I had drunk myself sober (I hadn't) and that I wouldn't have a hangover the next morning (I was wrong). It was a hilariously funny day and it was fun to learn that I can still make sense in a debate when I've spent over £25 on alcohol.

The rugby ruined me on Sunday but it didn't stop me from joining McPake in watching the Super Bowl in JC's that evening. The match kicked off at 11.30pm our time and we didn't end getting back to the building until quarter to 4 Monday morning. It was an hysterical night. McPake got steadily more drunk and extremely into the match. I didn't realise he was so into American football and he definitely didn't realise just how much he would come to love the Ravens. We picked a team to support before we went into the pub (neither of the teams we support were playing) but McPake got so into the game that he is now a huge Ravens fan. He kept talking to everyone around us (and drunkenly giving them names because we had no idea what they were). He shared a spiritual connection (or so he says) with the guy he named Greg. Him and Greg even shared a celebratory hug in front of the giant screen at the end of the match, and stood and watched the celebrations with their arms each other. It was special. We ordered a domino's to finish the night off and I honestly can't wait to do it all over again next year. It was great!

WE FINALLY HAVE A HOUSE! Majorly breaking up the flow of the post with that but I don't care, WE HAVE SOMEWHERE TO LIVE NEXT YEAR. Last Thursday (Monday for me and McPake) we finally signed contracts for our new house next year. The house has 7 (huge!) bedrooms, a cosy living area and a pretty good kitchen. We live round the corner from a Tesco Extra, a Sainsburys local, the Uplands Diner, a Subway and a KFC. Perfect much!? It's only 20 minutes from the Uni and it just looks like it's going to be so brilliant to live there. It's just me and 6 of the boys and I am so looking forward to living with them, it's going to be manic!

And finally, yesterday. I finished my lectures at 10am yesterday (the only upside to a 9am lecture) and decided that I wanted to go for a walk. It was a really sunny day and I feel like I spend too much time cooped up inside, missing out on the few fair days we experience. I suggested the idea to McPake who agreed as he wanted to visit the really-tall-building-that-supposedly-had-a-viewing-floor in the marina. We asked if anyone wanted to join us but lectures meant that either no one was around or no one could spare enough time. Unperturbed, we got ready and left our building at about quarter to 12.

It took us about 40 minutes to walk to the building. We walked along the beach and I had one of the truly amazing moments where I felt incredibly lucky to be living in such a beautiful place. When we made it to the building, it took us a while to figure out how to actually get inside. We weren't 100% sure we were supposed to be in the building but we pressed on and found the lifts. We got up to floor 28 and a very helpful barman gave us the directions to the cafe at the top.

Just wow. The walls were covered in ceiling to floor windows and the views were incredible. We ordered a couple of drinks and just sat back and enjoyed the scenery. I think my favourite part was when we saw a lone figure on the beach just stood facing the sea with his arms outstretched. He looked so relaxed and free, I really really want to try that some time. I managed to get a photo of it and his tiny figure next to the expanse of water is mind boggling.

Neither of us wanted to go back yet so after the cafe, we made our way to an abandoned cinema McPake had noticed the night we all went to watch Skyfall. The cinema looked really cool but it was so windy, I was concentrating a lot more on not blowing away than I was on appreciating the building. After taking some extremely ironic "urban hipster" photos, we started on the walk back to Uni.

By the time we got back into Uni, we'd been out for just over 4 hours. It felt so good to know that I had spent my day outside in the sunshine, exploring the city. I hope this is something I do more often. I really want to get to know Swansea and it feel great to be outside and walking around.

So that's what has happened over the last couple of weeks! The next few days look just as busy, with lunch in JC's tomorrow with Leigh (before a 3 hour practical, booooo), the rugby Saturday, a 2-day visit from the family next Tuesday and Valentine's Day Thursday. Life is so good right now!