Lost

I had some really bad news from uni yesterday. I’m not on the America course I wanted for September. Apparently they had 70 applicants for 30 spaces. If it’s that popular, why don’t they expand the course to allow more students in? Now, I’m supposed to find a replacement course but there is nothing that appeals to me in the lists that I should choose from. I’ve asked someone to find out if I could do the next level of courses early but the problem is that the one I’m looking at is on Thursday nights so bang goes dancing and I’m waiting for the roof to explode when I tell dad and he realises that it would mean reorganising music practice. The other option is to do another language module but that would mean two languages and only one history next year. The final option is to just do the two modules next year and hope to find a job. This seems a bit dodgy because you can never guarantee getting a job and it means slowing down the rate of uni study. As you can see, I’m in a right little situation. Yesterday it felt like the end of the world had come but I phoned up someone at uni who can support me and act on my side and she told me to focus on revision for Saturday’s exam and we can sort out the future next week. Still feeling totally lost but somewhat calmer about the whole thing.

Lusitania

Last night I watched the BBC production of Lusitania that was transmitted from 8pm. I think it was very good from an historical perspective because the main character narrated and we got to see what was happening back in London and on the U20 German submarine. This made it a little more like a dramatised documentary but in fact, I’d say it was a documentarised drama because the drama was more important. It was nevertheless very informative and means I don’t have to read up about it for my exam! I like the way we saw it right through to the end with the court inquiry, which answered none of the relevant questions but satisfied the press and propaganda creators. It was also good to learn about individual characters, such as the German that had a conscience about killing all of these civilians and the man in the admiralty who questioned his superior about the protection the Lusitania would receive (none).

There were plenty of negatives though. It was on four 1.5 hours which was plenty to tell the story. Any longer and you would have started getting bored. However, because it was only 1.5 hours, there was not enough time to  develop the characters because there were so many in different areas. The main man and the girl are particularly important in this regard. About 15 minutes into the film they meet and make friends but we don’t see them bond much and then when the ship’s sinking, they’re treating each other like father and daughter which seems a little odd and incomprehensible. Also, there are striking similarities to Titanic as the ship’s sinking, only this is daytime and it doesn’t take as long. There are children that lose their families, people forcing there way onto the boats, the captain standing on the bridge as the water rises around him and the most obvious link was when Rose was being lowered in the boat, looking back up at Jack and him looking down as they wondered if they’d ever see each other again. The worst bit though, was the dodgy camera work during the 18 minutes that the ship was going down. It was terrible and really annoyed me.

On the whole, it was above your average Sunday night entertainment and was particularly aimed at those wanting to learn a little about the event rather than enjoy an evening drama. I’m glad I watched it but I’m not sure I’d watch it again. In some ways it seemed like they were trying to make similarities to Titanic but on their budget there was no way they were ever going to come close. The characters weren’t developed well enough, although we had a broad spectrum of characters, from those on the ship to the Germans to those back at the admiralty in London. The camera work was the ultimate thing that brought the quality down.

Cold, Dancing, Uni, Harry Potter and Dress-making (phew!)

Wow, I haven’t written for a week. I didn’t think it was that long. My cold really got the better of me over the weekend. On Friday morning, I couldn’t imagine how I was going to make it through the day. Luckily, I woke up feeling pretty good by comparison on Saturday and work wasn’t too bad. I was absolutely shattered in the evening though, so I didn’t make it to the dance that Ronnie was running. In fact, I never made it to the dance lesson on Thursday evening. I haven’t been to lessons for three weeks now (due to holiday, Simply Ballroom and the cold) and I’m feeling pretty bad about it. I’m supposed to be on holiday next week too, so I won’t make it then either. Must go this week. By Sunday, the cold became purely nose-orientated but yesterday evening and today, it’s involved cracked lips, a muggy head and a bit of a dodgy throat again. I don’t know whether to go to dance practice or not tonight. Dad, unfortunately, has now got the cold and Debs is threatening me in case she gets it too.

I went to uni today and handed in my two long essays. Hoorah for that. I also managed to grab a few more books from the library to help with revision. I don’t really know why I did that because I only use my A level notes, very simple books and websites to get the information I need when preparing the exam essays. Still, I suppose it’s a good back up in case I can’t find the information I’m after.

I finished Harry Potter 3 and I’m about five chapters into number 4. I don’t like this one much. It sets me off to a bad start by diving straight in with depressing conversations between Voldemort and Pettigrew. I like it to start with Harry’s birthday presents, the odd joke on Dudley and then the preparations for the year ahead at Hogwarts. Having said that I like all that, I don’t like the way book 4 takes absolutely ages for Harry to actually get to Hogwarts (due to Quidditch World Cup) and, although most things that happen are relevant, I get impatient and feel like it’s unnecessarily dragging out. I don’t get on with the characters of Bagman and Crouch either. I struggled visualising them in my mind when I first read the book and easily got confused between the two, their jobs and their experiences. I also don’t like the whole storyline of the inter-schools challenge. Never mind though. Only another 500 pages and I can start number 5 which is my favourite. Well, I thought it was my favourite but I quite liked number 3 this time round!

I’m planning on going to a 1940s event with Adele and Monty. We were going to dress up and get our hair done and everything. However, I spotted on eBay a 1940s dress pattern that I like and I’m extremely tempted to make the dress myself (this could be rather interesting as I haven’t done any sewing since my textiles GCSE). It could be rather expensive this way but it would be fun!

Plan for Thursday

Slept surprisingly well last night. I’m going to go into work for a couple of hours this morning and hope that I don’t pass my cold (which has now become totally nose-orientated) to the people in the office. When I return home, I hope to read a chapter of Harry Potter before watching Deal or No Deal at lunchtime. This afternoon, I will focus on radical politics in Weimar Germany to count as my revision. After dinner I plan to play around with and print out some photographs for an essay and then I’ve got a dancing lesson. I’m know I’ll probably feel like curling up and going to sleep by 4pm so I hope I can make it through the evening.

Ill

Monday night: first signs of a bad throat.

Tuesday: definite bad throat. Also feeling physically drained and very tired. Considered not even going into uni but I persuaded myself.

Tuesday night: couldn’t get to sleep due to catarrh in throat doing weird things. Kept waking up in night.

Wednesday: feeling extremely tired. Bad throat continues in the morning and then the nose decides to join in during the afternoon complete with random but effective sneezes. Study has not been very effective today which is a problem when I’m on a fairly tight schedule.

I’m sure you didn’t want the details but if I’d just said ‘I’m ill’, you might have missed it because it’s so short.

Classes are Over, Down to Revision

I had my last uni class for this academic year last night. I’ve now only got to hand in the completed essays and attend the exam. Ok, I say “only” but this is still actually a lot of work and very important. I started revising for the history exam on Monday but I’m finding it really difficult. I haven’t done an exam for two years and I’ve almost forgotten my revision techniques and when I remember them, I question whether they’re really valid at uni level.

Two and a half weeks until the exam.

I revised why the Germans lost World War One yesterday and I’m pretty confident I could answer this. My tutor said that if you revise 4 or 5 topics, i.e. the topics of your two short essays, the group presentation topics that we did and a couple of other key topics of the module, you should be alright. I’ve looked at the past papers and this does not seem to be the case. I think I’ll start with these ideas but move on and do more afterwards. I’m confused as to what to revise because the course covers 150 years and yet the questions seem rather specific and detailed in places.

I suppose the thing that can give me a bit of confidence is that there are ten questions provided in the exam and I only have to pick two. I should be alright, shouldn’t I?

Michael Buble Tour, December 2007

I really want to go and see Michael Buble later this year but, at my local venue, all the best tickets have gone. I don’t see the point in going if you’re at the back and need to watch the big television screens instead of the actual person. I’d rather buy a video than spend £40 doing that. I’ve looked at another venue not too far away as well. The seats look better there, I don’t think the venue’s quite so big, but I’m still not sure whether they’d be worth it especially with the drive over there. I must decide soon before the seats that remain get sold out.

Module Choices

I  have applied for places on three modules for the next academic year.

1. Beginners’ German. I have applied for the evening course so that it will be the same set up as French was this year. I’ve already been told that there is no doubt about getting a place on this course because evening ones are often under-subscribed. I will be brushing up on the basics of German over the summer holiday. I studied it for two years at school and at night school for another two years when I was at college. I reckon I’ve forgotten most of it but I’m hoping it will all come flooding back in time for October.
2. A module on American History from the 1930s to the 1970s. This sounds pretty good I think. Unfortunately, there is a slant on the module (like all university modules, they just can’t teach you what you want to learn, an A-Z of what happened, but instead they examine it through a particular point of view or with a particular interpretation in mind). This module looks at America in terms of race, gender and political movements. However, women in the war, MLK and the New Left sound pretty interesting. Next year I hope to study a module on America in the fifties and this is the perfect preparation for that module. I am rather worried though because this module is extremely popular and there are limited places on it. I’m concerned that the “powers that be” will think ‘oh she’s part-time, she can study this module next year or the year after’ and this is not true. Next year will be my last major year at uni and I’ll already be studying America in the fifties (hopefully) so this module won’t be that relevant. It’s really something I need to study before the fifties module. I have emailed the tutor explaining the situation and I hope he may have some influence in the decision making process.
3. The third module is on Britain in the twentieth century. At first glance this sounds rather brilliant, doesn’t it? However, the ’slant’ on this one is “national identity”. More specifically ‘class, nation and race’. It looks at the culture of the BBC, post-war immigration and the “Death of Britain” at the end of the century. It’s all too academic for me really. I just want to know when the National Health Service was created and what effect it had or why we got involved in the Falklands War. I’m not interested in the ‘permissive society’. However, some weird aspects of this module do appeal to me… ‘the countryside, nostalgia and Englishness’ (in a nutshell that’s what I like about Britain), ‘the heritage industry’ and ‘popular history’. I’ll have to work this module to suit me, picking essay questions that reflect the aspects I want to study and hoping that I know enough about my interests to not be forced into ‘devolution’ topics in the exam. We’ll have to wait and see about this one.

I had to put down reserves for all of these modules and I couldn’t find any anywhere that I really wanted to do. The modules that are on my ‘want to do’ list are only those that you can take in your “third year” and I’m not there yet. Next year, they’ll be too many for me to choose from but right now, I’m at the dregs of the Year 1 and 2 modules. I really, really hope that I can get all of my first choice modules this year. It could turn out to be a pretty interesting one if I do.

Warning: Applause Required

I have now finished both of my long essays and can focus entirely on exam revision. Thank you.

Reasons for Feeling Chirpy

1. The oral exam went swimmingly yesterday. I managed to stay relatively calm and my teacher says I hid my nerves very well. I had also learnt the phrase ’sorry what does that word mean?’ which I used after she’d asked me a question and that put her on the spot for a second! I’d also managed to speak to someone beforehand who had heard rumours that the teacher would move away from the stikes and EDF topic and talk about political rights generally. She did exactly this and I had managed to gather some thoughts before so that I wasn’t stumped. Afterwards she said that she would give me the mark next week but it was definitely a first! Celebrations! That oral was a whole 20% of the module!
2. I got my Elise essay back last night, which was the one that I had prepared and learnt off by-heart. I got 16.5 out of 20 which means 82.5% and a first again! Thus, I’m feeling a lot more relaxed about the final exam which is “only” 50% of the entire module.  
3. I’m coming towards the end of the propaganda essay and should have it finished by Sunday at the very latest. After that I am free to focus purely on revision.
4. I had my first session at the coach company doing the admin work and it was good fun. The other people in the booking office were a laugh and helped us a lot. It was actually quite difficult data imput but if I’m trying to work out what I’m doing, there won’t be time for getting bored. Actually, mum and I were mentally shattered after just 3 hours. We only did about 8 bookings in that time and there’s at least 100-150 in the backlog that we’ve got to get through before the summer. That means no shortage of spending money while on holidays
5. I’ve got my physio session tomorrow morning. I don’t know why I’m looking forward to that. Perhaps I want to see if I’ve progressed at all.
6. I’m going out to the theatre tomorrow with some of my favouritest people. Should be good fun.  
7. Debs has accepted a knew job and I’m excited for her.