It is with a sense of slight confusion, disappointment, relief and an odd bit of excitement that I've seemingly come to the end of my first academic year of university, and it's only just April! I shall be getting the train back home tomorrow (single from Manchester Piccadilly to Bristol Temple Meads for 11 quid! Thats what planning in advance and a railcard does for you!) for three weeks to enjoy what I hope is as delightful weather in Wells as it is here in Huddersfield. Should be good, especially the last week when Emma is going to come stay and see the sights of the south (not one for sibilance am I?!). But why do I still feel strangely disappointed?
Apart from an exam on the 13th of May I will have nothing to do until September apart from move out of halls and into my house. I should be happy about this, shouldn't I? Gives me a chance to get a job and earn some much needed money, gives me a chance to spend time writing more, in terms of articles for here, and songs (www.myspace.com/mynamesmattmusic seeing as you ask). Part of me worries though, that with the current state of economy, I wont be able to find a job (not least because Jack is now here scoping out more jobs to go with the one he found after being here a few days!) which means I'll be sat around either here in Storthes, a place I am quickly getting very sick of, not least because of all the stereotypical, we're-gunna-stay-up-till-half-6-in-the-morning-shouting-our-arses-off students, but because of the Internet, which is gracefully working now for a change, the large distance it is from....oh just about anywhere and the fact that it is, in all honesty, a bit grotty, with nothing to do at all. Earning no money, and spending the lack of money I actually do have far too quickly. Either that or I'll manage to stick it through until July before moving in to my house. A prospect I am actually very much looking forward to, in that growing up, being independent kind of way, and the fact that the house is fucking beautiful. Once there though, what then? If I don't find a job beforehand am I going to be able to find one once I am in a much more convenient location? I can hope so.
Upon the realisation I'm sounding a bit like the harbinger of doom, I am actually very pleased I managed to make it through the first year of this place. They say that uni is a big step up from school, and it is. The workload, although not particularly huge, has been tricky, and with all but one essay, which I only scraped a pass, I am pleased to have passed all my assignments. Not only has the past 7 months been good in terms of developing my abilities as a potential journalist, as I now feel I can write and produce a higher standard of article, university has been a fantastic growing up experience for me. I feel much better as a person. I've matured, but still managed to maintain a large element of immaturity too, never mind! I also believe, as others have commented, that I have lost a bit of weight, something that was a main intention as I came here. There was a few weeks where relying on cooking a pizza because I was too lazy to do anything else, but that was followed by an extended period of one meal a day living because either the laziness got too much to even go to the shop, or because I couldn't afford it! Either way, I don't feel quite as much the fat bastard I was when I first arrived.
All in all I feel that, as one era draws to a relative close (I mean, I still have 14 weeks before I get kicked out of this place!) it has been a success. Not only have I survived in a place where so many have fallen, (my course has halved in population since freshers!) but I've gained so much more in terms of new friends, of which I feel closer too than people I've known for the past 2 or 3 years (apart from the obvious ;-) ) along with a new found respect for money, and a grown up sense of independence that living in a small country town at the arse end of nowhere can provide. Not only that, but to make things even better, one person stands out amongst all the positives of this place, and I can only thank her for it. She knows who she is :-)
Anyway, until my next post, which may be sooner than you think, given that I now have nothing to do, take care. And if you find yourself a bit bored, you could always read the musings of my dad on his own blog (paulwaring.blogspot.com) and see what he's been doing the past few weeks! (not that you need it, but theres some publicity for you dad!)
