Sunday 24 March 2013

3 Months Later...Second Term of Uni - Done. (Part 1)

So, they tell you that university goes quickly. You won't believe that, until you get here. I'm sat here at the end of my second term at Coventry University, thinking hang on...it feels like just yesterday I was manically packing, stalling, and trying not to cry as I waved goodbye to my friends and family.

And here I am now, 6 months later thinking "where the hell did the time go?" To be fair, I have really surprised myself. The Lisa that sits at this computer now, is not the Lisa of 6 months ago. No one thought I would come to University and I proved them all wrong (and you have no idea how good that feels). Lisa of 6 months ago used to get homesick at a sleepover, the thought of going into a room full of people she didn't know made her feel nauseated and uncomfortable, and the thought of being single sent her heart racing and the "I'll be alone forever" thoughts to race through her head. Now, I'm happy to be independent, and meeting new people is something I see as a blessing. You learn from them...you learn a lot from them. Whether it's a hard lesson, or one you don't even realise, a lesson is there. It is true what they say - you learn something new every day. And..*sigh* boyyy... have I learnt a lot in the past six months. And the learning doesn't all go on when I'm in university, it's mostly outside, in your social life. Unfortunately, quite a few of my lessons have been hard ones, but that doesn't mean they weren't good lessons. Now, I am not going to bore you with them because either you've learnt them already..or you will. Also, I never regret anything. The past is the past and no matter how much you worry and cry about it, it will never change. So take the good things from it, laugh about it, move on with a smile.
Everything happens for a reason - something I will always live by.

So..they also say that the middle term of your first year is the longest and most stressful of the three. You also don't realise this until you're in the position I am in right now, and you look back on the past couple of months and think dayyymmm. Now, the second term of my course is mostly based on devising. The first couple of weeks, you will receive stimulus in groups on the Monday and by the Thursday you will need to perform a ten minute scratch. Now, this may sound easy but remember you have all your over lectures Monday through to Thursday. And, if your in my case, you would have a Primary School placement on the Tuesday and third year play rehearsals almost every day from four till six. So, finding the time wasn't easy.

Then on Tuesday 5th February our class all took a trip to The Tate Art Gallery in London. This would be the stimulus for our end of term performance. Our task: To explore the gallery in groups and pick exhibits that stand out to the whole of your group. We were given several expeditions to go around - 1 mandatory - "Things in the mirror are closer than they appear"- and a couple others. Now don't get me wrong I love art but...looking at it all day, thinking "what do I get from this" when its a torch shining on a bit of foil, will make your head hurt. This consequently led to my group and one other trying ti get to a MacDonalds and getting lost in the middle of London. Like any normal teenagers, who are lost and worried about getting back...what do we do? Take pictures :).





So we all squeezed into a red phone box and pose outside Saint Paul's Cathedral until someone comes up with the amazing idea of asking for directions. By this point we were all freezing and very thankful to finally take refuge with big macs and chicken nuggets. After we were full, warm and finally focused we realised we hadn't completed the task just yet. Also on our journey to The Tate, we needed to buy a newspaper and find an object around London to incorporate into our piece.When we got back to the Tate we searched everywhere but just could not find anything. We were coming to an end outside near the Thames when we looked down and saw this massive white rock. The only problem was how do we get to it. Thats when Ola (next to me in the phone box) climbed down and got it - in her Doc Martins may I mention. We then spent about 45 minutes in the bathroom cleaning the rock...and her shoes, and basically just making a royal mess. We then had to spend an extra 15 minutes cleaning that mess :p. By this time, it was time to head back to the coach. Now - you know on normal school trips the teachers will wait and do a head check and things...yeah..lecturers don't do that. You miss that coach, you are on your own. So the people walking by the Thames that day would have seen about 7 university students sprinting across the bridge, shouting to each other very loudly and screaming as pigeons flew into their faces. 

Luckily...

We made the coach :). And..wow..what a quiet coach journey it was. Let theatre students loose in London together, they are bound to pass out as soon as they sit down :p...so yeah I cannot remember the journey home at all.

I didn't actually realise how long this blog was getting so I will leave you with the first part of my second term for now, and fill you in on the rest a bit later. Which was the most stressful part - devising. I may even give some advice on how to get by in an extremely incompatible group...it's not easy.
Thank you for reading and I'll catch you guys soon :)
xxx