Back to the gym

Due to the fact that I have 4 months of not having to do anything ahead of me, I thought I would re-join my old gym. It had been about 9 months since I had last been and my God was it a wake up call. I'm not aching as badly as I thought I would be which, touchwood, will carry through until tomorrow morning.

I didn't work myself too hard as I thought I'd ease myself in gently. So, metaphorically, today was the dipping of the toe into the proverbial exercise pool. The pool metaphor is doubly significant because the gym has a pool, as well as a jacuzzi and sauna; the latter two being excellent allies to soothe aching muscles after a long session. I'm thinking of making some more use of the pool than I did last time I was a member, to work on my cardio a little more.

The membership was a lot more expensive than I thought it would be, due to the fact that I'm joining on a short term basis at £28.99 a month. I was expecting something more in the regions of £17 so when she gave me that figure my wallet groaned a little. Who'd've thought you'd have to pay so much to put yourself in such excrutiating pain?

Also today, me and Luke got hair cuts and I now feel like my ruffian exterior I have had as of late has been peeled away by the groomed and tidy young man within. Life back home is good. And I haven't even been for a beach BBQ with my friends yet, or had a night out.

My first night out is this Saturday. We're going to The George to watch England, then straight into town from the match. I hope they let me in clubs in my England shirt.

I've delved back into reading. The book I have on the go currently is Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol; sequel to The Da Vinci Code. I needed a break from Spanish/Italian literature, of which I have set myself a stack to read for the summer.

I can't wait to move house. I'm sick of living out of boxes. It's a peculiar feeling seeing your whole life up until now packed into a few cardboard boxes, unearthing memories as you dig into the darkest corners of the past; some of which were better left undiscovered.

Well, that's all for now.

I made it

Finally. My last exam finished.

I think it went OK and hopefully I've done enough to pass.

It took a while for the feeling of freedom to truly sink in yesterday. I think it well and truly sunk in once I got back to my flat, sat down and thought, 'For the next four months I literally have no commitments; nothing that needs to be done, no deadlines, nothing'. The feeling was good.

Before I got back to the flat where I was greeted with this wonderful epiphany, I had some errands to run; books to return to the library; that kind of thing. So on the way down to the library from the exam hall, me and Luce explored the area we'll be living in next year a little. We had a gorgeous lunch at this little Mediterranean place. Cathays is brilliants for little cultural places like that. It has so many non-chain restaurants with food from all over the world, all of which will be at my fingertips next year.

When we got back to the flat, after the epiphany, I beat Ben's ass 7-1 on Fifa, meaning he had to run around the building twice. It was brilliant. Everything that could have went right yesterday did. Me, Luce and Dan went to the Blackweir and I had a few cheeky pints of cider in the glorious sunshine. While we were sat there Luce's friend from school came and sat with us and I called Momin to come and join us. I ended up going to town with Momin and Luce where we met Darsh and Luce's flatmates for a meal at Las Iguanas, a gorgeous Latin American restaurant. For starter I had empanadas which are a gorgeous, I believe Argentinian, pastry and look exactly like the food of my homeland, the good old Cornish pasty.

Then me, Luce and Darsh went out to Oceana which was awesome. It was brilliant to be out and not have to worry about any work that's still to be done. We met some friends from our course, including my flatmate Hannah. We then hit Live Lounge after Oceana and partied on down; me, Luce, Luce's greek friend Alex, Giovanna and Momin. Needless to say, it was a late one. It always is when Live Lounge is involved. It's the club where people go when all the other clubs start closing, spitting their hammered patrons out on to the streets. Everyone there is wasted and the music, which includes songs such as Tenacious D's Tribute really provides one of the funniest and best ends to a night out that I've had in Cardiff.

So now there's one night out remaining on Friday and then on Saturday I'm off home to the hopefully sunny Plymouth.

It's so good to be free.

Hello again old friend, alcohol

So here I am, three out of five exams down. My education exam yesterday was the peak of my worries and now that it's out of the way, I feel like I'm on the home stretch, the final descent to the joys of summer. The current chaos of books, paper and notes that I find myself submerged in will only last another 11 days as of today. As the exam period has been rather dull with regards to providing me with material to blog about, I'll allow this post to give a summary of anything worth mentioning that has happened.

My plans for this summer seem to have changed a lot. Mine and Lucy's hitch-hiking plan for Spain and Italy has now gone out of the window due to exams causing a lack of time for the meticulous planning it would require. Instead, she has invited me to go on a free week's trip to Egypt which she won on a scratch-card. Providing it's all valid and there's no catch, she said I could go with her. Egypt's not even a place I would have thought of visiting, but you can't really turn down a free holiday. Also, with the money I have saved for the summer, I'm thinking of going to Barcelona for a week.

It was Nick's birthday yesterday so our flat went to The Bay for a gorgeous Italian meal and some drinks to celebrate.

It quickly became clear how much of a lightweight I have become as the drink went straight to my head. I hadn't been drunk in quite some time due to exams so by the time we got in the taxi to leave I felt pretty sozzled.

The taxi was by no means the end of the night, however. Instead of going home, me and Ben got the taxi to drop us to a restaurant to meet Lucy and the Erasmus lot. Gael is back over from Spain this weekend so I had to see him while he was in Cardiff.

When we arrived at the restaurant they were just paying the bill, after which we headed to Vagelis' house where he generously laced us with vodka orange. By the time we all left Vagelis' to head to Buffalo, me and Ben were well and truly fucked due to foolishly drinking at the same pace as everyone else who had just started drinking, despite the fact that the two of us had been drinking for hours.
We ended up staggering home at 5:00 under a pure blue sky. It was the most surreal experience because it was so light. It felt like mid day. Ben stubbornly decided to walk a different way from me, Lucy and Giovanna, with his reasoning being that his way was 'quicker'. His plan backfired, however, seeing him getting lost for over two hours and ending up on the total wrong side of Cardiff, meaning he didn't get home until gone 7:00. 'Quicker'? Really, Ben?

I had to suffer Ben's new Fifa punishment again yesterday afternoon, doing a total of three underwear laps around our building. This time it was in the middle of the day, with loads of students outside sunbathing. A rather sizeable group was sat right outside our building so, as it turned out, I had quite the audience.



Sam

A slice of home

In honour of the recent string of sunny days we've been having, we had a barbecue today. We went to Bute Park, this lovely great park a stone's throw from our halls. It was me, Lucy, Darshni, Darshni's boyfriend Dan and a handful of their friends. We were sat there in a circle with our instant barbecue's and our burgers and buns. It served as both a precursor of what I have to look forward to this summer and also brought memories of last summer rushing back. We were all so independent back home in Plymouth last summer; with our cars, on the beach every other day and night. And tonight reminded me of those summers back home. Especially the next part.

When the sun had gone down and the flames on the barbecue had done the same, the coals slowly smouldering away, embers gently twinkling as the breeze caught them in the dark twilight air, we decided to fill the barbecues with some little twigs, working our way up to bigger sticks until we had built ourselves an ever-growing fire as we took trip after trip to get more sticks. Everyone had left the park by this point and a few members of our group had peeled off and gone home, leaving the eight of us there, in a circle, snuggled in blankets, my speakers blasting out music, providing a soundtrack to the conversation and crackling of firewood. It was absolute bliss.

I had pangs of nostalgia of those summer nights on the beach back home, this feeling an all too familiar scene to me. I sat there in my element, warming my hands on the fire, drinking cheap rum, a simple coastal town boy in his comfort zone, surrounded by big city-folk to whom this was a rarity. I felt miles away from everything; a safe and secure isolation from everyone outside of our paradise. For those few hours we were the only people in the world, sat around those comforting flames under a sky speckled with stars, a moment so perfect in its simplicity and intimacy. The kind of moment that brings friends closer. Moth's Wings by Passion Pit came on at one stage on the speakers while we were all laid there around the fire. It was the perfect song for a perfect night. Have a listen and imagine you're laying there. We're definitely going to do it again soon.



Of course, we then had to return back to the real world and burst our relaxing little bubble of carelessness; back to the lights of civilisation and the noises of the city. But now here I sit typing this in my humble, cosy little box room, where a night of slumber awaits me.

The only thing tonight was missing was the sand and sea, something which I will be able indulge myself in when I finally reach this well-earned and fast approaching summer. On the topic of summer, after discovering that I won't be going to Spain with Allin any more, I have discussed travel plans for the summer with Lucy. We might be going hitch-hiking around Spain and..... Italy! Her having lived in Spain before helps because she will be able to show me all the best places and secure us places to stay with friends in Spain and Italy. So, whatever happens, it should be a good summer. Provided I get through these exams.


Sam

Regarding Headphones

I think I'm going to stop having my earphones in as much.

It gives off a distinct message of closing out the rest of the world and any form of social interaction is prevented. Even saying hello to friends who you pass while walking isn't as good. Instead of saying 'hi', I find myself mumbling and smiling to them in fear of bellowing 'ALRIGHT!?' at them as often happens due to headphones causing people to not realise how loud they are speaking.

It saddens me to think of all the conversations I could have had and all the people I could have spoken to if I had just let the world in more; people I could have met on buses, in cafés, in lectures etc.
For instance, in my education seminars I usually shove my headphones in as soon as I get out of the room and plod off to my next lecture. However yesterday, for the first time, I decided to leave my headphones out and got chatting to somebody who I never would have spoken to with the iPod on.

So I think I shall curb my music listening a little and see what happens.