It's A Wonderful Life...

... And it looks set to continue that way for at least another fortnight.  As I write this at 9 minutes to midnight on a Tuesday night, I finally can say that the third year of this university course looks like it could be a real good year.  27 Lambert Street has finally been filled and Mathew and Jarand are settled in too.  I haven't really had much time to spend meeting Mathew but from the time that I have spent with him, he seems like a great guy.  As for Jarand, our resident BFG, I have known him for a year already and it is great to have him in the house.  Today Jarand, Sarah and I went into University to witness the spectacle formally known as Freshers' "Fayre" now renamed Welcome Week.  An odd occurrence this "Welcome Week" it's an attack on all the senses as there is loud music being blared out of big speakers in a huge Marquee where as the smell of candy, beer/wine/smoothies and mud which is getting looser and squelchier as hundreds of freshers, second years and final years trying to get all the good and "needed" vouchers and freebies (the cheaper prices for Dominoes, the free sweets, the cupcakes and any cheap entry to clubs)  whereas desperately trying to avoid the leaflets on cheap insurance or Navy recruitment.  There are always bright colours all over the tent and as you go through the tent, hustling and bustling your way through the congregated mass of students and volunteers trying to get to each other, or in my case away from most of them as all I wanted was a Yellow Card to make nights at Piper and Haworth Arms cheaper and more fun and anything to do with a Gym or new and interesting bars.

As the three of us passed through the marquee and inside the Student Union, I realised that once again I had succumbed to another stereotypical social identity and that despite being a University Student I was no different then the rest of the mind-numbed drones that also followed the path through the Marquee to the courtyard in front of the Student Union... or maybe that's a bit harsh, maybe we're all happily following a social trend that spreads across the whole country and which benefits US the Students and not the companies handing out Vouchers.  After our tour of the Welcome Week, Jarand and I split from Sarah to go meet my "Problem"  of Youth Lecturer and Tutorial leader Charlie Cooper, who must be one of the nicest Lecturers I have met since joining Hull, he let me in to see him despite being in a meeting with another scholar and then discussed the whole course with me before trying to photocopy an article (failing only because the photocopier had run out of paper) and printed out a copy of the Module Documents a week before anyone else would get them.  As I sat in his office waiting for him to return from the printer room, I scanned his books and was surprised by the miniature library of not only Sociological on youth, crime and deviance but also on How to achieve a Ph.D. and other interestingly bizarre texts for someone of his age and scholarly stature, but also reassuring that if he used books like that, it's OK for the rest of us too.

Side note: After meeting Charlie Cooper and collecting the vital information off of him I also checked my timetable for this year.  Nothing on a Monday and nothing on a Thursday, so Socials with the League boys are still ok! but unfortunately Piper on a Monday is not looking so good.

Looking back on the title, it looks set to continue outside of the home and university work but also on the sports field too.  On Sunday I met up with the Rugby League lads to have some beers at Haworth before having lunch at the Gardeners Arms and then head up to the Lawns with some more beer, (Amaretto in one lads case), to recruit freshers at the Lawns Halls and show them that we're a bunch of blokes who take ourselves lightly and will look out for each other.  We had already recruited one new member in a French Exchange student called Cedric, and the one thing I love about my League team mates is how open and friendly they are to newcomers.  Cedric fell into place as if he'd been there all the time, and, so did I.  Having spent most of last term pre-occupied with other people and other activities, mainly Partying and Watching Super-size VS Super-skinny with Jarand at 3 a.m.  However, this year, I will stick to my Mantra of "It'll be different this year, I'll try harder" and I will go to every training despite the added distance and I will go to as many socials as I can afford both time wise and work wise although I may skip some like the next on Wednesday because I haven't managed to get the demanded outfit for the theme (School girls on a beach).

Tomorrow, or rather Today as it'll will be when this is finished, I will be attending the Hull University Athletics Union Fair to help the Rugby League recruit even more freshers and watch as more teams and Societies try to get both me and other unwilling students to join their respective teams and societies.  However I believe it is time to finish writing on here and rest before a potentially long day of recruitment. 

... and the term hasn't even begun yet.

Well this is my first attempt at anything like this, it's true. I've never kept a diary and I'm terrible at recording things normally but I'm really interested in perhaps one day working for a newspaper so I'm going to put my hand to blogging.

So far I've been back in Hull for almost two weeks now, and I finally have a second housemate out of the eventual four that will accompany me in the house.  We have Emily and Sarah now, with Sarah being the latest arrival at the house.  She is a final year student I believe and is from Germany but that has been all I have been able to find out so far.  Emily is a girl from England, she is a cheerleader for the American Football Team at Hull University, and has been a good friend since we met.  We went out to Piper last night after having a few drinks at her friends' house. 

So far nothing has occurred in Hull to really write about, as we're still half a week away from Freshers week and so there are not a lot of students around at the moment.  However saying this on Thursday I will be going into the University to meet my Dissertation Supervisor, Majid Yar, and discuss the dissertation topic that I have chosen and also the Titular Question of the piece: How does Informative media (for example News Channels) differ in its portrayal of criminals to that of Entertainment Media (specifically the TV show Bones) and how those portrayals are viewed by the General Public.  Yes, I agree, I may have shot myself in the foot with this one as I have been told already by the admins in the Social Sciences department that this is not the usual style of Dissertation topic that most people go for (i.e. Race and Crime or Gender and Crime) but he did say that maybe it will work in my favour as this may excite the examiners more than Race and Crime dissertation would do.  Let's cross our fingers and hope I haven't shot myself in the foot too early and I'll keep updating on how it is going.

One last thing to mention is my involvement in Hull University's Raw Britannia, a Television show idea that films raw, talented bands from around the UK and interviews them in a bid to widen people's tastes to new and arriving bands. I work in the form of Stage Manager and Booking Manager but my job really entails me chasing bands for their Spec List, a list of everything that they are bringing and that they will need from us at the studio, it's not glamorous but I've enjoyed it for the half a year that I've been doing it so far.  We're going on a two-month filming stop at the moment in order to learn new skills and to train new members in areas that the final year students are doing in order to continue the "franchise" so to speak.