Because I'm narcissistic like that.

Anywho, it's been almost a year since I last made a blog post and I was just at the end of my first year of uni then. Now I'm at the end of my second! Well, almost. Technically I don't have any classes until September but I've got a festival for term 3, so I'll be directing a show with my friend. We're putting on a play which is actually a novel about Virginia Woolf, which we've adapted into a play ourselves. We have to give it a different name though because we technically don't have the rights, but according to our tech leader it's non-profit and for educational purpose sooo we can get away with it?

A lot has changed in the past year. I feel pretty different to the person who wrote that last blog post, but not too much, I suppose. I guess the biggest change is, I have a girlfriend now.

Yup, you read that right! I'm in a relationship with another girl. I wasn't out as bisexual before we started going out, so I had to deal with telling my parents about all that. They were super fine with it! Reacted a heck of a lot nicer than I thought they would. But my mum was very, very surprised, and I don't think she takes it very seriously. It seems like she doesn't believe bisexuality is a real thing. She seems to think we're more "just friends" than anything else, and she discourages me from telling my nan, who is very "lesphobic". I haven't told her about it, it's not really worth it until I can't not tell her, if you know what I mean. Dad's super cool about it, and said he wasn't surprised at all which is pretty funny. He said he thought I was gay when I was younger but then I started getting boyfriends and he just dismissed it.

As for my girlfriend, she's incredible. She's from Belfast. I might've mentioned her before, her name is Orla and I met her on my second day of being in Exeter. One of my best friends (Ellen, who I've definitely talked about) went to school with her, and she, Orla and I decided to live together with two other girls. Ugh god, I just fell in love with her. She's so much fun to be with. I'm not gonna go super into it because it's corny as hell, but I just love her. I'm sure I'll regret posting this onto the internet, and I'm still so young but one day I'll marry this girl. I'll come back and find this post in 10 years and I'll let you know. Don't judge me too harshly.

Speaking of marriage, one of my best friends from home got engaged recently. That was pretty bizarre. Smacked me right into adulthood, aye. She's been with her fiancé about the same time as Orla and I have been together.

Another big change: I don't want to be an actor anymore. As much as I enjoy it, it's just not feasible. Realistically, I'm not good enough, nor do I look good enough to scrape by on my appearance. I will always enjoy eating cake more than I'll enjoy auditioning for parts (my god I ****ing hate auditons). There's good and bad to not wanting to be an actor anymore. The good is that I'm no longer worrying about how to make it in that field, and about what job I'd want to have in order to get by whilst trying to make it. The bad is that I have to start all over and figure out what else I want to do. I think I have a pretty good idea, I'm just not sure on the specifics. I definitely would like to go into a field related to women/gender studies. I'm just not sure what job exactly. I'm pretty certain I'd like to do a Masters when I finish this degree, in something more specific to that area. I learn a lot about feminism and queer theory on my course, so it's not like this degree was a waste. I learn so much about a lot of things, and I do still love a lot of things about my course. I just don't wanna act for a living anymore.

I really want to volunteer at the local women's aid/rape crisis centre, and I sent off a request for application forms but I missed the deadline for the next training course, so I have to wait til next year. I'm a little bit concerned because it'll be around the same time I'm writing my dissertation, but I really, really want to volunteer there so I'm certain I'll make it work. It won't be too much, I'm sure. But I'm terrible with time-management is the only thing.

I'm really sorry that I've just strolled on in and made a blog entry and I don't even really post anymore around the forums. I'm a shitty member. I really wanted to give an update and just reflect on the year since I haven't done so in a long time. Hope you guys are well :)

Haliefax

And I'm a fresher no longer! I'm leaving on Sunday, mam's gonna come and pick me up. She's a little bit nervous driving all that way with my TV in the car, but my dad's car is in the garage atm so he can't come down, so.

I had a good and bad first year. It was an awesome experience, I'll give you that, but there were some really shitty times, particularly in the flat, but I've told you guys all about that (though they've gotten worse). Anyway, to commemorate the end of my first year as a uni student, I thought I'd list some of the most memorable/best/worst things that happened :P

In no particular order ~

1. Okay so I'm not much of a clubbing fan, so I very rarely do it but since I've not had much to do this term I went out a few times with my mate Emily, and the first night we went out, I had my first ever drunken-vomiting experience. I've always been a lightweight but I was never sick from drink before. Tbh, it was actually really hilarious? It wasn't a bad experience, I was too drunk to be bothered by it. I remember everything, as I tend to when I get drunk. I'd mixed a lot of drinks which was really stupid of me, but as you can probably understand, at the time I didn't care very much. I was dancing, and after a little while I had to go and hold onto the wall for support because I was on the verge of puking everywhere, and Emily was trying to get me to go to the toilet and I eventually agreed, and then I distinctly remember All The Small Things by Blink182 coming on and I just shouted "AFTER THIS SONG!" and kept on dancing for the whole song with my hand still against the wall, and had an absolute blast while doing it. Then I was sick in the toilet, Emily took me back to her flat, I was then sick in her toilet, took a hilarious selfie and sent it to my best friend from home, which he then screenshotted and now uses it to make fun of me. I also remember knocking over a glass of water on her carpet and trying to pat it dry with my hand??

In the morning, I woke up super early, still drunk, couldn't get back to sleep so decided to get a bus home. I went into the kitchen, tried to make myself an egg sandwich, but found that the douchebags we live with had stolen one of my eggs and broken the last one, so I took it and egged their fridge door. [I]I would not have had the courage to do that if I was sober.[/I]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]24530[/ATTACH]
[SIZE=1]The look of absolute serenity. I comited in Emily's dooper. And came out stronger.[/SIZE]

2. Made a really awesome friend in Ellen, one of my flatmates. We clicked pretty early on, she's the closest friend I've made, and she's just super awesome. Together we have procrastinated the living shit out of this year whilst gorging on pizza, garlic bread, chocolate, cake, pasta bake and every other pasta dish you can think of. But mostly pasta bake. And then us both promising that we're going to start eating healthy and getting fit. It never happened.
So many TV show/film marathons. She got me to play The Walking Dead game, and I loved it. She watched me blitz through a playthrough of FFX last week in one day, because I did not sleep (I had a really messed up sleeping pattern and was trying to fix it). Without her I would not have survived first year, especially living in a flat with douche #1 and douche #2. I really wanna visit her in Ireland over the Summer, but I'm too shy to ask? lol

3. Booked a trip to Disneyland!! I've dreamt of going there since I was a little doot and I'm finally going!! I paid for it all myself. Well, with my scholarship money. When they awarded me that scholarship, I don't think a trip to Disneyland Paris is what they hand in mind for it.
This is also my very first adult holiday without any family members! Woooo!

4. Learnt that I am the most awkward, embarrassment-prone person on the face of the Earth. Like I knew I was bad but omg uni has pushed it to the limit. On my first day I stood awkwardly outside one of my flatmates doors with all my kitchen stuff thinking it was the kitchen before realising I was at the completely wrong end of the flat, the two guys just stared at me weirdly and then laughed. Later on in the term, I was walking down the stairs to the library when I missed a step and fell all the way down and landed on all fours, and [I]everybody saw.[/I] It was like a cartoon, slapstick-humour-worthy fall. Again, that term, I had a cold and needed to get tissue from the toilet room because I had sneezed and snot was all over my nose (I know it's gross), but one of my flatmates and a girl he was talking to were blocking the door, and I couldn't talk to ask them to move so I just had to sandwich myself between them to get through. He looked me dead in the eye before looking at the snot all over my nose. It was awful. I died inside. In term 2, we were put in new seminar groups and unfortunately I had a seminar leader who was interested in our lives, so we had to go around the room and say 2 awesome things that had happened to us every week. The first time she did it, I was late so I had to sit on the end of the row of seats, so I was first and was completely ambushed. For the life of me I couldn't think of anything so I just said "Um... I made a really nice new pasta dish?". It was awful, everyone else had brilliant stories and I'm sat over here in the corner like some weird pasta girl with no life.

Those are just snippets.

5. Performed at a museum, and had possibly the first ever positive experience with improv I've had in my actor training so far. And it was exhilarating! I had so much fun.

6. Stood in the hallway chatting to Ellen, our flatmates had been out drinking and one of them was in the toilet. There's kebab everywhere. Eventually, he comes out. Absolutely stark naked. Zero clothing. I turn my head and oh hey, there's a penis! And Ellen and I are like wtf, Dan?? And he just says sorry, and casually keeps on walking, completely unphased. We laughed so hard that night.

7. Performed with an MA student, made some really awesome friends with the people I performed with, and was introduced to a really great song which I had to perform to by a local band called Ben and Alfie. The song is called Snowfall. It's lovely, you should check it out. Also, as part of this experience I also got to see a little glimpse of what drama therapy is like, and really understood why it helps. As part of one of our rehearsal sessions, our MA student director, Steph, had us use chairs during that song, and we had to relate to the chairs as if they were people. It could be any person we wanted, we just had to form a relationship with it somehow by using our bodies, and then everyone else watching had to try to guess what the relationship was. Earlier on in the session she had shown us this collection of photographs of these people all staring out to sea, so I still had that in my mind. So in my piece I was a child at sea with their parent, and I was trying to get my parent to come and jump over the waves with me but they refused, so I had to go jump by myself. And the kid was sulking, but in the end they give in and forgive their parent because kids always love their parents no matter what when they're little. And then when it was done she kept asking me why I did that and I didn't know at first, I just thought it was a good idea and she kept prompting me so I just thought that, yeah when I was a kid I always loved the sea and the beach and my mum always refused to go and play with me, not because she's afraid of water or anything, she just mostly couldn't be bothered or didn't want to get wet or whatever. And now that I'm an adult, I don't think that's bad of her or anything, it's completely understandable, but you don't feel that way when you're a child. And then when I got home that night I just cried really hard???? I don't know why. It's really not upsetting, but I was tired after a long day of rehearsals for both that and the museum rehearsals, so I was pretty exhausted and probably delusional. But I'm happy I had that experience? It was nice. And she ended up including my piece in the final performance, with the polishing of course. So that's super awesome :P it was my favourite part to perform. I had to bend my body in ways I never have before in order to imitate waves lol.


I think that's all I'll list. There are others, which I'll probably write about at some other point, but for now I'm tired and I have to be up early. So for now I'll leave you with this. Good night, guys.

-Haliefax

That's correctimundo, my second semester is over, woot woot! This one went by so fast, like hella fast. First term dragged in comparison! I've enjoyed this term so much. It's had it's downs to but overall... spiffing.

I mean it's technically not over yet, I'm not leaving until Saturday, but I have no more lectures, yaaay. Just submitted my final essay of the year (no lectures/assignments in term 3, will explain), I left it a wee bit to the last minute, I'm so glad it's over. Ugh. Also hd a performance today! These last few weeks have been so busy. So many rehearsals. So many. I'm like a lil bit hyped up on caffein but also really really over-tired, it's an odd combination??

I had my exam performance on the 14th, that went well, it was the strangest thing I've ever done theatre-wise. Maybe, i do'nt know the thing I did today was pretty ****in weird, mind. Let me elaborate!

My exam was performed in a museum. Not a museum on stage or anything, a legit museum, a pretty famous one in Exeter I think? They got some pretty valuable stuff. But basically, the practical module tutor I got for this term specialises in site-specific theatre and he does clowning and peep-shows and things, so we were learning all about that. An assignment we had early on in the term to prepare us for the exam was to thing of a thing we're really passionate about (yikes) and then talk about it for 90 seconds in front of the group. We had to try to stay away from scripting it beforehand, keep it a lil improv, and then keep each other's attention while presenting, it was pretty brutal. I did Disney, kinda wish I didn't. I managed to hook all the people in because during my go I was up against three other girls, so I sang the opening note of 'Circle of Life' and they all came flocking over, and I was like, now hot diggity damn I bet when I sang that note each and every one of you thought of the Lion King and they were all hot diggity damn it YES (I'm embellishing). But then I sort of fell apart from that point, didn't know what to do next lol.

For our exam we got split into groups of four and we had to visit this museum and look at this particular starfish exhibit that no one ever looks at 'cause it's pretty closed off and not really all that attractive compared to other things in the museum, and then Tacko our tutor told us that our exam entails us trying to attract people to this exhibit and make it more interesting. My group decided to make our piece about a time travelling ship and all the people on our voyage were travelling with us to 1872, collecting the stuff in the museum, including the starfish. It was actually really, really fun. I was a loopy scientist :P I've never done anything remotely similar before. There was a lot of improve involved (though we did script a lot of stuff). But even so we never got to practise with an audience beforehand, so on the day the audience was different than what we anticipated. Like, they moved at a really ****ing glacial pace. So there was this one point where I'm introduced, and it's in my bug room, and I tell them about this contraption I'd made back in my day that emulates the sounds that different insects make, but that since travelling to the 21st century I'd picked up an iPad (I pronounced it 'ih'-pad, haw haw haw) and it did a better job and pretended to try to demonstrate, but couldn't connect it to the 'wiffy' (wifi haw haw haw), and then after they leave my bug room, I was supposed to run around the other side of the museum so that our audience wouldn't see me, and then sneak into another exhibit, but they took so long to get out of my bug room so by the team each person had left and moved I didn't have time to move without being seen, so I had to improvise there and then somehow to make it work or else I would've lowered our marks, so I grabbed my trusty ihpad out my coat pocket and started waving it around in the air as if I was trying to connect it to the wiffy still as I was moving into the exhibit, and the audience saw me, I got a lot of laughs! That was actually my favourite part, I'm usually shitty at improv.

So yeah, that was the exam. Today I performed in an MA students devised piece for her final thing which she has to write about for her dissertation etc. It was really good, I enjoyed it so much. We've been rehearsing for months, so it's been so stressful. But definitely worth it. But yeah like I said it was really strange, there wasn't a straight narrative to the piece, it was a physical theatre piece with lots of like interesting imagery and bit parts of stories rather than one over-arching plot. My flatmate came to watch, she said it was weird but good lol. The music we used was hella good.

I met a lot of new people this term. I gotta say, I just really love drama people. They're unlike anyone else you'll ever meet. I've met a lot of people who have looked down on me once I've told them I'm doing a drama degree, and we all get it in drama. We kind of need to stick together a bit lol. And we're all so weird. I love it.

I'm so happy to go home though. I haven't seen my family in 3 months since I haven't gone home at all this term, I miss them so much. Actually that's a lie, I saw my dad for a brief moment because he came down to Exeter to watch my exam at the museum! But I couldn't talk to him for long unfortunately. I miss my little brother so much. I was out about mid way through term with some friends seeing a play, and I got a text from my mum in the middle of it saying that Oliver said he missed me because he and I have intelligent conversations?! Haha! He's 6 years old! I teared up a little. I can't wait to see everyone.

BUUUTTTTT... if I'm being perfectly honest I'm so excited to get home and play FFX HD Remaster, I know that's pretty sad but I've been waiting so long ugghh, and a bunch of people on my newsfeed are talking about it including my brother Alex and there's loads of threads on here and I'm so jealous of all of you ugghhh. I have my ps3 here but I had my copy delivered to my home in Wales so I could play it over Easter (would've been a terrible idea to play it here, I had too much work and rehearsals and absolutely [I]none of it would've gotten done[/I] because I'd be too busy playing).

I'm also going to see Wicked in April! It's coming to Cardiff, I'm so excited! Wooooo! I also have an entire month off.

Oh yeah and term 3! I have no lessons or anything, completely free. I'm actually a bit pissed off about it. We were never notified of this when applying for this course and only found out this term. Basically, term 3 is a giant festival here at Exeter where drama students put on shows and act in them and what not. Which sounds fantastic, I know. If you're not a first year! I, along with many other students have been auditioning for lots and lots of shows these last two weeks (on top of everything else we've had to do, no less) and the majority of us first years have no been given any parts (all three years are involved). Most parts have been going to the older years, which yeah, I get it, they're more experienced. But like, what the **** are we supposed to do? We still have to pay for this end of the course as well as accommodation, for nothing? Literally gonna be sat around doing jack shit for six weeks. It really, really, really irritates me.

Had we been informed, I would've made a proposal so I could put on a show, but now it might be too late. Me and a few friends are thinking of trying to get a space so we can put something on ourselves so we won't be wasting our time and money. I really wanna talk to someone about it but I don't know who. It definitely isn't okay and needs to change, and the only fair solution I can think of is if there's like a compulsory first year's show put on each term 3? So like, in term 2 we could elect a committee of students in our year to put together a show, and then only first years can be involved in the show, including acting, directing, tech, everything. I think it's fair because we're put at a disadvantage against the higher years. I wanna conduct a survey, have all the people putting on shows fill it out. They'd have to put the name of their show, and answer how many people are in their overall cast, then list how many of them are 1st years, 2nd years and 3rd years. I think the evidence would be overwhelming.

I just really don't know who to speak to about it. My course can be pretty ****ed up, they keep us so out of the loop. Crafty little shits.

Anyway I'm super tired, caffeine is sort of wearing off. I'll probably just end up watching something on netflix though.

Nighty night to you all, hope all is well.
Haliefax

I've been home from uni for a week now, having officially survived my first ever semester! I'm glad to have a break and see everyone again but I kinda can't wait to go back in a way. Idk. I have mixed feelings. On one hand I absolutely hate living in the flat (I'll explain why) so it's nice to be away but I miss the friends I made already and I hate coming home to judgemental relatives asking annoying questions all the time. You know what I mean? Anyone else get that when they visit relatives at Christmas?

Anyway. Why I hate living in halls of residence. Remember the post I made when I first got to uni and I mentioned how nice all my flatmates were? Well that's changed. Two of them (the rugby boys) are complete and utter ****wits and I can't stand them. Particularly the one. He's a spoilt little rich brat. They're both originally from Devon and the one has the most annoying accent ever, it doesn't sound like typical west country, Cornish combine 'arvester or anything. It's like a stereotypical posh English accent and it's high pitched and ugh. He was really quiet at the beginning so we didn't really hear him speak much but now he is SO loud and just the worst. He has no consideration for anyone else in the flat. And they're both so messy. Like, I'm messy, ya know? But they are [I]messy[/I] messy. They leave dirty underwear all over the place (I've lost count of the amount of skidmarks I've seen whilst living there), they pee in the shower but like. Not in the drain or anything, because it stinks out the whole flat when the shower door is open. I don't mind if you pee in the shower, just do it down the bloody drain because believe it or not, but you're actually sharing a flat with three other people you barely know and, I know this might be a difficult concept to comprehend, but we actually [I]don't[/I] want to step into your piss every time we need a shower.

Someone stole the spoilt bratty one with the horrible voices' chocolate once and he came into the lounge to ask Ellen and I if it was one of us (Ellen is one of my flatmates, she's fab) and we said no, and he said "Oh, it's ok, it's alright, it doesn't matter" to our faces and then walked away, then he muttered "fat bitches" under his breath as if we couldn't hear. I hate that guy. He's so ****ing rude.

Possibly the absolute worst thing they've done is leave a giant bag of chicken out on the window sill in the kitchen to defrost. They left it there for at least two days and it began to stink, so they must've finally realised "Oh, hey, we've just left a big bag of meat to defrost in the sun for a few days, maybe that makes it go off? Idk" and then decided to chuck it in the kitchen bin. Not take it out to the big bins outside in the court or anything, nope. They thought it best to put this giant sack of salmon-****ing-ella into our kitchen bin and leave it there for at least another day. Without cleaning the window sill, btw. Admittedly I'm really stubborn so I refused to take it out for them or clean up their mess. The next day I had to be up early so I was only out in the hallway for a couple of seconds before rushing out the door to get my bus, but it absolutely stunk. I can't even begin to tell you how horrible it was. When I got home, Ellen had gotten rid of it. I told her not to because it's not our responsibility but I understand why she did, it was disgusting. There's no way we could've lived with that smell. And they didn't even apologise. They just left their mess for the clean to fix. Ugh.

One of them stole my ****ing tea, too. Like if little bits of my food goes missing every now and then I'm generally pretty chill but don't you dare steal my tea you pieces of shit. I confronted them, and they lied. The tea was in their cupboard, and it was Welsh brand tea that you can't get in England so there's no way they mistook it for theirs.

Also one time Ellen left half a pizza on the side to cool before she put it in the fridge for later, and when we came back, big bites had been taken out of it. She asked them who did it and they said, "Oh, yeah, that was our friends". They saw her take the pizza out of the oven and knew it wasn't theirs. She didn't even properly apologise, Ellen said they said it really sarcastically and snickered.

The other guy we live with is an international student from Singapore and he barely leaves his room except to cook. We had a little bit of a problem with him before when he was peeing all over the toilet seat and not cleaning it up. Back when Ellen and I still kinda liked the other two, we all put a note on door telling boys to pee with the toilet seat up to prevent accidents and he stopped after that, so we're cool now. He's nice, I think he just feels a little out of place. His English is pretty broken and not fluent so maybe he feels like there's a barrier? Idk. But we found out the other week that he likes the Walking Dead so when the season comes back in February we're gonna ask him if he wants to watch it on the big tv with us. Me and Ellen had been having takeaway nights on Mondays where we'd sit and watch TWD and OUAT with a takeaway.

Ellen's from Belfast, she's awesome and her accent is really cool. I've noticed my Welsh accent a lot more since living in England which I'm actually glad of. It's like I've found a new appreciation for the accent. Whenever I hear one in England I smile. Apparently when I talk normally, I don't sound too Welsh but when I get pissed off it intensifies? Lol. A couple of my guy friends take the piss out of me for it.

I think me and the girls I'm getting a house with next year (including Ellen) have found the house we want. I haven't actually visited it yet because I came home earlier than them, because they're all med students and had to stay on an extra week. But it was my favourite house from the ones we found online and apparently it doesn't disappoint in real life apart from the really small bathroom, so I think we'll be getting it. I'm really excited =D

Got all my presents ready, people have done well from me this year I reckon. I spent most of the term being pretty poor because my scholarship came in late, it came through just before I left for home so I've spent half of it on Christmas presents. I get the next installment on the tenth of January so I should be much better off next term. Wooo!

I got two essays to write over the break. I want to cry. They're both confusing and annoying and longer than my first one and ugh. One of them I'm sure I'll get into when I actually get going with it. It's just the getting started part. I'm basing it on Queer Theory in Twelfth Night. I saw an adaptation of it about a month ago in the university theatre by The Royal Shakespeare Company. It was really good, I enjoyed it. But I was hella disappointed because about half way through some of the stewards came in with pizza and the actors were like who ordered pizza and I put my hand up out of instinct because it's pizza right? Nobody in the audience actually ordered pizza, it was part of the performance. They started giving it out at the front and back of the theatre and we were sat in the middle, so we had to wait for everyone to pass the pizzas around for it to get to us, and literally thE LAST ****ING SLICE WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF AND THIS COUPLE BEFORE US TOOK IT BEFORE IT GOT TO ME AND I WAS SO MAD. I WAS SO CLOSE.

WHY???11!!!?

So that sucked. But other than that it was good.

My course is alright, not what I was expecting. Not enough actual [I]acting[/I] involved in the first semester so I'm hoping that'll change. It was more about getting us to explore our bodies and open ourselves up to expressing things using our bodies rather than text based performance. Lots of improv involved. I am not about that. I prefer things a little more traditional. But I got into it by the end. I'm not comfortable with improv, I just naturally not great at it. And there were so many people in my group who were really great and comfortable and so naturally funny and I'm just like. How? Teach me your ways! Luckily I wasn't alone, there were plenty of others who didn't get into it so quickly. We're mixing up our groups next term so I'll be with a bunch of different people. Thankfully I'm still with my friend Emily. We're both similar in that we're not improv fans etc. There are drama students who can't wait to be the centre of attention and show off what they can do. Emily and I are not those students. We wish we were.

This is one long-ass post so I'll wrap it up for ya. Congrats if you stayed with it this long, props!

One last point. Go see the film Frozen! I am absolutely obsessed with it. It's fantastic. I could write an entire post on how that film is great and how pro-feminist it is and how I wish I was still a child that could grow up with that film because it is fantastic and all kids should see it. All adults should see it, too. 10/10 would recommend.

That's all!
Haliefax

So I'm just getting ready to go to a drama social up in one of the clubs here in Exeter, and it's the first time I'll have gone drinking here yet. Oh yeah btw I moved to Exeter uni, I don't think I've updated to tell you that yet but yeah, here I am! Woooo! I'm just about settling in. My room is really nice and cozy and my flatmates are lovely. There are four of them, two of which are really quiet and don't really like to go out much and another two who are the exact opposite and have been out drinking almost every night. They're all really nice, though. They seem like good flatmates so far (idk though because I've been here less than two weeks). We've all been really chill with each other which is awesome, like nobody is all "you're not allowed to use my stuff!" or like being fussy about dishes and stuff. We all seem to just be doing each other's dishes whenever it's there which is lovely, and nobody seems annoyed by it. I did the dishes today. The two loud ones are both rugby players, and one of them is really cute, ain't gonna lie.

I started my course on Monday and so far all we've done is play drama games, and it's been great. I think they're just trying to have us get to know one another and become comfortable with each other before we get into the gritty shit. Everyone in my group seems really nice =D

My room is situated the closest to the kitchen. A Hufflepuff through and through.

I joined the Disney society, Uni singers and a musical theatre society doing spring awakening, which I'm auditioning for tomorrow.

Yesterday I got some really ****ing shitty news, my kitten was poisoned so they had to put her down. I've been in tears on and off, I'm ****ing devastated tbh. It's kind of tough though because on one hand I'm really excited because of where I am but then I'm also really gutted because I loved that kitten and I wish I could've been home to say goodbye to her. She was only about 3 months old. ****ing bastards leaving antifreeze out for animals, makes me sick.

I'm sure I've more to say but I can't really concentrate tbh, just wanted to bring ya'll an update and kill the time til I leave.

I'll speak to you guys soon. Sorry for my inactivity

Halie

It was my results day on the 15th, and I meant to make this post sooner but I got busy and then went on holiday for a week (just got back yesterday).

Results day was one of the best days of my life, legitimately. I didn't sleep the night before because I was so nervous, but it didn't dampen the day at all. I had a text from Exeter University at about 8am telling me I'd gotten in, so I knew I'd gotten at least the grades I needed, so I was obviously already well excited. Then Kris and I made our way down to the school for about 9am and met up with a few of our mates before we got our envelopes. I opened them up and there were two separate sheets, and I thought the top one was just saying all my details and shit so I just skipped to the second one, but it only had two of my results on there, which were A* and B, so I was all confused yet happy with the A*. So I sauntered up to my head of sixth form and asked her what was going on, why weren't my Performing Arts results on there and she told me to look at the top sheet again, and pointed out the other two A*s I had gotten for it.

You guys, I got 3x A*. Like, are you ****ing kidding me? [I]How??[/I]

I was just like, nope, these can't be my results, surely? But alas, they are! And then she told me I got the best results in the school. Can you ****ing believe that? I didn't. But they put up a blog post on the school website with our grades on and yeah, I got the best grades. I don't mean to brag or anything but I also kind of do because Jesus ****ing Christ, I got 3x A*.

Literally, nothing anyone could have said to me that day would've put me in a bad mood, I was just ecstatic. I still am.

I'm moving in two weeks on Sunday to Exeter, yikes! But awesome, too. Have to start packing soon, I've gotten some new sheets and bedding and we've ordered a nice new rug, I also wanna get a corkboard and some posters and a lamp and other nice stuff to go in the room, lots of pictures and all that that. I'm not gonna take me TV yet because it's big and I don't think it'll fit. I'll probably have to wait until next year if I move into a house and stuff. I've got my accommodation sorted as well, I just have to send in a picture for my Unicard and some other stuff. It's all happening really fast, I thought I had so much time left but Jesus. I'm getting excited now though. I've been absolutely terrified mostly because I'm terrible at talking to people I don't know and I've never lived in another country without any family before so obviously I'm nervous.

I was looking through some stuff on the website and all that and they have a Disney society, you guys. A Disney society. [I]I ****ing belong there.[/I]

This summer is going by waaaay too fast. Which on one hand is a good thing because I can't wait for September to roll round when I'll hopefully be moving to Exeter, but at the same time it's like, holy shit, time needs to slow down because [I]I might be moving to Exeter.[/I] And I'm not really prepared for that.

I also feel like I've wasted this summer. I waste most summers but this one feels especially wasteful. Maybe because it's like my last one as a proper kid before I move onto adult things so I probably should've savoured every second of it. I've mostly just been reading and playing games. And sleeping. Lots and lots of sleeping. We had a thunderstorm last night and it was [I]awesome.[/I] I love those, they don't happen often, and believe me last night didn't disappoint. We totally needed it as well, it's been so hot. For us Brits anyway, we're not used to this shit.

Me and me mum booked a holiday last week, we're going to Gran Canaria for a week at the end of August. Looking forward to that. Also, results day on the 15th. Definitely shitting myself. I put every ****ing ounce of my efforts into trying to get three As, and if I don't end up having them, well... Idk I'll probably just like cry in a corner or something overly dramatic. But really, though, bricking it.

I started writing a story today, Idk why. I'm not really much of a writer. But I had a really awesome dream the other night and it didn't really make much sense when I dreamt it, but I kept thinking about it throughout the days after, trying to find ways to get it to make sense and shit and then just had to start writing it down 'cause it was getting on me nerves. I only have a page written so far haha.

I read The Fault In Our Stars the other day, and I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it. It made me cry like a little bitch. It's definitely aimed at a teenage/adult audience but I honestly think anyone could enjoy it, so I'd recommend it.

I hope you're all well.
Haliecat

So I'm sat here a-waiting for some clothes to dry at 8:30am, and I haven't been to sleep yet unfortunately but hey, that's what happens when most of your courses finish at school and your sleeping pattern gets ****ed. I'm going to get my first tattoo today, aahhhh. Nervous. My appointment is at 11 so I'm just trying to pass time until then. Kris is coming in with me, thank ****. I have no idea what to expect, I'm a wee bit frightened of needles. But it'll be alright, I can do this! Lol.

It was my birthday two weeks ago, it was alright. Bit of a shit day tbh, had a bit of a fallout with one of my mates. But I did get an amazing Game of thrones cake from my friends, homemade and all. It was brilliant.

Oh and I can't remember if I updated since my audition, but either way, I didn't get in unfortunately but I wasn't at all surprised. The school was waaaay out of my league, haha. So it's hopefully off to Exeter for me come September, as that's my second choice. I just need three A's (fml). >_>

Have a lovely day,
Haliecat

So I'll be making my way down to London tomorrow for my audition at Central School of Speech and Drama on Monday. I'm really, really, really nervous but at the same time I'm telling myself I'm not nervous. I feel so under-prepared. I have to perform two Shakespeare monologues and one contemporary. I'm performing the contemporary one with a Southern drawl which is fun. I also have to sing two songs, one from a musical and one of any choosing. I'm not really worried about the singing part, though.

I'll be so relieved when it's all over and done with. That sounds like I don't want to go there, I do, but it's been very stressful preparing for it on top of my schoolwork and the two shows I'm performing it at the end of April/beginning of May. Agh! Too many lines and monologues.

Anyway, wish me luck. Hopefully it all goes well.

Toodle-doo.
Haliecat

So I finally caught a cold/cough, unfortunately. I was doing so well! It'd been the longest I'd not caught a cold over Winter in ages but alas, it was keen to snatch me up. The most depressing part is not being able to sing, I sing every goddamn day. What else does one do to pass the time when on the toilet but sing?? More annoyingly, I have an audition/interview/workshop at University of Exeter tomorrow and the day after. Luckily I don't have to sing or prepare a monologue so that's cool. The audition is more based on how well you do in the workshop. So this lass needs to be confident!

I have two other workshop-based auditions in Bristol and Manchester in February, then a monologue/song based audition at Central School of Speech and Drama in April. That last one is the biggie! It's my top choice. Extremely nervous about that one but luckily I've got a lot more time to prepare. They sent me a list of monologues to choose from, which I have to perform in front of the group of fellow auditionees I'm placed with. Yikes!

I watched Django Unchained last night, it was ****ing awesome! One of the best films I've ever seen, absolutely loved it. Right up there with Pulp Fiction me reckons. This coming from someone who isn't a fan of blood and gore (a bit squeamish, me) but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. I also watched Les Mis the other week, after being excited about it for nearly a year. I absolutely loved it, my friend Sarah and wept like babies all the way through haha. When we came out of the screen room, there was a huge queue of people waiting to watch the next showing, and they all looked at me funnily because I had these huge, red puffy eyes from crying, you could just tell they were like "Oh shit, what are we getting ourselves into..." lol. Nonetheless, Anne Hathaway deserves an Oscar and Eddie Redmayne deserves a lot more recognition, he was brilliant. My favourite Marius so far. =D

We're all starting to get a bit scared and weary now in my year. We've all sent off our applications and uni offers are coming in so it's all getting very real haha. It's dawning on me that I'm not going to be with my friends next year and I'll have to go make new ones D: that scares the shit out of me, being completely on my own without my family and friends. I know it was my own choice to go study outside of the country but even so, I am bricking it lol. My dad's getting upset, too. >.<

Right, I'm off to go run lines now. G'day mateys, have a good'n.

Haliiieee

I'm really starting to freak out and am currently feeling a lot of pressure. I got four rolls of canvas for my final piece for art today, and I hung it up on the wall in the spare bedroom so I could get started on painting it and I realised that I don't actually ****ing know what to do. I have the shittest idea in the world so far and I actually ****ing hate it, I really don't want to do it. I'm not even entirely sure what my project is based on if I'm honest. Our projects have to be based around issues (again, ugh) and I chose to base mine on personalities and how people differ and all that shit. It's all a little bit vague, but it's all I could come up with because my teacher has been pestering me for months about it. I feel like it's all just been conjured up just to get him off my case and I don't actually care about what I'm doing. I literally have no motivation or inspiration for any of it, which is really ****ing scary because I don't have very long to finish this.

This is one of those situations where I really wish I could stop time so I could just pause and try and think of an idea that I'm actually passionate about, because I don't have the time to do that right now. Grgghhh!

I have so much to dooooo. I hate this school year already. Ughhh.

Rant rant rant. Angry angry angry. ...Ugh.

I also, really ****ing hate this keyboard. It keeps sticking. Grrgghh!

/Firstworldproblems

So yeah... I'm going to go and eat something really bad for me now. Hopefully that'll give me some inspiration, failing that, help me forget my troubles.

Byyyeee,
Hallington

So hello! A little update since me last entry. I'm really tired right now so I'm probably going to rush this, but I feel like venting/celebrating before I go to sleep, so... that's what I'm doing!

I just got home from drama club a little while ago, aaaand it was a good session for the most part but I feel like there are going to be repercussions. First off, let me explain. I got the part of Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which is [I]exciting.[/I] But one of my sort-of friends really, really wanted the part and now I feel like she may be a bitch about it because I got it. I do feel quite bad, because I didn't even intend on going for it. And I don't mean that in an up-my-own-butt way. I knew that my friend wanted it, and from past experience she usually gets whatever part she wants so I didn't even think to try out for it. But last week I was asked to read for the part, so I did. This week, Amy (my friend) asked if she could read for it, to which they said yes, and then at the end they told us I'd gotten it.

I feel bad. But happy at the same time. It's an awkward situation, there was an awkward atmosphere afterwards lol. Oh well. I was considering giving up the part because I don't want to create a rift between us, but then I changed my mind. Call me a bitch, but it's my last year before I leave for uni and I really want to get in as much experience as I can, so if that means bruising the ego of a minor acquaintance then so be it. I used to hate the cow anyway.

Oh my, bitchy Halie is coming out. xD

But really, though, I spent the majority of my high school life giving in to this girl because it was her way or no way at all, and I didn't want to lose her as a friend. But I just really don't give a shit about that anymore. I know that sounds mean, but I won't even know her this time next year (I'll be in uni, I hope). If she was right for the part, she would've gotten it. I'm improving now, and I wanna keep improving, but that's not going to happen if I let someone like her make me feel bad when I didn't do anything wrong. At least, I don't feel like I've done anything wrong. Have I? I dunno, maybe I'm just toughening up and becoming a hard-faced cow? I hope not, lol. I think I've just grown up a bit.

In other acting news, I hope we'll be getting our We Will Rock You parts on Thursday. It'll be the first rehearsal, so maybe not. I'm ready to audition, though. I've been ready for weeks, I'm so bloody excited!

In other general news, I have an iPhone now. I finally caved in and got one. I've always been a bit snotty when it comes to smartphones, I'm one of those people who tends to really not give a shit about phones in general. But this phone... I can't even put it down. It's so addictive. Goddamn you, Apple!

I'm in good health, friends and family are all in good health. All is well. Just constantly tired and stressed from work over-load, unfortunately. But could be a lot worse, so I won't complain. I'm close to finding all five of me uni choices, and I've enlisted the help of the lovely Martin with my personal statement (thanks, Mart xD).

I'm going to bed now, have a lovely day/night
Haliecopter

So I've been a little bit inactive lately, sorry guys. I'm very very busy right now and hopefully soon I'm going to be even busier as I've been job hunting again. Not very much luck yet but I don't really have a right to complain. My friend Sarah and I have applied for the same position in a Next clothing shop, I'm hoping we both get hired because I think it'll be great if we could work together. I think it'd be better if she got the job, though. The shop is two long bus rides away from me, but Sarah can drive so it's a bit more convenient for her. Not that I'd turn it down on account of a couple of bus rides or anything.

I've taken Performing Arts this year as well as Psychology. So right now I'm doing those two alongside Art and Photography and Welsh BAQ, too. Next month I'll be taking two different Performing Arts classes, though. I wanted to be in the We Will Rock You production and the only way I can is if I join the other class, too. So all in all, I'm taking six subjects as opposed to a measly three like last year. I've got mah work cut out for me!

I'm auditioning for the part of Scaramouche, wooo! For those of you who aren't familiar, she's the main female lead. My drama teacher told me that she thinks I'd be ideal for the part, so that was lovely of her. I'm so bloody excited, ahh!

I have to prepare between 4-6 monologues for my class and then record them in time for Easter. I've got a Lady Macbeth monologue on my list already, I just need to find some others. I looked at some of the Vagina Monologues (har har har) but unfortunately the only ones I liked were over three minutes long so I canny do them >.< I was going to try and find one that I could a foreign accent with because it'd be fun. Obviously an accent I can actually do lol.

It's been a lot of fun doing drama again. I've really really missed it. Right now I'm doing Uncle Vanya by Chekhov, it's not the most interesting play I've ever read but I'm enjoying it. I'm kind of pissed off though because sixth formers aren't allowed to have singing lessons anymore so I won't be able to finish my exams unless I hire a private tutor. Maybe if I get a job I'll hire one but right now I can't afford it.

I've also decided to start my driving lessons once I get a job. I've been putting it off for long enough now and it's high time I just grew a ballsack, sucked it up and got over my fear. I just have a big stigma about it for some reason, the thought of driving freaks the living shit out of me. I have a crazy fear that the instructor will turn to me after the first lesson is over and say "I think it's important that you never be allowed behind the wheel of a car ever again." lol

I'm halfway through A Storm of Swards part 2. I'm loving this series. I can't even. Ugh, it's brill. I've gotten my parents into the show as well. You can imagine how awkward it was watching it with my dad. D: lmao.

I've been using my cross-trainer a lot, I try and go on there three times a week for at least half an hour. Hopefully soon I'll start to see some results.

That's about it for me. Can't really think of much else.

G'day to ye all,
Haliefax