Univeristy- End of week 1/ week 2

//Intro

Well it’s the end of my first week at University and the official end of "fresher’s week". (Although my college is having a fresher fortnight because we are the best college in York by a mile).

This is a quick summary to keep you updated, and there is more about what God is doing on campus which some of you may find interesting, if you don't then there is plenty more to read =D

//Events

So with fresher’s week come events, the main event for the whole of the fresher’s being the Fresher’s Ball. This was taking place at the York racecourse and so was a black tie event.

We had to get buses to the event (all part of our ticket cost) and so we joined a queue to get onto a bus. When we were on me and my mate Kallum tried to get to the back of the bus (top deck) but were held while the song "there were __ on the back seat of the bus" was sang (__ being replaced by the number of people on the back seat of the bus at that given time). By the end of the 15 min journey we had 24 people on the back seat of the bus! At the fresher’s ball we saw DJ Ironik because Wiley "lost his Rolex" (i.e. he was sick) It was an amazing evening and I met a lot of people from other colleges.

Other events included the Vanbrugh bar quiz (held in the V-bar). This was quite amusing with team names such as "Quiz on my face" and "Quizzy rascal". Our Team was called "Le Page against the machine" due to our team being from Le Page Court floor 2. The results were called and wooooo "Le Page against the machine" had won, unfortunately we later learned that there was another team called "Le page against the machine" and we had actually lost...but you know. *Update* Week 2 we came joint 3rd *end of Update*

We also had access all areas where every pub, club, venue on campus held an event. Events included a silent disco, the Cheeky Girls and a secret performance from Elliot Minor! I wandered into Elliot Minor by accident and they were really good. I didn't get to see the Cheeky Girls though...Oh what a shame.


There were many more events but I can't think of them at this moment in time. But it was a great week.

//People

I promised the people on my floor that I would mention them somewhere in my next blog (which most of them actually read =D). So here goes.

-Kallum- A great guy, does like cross dressing a bit too much but what can I say "each to their own". Just like frosties...he's great! He also got into the Vanbrugh football team!

-Susana- My next door neighbours (along with the Kitchen), is an international student but has amazing English. Lovely to talk to and enjoys to facebook rape me...oh the fun!

-Tabby-My across the corridor mate, she’s a really cool person with a bubbly personality. She is studying History of Art and therefore has a ridiculously low number of contact hours...grrrr XD

-Lydia (left), Laura (right)- Lydia is one of the kindest people I have yet to meet, she cares about everyone and is so generous (I have many times eaten her food =D). Laura is my neighbour from two doors down, she’s a really lively person who likes to parrrttyyyyy!!! XD

-Sajni (left-not actually on our floor but has been adopted), Verity (right)-Sajni pays back taxi fairs...Verity doesn't....what more can I say. Nah only joking they are both awesome people and I seem to spend a lot of
time in Verity's room fixing her internet lol.

-Uncle Bulgaria (aka Ivaylo)- So Nicknamed due to his home country, Uncle is secretly a member of the Bulgarian MI5. We therefore all have to be on our best behavouir when arround him. He is a real laugh and a great character.

-James- Also living close to me James is a History student, also with a stupidly small number of hours. His main source of food is toast...I saw him just today eating 10 slices...for lunch.
 

-Richard (Left), Johnny (Right) - Richard is the dude who kept me awake on the first night (read previous blog) and we share a kitchen. We are turning into old house wives though...taking out the rubbish and complaining about the state of our kitchen. He is also the only person other than myself confident to take apart a laptop....Johnny is a machine, partying till the early hours...lectures at 9:15...he’s not human....Richard also sucks at Mario Kart!

-Jono (left) me (right) - Jono is the other Christian on my floor, having done a year out with his Church he is nearly 2 years older than me. However just like me he can have a good laugh and has very weird eating habits...i.e. sausages at 2am! But hey Student living is weird!

-Millie- I do everything this girl tells me...just because she's the boss. Don’t cross! Only joking she’s a really nice girl and enjoys partying, saying that nearly all of our floor do but hey. She has an amazing sound system, but no laptop as of yet...that is where I come in!

There are other people on my floor, a couple of second and third years and some other people who I have no photos for...=S, if i find any I shall add them. They are all really nice and all have different attitudes to religion and life.

//Course
So I have now properly started my course, and at the moment it’s not very challenging. This is mainly because they are trying to get everyone up to the same standard in maths, physics and electronics. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I took A-levels in all of these subjects so nothing is too difficult. I have however started to learn how to program in "C", a language which I have never used and am really enjoying it. I found out that the first assignment is going to be to make a computer game...oh how I love electronics =D.

//Christian Union
On Saturday I went down to the CU main meeting and was very encouraging, a lot of people were there and they had a band and good solid teaching. They also emphasised the fact that they were not a CU and openly said that they would rather us go to Church than CU. I also learnt that the CU is not part of the Student Union (UYSU) as they have a statement of faith for anyone who wants to be a voting member. Following that Jono and I (see above) headed down on Tuesday to the college CU, this included a bible study, prayer and talk and was a really good way to meet other first year Christian in my college.

//Sunday Roast
Last Sunday our whole floor clubbed together to cook a Sunday roast dinner for ourselves and the Provost (Head of College). We had 4 Chickens and a lot of vegetables. It was a really great dinner and a great end to an amazing fresher’s week.

//Prayer Request
-For the people on my floor to continue to be interested in faith
-Thanking God for putting me in such an amazing place
-For Church hunting on Sunday
-For the course elections coming up in which I am standing for course rep

//End
So although I have only just touched the surface of what is going on in my life and at York at the moment, I hope for everyone reading, whether you be family or friends or even someone I have never met, I hope you have a lovely week, stay strong and thanks for reading. Please comment!

God Bless David xxx

University Finally!

//Intro
Well I said that I would post a blog as soon as I got here, but that didn't happen =S

So I shall guide you through what has happened so far:

//Unpacking
My lovely family and I left the big city at around 7:30 on Saturday and made it to York just before 11...which considering is not bad at all. 6 STYC's (Second year contacts that look after us) took all my belongings up to my room and even offered to unpack. Then my family and I went into town for lunch, went shopping and headed back to my room. Then I was left on my own to unpack...but no how could I unpack with people arriving?

So instead of unpacking I left everything on my floor and went to say hi to the person living opposite me. Tabby is a 20 year old fresher (having done a gap year); she is studying History of Art and is really nice. We chatted for a bit and then I left her to get on with her unpacking.

I was then about to start unpacking but then our STYC came up and told us to go to down to the bar....

*sidetrack* The V-Bar as it is known is my colleges own bar. My college is called Vanbrugh and is "probably" the best college in the world. We have nearly 500 members and are a musical college which is awesome seeing as I brought a keyboard, flute and my ukulele with me. The bar is situated in the Central Vanbrugh hub one which my accommodation is 2 floors above...meaning I can have my breakfast with a pint without even putting on shoes....if I wanted to. Vanbrugh lies in the centre of campus meaning I can get to my lectures in less than 5 minutes. I am about a 25 minute walk into the centre of York which is not to bad either.*end of side track*

So we headed down to the bar to get to know some people and then just chilled out for the rest of the evening. At 2am I decided to go to bed...went into the kitchen to get a drink and another person arrived...at 2am!!!! So we chatted until about 3 and then another person arrived...so in the end I didnt get to bed until 4am....but it was worth it.

//People
People here are really nice, they are all as willing to make friends and chat about things that don't really interest people. There are around 20-30 people on my floor sharing 3 kitchens (2 small, 1 big). We all seem to have clicked really well and they are all really accepting of other peoples wishes to drink/not drink/religion/subjects. On the second day a religious debate broke out (after I had got up early to go to Church) but they are all willing to discuss religion and faith and the ideas behind it. One girl (Laura) asked if in the future she could tag along to a Church with me to try and rediscover her faith...God is working here!

//Facilities
so my room is actually quite big for a Uni room. It has a desk, two shelves, and a wardrobe with a cupboard in it, a bed, and some more storage by the bed, a sink, more storage above the sink. It has space for me to put all my stuff, including my set up keyboard...which is must say was an immediate hit!


//Photos of my room

The view from my window

My room

My sink/Wardrobe

My bed

The Control pannel...when the magic happens

//Church
so as I previously mentioned I went to Church on Sunday, I managed to wake up Phil Baxter (who is living in Halifax College off campus) and we walked into town to find York Baptist Church). We did not think much of it though, which is a real shame but we are going to try a Church of England church next week.

//Random stuff
-So after settling in a large handful of us decided that it would be a great idea on Sunday to make a communal Sunday roast, then it came about that we should invite the Provost (the Head of our College, similar to the Dean of the University) along to it. So we texted him (he gave us all his number) and he replied as follows:

"Thanks! I would be delighted to accept your very kind invitation. I'm vegetarian though but very happy with just some veg. Thanks so much and looking forward to seeing you on Sunday! David"

Yes his name is David.

-Shortly after arriving some people made a comment on the amount of computer stuff in my room, then the realised I was studying electronics and so my door now reads as follows:

Lydia being a girl on my floor

-My N64 is a hit, we had a massive game of Mario kart yesterday...my room is now turning into the hub for our floor...seeing as it has the largest screen and a keyboard!

-I brought with me 5 "I’m York-Tastic badges" from Twyford, I handed them out for the fresher’s ball and they were also a hit. I did explain that I had not just made them for the occasion but the year 8 football team just never got their badges

-In order to organise the amount of milk in our fridge we have got a system whereby you add a face to the milk you buy, this is what the kitchen looks like at the moment:

//Subject

Seeing as I have come to University to get a degree I think I should really talk about my subject...even if just for a little bit.

I had to register for my course yesterday and my timetable is sooo packed. I have to get up every morning without fail at 9:15 for something, and then most days I finish at 6:45....at least I’m getting my money's worth. I went to the library to get some of my books out, meaning I do not have to buy them which is good.

//Prayer Request

-Prayers for my new floor mates that they continue to be interested in my faith and that this will lead onto bigger things.

-Prayers for the start of my course

-For the continuation of jokes had by all

-Thanks to God for putting me in a such a wonderful friendly and loving place

I will try to do weekly updates but this is seriously the first time I have had to myself for about 3 days lol.

God bless and miss you all loads

David

xxxx

A complete guide to University packing...especially for Clare Smedley!

//Intro
Well seeing as people have now started reading this blog its getting serious!!! Only joking but i have had a request for a blog on the subject of updating my previous post on Uni packing. Clare Smedley, one of my friends from Twyford and Youth Group complained to me on the bus that I had never actually reported back on the number of saucepans I was bringing...so here for her and your eyes is my complete guide to University packing.

//Kitchen Stuff
I have got the following:
-2 Mugs (I have actually got 3, Grace has bought me one (Grace being my sister) and doesnt want me to know about it =S)
-2 Glasses
-A small casserole dish
-A small mixing bowl
-3 Saucepans (increasing size)
-1 Oven tray
-A cooks measure (thanks to Mr Bilson who told me about these)
-A Measuring jug
-A bread knife
-A knife
-16 pieces of cutlery (4 complete sets)
-2 plates
-2 side plates
-1 bowl
-A sieve
-3 Tupperware boxes
-2 Scrubbing brushes
-A potato peeler
-2 plastic glasses
-A Spatula
-A mixing spoon
-A serving spoon
-A bottle/Can opener
-A tin Opener

//Computer stuff
-Laptop
-Media Hard drive
-Speakers (Thanks to Miss Bilson for informing me about these)
-A Bluetooth Mouse
-A 22" wide screen monitor
-A playstation
-A N64
-Relevant disks/games
-Camera
-MP3 player
-Relevant Cables
-USB Keys

//Clothes
-No idea what I’m bringing clothes wise...and frankly as long as I’m warm?!?

//Others
-Keyboard
-Flute
-Ukulele
-Books
-Documents
-Stationary
-Wash stuff
-Sleeping stuff


//Ok i know it got less and less complete towards the end but I realised that you don’t really want to know what I’m bringing to uni with me...unless your Clare. Also as you can see i have inserted a new formatting system into my blogs (from now on) whereby I shall have sections denoted by "//". This makes it easier to read i hope?

//Prayer requests
So as I am 1 hour away from my final day in London (until Christmas) there are some things that need prayer.
-Firstly for safety on my family's journey up to York
-Secondly that I can settle in
-Thirdly that I will be a good ambasador for Christ durring freshers week and indeed the term

//Finaly
So I hope you like this CLARE SMEDLEY and feel proud that you are the first person who has had a blog post dedicated to them. Thanks for reading as usual, stay safe, message me, text me, my next blog will be from my room in York!!

Until then
God bless and goodnight
David x

A lot to do..

So now we come to the final week of my time in London. Apart from the random stragglers left from Y13 and those going to York...I am alone.

Having got my new laptop I have realised that I now need to transfer certain documents from my desktop onto this computer for University...unfortunatly that takes time. I may just put all the documents onto my external hard drive and then just access them "on demand". My new laptop is working out pretty well though, it can run "Guild Wars" well and can play assassins creed when on the lowest of low settings....but it is playable. Also i plugged it into my 22" wide screen LCD and it looks amazing...so hopefully i will have a pretty good setup in my room at York.

I have now got some linen for my room so I do not have to sleep on the floor when i arrive which is a very good thing because beds are nice and floors are not. On the subject of floors my room is a mess...and i mean a real mess. I thought it would be a good idea to sort out all my documents (the physical type) before i moved, so last tuesday I got out all 5 folders of school stuff, work stuff, random stuff, medical stuff, insurance stuff, money stuff and tried to sort it. It ended up with more mess on my floor and now I have no idea where anything is...oh dear =S

But still, one week to go arrrgghhh.

God is being so good to me at the moment, although im missing my friends I know he is there for me and I know that when i go to York he will be my shelter and my guide..and I definatly need a guide!

I shall leave it there for now...may update you in the week.

God bless
David
x