I realise I haven’t blogged for a very long time, and for
this I can only apologise. It usually takes an overwhelming emotion of some
kind to get be back on my blogging horse, and this time is no different. I
spent ten days at home, returning back to good ole Manc on Monday, and to my
surprise there was more than a few tears.
An emotional goodbye
Having travelled up and down the country to see my family,
friends and boyfriend probably a dozen times since September, I thought I had
become pretty expert at saying goodbye to everyone. But instead, on Monday
morning, I found myself holding back the tears the whole way to Manchester and
eventually bursting as soon as my flat door shut, and crying for half an hour,
What was wrong with me? I should have been used to this by now, but for some
reason I was finding it especially hard this time. Perhaps it was because I had
had a lovely valentines with Sam, and a week full of family and bestie time
that it all became too much for me. And to be honest, the rest of the week want
much better.
A phone call home
All the girls were either going home for the weekend or were
doing other things, and the thought of having absolutely nothing to do was
enough to tip me over the edge- and I gave my mum a call to try and cheer myself
up. Luckily, my amazing mother had the solution to my problem- “get yourself on
a train, I’ll pay the fare.” As soon as she said this a smile broke out and
suddenly everything seemed a million times better. I got straight online and
booked a train for Saturday morning!
My Manc Family
On Thursday
after speaking to my mum I went to see the girls. Having already decided we
weren’t going to partake in the weekly tradition that is Factory Thurssday, I
turned up in a hoodie, not a scrap of makeup on and poufy hair.
“How you feeling- ready to go out?”
That was all the encouragement I needed, and within the hour
I was back at their flat, a very strong vodka and redbull in hand ready to go.
And this is the exact reason I love uni so much. There is always someone on hand to cheer you
up.
Writing
This term in particular I have noticed a massive development
in my writing. I am a lot more aware of
how I am writing, and how I can improve my work. My favourite thing about this
course is being able to ready other people’s work on our class forum, and share
my own work for feedback. It’s amazing to give someone a piece of work and have
some worthwhile feedback, other than ‘yeah, its great.”
Something that I haven’t quite got my head around is editing
my work. Don’t ask me why but I find this almost impossible. “But I like that
bit” can change pretty quickly to “It’s all shit. Delete it all” in an alarming
amount of time. Having said this, my course has actually reassured me that
editing is crucial. I guess I was sort of under the impression before I came to
uni that every piece of work just needed one draft, and perhaps maybe a few
spell checks. But being in uni has taught me that no writer, or in fact very
few, have produced a decent piece of work in one go. A few tweaks at the very
least is necessary before it’s good. And although the process of editing can be
terrifying, by no means does it mean that I am a crap writer. Hell, everyone
thinks they’re a crap writer sometimes.
The importance of
Friends
I may have said this in a previous blog but coming to
university has really made me realise who my actual friends are. Surprisingly,
it is exactly as I predicted before moving.
See, my oldest and closest friend has stayed exactly that.
Not a day goes by when we don’t speak to each other, and we still somehow know
each others every move. Our 3 hour phone calls make my day, and whenever I’m
upset she is the first person I speak to.
The friends that I don’t have to text every day to know that
they are there are truly special, too. In fact I have a friend (or hopefully
too, Jacob) coming to see me next week and I can’t wait for their first visit
to Manchester. It just goes to show that you don’t need to speak to or see
someone all the time to know that you still have a close friendship. And I know
that summer is going to be awesome with everyone back together.
Having said that, there are certain friends that I can go
weeks without seeing or speaking to them and it doesn’t have any impact on me,
It sounds harsh but some people can very easily slip between the cracks, and it
just goes to show the weakness of the friendship in the first place. There is
no point hanging on to people like this- if they’re meant to be in your life
they will be.
