Experiences in Reading

 Hello!

How are y'all?

I've finished my second year of university, so I figure it's way overdue for me to discuss the events of the last few months.

The banks of the river Kennet

January

Thankfully, my parents no longer had Covid by the start of the year. So I was able to attend the customary St Leonard's Youth Group Social, as an alumnus! It was quite fun - though most of the younger faces were faces that I did not recognise. Such is life - the years keep on coming!

My return to university was pleasant, though not without incident. I accidentally cut my thumb open while slicing cheese - the resulting wound didn't require stitches, but it did require medical assistance. I was able to get to the Royal Berkshire Hospital on my own (helps that it's about ten minutes away from where I live!) Though in hindsight, I perhaps shouldn't have gone on my own - when I got to the A&E, I ignored the building marked 'minor injuries', under the impression that it was for kids. Rather than, you know, not-severe injuries.

The wound's healed nicely, though it's left a scar. Not the world's most impressive scar, really...

Another thing that happened was that my entire household fell ill with Covid...a second time. Specifically, my Reading housemates, this time. Well, almost all my household - Josh and Lena fell ill with Covid, and Andrew fell ill with a nasty bug which forced him to stay in his room, but which he maintained was not Covid. (Or, if it was Covid, I never found out...)

I also had a group project assignment, in which my group delivered a talk on the Norman Conquest and the historical context of the Battle of Hastings and the people involved. Fun stuff! It came after I disfigured my thumb, so my thumb remained inside my pocket. My group did well, though - we got upper second class!

The Bayeux Tapestry

February

February was a rather quiet month. I did assignments, hung out with friends. I also read Little Women -for one of my assignments. I had to write a case study on how literature can be used to investigate American society in the nineteenth century. I read the book over the course of 4 days; it's only 400-ish pages, but there's 47 chapters, and some of them are unbelievably long. It was very good, though.

I also cut my other thumb, with a potato peeler this time, though less severely!

Pippin missing me. (Also sulking because he got kicked out of my mum's office because she had a meeting.)

Another thing that happened was that I started looking for accommodation for next year - two of my current housemates are doing placements abroad next year, so they won't be around. Though Josh will still be around - we'll be moving into the new accommodations together. The process has been somewhat complicated, though; at one point, venting his frustrations, he declared that the whole thing was 'fucking frustrating!' We're all Christians, so that was amusing to hear!

March

Something very big happened in March - my parents went back to Kenya! My dad had an important conference there. My mum went with him, partly because several of the people who work under her also went to that conference. They spent about 3 weeks there - one was the conference, and the other 2 were just spending time there, catching up with old friends. Unfortunately, the entire thing fell directly in the middle of term, so I was unable to accompany them...

My parents when they first went to Kenya...

My parents 21 years later!

As for me, I can't really say that much happened. I went to visit Granny at the end of term. I also read One Hundred Years of Solitude, as previously mentioned. I definitely recommend it!

We also found out that Christi and her husband are having a second baby - to be born in August. I'm really excited! Though I won't get to see them this summer, sadly.

April

April was The Month of Easter. Word Alive was the second week - it was a lot of fun! I also got to see my cousin Kylie - she came to visit over Easter. It was nice to see her. Unfortunately, four days before she was due to go back home, I finally fell victim to that which closed down the world...

I tested positive for Covid.

It was quite lonely, though it left me with plenty of time to revise and play computer games. 

(Kylie was able to go home, luckily!)

Word Alive!

May

I was able to return to Reading at about the start of May - funny how that worked out! On the way down, we stopped to visit Karys and Oreo. Oreo, unfortunately, had a sore tail at the time - we don't know what was wrong with it.

Speaking of poorly pets, Pippin has been suffering from sore legs for several months now. As it turns out, it's arthritis. 

A kitty with a poorly tail

Also in May was Josh's birthday...sort of. His actual birthday is in June, but Andrew would have moved out by that time, so we had a party a few days before he left. We ate pizza and chatted; it was fun!

May was also when I did my exams. They went OK, which is good. It was very stressful, though!

June

June's been a time of departures. One of my housemates has already left; another goes in a week, and myself and the last housemate will be going a week or so after that. Two of my housemates won't be around next year.

Term ended on the 8th, with many people in the CU heading home for the summer over the next few weeks. I'm saddened to think that I might never see some of my friends again - making friends has absolutely been one of the highlights of university thus far.

Another part of this is that Tessa's now unavoidably getting old. Earlier in the month, she suffered a stroke which left her paralysed. She's starting to recover, but she'll never be quite the same.

But, if there's anything I've learned from life so far (and Doctor Who), it's that everything has to end, so that something new can begin. It's painful that some things have had to end so soon after beginning, but at the same time, I don't think those friendships will truly fade - I'm not going to give up and let them evaporate.

And, whatever happens with Tessa over the next few years, I will remember her. She'll be forever preserved in the blog - an eternity carved in numbers and letters.

Tessa! (And Pippin.)