Grinning like a (non) Cheshire cat. (Natty)

I just noticed that when I log in to write a new post, the computer says ‘Howdy Natty’ at the top of the screen. Haha how strange, is this the same for everyone else? And how are you guys all so organised with your foot notes and stuff?? Madness! I am obviously the tortoise of the group.. I may as well be charging my computer with a hamster in a wheel, my brain is just not wired the same way.

End of my first week!! Woo woo wooity woo. Lol I am, in case you couldn’t tell, in an exceptionally good mood today (the copious amounts of chocolate might possibly be responsible for the hyperactivity which is about to ensue)! Not because it’s my day off either, I’ve just loved this week so much and I’m now grinning like the proverbial Cheshire cat. Actually, I am from Cheshire but have never seen one of these crazy grinning cats. Where does the saying come from? Obviously some absolute weirdo in Cheshire had a mad grinning cat and stupidly decided to brand all other cats with this same malady.  Just putting that out there in case you were all like ‘ooh Natty can we come home with you to England and see the grinning cats and maybe bring one back and introduce them into popular Australian culture’. Because that’s such a likely possibility. I’m shutting up now and moving on to more relevant topics of conversation before somebody calls the local psychiatric ward.

I don’t know how everybody else has managed to post so much, I’ve been crazily busy and haven’t had a chance until now. Nonetheless I’ve been thinking about my blog posts throughout the week and trying to decide what deep knowledge to impart to you all this week – cue long haired hippies holding hands in a ‘mellow-yellow-let’s-all-ride-a-love-bus’ fashion lol. Mmm so let me see, what have I been thinking about amid the hours spent listening to the fox lol. What other Melbourne radio stations are there?? It’s the only one I know! Not that I don’t love hearing about Hamish and Andy’s sea voyage…

Anyways onto my points for the week.

1. Okay, for anyone who has not already discovered this, the desks in Theatre E (old arts) are lethal! Obviously designed by a student hating sadist. They sort of roll upwards from next to your right knee (quite cool…potentially) and, once up, even the slightest bit of pressure or elbow leaning type action makes them flip back down again. Not fun. Especially if you have a sandwich. Which I didn’t, but I did laugh at those who did.

2. A gap year (or in my case, two) is a good thing. Admittedly not for everybody but I realised this week why I didn’t enjoy uni the first time round back in the land of rolling hills and increasing levels of knife crime ( England).  I went to Uni straight from school, exhausted from working so hard for my exams and generally just a terrified 18 year old without a clue. Also, I think I just went to Uni because it’s what everyone at my school did, I didn’t want to be left behind and that’s the direction my teachers pushed me.

So when I got there I didn’t enjoy my subjects because I didn’t really know what I wanted to study and didn’t really have much motivation for anything… thus I fell behind and just got bored and fed up. Taking a gap year made me a lot more confident and gave me a chance to grow up and learn a bit about myself and what fascinated me. The difference between my first week at Melbourne compared to my first 2 months in Birmingham is phenomenal. I feel engaged with my subjects and actually enjoy doing the reading/ work/ going to lectures etc. I know it’s early days and you’re probably all thinking ‘yeah yeah’ but it’s genuinely been a very different experience.

All I’m saying is, don’t go to Uni just because your friends are/ you want to have a three year party/ your school thinks you should. All of those reasons are great but it’s ok to take some time off and find out what you want to do etc. Nobody ever told me that it was ok to wait or that a year wouldn’t make any negative difference. For some people going for straight from school is the best thing they could do, and that’s so great, but for me it wasn’t and I’m pleased that I gave myself the chance to change and do something which I’m now enjoying  much much more 🙂

3. The union members food room thing (anyone know what it’s actually called?) is really cool. There’s a weird picture on the wall of some guy being crushed by a roof in a tree (??) but otherwise it’s cool. In fact, most of the union stuff is good – join the union! You get a cool sticker too 🙂 haha.

4. Lots of work. Ok, not that much I suppose it just feels like a lot because I’m tired. Are all the other creative writing people writing a lot? My tute teacher (teacher? what’s the right word here?) suggested we all do 30 mins a day which seems pretty reasonable but then when I sit down and try to just ‘be’ creative it doesn’t always work out. Hmm do you think my blog would count as creative writing? I could make it all rhyme… except we’re doing free verse poetry atm. Hmm, maybe not. I need inspiration for my poem… ideas are welcomed 🙂

That’s all I can think of for now but I will post something again over the weekend if I think of anything. Other than that it’s on to week two 🙂

love Natty xx