Pause for thought

Hello again! My heart is still beating, and I have lots of news you might be interested to hear, but first an explanation.

Since I last wrote here almost 2 months (wow, I’m ashamed of myself), I have been very busy. Busy, you say? What on earth could be more important than writing in your favourite place on the internet? You better have a damn good excuse. Well…

I’ve been going to a local piano bar quite a lot with the ginger one in this photo. It’s a very civilised place with live music and cocktails.

Experimenting with banana and choc ice milkshakes.

Doing some terrible singing at the aforementioned piano bar.

 

Covering our kitchen in highlighter fluid and UV ink. The reason behind this will become clear… you just have to be patient.

Been on a treasure hunt around Weymouth.

Gone Ape!

So that’s what I’ve been up to! When I haven’t been doing all of those fun things I’ve been working on coursework and my final project – which I finished today! Hence the post :)

So coursework in and final report written, now is a good time to note that there’s only precious few weeks left of my university life before heading out into the world of work… or is it?

I have kind of been keeping some big news from you since the last post 2 months ago, and it’s kind of what the last post was about. When I wrote the last post I was deep in thought about what to do once I graduate, because I’d been given a choice: Work for Sony, or be sponsored by Sony to do a PhD. And I changed my mind. I’ll never know if it was the right choice, but I’m so happy that I’ve decided to do a PhD.

I don’t want to dwell on what the PhD is on right now, that will come in a future post, but needless to say that it is really exciting and I can’t wait to start! My PhD course is 3.5 years long and it’s at the University of Surrey still, starting in October. I’m being sponsored and getting paid tax-free, so it’s not going to get me into any more debt! I do want to go into depth about why I decided to do a PhD, because I found it a hard decision and I want to be able to help other people who might have to make that decision in the future.

This isn’t the end of my links with Sony, in fact it’s only just the beginning. Sony have a big input in my research during the PhD, but I’m also working there over the summer with the team I was in last year. Hopefully the ties can continue because they are amazing people!

So… life turned on it’s head and I don’t really know what to say. This blog will be getting a major overhaul in the late half of this year, to capture more of my personal and professional life as it develops… hopefully!

I feel like my life is going from strength to strength, just got to get through these exams first and then I have a long summer of work, America and a new home to look forward to! I’ll reveal all, just bear with me! And thanks for sticking round this far! As a thank you here’s the link to the rest of the Pound for Food videos I produced with my housemates recently, they are seriously funny: http://bit.ly/poundforfood.

• Happiness. 7 out of 10
• Tiredness. 1 out of 5
• Workload. 5 out of 10 (revision time!)
• Last Meal. Spaghetti Bolognaise
• Song of the day. Jason Mraz – Everything is Sound
• Thought for the day. Dissertation done! Boom! 
• What I’m Doing Now. Sleep! Then starting revision tomorrow… All will be over in only 5.5 weeks!!!

Time for Greenwich

This weekend Charlotte and I went to London for a Mr Scruff gig in Camden. During the day we killed time by going to the birthplace of time itself, Greenwich.

The royal observatory is definitely one of my favourite places in London, if not my favourite.

Greenwich is beautiful, situated by the river with the Cutty Sark, a market, park and of course the Maritime museum. From the top of the hill you can see a spectacular view of London, and although it wasn’t the clearest of days for an uninterrupted view, it was still a feast for the eyes.

The museum itself is fascinating, with the four Harrison clocks on display that changed the way we kept time at sea and on land. It is also home to London’s only planetarium, which projects a spectacular show of the universe and it’s mysteries onto a large dome. And also offered a must needed sit down :)

And being that close to the docklands, who wouldn’t sneak a peek at  Canary Wharf on the noddy docklands light railway :)

• Happiness. 8 out of 10
• Tiredness. 2 out of 5
• Workload. 3 out of 10
• Last Meal. Rice.
• Song of the day. Mr Scruff – Champion NIbble
• Thought for the day. Which Islay Single Malt to buy…
• What I’m Doing Now. Thinking of the layout for my new website (oooh, such a tease :P)

I’ve got 99 problems but exams ain’t one…

Hello! Exams are over until the summer, my 4th and last one was on Wednesday and now I have a week before my new set of lectures start. It’s been a bit non-stop since I last wrote in here at the start of December, the jokes of Christmas and New Year quickly a distant luxury as coursework deadlines and exams loomed. But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t treat you to some of the photographs from the New Year celebrations…

The annual gathering of mine and Jake’s friends is fast becoming some sort of tradition, and good thing too because this year did not disappoint! All it takes is two dozen friends, some karaoke, alcohol and Who’s in the Bag to get things going! The cream carpet is still cream, and only one sprained wrist caused by a particularly flowery dance-off containing the “epileptic worm”…

There was also a bit of typical London touristy things going on during the days before new year with Jake, Sarah and Charlotte about…

The Science Museum, because there’s nothing wrong with being a geek, Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, and a secret cocktail bar in Liverpool Street :) good times.

The rest of the time was less interesting, but certainly more productive! With two big essays to write, and four exams to revise for it’s been a busy 3 weeks; but I feel it has paid off as my exams seemed to go well. I should get my results in a few weeks, so only time will tell… But with those done that marks the point of 70%. A whole 70% of my degree is now complete! And only a few months left until that figure goes the full nine yards… scary and exciting times!

I’m genuinely looking forward to my last semester at university. I’m ready to study my final tow modules, and progress further with my final project work.

Job prospects are still up in the air to some degree, but hopefully I won’t have any issues in that department…

So much to look forward too, and so much going on! I’ll aim to keep you guys in the loop with everything from my project, modules, MADTV, holiday plans, work prospects… and I guess I should start thinking about what to do when all this university malarkey is all said and done. Knowing how quickly the last few years have gone it’ll be over before I know it

• Happiness. 8 out of 10
• Tiredness. 1 out of 5
• Workload. 5 out of 10
• Last Meal. Nibbles. 
• Song of the day. Paolo Nutini -  Last Request Piano Instrumental
• Thought for the day. 70% of degree done. Damn.
• What I’m Doing Now. Visiting my sister and then travelling to Weymouth tomorrow… Seems like I spend my life travelling sometimes :)

Dinner is served

On Sunday my parents came round for Xmas dinner cooked by my housemates and I. Complete with turkey and all the trimmings, mulled wine, champagne, Christmas pudding and charades…

Bring on Christmas!

• Happiness. 8.5 out of 10
• Tiredness. 2 out of 5
• Workload. 8 out of 10
• Last Meal. Mississippi mud pie 
• Song of the day. Parachute – She Is Love
• Thought for the day. If you don't have any shadows, you're not standing in the light
• What I’m Doing Now. Still procrastinating.

BBRRAAAGHHHHHHHHHHMMMM!!

We left off with an imminent trip to Weymouth. It was such a relaxing weekend, especially going to Chesil beach a watching the waves come crashing in. From the photos you’ll also notice which one is the dancer…

    

It was quite surreal how high the waves were, and the perfect sound of them breaking onto the seemingly infinite shoreline. It kind of reminded me of the beach in Inception; powerful, but beautiful.

The last few weeks have also seen the start of a new tradition: “Friday Pints”. After a long week working, a few of us down tools for a couple hours and go to to pub for a few bevvies. Get’s the weekend veins working and has already, on a couple occasions, resulted in carnage. Not that long left of university now, but that’s no excuse not to still be students!

Last Friday for example when we went to Rubix and must’ve had one of the best nights I’ve ever had in there. The downstairs bar (called HRB to those of us who started uni before it was renamed to The Living Room) was playing MUCH better music than the main dance floor, Pendulum and Queen among others…

This week I’ve made some good progress with my project work and started on a couple of essays that have to be in around exam season… which is only a month away now!! I can see lots of coursework and revision in the crystal ball over Christmas…

• Happiness. 8 out of 10
• Tiredness. 1 out of 5
• Workload. 7 out of 10
• Last Meal. Cereal. In-joke? 
• Song of the day. Athlete – Beautiful
• Thought for the day. “Chance favours the prepared mind” 
• What I’m Doing Now. Procrastinating.

Taste the Rainbow

Settling back into the slow life is so comforting knowing that you are doing something for your future, and living the present the best way you know how.

I want to inject a bit of nostalgia into this post, knowing full well that this blog has started to show its receding hairline this year with the lacklustre modicum of posts. As the new year beckons, and lets be honest its already on the horizon, I usually turn the content switch to “past” and start idolizing the perfect moments from the year gone by. And this year will be no different in some respects, but I want to start early because it’s been such an incredible year!

January

My best memories from January lie scattered amongst many weeks spent in Switzerland, as in fact most of my memories from the year. But there’s another theme for January, random lols. If it was Sophizzle offering words of comfort to her triffle on the bus home from Tesco, Frazer and I contemplating the benefits of nipple cups, or Sophie getting a super-low voice over serious Skype discussions about housing… it was a laugh. The best moment however?

Walking around an empty Zurich airport in bare feet. Like the set of a film…

February

Another month filled with Swiss air, but also featuring a couple of trips to London to see Maroon 5, Mr Scruff and Lifehouse. And while going dressed as Sherlock Holmes into Guildford town was the best fun ever, the Lifehouse gig at the Roundhouse has a special place in my heart…

March

Sometimes life hands you fragments of perfection, that second when the world stops and you feel that despite the worries you may have, and the challenges you face, you’ve actually got it pretty good :) One particular Friday afternoon, sat outside Lugano airport in the gorgeous sunshine waiting for a plane back home after another great week at work, and the fragments just seem to fall into place. You know you’re doing the right thing and you should never stop being who you are.

April

The last one for today… April. April. Where do I start… There are two things that stand out about April. One was the house boat trip, possibly the single most hilarious, drink-fuelled, best times of my life – spent on my dad’s narrowboat with my then-future-now-current housemates. Initially a bonding weekend to get to know each other better, but once we’d got the formalities out of the way it was all about having the time of our lives. The week was so good we are still quoting from it now, in fact we have a book of quotes in our living room from that trip that goes some way in recreating some of the hilarity: everything from carnivorous geese to gooches, heart-attack sandwiches to the helm of insobriety. This is undoubtedly not the last you will hear from this trip in the run up to the new year. And as for the second thing about April, that will have to wait :)

I want to finish the post with a few pictures from the start of the year that you hopefully haven’t seen before…

Even as early as January the temptation to buy chocolate (against my new years resolution!) was staring me in the face… I walked past this particular idol in the Zurich terminal building every Friday on my way back to Heathrow…

Jake comes to Guildford, and we find the FREE Guildford museum to be worth every penny…

Doing the speed limit in a Mercedes convertible on the Swiss motorway…

 

The sign outside the building next door to our hostel in Amsterdam. It was ideally located for our needs… there was a supermarket and bus stop nearby.

The boat trip provided lots of time to relax and take it easy, and have cider at every possible moment.

Charlotte’s birthday party had a “what did you want to be when you were younger” theme… obviously I chose geek.

Next time I promise I will talk about my current housemates and give you a tour of the grounds. I just need to be writing in here when it’s light outside!

Until next time…

Charles x

Dressing up

First off I forgot to mention that last weekend in Cardiff I also was in London to see Bruno Mars:

Despite the long bus journey from Cardiff to London, and closures on the Victoria line, it was well worth it!

By the way, all this travelling the last year has taught me a few top travel tips to save:

1. Check MegaTrain a few weeks (ideally 4-6) before you travel and see if they are offering your journey for less than the rail operator.
2. Also use MegaBus if you can bare the thought, it’s a fraction of the price, and on Sundays it can actually be quicker thanks to Sunday trains stopping at every station under the sun.
3. If you’re still drawing a blank, or would prefer to use the train, then you can still save money by using your Tesco Clubcard points to get triple discount on rail tickets! I know, epic. Just follow these instructions and you are quids in!

Anyway, back to last weekend:

I went out as a mad professor for Halloween on Friday night!

The house as a whole was looking pretty dapper… except Will, he looked like death :D

On Saturday night we had a cocktail party at our house. 5 cocktails: Martini (gin), Daiquiri (rum), Cosmopolitan (vodka), Margarita (tequila) and Old Fashioned (whisky). It was a very classy evening… until we all ended up pissed and rolling around all over the place…

All in all a mixed weekend, but certainly one I won’t forget in a hurry :)

• Happiness. 7 out of 10
• Tiredness. 3 out of 5
• Workload. 6 out of 10
• Last Meal. Chicken Korma curry (not fish and chips!) 
• Song of the day. Skylar Grey – Love The Way You Lie
• Thought for the day. I must try using a head massager in the bedroom…
• What I’m Doing Now. Working before going to see the King Blues tonight at the Roundhouse in Camden! Yes!

Rum and Coke, Myfanwy

Hello all,

Yes I am still alive… very much alive in fact. I’m back to normality now after 4 weeks at university. Lectures and coursework and not a flight to Switzerland in sight! I still haven’t spent two consecutive weeks sleeping in the same bed yet this year! It might happen before the years out!

Other than that I’ve been keeping myself to myself and taking things as they come. Last weekend I was up in Cardiff to see Jake for his girlfriend’s birthday… much fun and rum was had by all :D

Getting involved in MADTV once again…

Celebrating Halloween in style tonight for the first time ever! And then the house is having a private ‘invite only’ cocktail party tomorrow. Good times are ahead :)

• Happiness. 7 out of 10
• Tiredness. 5 out of 5 (sleep is a struggle…)
• Workload. 6 out of 10 (but it’s all really interesting at the moment)
• Last Meal. Fish fingers and chips (i know! 2 posts in a row!)
• Song of the day. Ellie Goulding – Lights (Bassnectar Remix)
• Thought for the day. I could be a pilot!
• What I’m Doing Now. At Sony for a day to catch up with people :)

The Final Countdown…

Final year is here! This has been my first week back in lectures for a very long time, but so far it’s been very exciting, and even fun at times :D

I’m very happy with my switch from the Digital Media Engineering course to Electronics and Computer Engineering, since it is far more established and has more specialists at hand to answer questions. Overall, the course change is almost arbitrary, since they are so similar, but it has allowed me to choose the modules I want to study in final year.

The last few days of the InterRail trip in Venice were amazing, it’s such a crazy place. The small canals and busy grand canal just ooze beauty even during rush hour!

Coincidently, you can see more of the InterRail pictures on Facebook:

Copenhagen to Vienna and Budapest to Venice

This is the first time since last September that I can safely say I will be in the country for the foreseeable future, and it feels good! Getting to live with my housemates and already having lots of good times and banter. Which reminds me I haven’t shown you round our house! That’ll come very soon :D

Finally, I’ve started my final year project! The “dissertation” of the Electronics department where you take on a technical project and ultimately write about your findings. I want to dedicate a bit of space for explaining what it’s all about, but it’ll wait… OK, here’s a sneaky peek :p

Until next time,

Charles

• Happiness. 8 out of 10
• Tiredness. 1 out of 5
• Workload. 3 out of 10 (the return of the workload!)
• Last Meal. Fish fingers and chips :)
• Song of the day. Athlete – You Got The Style
• Thought for the day.
• What I’m Doing Now. Heading off for a 4 hour lecture/lab combo!

InterRail Post #11: All roads lead to…a Pizzeria…and a fountain

Sophie here, giving you the second instalment about our time in Rome.

If you are planning to visit Rome, you may want to get a travelcard for the metro or bus; as we decided to walk everywhere. There are a lot of sights to see in Rome, and they aren’t as close together as a map may lead you to believe! After a month of walking everyday, Rome really took its toll on us, one day we even had to admit defeat at 5pm and head back to the hostel before dinner for a 2 hour nap because our eyes just couldn’t stay open any longer.

On Monday we took a visit to the world famous Colleseum, getting a live guide to help us understand some of the history.

Charles took a quick look at St Peter’s Basilica as I was denied entry for not being covered up enough, boo.

The Roman’s seem to have an obsession with holey roofs.

We grabbed some dinner at a touristy restaurant that evening and everything was fine until a suspicious 4 Euros with a squiggle for the description turned up on our bill. Upon asking the waiter what this was he told us it was a cover charge for the napkins, tablecloth and bread (which we didn’t even eat). This promptly turned into a massive argument where we refused to pay the extra charge and even got kicked out of the restaurant, needless to say we won’t be going there again!

I then had to get my theatre fix as it has been way to long since seeing any production. I got a ticket for an African Contemporary dance show but I was thoroughly disappointed as what I saw wasn’t exactly dance. Think lots of running around, shouting in French and a very hairy naked woman in a long veil, not really my cup of tea, oh well it felt god to be cultured.

On Tuesday we headed over to the Vatican Museum and were herded like sheep around the rooms including the room of maps, the room of tapestries, halls of numerous roman sculptures and modern religious art. Our visit ended in the beautifully hand painted inside of the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo we salute you!

We couldn’t resist

The Last Judgement

The ceiling depicting Creation and Noah’s Ark

 

This one is for you Charlotte

The last thing to note about Rome is the abundance of Ice Cream on sale, everywhere you turn there is a Gelateria with amazing flavours such as ginger and cinnamon, caramel meringue and nutella. Needless to say Charles and I took full advantage of this fact.

5 Interesting things about Rome

1. Sales assistants and waiters have no time for tourists, the Italians could really learn a thing or two from the English about customer service!

2. When there were fights held at the Colleseum the crowd used to be asked towards the end of they wanted to stop the fight and keep the contender standing, they would signal this with a thumbs up. However if they wanted the contender to be flattened they would signal with a thumb to the side.

3. Italian drivers are crazy, you risk your life at every road crossing.

4. Roman restaurants don’t have toilet seats on their loos, I have become a pro at squatting and am building up some good thigh muscles!

5. In many shops they never have change for a €20, be cautious when paying with one!

Rome wasn’t built in a day, so don’t try and see all of it in one!

We are now on our way to Venice for the last two days of our trip before heading home! That’s all from me, I hope you have enjoyed reading my parts of the blog for the trip.

Sophie

x