The Update

The degree is over, my work experience ended and I now have very little to do...Help!

The Realisation About My MA

It's been brewing in my mind for a while but last night when thinking through all that has happened over the past year, my thoughts were solidified.

Blogruary Day 26: The Class

As Blogruary draws to a close, I find myself running out of things to write about.

Blogruary Day 25: The Writing Class

Monday is a strange day at university, we start with a shorthand class then have three hours off before rounding off the day with three hours of law. It makes for a topsy-turvy day.

Blogruary Day 18: The Room

There is a computer room at university that is specially assigned to Master's students. Today, it was taken over.

We had a three and a half hour gap in between classes today so, determined to make the most of the time, we planned to go to our usual room.

After an editorial meeting, we set off to the room only for a class-mate to inform us that the room was taken.

How dare these random room thieves take our room! It was specially designated to post-graduate students but here was a class taking over.

We eventually found another room but it wasn't the same. It didn't have the atmosphere that our usual room had.

I went back an hour later to see if it was free where I ran into another class-mate. Yet another class had taken the room for the hour and time was running out until my next class of the day.

I must be getting old because that room has become more than a room. It has become my sanctuary at university. It has become my second home.

Blogruary Day 14: The Degree Dilemma

This has been a difficult week for everyone on my MA course. It has been a long and dragging week with little good news.

Blogruary Day 12: The Pull-Out

Part of the MA Journalism course that I am doing involves together a pull-out supplement to go with the university newspaper.

Blogruary Day 11: The Second Attempt at Cycling

As I've previously documented, I've started cycling to university. It was the start of a new week today so I thought - why not cycle every day?

It is a lot more effort than walking but it takes a lot less time. I woke up this morning after a generous lie-in and woke to the worst of news.

Blogruary Day 9: The Night Out in London

This blog is late, but for good reason.

Blogruary Day 7: The Subway

The food in the canteen at university charges ridiculous prices for horrible, stale and bland food. This daily problem has been the bane of my life ever since I started my course last September, however, I was pleased to discover something that eased this pain.

Blogruary Day 6: The Cinema

There is ten minutes left of this day so this won't be spectacular.

Blogruary Day 5: The Cycle to University

I've begun to notice that my walk to university is a tiring and lengthy affair.

Blogruary Day 2: The Lock Up

I've noticed something worrying about my life. I don't particularly like weekends.

Blogruary Day 1: The Survey Man

The MA degree that I am studying is supposed to prepare us for our first full-time, proper, real life job. I say that because we have classes from 9-5 every day. That is apart from Friday, which we have off.

The New Year's Resolutions

Another year has passed by and we are soon to welcome in 2013. The world didn't end and the Olympic Games went off quite well which makes this year a qualified success in the eyes of many people.

However, 2012 has been a very mixed year on a personal level.

I graduated from university with a very respectable 2:1 degree and I began an MA degree which will hopefully lead to a job that I will enjoy.

In a way though, 2012 has been a year of endings as my university experience at Reading and enjoyable, independent lifestyle came crashing to a halt.

It is at this time of the year that I would usually be desperately creating a New Year's Resolution which would usually result in 'I will not bite my nails'. That itself always fails mere minutes into the new year.

This year though, I feel like I actually have resolutions which are do-able and genuinely life-improving.

I hope that this year I can actually stick to the challenges that I've set myself, and trust me I've set myself a long-list for the coming 365 days.

Let's hope 2013 is a good year, and I wish you all the best.

Follow me on Twitter @Alex_Harris1991

The Christmas Blog

Its Chrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistmaaaaaaasssssss!

That's right. T'is the season to be jolly.

I know that it is still three weeks until Christmas but I am very much in the festive mood this year. Since the age of about 14, Christmas has become less exciting as the priorities of the day have shifted away from receiving presents.

However, this year seems to be a different kettle of fish. I attended Kingston's Christmas light switch-on for the first time in ages and I brought a hot chocolate from Starbucks the other day and it came in those lovely festive red cups.

Upon finishing university on Monday, I walked into Kingston town centre to purchase a present and card for my Dad's birthday and I decided it would be wise to begin my Christmas shopping.

I went into HMV and, after much searching, I brought Rihanna's new album for my sister. I expected the shop to be empty at 5pm but I ended up queueing for around ten minutes. And they say that we're in dire economic straits...

In addition to these exciting events, it also snowed in the UK today which really emphasised that Christmas is just around the corner.

Excitement is building, I have my MA Journalism Christmas party on Monday and a big friends of the family meal next Sunday.

Christmas should be celebrated in a jolly manner, so be merry and pleasant over the coming weeks.

Follow me on Twitter @Alex_Harris1991

The Time When I Fell Off A Chair

It was a simple Wednesday afternoon at university. I had finished my Public Affairs class after an interesting, if relatively dull, trip to Surrey County Council.

I had just found out that there was a branch of Subway on campus, and in an attempt to cure my hunger, I headed over to the fast-food outlet.

After walking back to the postgraduate cafe to devour my Italian BMT, I waited for some people to leave their seats so I could sit near my friends.

I confidently strode over to the now vacant chair with a sense of urgency and a wanting to eat this warm and juicy 6 inch sub.

I sat down and subsequently tumbled onto the floor. The floor gave way like a flimsy piece of paper.

Embarrassed and humiliated, I looked at the broken chair on the floor with a look of puzzlement to give off an air of control over the situation. I hoped my face looked like one of passing the blame onto the chair.

My friends were laughing like hyenas and I stood in a passive-aggressive manner. The chair had let me down like a disappointed father.

The manager of the cafe gave me the e-mail address of the university cafe manager to complain, yet I have still to do this and tell of my anger.

Whenever I go to sit on a chair, I now have to check time and time again to ensure my safe sitting can ensue.

The Run

I'm standing in the hallway of my house and I’m putting on my old, battered Nike trainers. I select an appropriate and energetic song on my iPhone, pop my earphones in and then I head outside to face the full force of this cold and crisp November day.

Today I am no ordinary student, I am student who is about to go running through the mean streets of Kingston.

It is at this point that I should probably explain. I have taken part in numerous sports throughout my life yet I’ve never gone jogging in Kingston, despite the fact I used to compete for my secondary school in athletics and cross-country events. I reasoned that it was probably time to become of those people you see pounding the pavement.

For my debut running adventure I rationed that it was probably wise to run a route that I was familiar with. I decided to head in the direction of university. Despite the chilly conditions, I began jogging down my road and through Green Lane Park. As someone who is afraid of dogs, I knew I had made a tactical error by running through a park full of the four-legged creatures. I plotted a course well away from any dogs and proceeded through.

During my athletics days I was always paranoid about setting off at too quick a pace. By the time I had reached the alley-way by Berrylands train station I began to suspect that I was sprinting. This must have made me look slightly strange, so I eased off the pace and tried to maintain a gentle speed.

After passing the sewage works and cemetery that have become regular sights on my daily walk to university, I reached the houses on Lower Marsh Lane. It was at this point that I passed a scruffy looking man carrying a plastic bag which looked to be containing cans of Special Brew. It wasn’t even Midday. I began to suspect that he wasn’t likely to join me in taking up running.

After passing the man, it struck me that the Royal Borough of Kingston is a wonderfully varied place. In the space of roughly ten minutes I had passed through a park, past a pub, through a winding alley and jogged by a cemetery, a Sikh temple and then a potential morning drinker.

Once this thought cleared, I had reached Villiers Road. I was faced by an important decision, which way to go? I could either head left taking the shorter route through Berrylands, albeit up a hill, or I could turn right and run the lengthy distance back home via Kingston town centre.

I opted left but the hill proved one step too far. Near the top I reached a conveniently placed bench which I proceeded to sit at for a while. I took stock of my run and gave myself a B- for effort. My report card would read – “Could do better but an encouraging first try.”

I walked the rest of the way home and began searching for running apps on my phone to aid my future endeavours. It’s probably better if I leave the selection of a route to technology next time.  

The Girl With The Same Shoes

As I'm now two weeks into my new degree, I've worked out that it only takes me around twenty minutes each morning to reach campus.

During the first week of classes, I was keen to make sure I was never late. However, I was turning up too early. I was always the first one to class and this made me fairly sad as I could have had an extra twenty minutes in bed.

I decided to do my calculations and I worked out that I could leave at half past the hour and grab a tea in the cafe before learning would commence.

However on Thursday, the laissez-faire bug hit me and I was late to leave my house. In a panicked mode, I forgot to gel my hair and I'm fairly sure I was wearing only clothes that were blue.

I sprung out the house, not literally, and I marched onwards to campus. I reached my super secret alleyway cut-through, yet there was a girl in front of me who would no doubt slow my rapid progress. You see when it comes to walking, I only have one speed setting. Fast.

Wondering how I would overtake her in a fashion that would make me look not creepy, I noticed something that was becoming all to familiar. She was wearing the same shoes as me.

The reason why I say it was familiar is because I discovered only a week before that my older sister had the same trainers as me.

I realise you may now be thinking that I have a fetish for women's trainers, but I assure you that I don't. They are regular, run-of-the-mill white hi-top converse.

"If I overtake her then she will see that we are wearing the same shoes." I worriedly thought.

I assessed all the options available. Overtake her quickly. Stay behind all the way to campus. Take my shoes off and walk in my socks. Going home and changing, perhaps?

I checked my watch and noticed that I would probably make my class, just, at the pace that I was walking.

"What did you do, Alex?" is the question that I assume you are now thinking.

Well, I stayed well behind the girl all the way to campus by walking as slowly as my long legs would go.

You'll be glad to know that I made it to class just in time with my reputation still in tact.

The Thought About Friendship

I have had an odd history with regards to friendships.

I was friends with everyone in my class at primary school yet I suffered a dip when it came to secondary school. Once I hit Sixth Form, I found a group of mates that I still see all the time to this very day.

University obviously opened up numerous avenues for making new friends and over my three year course, the people I hung around with completely changed. I am still in contact with numerous people from my time at Reading yet it proves more difficult to meet up with them due to geographic differences.

As I have to recently begun a Master's course, I have come into contact with a lot of people in a very short space of time.

This made me wonder about friendship. Who do I consider my true friends? What qualifies as friendship? Do people view me with a similar level of warmth and status that I view them?

This deep and philosophical thought process took place when trying to get to sleep, but at that point at 12:30 am it all made meaningful sense.

As I can't physically find out the exact thoughts of people, I guess I will never truly know.

Seeing as you seem to drop the number of friends you have once you finish university, it will be interesting to see how the next few years, when I enter the job market and maybe move into my own house, pan out.