The Art of Circle Walking and Rubbish Tea

I haven't blogged in almost a month again. I'm sorry, I know you have missed scanning through my ramblings about my life. But I have actually had a genuine reason, and that reason being that I have been incredibly busy recently. The type of busy that makes you so sleep deprived that as soon as you get home from school on the last day of the half term you fall asleep. Yep, my life's been fun recently.

That isn't sarcasm either. Although this last month has mainly consisted of a lot of work and countless hours of rehearsing for Fiddler on the Roof (the school show I have just been in), I have thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Well, most of it at least. I don't think many people could find a silver lining in staying in school  'til 5.30pm on a Friday afternoon, walking around in a circle slowly for most of the 2 hour rehearsal whilst constantly being told to be quiet as 'this is the easiest thing you've been told to do', but there we go. That circle walking definitely paid off. The show was a success and by the end of the show I understood the plot, which is more than can be said about Les Miserables last year! 

January has been an exciting month for me. I've learnt a few important things, which I have listed below:

1) Islands do not float. Not even the little ones. 

2) Dogs do not like me. Especially not Jon's dogs, Molly and George. According to Jon, this is because I give off a dog-hating vibe, but I think it may be more due to the fact that I accidently kicked Molly in the face the other day. Whoops.

3) There is a really famous street artist called Banksy. Apparently everyone has heard of him, but I only discovered him on Stumbleupon recently, to which I bounced into Art the next day, excited about a new artist that I found out about, only to be met with incredulous looks, as I had not indeed been the first to find out about him, but rather, it seems, the last.

4) People actually read this blog. I know this may sound stupid, but I am still amazed to find out that people actually read this. I am incredibly grateful to anyone who has read any of my blog posts, especially if you read them all the way through. I love finding out when people have liked what I have written, or even if they haven't, why they haven't. So if you have any feedback, whether it be good or bad, please share with me! Even if you don't know me, I would love to know.

5) Most people hate the name Clemency. I heard this name teamed with the middle name Rose the other day as a possible name for my friend's sister's baby. I loved it, but most people that I shared this view with were horrified, especially when I told them the shortened name of the version, Clemmie. Apparently it sounds like Clammy. Obviously people just don't appreciate classy names these days.

I've also learnt to read instructions on an open day timetable, as otherwise it can land you in situations that make you look stupid. I learnt this on a delightful trip that I took with the languages department of the school to Swansea University, on an open day for languages. It was probably a waste of time going, as I am not looking to study languages in Uni, or go to Swansea Uni for that matter, but I was told that there would be freebies and that I would miss double german (oh, the irony) so I happily went along.

When we arrived we were ushered into a foyer filled with students wearing printed 'Routes into Languages'  t-shirts and an 'I'm friendly and here to help you' smile. My attention, however, was focused on the neatly stacked teacups, box of tea bags, hot water dispensers, milk jugs and mini packets of biscuits. Needless to say, I was first in line to make myself a cup, and after taking two packets of biscuits, using the 'one for now, one for during the lecture' rule, settled down to drink the delicious beverage.

Delicious it was not. It tasted like sewage that had been fermented, dried and put in a tea bag. I was revolted not only by the tea, however, but also by a fellow pupil who failed to see what was wrong with it and went to get a second cup. 

Despite this, however, the first two lectures were quite good, although this may be more due to the fact that I accumulated a free water bottle and a folder containing a timetable, a notepad and a pen, and so spent the next hour or so doodling various pictures of owls and other random creatures whilst listening intently to the lectures.

Then it was time for the third lecture. We were ushered by our teacher through to a 'language lab' where Luke (my german buddy who also liked the idea of skipping double german) and I seated ourselves in front of computers and listened to a short, rather plum Spanish lady telling us about language interpretation in Swansea Uni. Then she instructed us to put on our headphones, start the software and translate the passage we heard, first onto paper, and then into microphones to save as a sound clip on the computer.

Fine, I thought, as I happily put on my headset, which was one of those ones that you see pilots wearing in the cockpit of a plane (little things...) and opened the software. It soon became apparent that it would not be as easy as I had hoped, as the options for the languages to translate were Spanish or French. As I know absolutely no Spanish, and did French until year 9, I clicked on the French option, and hoped that miraculously some French would come back to me.

It didn't. I sat, listening to a french man prattle away, trying to recall some words, but all that came back to me was 'Quelle est la dat de ton anniversaire?' (thanks, Miss Rees.) Every time I took off my headphones to try and convey my confusion with Luke, whose computer was broken, the Spanish lady who was watching me like a hawk would motion for me to put my headphones back on, which I did, sheepishly.

Finally, when she came round telling us all that we should be speaking our translations into the microphones, I plucked up my courage and tentatively prised the headset off and raised my hand. When she asked me what the matter was, I said 

"Here's the thing...I don't speak any Spanish or French..."

She looked at me like I had just slapped her. After coming round to her senses, she, with great difficulty, asked why I was there in the first place. Naturally, being the good student I am, I blamed it on my teacher. Always the way to go. For the rest of the session, I enjoyed myself, watching everyone else struggle under the wrath of the Spanish Lady.

And the best part of the day? I got a free lunch out of it all, which was large enough that I didn't eat any dinner either.

Before I sign off, there are a couple of things I need to mention. Firstly, my friend has recently started a blog, and it would be cool if you could check it out - http://anoldheadonyoungshoulders94.blogspot.com/

Also, another love or hate artist, who I feel the former way about, has come into the limelight. If you haven't listened to her yet, do. She's amazing.