In case you hadn't noticed, this is dragon_crier, except I've finally got around to changing my username. I've been meaning to do this for a while, to make it something that fits me more. So here I am using my real name now. It's also more or less the same as my twitter username - AilsaCF - to be less confusing, and fits in with my blogger screen name, too.

I'll keep my userpic the same for my next few posts, to try and ease confusion, but overall, this is what I think will work best.

I got a study abroad place to go to UNC Chapel Hill in North Carolina next year! Squee!!!
*deep breath*
I'm so glad I can finally talk about this - it's taken a very long time to have everything confirmed, but now it's definite, apart from getting my visa approved, so I can talk about it without worrying that something will go wrong.
( Saga of the last few months )

One of the things I like about university is that there are so many clubs and societies you can join, all in one place. Back in September I started going to the ballroom dancing society. It's something I've always thought would be fun, I've watched Strictly Come Dancing and wished I could do something like that, so it's really cool to be actually learning. One evening a week we take over a room in the student union and this guy, Chris, runs 3 class. I started off just going to beginner, but I find it goes quite slowly, so now I usually go to the intermediate class, too. We're getting to the point now where we've got enough steps to string together that Chris can say "Right, go" and put music on and we can put together a dance as we go along. I can cha-cha! And jive! And fun things like that :-) It also works pretty well with the guy-to-girl ratio - there's only ever a few people without partners, and we switch round often so everyone gets a turn. I haven't been able to go to any of the competitions this year (or really wanted to) but hopefully next year they will be on weekends I can go.

In other news, hopefully I'll be able to talk about exciting study-abroad things soon, but I don't want to jinx it! :-)

I feel like everything is going so fast this year. Even last term, when I had hardly any class time, and lots of "free" time (when I should have been reading for classes, and/or studying, but usually wasn't) it felt like the weeks went by fairly quickly sometimes, but this term, things are really racing along. I'm constantly ticking off things I need to do, and writing things down so I don't forget, and there is always So Much Stuff. There is always something I should be doing. If I've done my prep for the next class, then there are chores in the flat, if I've done that, I should write another book review or post something on the blog, if that's done then there's bound to be something I could be reading to help with classes.
I'm not complaining about it (yet), and I think I'm managing to stay on top of things as well as I ever have. So that is, I'm floating at the surface of the water, but not pulling myself out onto the bank any time soon.
We're at the end of week 4 of 11 of term, so I think I just need to make sure I'm not putting too much pressure on myself, but not being too lax either. It's about finding a balance. I am pretty determined at the moment to be more scholarly from now on, which does mean spending more time reading things for classes rather than doing the bare minimum needed but with the amount I usually procrastinate on anything, there should be loads of time in the day where I can just get on and do stuff, instead of faffing about on the internet. So no drowning yet, and hopefully it will get better, but I do want to watch myself to make sure I don't start to panic & sink.

1) Exams! I have one tomorrow for Roman history to the end of the Roman Republic, and one on Wednesday on ancient historiography. I think they'll go ok, but I'm going to squeeze in some extra studying hours tomorrow beforehand. Then on Wednesday afternoon I get to go home for Christmas! :)

2) Trying to catch up on book reviews - I've read some great books recently that I just haven't had time to blog about.

3) My brother recently went to France for the winter - the same way I did a couple of years ago - and I'm already enjoying his emails about the shenanigans at the hotel. It's going to be very strange not having him home for Christmas - we're pretty close, and Christmas is usually when we spend some time with just the two of us together, walking dogs, decorating the house, and things like that.

4) I applied to study abroad in North America next year. Apparently we'll know by Christmas if we've got a place or not. Honestly, I'm not sure if it'll be a good thing or bad thing if I'm told 'no'. But when we do find out, I'll do a proper post on it.

5) I started volunteering with a local Scout group. There's about 10 boys, aged roughly 10-13, and it's just crazy. I have so much more respect for people who work with boys this age. We're trying to build up the group and get them doing interesting activities, and it's a fun thing to be involved in.

What's this? A journal? Hmm... *picks up, shakes off the dust* Of course! I remember this!

I'm back. I didn't purposely stop blogging, really. Things happened last term and I didn't feel like blogging much. Then it was summer camp, and free time is very very precious and doesn't involve much internet time. This term, despite in theory having a lighter timetable than last year, I've been so ridiculously busy.
But I want to start blogging again.
I kept a good-old-fashioned paper diary over the summer, and I really liked writing it. It helped me organise my thoughts, and I think it's something that would be good for me to do.

So, I'm trying to get back in to posting regularly. Hopefully I'll write something at least once a week, or when the interesting things happen.
Hope everyone is doing ok, I'm looking forward to getting back in to the lj community :)

(cross-posted from the review blog)


Title: One Salt Sea

(cross-posted from the review blog, The Book Bundle )

( review under cut )

I've been thinking about camp a lot recently. I think what I'm going to talk about next on here is what a 'typical' session at camp was like. It will probably take at least three posts - we'll see how that goes.

( Two days at camp )

Ok, so that took a lot of space - I'll try and look at different aspects of the day in more detail next time, as I go through the 'typical' session. I hope you enjoy reading these!

Lots has been happening, at the same time as not much.

*I went to London last week for a couple of days with my Dad, which was a lot of fun. Here's the view from our hotel window:



We were so high up!

*I passed both the exams I did before Christmas. This is good. I'm starting to worry about the 3rd subject, that I have a whole-year exam on in May - really really need to start revising for that one now, because there is a lot of stuff to look at.

*I have my contracts for going back to camp this summer! Yay! I'm just waiting to find out the dates of my exams before I book my flights. Unfortunately, my uni won't give us those exam dates until March 7th, so I'm sitting waiting at the moment, watching the flight prices as they keep going up.

*Mum is here (in Edinburgh) for a couple of days at the moment, so we're doing city things :-)

Those are the main things I can think of at the moment, and I'll try and get back to posting regularly. It was a new years resolution, and all the resolutions have been lagging a bit recently. Time to get back on top of them.
I am still reading most posts, even if I don't comment. It's nice keeping up with you guys :-)