Reading Week

It's Reading Week for those of us who do humanities courses, which is basically a glorified mid-term break. Of course, as we don't have exams to study for, we are supposed to work on assignments, and I'm doing just that. I've got some of my sociology essay done, a couple of group presentations on the go and my authoring project finished. I also handed in my photography assignment last week. So, overall, my stress levels are really not bad at the moment. Apart from anything else, it's so nice to be home! And to be cooked for again, hehe. With all that's been happening, I felt as though I hadn't been home in months. There was Alice Cooper, which I've already written about, and last weekend I was in Manchester for the football, which I'm going to talk about now.

I went over to Holyhead on the ferry on Friday morning with my cousin, my uncle, his wife and some of her family. We're all huge Manchester United fans except for my cousin, who until last weekend wasn't very knowledgeable on football! Once we got there, we had a two-hour coach trip to Altrincham, just outside Manchester, where our hotel was. Manchester city centre is only a short tram ride away, and we went around the Arndale shopping centre and had dinner in Pizza Hut. On Saturday morning we made the trip to Old Trafford on the coach.

There's nothing quite like the atmosphere around the ground on matchday. It's such an incredible buzz. We were sitting just behind the goal in the East Stand, and when Robin van Persie scored early in the first half, we went absolutely mental! It was a brilliant moment. The Arsenal fans were of course extremely hostile towards their former striker, so for RVP to score and shut them up for a short while was priceless!

People say it wasn't a great game, and certainly it didn't have quite the same intensity as previous matches between the two sides, partly because Arsenal were dire and barely showed up at all, allowing United to completely dictate the game. But it was still hugely exciting for me, especially as Patrice Evra's goal in the second half meant we ran out winners, albeit by a 2-1 scoreline rather than 2-0 - the only time Arsenal really threatened the United goal was towards the end, and Santi Cazorla scored for them in stoppage time. David de Gea wasn't happy about losing his clean sheet, but still, a win is a win, and we're now top of the league. The fact that City, Chelsea and Liverpool all drew their games was the icing on the cake and made for a perfect weekend!

We spent the rest of Saturday back in Manchester city centre, shopping at the Arndale again and eating at Nando's. We got the ferry back from Holyhead the next day, and on the way through Wales we stopped off briefly in a town with the longest name in Europe:

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch!

Or simply Llanfair PG...

Work and Play

I can't believe we're almost halfway through the semester already! Where has the time gone?

Things are getting more and more hectic with each passing week. Assignments, group project meetings, planning and presenting a radio show, football training... it's all piling up! I must admit, it can get quite tiring - let's just say I appreciate my bed more than I ever did before! But overall I'm enjoying it.

I mentioned presenting a radio show. Yes, I know I said I was going to produce, but I'm pretty happy that it's turned out this way! The show (which is yet to be named) airs on DCUfm every Wednesday from 1-2pm and is hosted by myself and three other people. It's basically a talk show, where we discuss all sorts of things, and also play a few tunes as well. You can listen in online at http://www.dcufm.com, so if you have nothing else to do, tune in!

Getting involved with student radio was one of the things I was most looking forward to about starting university, and although it's early days, this could well be the best thing about my time here. I've always had a huge excitement and passion for radio, so I absolutely love being in the studio and going through the whole process.

I have football training every Tuesday evening, and I'm having great fun with that too. It's brilliant to be able to play again. Of the three clubs and socs I joined, Music Soc is the one that I've had the least to do with so far, but I'm starting Music Production lessons on Thursday evenings, so that's something I'm really excited about.

I've got so much work to do this week, but I'll be taking a nice break this weekend. On Sunday, I'm off to London to see Alice Cooper at Wembley Arena. I can't wait! This will be my fourth time seeing Alice live (it's becoming an annual Halloween thing) and I'm really looking forward to seeing the friends I've made from seeing him the past few times, as well as meeting others for the first time. It's going to be great!

And now to take advantage of my lie-in tomorrow morning! I'll update again next week, when I've recovered from the gig!