In Other News, I’m Not Dead Yet

I don’t know why, but typing this up feels like sitting all you guys down in front of the tenth season of a series that you’ve never seen before, and expecting you to understand what’s going on from the Previously on Supernatural… clip.

{Hopefully at least some of you read that last part in Jensen Ackles’s voice.}

But I digress. This is just a little filler post to let you guys know what I’ve been up to recently, because my blog is looking a lottle (like a little, but a lot) nerdy and sad at the moment. I promise my life revolves around more than just writing up a Saturday Spotlight every week, people. I’m actually doing very cool things with my time, and only with minimal remorse for wasted hours that could be spent reading Lord of the Rings.

As most of you know (because I mentioned it like nineteen times in every single blog I posted between December and February) I’m currently stumbling my way through my first year at university. For reasons that most adults can’t understand, I chose to waste three years of my life studying a Bachelor of Arts degree. Best decision I’ve ever made. I also moved halfway across the country to a teensy tiny town with a massive personality, which coincidentally is the second best decision I’ve ever made.

Don’t get me wrong, moving away from home and throwing myself headfirst into a new environment was hectic. My bookshelf withdrawal syndrome skyrocketed after only the first week (I blogged about the struggle of choosing which precious few books to bring here). On top of that, Grahamstown is so different from my hometown. It was like stepping into Narnia, and I mean that in as literal a sense as possible. Apart from the size difference, Grahamstown and Narnia have a lot in common: lots of barefoot bearded men/fawns, the weather’s capacity to go from 100 years of winter to springtime in thirteen minutes flat, the fact that my dorm room is literally the size of the Wardrobe that the Pevensies use as a portal, the idea that I would probably genuinely sell my sister to the White Witch for food…

I’m joking. Mostly.

Also, like Narnia, Grahamstown doesn’t have an Exclusive Books. Or a cinema. It’s not even like there’s magic here to make up for those offences. Shameful.

Let me just emphasise that point: no Exclusive Books and no cinema means I have not yet read Lady Midnight, and have not yet seen Deadpool. My inner nerd has been sobbing and screaming and swearing since February 12th.

But honestly, life here is epic. I’m having so much fun trying out new things (and just to clarify for my family members, no I don’t mean drugs) and meeting new people (again: no, not drug dealers) and pretty much just finding out who I am. Also, being away from my family means that I have the capability to be totally independent without having to act like an adult. It’s like being given money to buy groceries and having the freedom to decide to spend it on a massive one-kilogram packet of gummy bears (which I did, with zero regrets).

I should also mention that my courses (English Literature, English Language and Linguistics, History, and Classical Studies) are freaking awesome. My decision to entertain my lifelong love affair with both History and English has only one downside, and that’s the sad reality that I have so much coursework reading to do that I don’t have as much free time to blog, write and pleasure-read as I’d initially hoped. I’m still figuring out how to juggle assignments, societies, writing, and the precious moments of free time in between. Not to mention sleep, which is a totally foreign concept right now. But once I find the balance, my blogging should become a little less erratic. I have a lot of cool posts planned. The only difficulty is making time to write them…

I’m just really happy to be doing what I love and being who I am right now. Not that I’m floating on rainbows, though – university is tough. It’s just that, even when stress is sucker-punching holes in my gut and the piles of notes scattered around my room are threatening to suffocate me both mentally and physically, I’ve never once turned around and regretted my decision to be here. Life is a messy myriad of emotions. But at least it’s colourful, right?

So that’s me for now. Well, condensed into a single update. I HAVE SO MANY OTHER STORIES THAT I NEED TO WRITE DOWN. I promise endless entertainment as soon as my workload takes a chill pill. On a related note, Friday marks the beginning of my holiday, although that word is being used very loosely considering that I have four essays due practically on the first day of the second term. Unfortunately, every single piece of work I have to do is going to be put on hold until I have read Lady Midnight cover to cover. And then watched Deadpool. And opened up the Amazon package that’s been waiting for me since the end of February (it may or may not contain a hardcover copy of Felicia Day’s autobiography… Is it bad that I’m more excited to open this book than I am to see my family again? Oops).

Dammit, now I feel homesick.

Peace out, bookworms! Happy nerding. Go read something kickass for me, seeing as my date for tonight is a History paper on the Trans-Saharan Slave Trade.