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It’s been a while since I’ve updated. I haven’t really done much different from last semester since I’ve been back.

My snowboarding lessons finally started this semester. They’re on Sundays at 11:30 so I have to get up early. This week the instructor didn’t show up. I hope I get another lesson because of this.

The only new class I have this semester is reading and writing the short story. Which is way more boring than you can imagine. On the first day of class the professor spent an hour explaining in extreme detail two short paragraphs of a story. We actually finished the story in two an a half hours this week.

Space law remains my favorite class. Sadly, it’s also the first class that’s over this semester. Because of this class, I’m hoping to go to law school after graduating from FHSU.

I surprised myself by getting first classes (70%/A) in German and Spanish last semester. I have no idea how I managed this. I’m also going to go to Spain with my Spanish class over spring break.

Lastly, I passed the final exam for scuba. All I have to do now is complete four open water dives then, I’m a PADI certified open water diver.

That’s about all I can think of until my next update.

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Monday
Today I went to all of my normal classes. Instead of having a typical Space law class we had a guest speaker talking about space insurance. After class I went to the pub with my space law professors. It took me an hour after class got out to get there because, the stupid bus never showed up. In the space of 50 minutes, 3 buses should’ve passed instead no buses passed. I wasn’t happy standing in the cold and rain for almost an hour.

Thursday
Today was thanksgiving. My only class for the day was from 1630 to 1900. Afterwards I went to Revs with USSC for trivia. We met there after 2000 which would have been fine except they changed the hours that they serve food without telling anyone in our group. Instead we played trivia and went for food at 2300. I went to a Chinese restaurant that only took cash. You guessed it, I didn’t have any cash.  I walked all the way back to Clanny and had two bagels for thanksgiving dinner at 0000. Then I played Kerbal Space Program until 0200 or 0300.

Friday
Today I relaxed and played Kerbal all day. Since it was black Friday I got on Amazon which, could be seen as a mistake. I bought myself a Nexus 6 64gb for under $300. Which is a really good deal since this phone cost $800 when it came out last November.

Saturday
Today I went to York. York for lack of a better description, is very british. In the city centre the streets are narrow with shops running down both sides it seems like there were an infinite number of streets. Even the alleyways were only wide enough for one person to pass through at a time. It was busy. Being the Christmas festival there were tens of thousands of people. You couldn’t walk six inches without bumping into someone.

Sunday
I didn’t do much today. I did start to get a cold during the evening.

Monday
I didn’t feel like going to class today but, I forced myself anyway. On the bright side the film we watched for my class this week was Die Hard. When I got home from Class, I went to my bed and watched Netflix until it was late enough to sleep.

Tuesday
Very much like Monday. My only class was Spanish and I did not want to go because of this cold. I skyped my mom and she told me that I shouldn’t skip class. Why did I call the one person that won’t call in sick, ever? I regretted going afterwards and laid in bed until I could sleep when I got back.

Wednesday
I woke up and decided to skip class today. Instead I laid in bed an worked on developing my video game level for a while. Then Netflix. After that sleep.

Thursday
I felt much better today. The only symptom I have left is a cough. After my only class, German, I went to Revs for trivia night. We made sure to go earlier this week so that we could eat dinner. We decided not to hang around until trivia and left. I played Kerbal Space and watched Netflix until bed at 0200.

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This week has been surprisingly typical for coming off of a week long holiday.

Saturday
Today I flew home. As soon as I got my stuff into my room, I went to the library. Then I worked on revising my essay for a little while before ordering food on Tesco’s website to be delivered on Sunday.

Sunday
Today I had my food delivered. It’s really convenient not having to carry my food clear across town (literally). After my food was delivered, I did laundry which is not fun. Afterwards I finished my essay; I hope I did it write (see what I did there?).

Monday
It is so weird having to go to class after vacation. Other than that I don’t remember much about Monday.

Tuesday
Today after class I went to Fab Lab Sunderland for a tour. I wanted to volunteer but, was told that they are way too busy to look for volunteers right now and that if I pay my fees and prove that I actually know my stuff then they might pick me as a volunteer. This was really disappointing. They don’t even have a remote knowledge of electronics equipment as far as I could tell. They had soldering stations and oscilloscopes but, nothing else for electronics.

Wednesday
I don’t really remember what I did on Wednesday. I know that I stayed up watching Scorpion until 2:30 though.

Thursday
My only class for the day was canceled. I didn’t eat lunch until 15:00 today. Then I watched Scorpion all day and evening.

Friday
Today I went to Ryman’s and bought some extra-fine markers and two more fountain pens. Then I walked back to the flat stopping at Subway to pick up dinner. After dinner I watched some more Scorpion and finally caught up to where it’s at on TV.

Saturday
Today I was really lazy. I attempted to read a book on international law but, It was really boring and irrelevant. It was focused too much on the English standpoint of international law. I wish that they had American law books in the library. I also finally updated my blog which, I put off for an entire week.

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Today I went to all my Monday classes. My movie screening this week was Lola Rennt (Run Lola) which, is a German action film. It was actually pretty good and I could understand a few of the words (we had English subtitles too). I decided after space law that I was going to go to the library to study. I changed my mind when I got there and had to wait two hours for the next bus to come. Earlier in the day I ordered a kindle and a couple translation dictionaries (one Spanish and one German). So during the wait for the bus I got on my laptop and tried to figure out how to get my nook books onto a kindle. It’s legally impossible because, all of the companies employ DRM or digital rights management. This is basically a way of making sure you can’t use any other reader than the one they provide. Which also means even of you purchased an eBook; you don’t own it. I finally caught the bus home and watched some Netflix before bed.

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Today I woke up and waited for my groceries to be delivered. I was out of food and didn’t have anything to eat until then. When my food arrived in the timeframe that I scheduled it for, I made a stir fry with sweet and sour sauce. Afterwards I went upstairs and watched Netflix. For dinner, I had fish sticks, a salad, some ice cream and, a can of woodpecker cider. Afterwards, I went upstairs watched Netflix, worked on my space law paper and then went to bed.

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Today, I woke up freezing. One of the worst things about the flat is that the heaters in our rooms will only stay on for two hours at a time. In the common areas, they stay on but, take 24 hours to warm up. The outdoor temperature this morning was in the 40s so, I’m guessing the flat is in the 50s. I have an idea though, it’s probably against some rule. I could buy an Arduino and servo then program them to push the button at certain times.

At my first class, my film studies seminar, we talked about genre. And talked and talked and talked. British students are very polite and patient. It took fifteen minutes of extra class time before someone told the teacher class was long over. This is only scheduled as a one hour class. I honestly didn’t mind as it’ll probably be beneficial later in the semester. After class, I got on the bus to go to the bank before Spanish class.

Spanish class was good. Then I went back to Clanny where I made a pizza for dinner and, picked up my snowboarding gear. Then, I went back to CitySpace.

Snowboarding was a ton of fun though, dry slopes are not like snow at all. Basically they’re metal grids with a carpet like material covering them. I managed to learn how to ride a button lift. For those of you that don’t know, button lifts were designed for skiers. Basically, there is a pole with a puck at the end that pulls you up the slope (you put it between your legs so, it’s difficult when your sideways on the mountain/hill). I was proud of myself when, I finally made it to the top on like my fifth try. I took a picture that I’ll try to pull off my camera and post soon. Basically, the ski slope overlooks the city, hopefully the picture turned out. I managed not to fall and used both heel and toe sides on my second to last run. I also met some of the SnowSports club members. One of them taught me how to ride the lift, thank you. They were all pretty cool. I can’t wait to do it again next week. I also hope that I can make it to some of the socials which, are on Wednesdays.

After boarding I went back to Clanny and, took a hot shower and a couple ibuprofen. Snowboarding is by far not painless and dry slopes are even worse. Nothing some ibuprofen and a bag of mixed vegetables (only frozen food I have other than pizza; icepack) can’t help though. Next I watched an episode on Netflix (3 episodes left in the last season of Battlestar), finished this post and, went to bed. (Country music playing in the background)