new student writing society

One of my friends from the occupation was talking to me about this writing society that he and a few of his friends had started up. Being interested in writing and the like, I asked if I could come by. Of course I could. 

They have workshops every Tuesday where we share pieces we've written about a prompt they give. I've yet to write something based on any of their prompts but there's still time. Some of the people are absolutely amazing writers. They're simply incredible. I just love listening to them every week. A lot of them, as literature students, are very technical when it comes to poetry and writing. I thought that would be kind of annoying to deal with but they are just insanely good. I could never write something that good in such a structured format. 

Last night, the society had its launch party in a little bar room downstairs in Fallowfield. It was basically just an open mic night, where people went up and read their pieces or other people's pieces. There were little writing activities all around the little tables too. 

I wasn't expecting too much from this night but it turned out to be absolutely fantastic. There was such a good atmosphere, with everyone reading such great pieces of all different genres and performances. It was just amazing. I had dragged Becca and Anisah with me too and then we found that some of our friends from the occupation were there too which created a nice little reunion. 

After I'd built up the courage, I went up and read a couple pieces too (one of them being 'Kindergarten' which was published in our FSHA litmag, if anyone recalls and another which I had written right there and then which I can't find right now and am wondering where I put it...). I was shaking nervously throughout but I'm glad I went up because I got to pick a book from a little stack of "prizes" and I got a Virginia Woolf book. Just before coming, I'd been thinking, if I go up to read and get to pick a book, I really hope there's a Virginia Woolf one. And there was! Yay. And on my way back to my seat, I was being cheered and applauded. Several people even reached out patted me on the arm and such, which was so awesome because these people were the ones who I admired, hearing them read their pieces. It just put a smile on my face that nothing could diminish all night. 

It was just such a good night. I wish you all could have been there. And it's a whole new society through which I can meet more amazing people and I'm just so happy I'm part of it. 

***

after / eighteenth wish

kindergarten

manchester as home

This past weekend, I was walking around town and I suddenly had this sense of comfort and peace and happiness. It sounds like I was high, but seriously. It was like I just realized that I do like Manchester. It grows on you. The city, I mean. Or, rather, "glorified town" as one girl at Gabs likes to call it. I don't feel at home but closer to home than I have since I arrived. I think it's that I've met a ton more people, had reasons to get out of Gabs, barely spend a waking moment in Gabs. It's simply that I found a new spark for life that I didn't expect and that's ridiculously comforting. 

The campus still doesn't feel like a campus and things aren't perfect but I like that everything's getting better. And I've met a good handful of people who totally get where I'm coming from and have had the same experience I have with Manchester. I have hope!

***

The other night, I was walking home from a society meeting and due to some silly circumstances, I brightly yelled, "I hate my life!" A couple passers-by who had glanced over when we walked by turned back around to call, genuinely concerned, "Don't say that!" In turn, I smiled and responded, "Oh, I don't really!"

It's moments like this that I love. It's one of my favourite parts about home, that people are incredibly friendly and you can end up in conversation with just about anyone, about anything. It was nice to find it here too.

mary poppins

Holy crap! I can't believe I forgot to mention that I saw MARY POPPINS THE MUSICAL at a local theatre here! It was one of the best experiences of my life even though we were miles and miles up into the audience. Aamna and I had been planning to go ever since the night we met and saw that it was coming to Manchester and we actually went!

It was such a tremendously good musical. The storyline was somewhat different from the classic Disney film but I don't know if it was more true to the book? The songs were SO AWESOME and fun and grand and supercalifragilisticexpealidocious. (Spellcheck, anyone?) Ah, it just made me all giggly with excitement. It was beautiful! Definitely go see it if you ever get the chance.

the occupation

On the 4th of February, 2009, we the humanitarian activists called for an Emergency General Meeting to pass a motion entitled the Gaza Crisis. This motion was an attempt to urge the University to condemn Israel's attacks on Gaza, particularly Gaza's institutions of education, to boycott Israeli goods on campus, to urge the University to fulfill their promise to divest from the arm's trade, and to publicize and encourage our fundraising in support of Gaza. 

A general meeting is a meeting open to all University of Manchester students who have a right to take part in the politics of our Student Union. For a regular general meeting, there must be at least 300 students (to reach quorum) before the meeting can continue. For an emergency meeting, however, there must be 500 students.

Action Palestine spent ages publicizing this meeting and urging people to come, leafletting, postering, standing at stalls, and Facebooking. On the day, we all made our way into the Academy, sitting in the first 500 seats set out to make it easier to see if we have reached quorum or not. The meeting started at 1pm meaning that we needed to have reached quorum by 1.30. At this time, the chair of the meeting stood up and said that this meeting could not continue as we had not reached the necessary 500 students, we only had about 470+. What we then noticed, however, is that several Zionists had actually physically blocked the entrance into the Academy about 10 minutes before, leaving a large crowd of people standing outside, trying to get in. The chair didn't care; the meeting didn't continue. 

Instead, one of the proposers of the motion stood up and called for the debates over the motion anyways. The first proposer went up and talked about why we need to pass this motion for such a humanitarian crisis. A staunchly Zionist student then retaliated saying he could not endorse such a biased motion that did not acknowledge the horror of Hamas and their actions and principles. While we agreed for the most part that we do not support any terrorist or violent actions, we did not agree firstly, to condemn Hamas for their attacks since it was not Hamas who broke the ceasefire and secondly, this was not the point of the motion. Political stances were meant to be put aside in light of the humanitarian crisis at hand -- this was an appeal to aid the people of Gaza directly, not their government. Then the seconder of the motion went up and gave her response to the opposition. At the end of her very impassioned speech, someone slipped her a note to call for a march on the BBC, who is refusing to air the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal to aid Gaza for fear of it (the BBC) coming under fire as a biased organisation. 

We all began to slowly trickle onto Oxford Road, chanting 'Free Free Palestine!' at the top of our lungs and through megaphones. Just as we passed the main administrative building, however, someone decided to turn the march towards that building instead. We all rushed into the building, which turned out to be the main office of our Vice Chancellor, the president of the University. 

And we sat down in the corridor and refused to move. 

So began the occupation in solidarity with Gaza. About 150 of us crowded the corridor, sitting with our Palestinian flags and backpacks crammed where we could. Someone pulled up a whiteboard and we began to turn the motion's policies into our demands. At some point, we were all asked to call up as many friends as possible to come join the protest so Aamna, Amina, Kat and Becca came along. We stayed until about 6pm when the Vice Chancellor came out to speak to us and said No Way to pretty much all of our demands. After that people started dispersing to plan for staying overnight and we weren't intending to stay overnight, so we walked away thinking we'll just come back tomorrow for the day when we have time. 

The next day, Becca and I had lectures together so inbetween class, we went into the occupation and painted some banners and just hung around. The whole day had been planned as a day of alternative learning with speakers about Palestine and academic boycotts, etc. Then we went to another class which ended at 4 and calmly strolled back to the occupation afterwards. Right when we got in, there was a flurry of activity and one guy who I recognized but really didn't know rushed up to us and handed us a letter saying the VC had just issued a statement telling us to leave by 5pm, when the building is meant to close. 

Becca and I didn't really know what to do so we kind of just stood there, looking lost. Due to this, I am sure, random people would just come up and start talking to us. And then we became friends, just like that. We were all sat around together, counting down to 5 o'clock, trying to keep the alternative day of learning agenda despite the itches of panic some might have been having (Me? Panic? Psshhh). When 5pm hit, while we weren't kicked out, the building was still locked up. Meaning we could get out but no one outside could get in. So we couldn't bring in food, water, life necessities. Basically, they'd just stopped us from having free access to the building. In frustration, a group of people started a protest outside the entrance, chanting for six hours straight to get inside the building and in support of those already inside. 

When the protest first started and we realized they weren't being let in, all of us inside the corridor started chanting out the window to let them in. This turned into quite a ruckus of course and went on for some time, the security guards just sitting back and enjoying our enthusiasm. 

The details are fuzzy but about half an hour later, there seemed to be a buzz with everyone crowding together in the corridor ... as the cops walked in. I am not joking when I say that everyone started yelling to lock arms. And discussing ways to obstruct the cops from dragging us out. It was so completely unreal I didn't even know what to say. Becca and I just kept exchanging half-horrified looks as we squeezed ourselves into a corner. Everyone began to sing and chant "We Shall Not Be Moved" which Aamna had been hoping would happen ages ago so we recorded it for her. After many more chants and singing and whatnot, everyone settled down a bit for the nice police man to talk to us. Some discussion was had and the message was sent to our VC that we'd like free access to the building, thanks. He was unmoved. 

We sat as a huddle group in the corridor for ages. One of my friends from Action Palestine came by laughing at our frightened faces and said, "Don't worry, you're not gonna die." Which was comforting. Another random guy just started talking to me over his shoulder like he knew me. So continued the meeting of new random people who just came up to us and started talking. 

Eventually, the VC himself came to talk to us around 9.30pm (or later) and basically gave us a big "NO WAYYY ps im not gunna b ur friend till u get out, kthxbai." That was pretty much verbatim, seriously. 

As he huffily walked away, everyone quickly began to chant the ever necessary "We're students, united, we'll never be defeated!" which hinted to the policemen (who were outside at this point) that we weren't too happy with the VC's response. 

After hearing this news, some people on the outside, who had previously been inside, decided to find a way inside. They ran around the side of the building attempting to get in through a side door but were chased by the cops and, to save themselves, leapt into the closest door. There were 14 of them. And they were inside the University's central postal room. After much deliberation -- they said they would only leave if everyone outside was allowed in -- the Postal 14 (yep, they have a name now) decided it was best to stay where they were for they were in a strong position. One awesomely radical Irishman even said, "If the people of Gaza can survive three weeks of bombings of their homes, schools, families then we can survive three weeks in occupation for them."

We up in the corridor, while proud and inspired by this little speech, became slightly worried as to how we could get food and water to them. One awesomely radical Colombian quipped, "We should post it to them!" and then proceeded to laugh hysterically at his own joke. It made my life. 

Eventually, everything and everyone calmed down a bit more -- the cops (who, by the way, were not even called by the University but rather by some concerned residents) left, the VC probably went home, and we were left in the hands of some security guards on overtime. Who turned out to be our best friends. I'm sure they loved the fact that we were giving them pay, stirring up things to make their lives more interesting. Apparently, they let the Postal 14 order pizza and go to the bathroom by leaving through the window. 

Back up in the corridor, Becca and I were getting slightly antsy about how late it was, thinking we should go home. Only to be bombarded with about 5 people asking why we were going home, don't you know that all those people out there would absolutely love to have your spot inside?, c'mon it'll be fun! We just kept giving the same excuses that we had the day before -- we'd love to stay but we have lectures in the morning, we just can't really. Everyone else had lectures. They were staying. Sigh. Becca in fact had no excuse because she didn't have any lectures the next day but she wouldn't stay on her own, which is understandable. Somehow, in the end, I got roped into staying too. Overnight. In a grand, tiled administrative building corridor. wtf, mate.

Once this was decided, we all sat down to play a game of cards. Since there were a lot of us, I suggested we play Tongues, which is Spoons without the spoons. We started rounding people up, calling out to all those randomers who just started talking to us for no reason other than that we were obviously emanating cool. We played cards for a while, just chillaxin' all cool, meeting new people and whatnot. Slowly, people started going to bed, grabbing sleeping bags from the conference room we had taken over and pulling them into quiet, semi-comfortable spots. Becca and I stayed up chatting with a group of people who were still awake at the end of the corridor. Some of these people are now our best friends. Who'da thunk? We were just a group of young folk, staying up late to chat in the middle of an occupation, meeting for the first time, joking around in delirium. It was awesome. That's how I met the guy who ran up to me to give me updates and the girl who was enthusiastically screaming her head off with chants and became better acquainted with the radical Colombian (who I already knew) and properly met the guy who started talking to me in the middle of the police riot.

The whole time, Becca and I kept looking at each other thinking, what the hell are we doing? But it was a good what the hell, as in our lives are so awesome right now how did we get this lucky? It was just incredible. We were having the most fun in ages with people we had just met, just by sitting around. 

Around half 3 in the morning, someone decided to order pizza for the security guards so we all gathered to have some pizza. I can't even explain how awesome it was to just be sat there having a good time. I don't know how to put it into words, seriously. It was just amazing.

Eventually, we all decided to go to sleep too. Becca and I shared a bed -- aka fully dressed on two open sleeping bags on a hard tiled floor with a blinding light overhead -- with Maryam, who we had just met. I hope you're all getting the craziness of the situation, because we were definitely weirded out by it all. And we were nearby Charlie (who is made of awesome), Castro (the Colombian), and Mohammed who were, get this, all sleeping together under the same cover in the same direction. Jokes abound. 

It must have been at least 4am when we had all stopped laughing enough to actually fall asleep. At 6, Becca, Maryam and I all got up to leave since we had class. In our hazy semi-awake delirium, we stumbled out of "bed," crawled around to collect our stuff and walked out, saying 'morning' to the security. The sun hadn't risen yet and here we were walking down Oxford Road having just woken up from an occupation sleepover with people we barely knew. 

All our friends back at Gabs were frantic, telling us to text them when we got in, asking how we'd survived, hearing us tell our story over and over, spreading it around to other people. Everyone just kept coming up to us asking if it was true, checking to see if we were alive, calling us rebels and hippies. I love our friends.

The next day, after we'd finished lectures, we went by the building to see if we could get back in. Turns out they'd padlocked all the gate entrances so we couldn't even get into the quad. Obviously, they'd heard about the mini-demo someone had planned that afternoon. No one was being let in at all. After a little waiting, I found out that there were still a handful of people inside, including the Postal 14, but that they'd been issued a statement indicating they must be out by 3pm or else would be threatened with expulsion. Not too many students were comfortable with that one, of course, so those who wanted to leave at 3 did so. 

While all this was going down, a big gathering of people was growing near the Student Union, coming around campus towards the administrative buildings, stopping at the fence nearest the postal room. We stood outside chanting for ages, we happy people of the megaphone. Someone then tried to get food into the postal room by -- get this -- tying a grocery bag of food to the end of a very long bamboo stick and reaching it over the gate. It pretty much made my life. Some stuff got through; some bags burst all over the floor. The ones that burst were then kindly handed over by the security guards standing outside. 

As the demo escalated and everyone realized this occupation wasn't holding up, someone decided to lead us all across the road, causing a roadblock in the process, to Simon Building across the way. It's the "engineering" building but is mainly used for offices for the Faculty of Life Sciences and such. Everyone rushed upstairs to a lecture room on the first floor ... and began another occupation.

Becca and I had to depart at this point as she had a train to catch but we came back soon enough. 

The occupation in Simon became our home for the next four weeks. Yep, FOUR WEEKS. It took over our lives, in a superly awesomely fantastic way. Every spare moment we had was spent in there, between lectures, over weekends, some overnights, some groggy mornings. Every waking minute was spent sitting around playing Mafia or cards or having an organising meeting or telling your mum jokes or hacking each other's facebooks. Or listening to music or eating falafel or painting banners and discussing how strange we all were and how much we loved each other. It was so weird some of the things which you can get so easily used to. (Hush, grammar conscience.) We have inside jokes that absolutely only we would ever understand. We do things in daily conversation that confuse non-occupationers to no end. We hung out when we were passing out flyers, manning the stalls, walking around, being awesome, etc etc. We were the longest running occupation in the UK, becoming a beacon of inspiration to our unis across the nation, quite literally. 

During the first week, we decided, on a whim, to organise another Emergency Meeting, making sure we reached quorum this time. The uprising was unbelievable. We mobilised over 1,300 students to come to this meeting to pass, overwhelmingly, the Gaza Motion that hadn't had the chance to stand before. It was the most unbelievable success we could have imagined.

That occupation became our family. You popped in to have tea and a chat and mess around. You stayed because you met the most amazing people in the world in that room. It was honestly one of the best experiences of my life being there. I keep saying it but feeling like I'm taking part in something so much bigger than myself is one of the best feelings in the world. I met around 50+ people through the occupation and some of them have become my closest friends. If I tried to list them all here, I'd probably go on for ages (not that I haven't already). Living together in a lecture room for 31 days kind of does that to you. 

The occupation ended yesterday afternoon in favour of going into negotiations with the VC over our demands. Although we're all pretty devastated to have to end the occupation since it's become such a massive part of all of our lives, we still plan on seeing each other quite frequently. It'll just be too weird not seeing each other every day. 

This occupation is probably the reason I began to enjoy university. I began to meet more people, branch out, explore, have fun without planning it beforehand. It was such an expansion to my small world -- I actually left my room. I got out of the stupid four walls I spent every hour in, wasting away. I wasn't homesick once. When I asked, why am I here? I had an answer. Every day confirmed this for me. To be able to take part in all this was a blessing that has just .. gah. Left me speechless, apparently. Walking around the streets of Manchester, I'm bound to run into someone I know and that simple fact absolutely thrills me. It pushes me further into the direction that I could feel at home here. Not many first years walking around campus will randomly see someone they know from somewhere other than halls or their course. Getting involved in something that actually mattered was pretty much the best decision that I ever made.

I absolutely love the occupation, my new family, and everything to come for the next couple years because I know they have the potential to be awesome written all over them. 

I'm sure I've left out moments of fabulousness that the occupation brought to me but I could just spend years talking about how amazing it was. It was all too much to remember each detail but I'm not too bothered really because all that matters is that it happened, to be honest. Every moment, every memory, every person happened to me and it has made me pretty euphoric and that's all I really need. 

our occupation blog

flobots

I just got back from one of the most phenomenal nights of my existence.

On Friday, we were just hanging out at the occupation (see above) as we do every weekend because who needs to go out when you have an occupation to attend? when Adil walks in with a group of people we've never seen before. All eyes turn because we think we're about to be introduced to new occupiers. 

What follows is this:

Adil: Hey guys, this is ... Well, I'll let him explain.

Guy in front: Hi guys, I'm Jamie from the Flobots* and we were just having a show over at the Academy with Anti-Flag and Rise Against. We'd heard about the occupations in the UK so we decided to come visit.

At the word 'Flobots,' I let out a gasp which I quickly muffled when he turned around to look at me. THE LEAD EMCEE OF THE FLOBOTS TURNED AROUND TO LOOK AT ME. After he had finished his little speech, he turned to me and goes, "So, I assume you know who we are ..." Duh.

I quickly texted my cousin who is a huge fan of the Flobots to, well, fangirl. He responded, no way! get me an autograph! I hate asking famous people for autographs ('cause, you know, I spend so much time with celebrities and all) but I figured why not, for my cousin. See, this past summer when I was in Seattle, my cousin and I bonded over the fact that we seemed to be the only two people we knew who appreciated the Flobots for songs other than "Handlebars." We both had their whole album and played it the whole time we were together. So, having one of the Flobots walk into a room in which I was also taking up space was just mind-boggling. 

I walked over to where he was sat, chatting with some folk, and sat down to join in. And then we became best friends and lived happily ever after. 

Sigh. I wish. I did ask him for an autograph for my cousin and he wrote, "For Leif,  Thanks for having a cool cousin who stands up for important causes! - Jonny 5" (Jonny 5 is his stage name.)

...

SQUEEEEEEEEEE.

And then we did sit down and talk for a while, me, him, and a little group of people. One of my friends Maryam came rushing to the occupation after someone had texted her that Jamie from the Flobots was here. When she arrived, she asked him about the gig, wishing she could have gone. And Jamie says the most glorious words known to mankind (or just us): We're having a gig in Sheffield tomorrow. I could get you guys in. Just put your names down on a list.

We now had backstage passes to see the Flobots, Anti-Flag, and Rise Against in Sheffield the next night. What? We had Jamie's number, his email, his facebook (yes, we are facebook friends which makes it THAT much more official), and his blog. I will link you to his blog here because it pretty much recounts everything I've just said and more. And it has pictures. Of me. And I am mentioned. Twice.

He left for a bit to see f any other bands/band members wanted to join in on the fun but returned only with the other emcee of the Flobots, Stephen, which was good enough for us. Together, we painted a massive banner promoting the national demo we had planned for that week. And I made tea for the Flobots. Tea. Someone suggested, if they could please, that the Flobots publicise our demo at their gig and Jamie responds, well, why don't you guys do it since you'll be at the gig? He then said that Anti-Flag had offered to drop a song off their set to let us come onstage to promote the demo. Yeah.

Then we sat around and played Mafia together because what's an occupation night without Mafia? No night at all. Jamie is the most intense Mafia player I have ever seen in my life. He has a very disarming big blue-eyed stare that never lets up. It almost made Becca cry. She was Mafia and she is usually quite good at hiding the fact, flying low under the radar, but Jamie's staring interrogations threw her off completely. 

At around 6 am, when the Flobots had left to get back to their tour bus, Becca, Maryam and I all went back to Gabs for a little sleepover before the big day. We slept for 4 hours. Because Becca and I were determined to make t-shirts for this event. We got up, looking like zombies, caught a bus into town and went on a plain t-shirt and fabric paint hunt. We were successful except that it kind of cost a lot and then we discovered weeks later that some of the paints weren't fabric paints at all. Woops. Whatever. We only really needed them for that night anyways. Or so we thought.

While in town, we ran into Nick who was flyering anti-BNP stuff and we told him all about the gig and whatnot and we told him we had an extra space in the car if he'd care to join. He cared.

Then we went all the way back to halls, found Maryam still asleep in my bed, and promptly sat down to make t-shirts. These shirts turned out to be pretty awesome. So awesome in face that when we exhibited them for all our friends at the occupation, they all wanted some too. Becca and I now have a small business making t-shirts and yeah, we're making a profit. Because we're awesome. (And we found the right paints this time... and cheap t-shirts.)

That's us being a backwards Palestinian flag at the gig. I don't know why Adil looks like the devil.

We also called our friend Joey up because he lives in Sheffield and had just gone home for the weekend. Since he'd be around, we invited him a long too. 

Once everything was ready to go, Maryam came around with her car, already filled with Adil and Nick, and we hopped in and set off to Sheffield. We drove through the Peak District which was tremendously pretty and I really want to go on a hike around there. The drive was about an hour and when we found the Sheffield Academy, we called up Jamie and he came to meet us outside. We got to go into the venue before anyone else and see them rehearse. They came out to talk and meet with us and see what was going down. Jamie then brought out the lead singer of Anti-Flag who put his hand on my shoulder. How fangirly/creeptastic do I sound right now? I used to listen to Anti-Flag when I was wayyy little. Okay, not that little, but around the ages 14 or 15. They're part of that chunk of music that I listened to when I was still listening to Sum 41 and Blink-182. You know, all that "rock" that's still precious to me despite the fact that I don't listen to music like that much anymore. And Rise Against is even more recent than that. 

If you told my 15 year old self that in three or four years time I would be meeting the bands I listen to, I would have laughed my head off. If you told me this past summer that the band I was playing over and over would be sitting down to have tea with me and hang out, I would have confiscated your crazy pills. These things just don't happen. 

Except they did.

After we had a little chat with the bands, people were starting to come inside and the Flobots got ready to go on stage and play a fantastic set which was far too short but they were opening so it's understandable. They kept looking over at us during their stage time too, which was awesome. The whole time we just kept looking at each other going, we're friends with the people on stage. holy crap.

After their set, we went backstage (!!!!!!!) to see what we were supposed to do next. It was the funniest thing of my life when Jamie came out and random people recognized him and wanted to come up and talk to him and he just completely blanks them and only talked to us. We were very pleased with ourselves up on our high horses, thank you very much.

We went backstage and met all the members of Anti-Flag as they walked on and off stage getting ready for their set. They were all so nice and cool and awesome and gah. Later on we were having a chat in their dressing room too which was surreal. Anyways. We watched Anti-Flags set from onstage. ON. STAGE. And then they introduced us and brought us out onstage to promote the demo, holding our banner and giving a little speech. SO FREAKING SURREAL.

When we got off stage, the Flobots were waiting for us to come and congratulate us and tell us good job and give us hugs. Hugs. One of the Flobots came by to say he'd gone out to record it all for us too. Then we all had a little squee-fest and went on our merry ways. On the way to continuing our merry way, we found the Rise Against dressing room. And so we fangirled.

Then we explored backstage and found a little balcony from which to watch Rise Against. We were kind of backstage but more raised and so we could see the entire audience and the stage from the side. I, being the only one who knew Rise Against (and Anti-Flag, for that matter), proceeded to dance and sing the night away, seeing a couple of my favourite tweenhood bands. 

Us on our little backstage balcony of joy.

After they were done, we all got ready to go outside and pass flyers to everyone walking out. I hate flyering but I did so anyways. And I got rid of all my flyers, woot. Some guy walked past and nonchalantly grabbed a flyer saying, "... and I'll take one from her 'cause she's fit** ..." which entertained me endlessly. After everyone was gone, we went to go hang out with the Flobots and have a chat. Jamie wanted to interview us for his fightwithtools website, which was nerve-wracking, especially considering his aforementioned stare. 

While others were being interviewed, Stephen chatted with the rest of us. At one point, I said I was cold and, since it was really warm inside, everyone gave me a funny look. So I continued to explain myself about how you can be cold from the inside no matter how warm it is and Stephen totally got me because we're bffs and all. He asked me if I'd eaten and I said no and he said, well that's why. Then when we walked back over to their dressing room, he went in, called my name (CALLED. MY. NAME.) and handed me two tangerines and an apple. And several bags of crisps to pass out to everyone else. He gave me sustenance. Because he cares. /creeper

Notice the orange spheres in my hand, given to me by none other than the emcee of the Flobots. 

We were all gonna go out to dinner except that they had to leave for their next gig. Also, we didn't know any place that would be open at half 11 at night. So Joey invited us all to his place. We drove around Sheffield for a bit, making it to Joey's house in about 10 or 15 minutes. We all piled into his living room and Maryam went into the kitchen to make tomato soup with some veggies. Joey made us all tea, popped in a Sigur Rós album, and we sat around the dining table hanging out. It was the most perfect way to end the night. 

As we were all slowly drifting into sleep around 2am, we decided it was best to head off. We drove all the way back to Manchester to the occupation where we were warmly welcomed amidst chants of No Handlebars now that everyone had discovered exactly who the Flobots were. And everyone admired our beautiful t-shirts and asked for their own. 

Most surreal 48 hours of my existence. I can't believe it all happened. My mom is going to flip.

I love my life. 

* You all know who the Flobots are right? I can ride my bike with no handlebars, no handlebars? Yeah, them.

** urbandictionary.com defines "fit."

oscars

I've just realized the Oscars are this weekend and I won't be home for them. I'm not usually one to watch the Oscars but over the last few years there's been this routine of my mom calling me from the living room, waiting for me to trudge over, patting the couch next to her with a cutesy smile asking me to watch the Oscars with her. I'll roll my eyes and say I have homework but she'll tell me to bring it and watch it with her anyways. I'd shake my head and sigh but oblige nonetheless. Not this year. Which lets the spindles of homesickness creep over me just a bit more than usual. It's these small things that make the difference, you know? She did this over winter break, while I was studying for exams, and pulled me out of my room to watch the Golden Globes. My dad gave me stern looks from the kitchen table, asking, 'Shouldn't you be studying?'

I miss my mom. I'm trying to push her to apply for a UK visa so she can visit me on my birthday, which is over easter break. So far, she's yet to comply but maybe if I keep up the pestering...

new beginnings!

For whatever reason, I was particularly excited about beginning this second semester. I think I have a new zest for being in Manchester and school and all that jazz. I've only just finished my first week of this semester so we'll see how long this feeling lasts.

My first class of the week was Excitable Cells which lasted a total of 15 minutes. This is the class with the professor who told us to come in at 9.15am on Mondays. I took an immediate liking to him when, seconds after I expressed my surprise that so many people showed up to the first lecture of the semester, he said the exact same thing! He also used the phrase 'sexy science' during this lecture and provided this caption for a picture of a boy getting his teeth checked at the dentist:

"And there's some brat getting drilled ... "

I really quite like this guy. The class itself is about excitable membranes and action potentials and ion channels and I'd imagine it'll go on to be about neurons and the nervous system in its entirety. Should be fun. 

Then I've got From Molecules to Cells which is basically everything I already know about the biological cell and its components and organelles and blahblah. I quite like cellular biology though so this class shouldn't be too bad. The prof seems nice enough, just kind of straightforward and no nonsense.

My first optional course this semester is Psychology: Intro to Brain and Behaviour. Just as we sat down and picked out the lecturer, my friend Matt and I began to discuss, based on appearance and presentation, how good or bad this lecture seems to be. First off, the opening slide was plain black and white and entirely uninteresting. I pointed this out, mentioning that perhaps this woman was a very bland and colourless individual. Matt retaliates that the woman did have a colourfully striped scarf on but I had to say that the scarf looked like a Gap colourful scarf, like a sad attempt at being colourful but staying too far within the lines. Matt conceded that she was in fact wearing all black otherwise. Then I pointed out that she looked like the Trunchbull. And then the woman opened her mouth and all our suspicions that she was a pretty boring mundane monotone lady were concretely reaffirmed. She was very superfluously verbose too which got on my nerves quite quickly. For one, she began by saying that we really really really really really really need to read the textbook for this course. To which I said, Really? And Matt said, Nah I think it's just optional. She also started off by addressing the Psychology students who make up the majority of the audience (with a small portion of us being the more elite Neuroscientists) by saying, "You may be wondering why you have to worry about the brain and know about it and its functions." Um. What? Right, because psychology has absolutely NOTHING to do with the brain. And at the second lecture (two lectures a week), this woman took about 45 minutes to explain the process of picking up something hot and then reacting by dropping the pot. See how I did that in less than a sentence? Hers went something like this: 

"Imagine one day you're at home, cooking some soup in a pot on the stove. When the soup is ready, you pick up the pot of soup and begin to walk to the table to put it down. You take two steps away from the stove and your fingers start to feel a bit warm. But you're still 5 steps away from the table. And you have to decide what to do. Meanwhile, your hands feel warmer ..."

At this point, I zoned out. Once I regained consciousness, I heard:

"... and the signals travels up through your neurons and tells your brain, 'Oh! I think I should put this down. My hands are hurting.' And then your brain has to send a signal back down to your hands and ..."

Oh. My. God. This woman also cannot pronounce anion. You know, cations and anions? CAT-eye-ons and AN-eye-ons? Oh no sorry, AN-yons. AN-YONS?! And then she pointed at the chemical symbol for Cl and called it Calcium. I am just flabbergasted really. Is this woman really qualified to be teaching us a biologically based psychology course? I think not. Good thing we switch lecturers every couple lectures or so based on expertise. This does make for a very disjointed and disorganized course, though.

Then I have Drugs: Molecules to Man with the most INSANE LECTURER OF ALL TIME. The entire first lecture was on cocaine and I think he meant it as a hint to say that he himself is on crack. Seriously. First off, he got our attention by telling us he would appreciate it if we all shut up. And then he went to say that the one thing that really pisses him off is students coming late to lectures so whoever walks in after 9.02 is going to be heckled and harassed by him. Just after saying this, a poor boy walks in to be Contestant Numero Uno. The lecturer pretty much leaped in excitement and sprinted up the theatre steps to shove the microphone in this boy's face and demand why he was late. The boy mumbled some sort of response that he was sleeping to which the lecturer retorts as simply being lazy. Then he goes on to say that the only excuses he will accept from anyone are excuses that he himself would use for being late. 1) Because the river junction by his house had flooded, 2) because the excess of snow had blocked his way into work, or 3) because his children were ill. Another day, a guy walked in late and when his excuse was 'I don't know,' the lecturer said that must translate to plain stupidity. And then a giant group of people traipsed in and he was like, 'Oh ho ho! What was this, a late night orgy?' WHO SAYS THAT. And then right after that, a boy walked in on his own and the lecturer goes, 'Oh, all alone? Well we know what YOU were doing last night.' HOW INAPPROPRIATE CAN YOU GET. By the by, the class is all about drugs and receptors and affinity for drugs and agonists and antagonists. Not that it matters since we're all so distracted by the madman we have teaching us.

Last comes my history module called Technologies of Everyday Life. The title sounds pretty dull and the class isn't too enthralling but I enjoy it. The prof is really nerdy and awkwardly so, like a teenage boy who got stuck in the awkwardness of adolescence and never grew out of it. And I adore him. So far it's all about the Industrial Revolution in England and we'll be using Manchester itself as a jumping off point about learning about industry and technologies and how they shaped the world. 

For two paired weeks (that's four total), I have three three-hour labs a week, starting this coming Monday. Hopefully those'll be fun too.

Something else pretty major started up this week too but it's going to get its own post because it's pretty supermassive and awesome and incredible and a very very long story. So watch out for it!

Hope you're all having great second semesters so far too!