Off the "To Do" List

That's right! Housing for Lisa and me is officially off the "must do" list. :D We're going to be signing the lease on *hopefully* Monday. Either Monday or Friday, but we have a place to live. It's a pretty nice flat with two good size bedrooms, and nice living room, decent sized kitchen, and a pretty nice bathroom. It's also got a garden and, this is the icing on the cake, the landlady will allow me to raise a Guide Dog Puppy in the flat (as long as I agree to pay for any damage done by said puppy). Hooray!!!!!

This being said, Marlene and Amy still don't have a flat, but the landlady was so nice about this. I'm going to try to recreate the conversation.

"You two are looking a little worried. Now there's no reason to be. Here's the names of so many other landlords/ladies who are looking for two people and here are some solicitors who would be happy to see you, just tell them I sent you. I'll have a look around and talk to a few people and let you know what I find."

She really was that nice. And I'm sure we'll find something for Marlene and Amy close by.

Anyway, for now. I'm off to get ready for Eurovision. :D

Home Sweet Where?

As you might have guessed, that house viwing didn't go great. The woman did let us know that the single bedroom was small, but we didn't think she meant TINY. I mean, the room was big enough for a bed and that was it. We decided that we could deal with it because the rest of the house was pretty nice, but it wasn't meant to be. The landlady called me back and said that someone else had taken it. Oh well. She's letting us view a flat of hers tomorrow, but it's only a 2 person flat. We've decided to split into two groups of two in any case, but I was really looking forward to living with Amy, Marlene, AND Lisa. Instead it'll be me and one of them (most likely...almost definitely Lisa). A smaller household but the landlady is going to let me raise a Guide Dog puppy in the flat! (If we get to lease it of course). Wish us luck!

Sorry that most of my posts have been about finding housing for next year. I'm going to start posting about University stuff again soon, but this has been on my mind for a while and getting my thoughts out there in cyber space help to sort them. Tomorrow will probably be rants about how the flat viewings (yes, we found another 2 person flat close by the other and get to view it on the same day), how I'm still in shock over the last day of classes, and my excitement for Eurovision!

No Phone Call

We haven't received a call yet saying that the house we're going to view tomorrow is already taken! :D I take this as a very good sign, but we have to make it through the whole day without a call from the lady for me to get excited. The house we're viewing is a little expensive and we wouldn't be able to move in until July (meaning Marlene, Amy and I would have to find a place to keep our stuff for the summer and Lisa would have to find a place to live for 3 weeks...well 2 really) but I think we're all ok with that at the moment. We'll have to actually see the place to see if it's worth our money, but it's the last 4 bedroom place in Aberdeen until summer is over and we want to have it sorted before the summer begins. So, I'm hoping for good things of this house.

Last Week

Well, we've come to the last week of classes. Next week is revision week and then starts final exams. I can't believe how quick this first year seems to have gone. It seems like just yesterday I had no idea where to find the MacRobert Building (the MacRobert Building is the one I see from my window everyday :P) and I couldn't find my way into or out of town without using the major streets. Now I obviously know where the MacRobert Building is and I frequently use back roads instead of major streets. I still don't know the city half as well as I would like to, but I suppose that'll come with being here just a little longer.

I keep telling myself that this last week will be over quicker than I think it will be and soon I'll be sitting in my exams. Even though I keep telling myself that I can't seem to motivate myself to work or review. I'm blaming it on the unusually pleasant weather we've been having.

It is a little surreal though. In about a month I'll be back home in the States for the summer holiday. In less than a month my last exam of first year will be over. Seriously...surreal.

Move Down! Move Down!

I have three psychology lectures a week. Monday is cognitive psychology where we talk about the brain. Most recently we've been talking about memory. It's actually been helpful because one week we talked about studying and how to remember information for tests and exams better. Tuesday is social psychology where we talk about how we perceive people and why we do certain things in social groups. Social psychology happens to be my favourite, but only because I don't like the lecturer on Thursdays. Thursday is animal psychology and as I said, the lecturer isn't my favourite. She actually kind of bores me on a subject that I love. It's hard to do, but she manages it. But, for the past two weeks we've had a guest lecturer and she's been wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed her two lectures. Some of the other students may have a different opinion than I do though, because she had this radical idea and decided to activate it during her lectures.

The psychology lectures are all in a big lecture theatre due to the amount of people who take first year psychology (everyone thinks "easy A"). And, as in all other subjects, attendance dwindles after the first two or three weeks of term. Attendance especially drops when it's a subject that very few people take and interest in like Animal Psychology. Attendance will drop even more if the lecturer is kind of boring as our normal lecturer is. So, out of all the students who are enrolled in PS1509 only a small fraction show up. Maybe 60 students...and that number is optimistic.

Now, this guest lecturer for Psychology asked us to do something that no other lecturer had. She asked us to sit in the front 10 rows of the lecture theatre. *GASP!* She said she wasn't going to use the microphone so she would prefer all of us to sit near the front (I also have a sneaking suspicion that she believes that students who sit near the front are more likely to pay attention). Because of my hearing problems (I gots ears full of wax that inhibits my hearing) and my vision problems (I have pretty bad eyesight) I generally sit near the front anyway. I like being able to understand what the lecturer is saying. I mean, I am paying for this so why would I not want to pay attention? Most people picked up their belongings and made their way to the front rows. Some though, packed up their belongings and just left. One couple I remember distinctively.

She asked everyone to move to the front last Thursday and these two stayed at the very back. She looked at them and said, "Come on now." And they just sat there starring at her in disbelief and defiance. After she asked another time they stood up and left. Can you believe that!? I mean, really!? That is what I call rude and if either of my parents (especially my mom) caught me doing something that rude to any teacher I would have been punished for my rudeness.

I've always been under the impression that once you get to University level you should want to be at school. No one is forcing you to go to school, so isn't it by your own choice that you come and sit and learn? If they don't want to be at class so much that when asked to come sit at the front instead of at the very back of the lecture theatre then why are they coming to University at all? I'm here because I want to learn and I enjoy learning new things and I don't have time to waste on people who are here for "shits and giggles." Don't get me wrong have fun, but also have respect for a person who has the title "Dr." before their name.

Also, they missed this video...so their loss I guess.

Still Looking

So, y'all know the flat viewing we were suppose to go to yesterday? Yeah, that never happened. Why? Because on Tuesday someone viewed it and decided to lease it. *Insert four letter word here* That's the third time in a row this has happened to us. Can't the universe just give us a break and let us find a place to live before finals start? Pretty please?

On the bright side we still have a viewing for the Four Bedroom House next Wednesday. I feel more confident about this one than the others and I am perfectly willing and ready to find a place to store my stuff over the summer if we can't move in before July. Amy, Marlene, and I will all be home by the time July rolls around and Lisa's current lease runs out on June 10th. We'll figure something out if we really, really like the house. Currently, I'm all for taking it no matter what and I've just seen the outside of the house. But the outside is lovely and it has a nice little front garden and a shared back garden. At least I believe it's shared. It might be private, but either way I'd be happy.

Here's hoping that we'll be able to get this place.

The Search Continues

If you read my Dog Blog you'll know that we're still searching for a place to live next year. "But Erin," you say, "what about that nice flat you were talking about not too long ago?" Well, I'll tell you what happened to that flat. The agency had to get the "yay" or "nay" from the landlady which is why we didn't start signing papers immediately. We knew we probably wouldn't hear until last Monday because it was Easter Weekend. When we didn't hear all Monday afternoon, I was asked to call the agency. So, I did. The guy who was dealing with our request said that the landlady would contact either Marlene or Amy and talk to them to meet us because she had found her own people who wanted to move in. Which makes me ask the question, "Why did she go through an agency?" Before you say anything about the flat being on the market for a while it wasn't. When we saw it, it wasn't even technically on the market yet. Anyway, she never called Amy or Marlene (we never even had a chance) and we got a call from the agency telling us that she had picked the other people. We're thinking we'll go to another agency due to the two places we've wanted and have fallen through when we tried to lease them. Ah, well...I suppose that we won't get anywhere nice to live. Everywhere nice and close to campus is already taken. If we can't find a 4 person that we like I might suggest we split up into two groups of two.

We have another flat viewing this Wednesday and someone got in contact with me about a 4 person house I asked about. It's available from the beginning of July, but the woman on the phone said we could talk about that. I'm hoping that she says something lovely like "Yeah, go ahead and move in in June" or something. Mostly because the flat we're viewing tomorrow is about 40 minutes away from the University while this house is about 10 minutes away, if that. I'm going to call her back today and hope. This house also has garden access...I want garden access.