Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozu Adichie

Half Of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

In 1960s Nigeria, a country blighted by civil war, three lives intersect. Ugwu, a boy from a poor village works as a houseboy for a University lecturer. Olanna, a young woman, has abandoned her life of privilege in Lagos to live with her charismatic new lover, the professor. The third is Richard, a shy Englishman in thrall to Olanna's enigmatic twin sister. When the shocking horror of the war engulfs them, their loyalties are severely tested as they are pulled apart and thrown together in ways that none of them imagined...

I just finished reading this book late last night, early this morning (however you want to look at it) and loved it! It was fantastic and urge you to read it. It's beautifully written, and characterised and just sucks you in and won't let go. It was one of those books that, once you're into it- you can't but it down and read well into the night thinking "just one more chapter" until before you know it, it's 4am and you have to be up for 9 (oops).

Ooh.. This has not been a good day =(

Have you ever had one of those times where you just want the world to swallow you whole? Well it's been like that all day :(

I had my first lecture today at 9 (not the best start, but we deal with these things) and got up early and managed to have a nice shower and some breakfast and some spare time to get myself ready, before I had to leave.

The lecture itself was a little dull, being only an introduction to the topic it was just a brief overview of what was to come, but the lecturer (whose name escapes me) kept going on about how we NEEDED to buy this certain book, 'Biopsychology' by Pinel.

So I thought that after the lecture everyone would be going off to order it, and panicked that there wouldn't be any books left and went into panic-buy-mode (never a good thing) and bought it.

£88 for one book.

And then posting and packaging which bought it up to £90.87!

Only it didn't go through and I got a phone call from the fraud department of my bank thinking someone was trying to commit fraud with my card! I could have died! So I had to go through the whole ordeal of ordering a book using my credit card again!

So then I thought I'd do a little bit of window shopping to cheer myself up, probably end up in waterstones (which I did) and looked at the books, finding LOADS that I really want to read and can't afford, and one that I've been wanting to read but it's HUGE, and don't think I'll ever have the time to read that one.

But what's worse is that I was looking for a certain author (Chinua Achebe) in the Author A-Z and was looking up at where I assumed he would be (Achebe) for about 10-15 minutes before I realised that almost every book in that section had the word 'Erotic' somewhere in the title!

I quickly ran away from there.

Then, when I left the store I fell down some stairs, right in the middle of the (busy) town centre. Then I started to 'dance' with some random stranger where you try to pas each other and both end up going the same way, for ages...

Then when I got home I ended up waking one of my roommates up from her nap, because her friend wanted to speak to her- but then he vanished!

And then me and one of my roomies (Chloe) were in another roomies room (Bee) talking, Chloe and I on the floor, when Bee spotted a HUGE spider on the floor so we ran out the room, and Chloe had to hoover it up- my hero =)

And now! Writing this! I hit my elbow! AND! MY KNEE! On the damned table! Grr..

Hopefully tomorrow will be better, I'm sure it will be..

Yikes

Wow, okay have left this for a while- sorry t'has been a few late nights were I'm thinking 'shall I go write in my blog? Nah... I'll do it in the morning' but by then I forget.

So yeah I've met some more people on my course, and become quite good friends with one, Richard, which is great, I'm really happy about that (obviously).

We (as an apartment) have made quite a few people who like to pop over for a while which is really lovely and everyone keeps describing us as 'a lovely little flat with a great atmosphere' which we're all thrilled about.

We went to a nightclub the other day, thinking it was going to be great- the dance floor and flashing squares, but her ended up paying £7 on the door, and then Jenny got a drink costing around £7 and I ordered a shot for £3.28.

The place was tiny, and the music was pants so we decided to leave and go home (wow... Already I've been referring to this place a 'home' but quickly correct myself and say 'the apartment'..) where we had alcohol and ordered LOADS of food, and played a load of cheesy songs from Jenny's IPOD- t'was a good night, and again didn't get to bed until about 5am.

We always seem to go to bed later when we stay in than when we go out, it's strange.

So, today, Chloe and I spent all morning looking for this Gym we heard was at the top of Steep Hill, that was reasonably priced, so we were looking around for about half and hour and couldn't find it and eventually asked Tourist information, who said that it was 20mins straight down this road.

It wasn't.

We went down the road, for about and hour and still couldn't find it- I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist! ¬_¬

My first lecture is tomorrow on 'Mind and Body' and I'm really nervous. I'm sure I'll be okay, but that doesn't stop me worrying.

Wish me luck! =D

Day Two..

Well today was just as fun as yesterday... I woke up at around nine o'clock and spent about half an hour debating on whether or not to face the common area in my PJs or to take a quick shower before breakfast and go out ready and dressed to face another day- I took the middle road and threw on my joggers and a bra and staggered in there only to find.... everyone had gone back to their rooms.

That's right, all that effort for nothing.

But then Chloe came out and sat with my while I ate- in complete silence which was a hoot =D.

About an hour or so later- when we were all showered and ready, Mike, Chloe and I decided to take a wonder down to Morrisons for a few bits which was nice and came back for lunch.

When we got back we decided to take an hour to ourselves and just 'chill in our rooms' as someone (I forget who) put it. So for that hour/ hour and a half, I was just walking around my room unsure of what to do with myself... Then I heard voices outside and went to see who it was.

Again, Mike, Chloe and I decided to go out for a wonder around Lincoln and see what we could see (we failed to see the sea- how disappointing). But we went in 'The Steep Hill' and found some really nice little bookshops and boutique-y things which were lovely, and will keep in mind for future reference.

We got back in time for my 'Welcome to Lincoln' talk, which was... A welcome talk.. nothing really out of the ordinary..

However, when we woke up this morning we found that a fuze had blown, and there was no light in the kitchen/hall way, and went to tell someone, that morning. They eventually came round (after Bee and I went and told them again) at 8 this evening (it was already pretty dark then) and mentioned the fact that the boiler didn't seem to be working, and he began arguing that we turned it off (we didn't).. So he eventually went to check only to come back and say "yeah, sorry you have no boiler". But that will be sorted tomorrow at some point (I hope).

At least we have lights now.

This evening we went out with other Courts on the campus, which was a laugh, and met up with this lad- Matt, who introduced me to this other lad who is on my course, Psychology (yay, I have a friend!!), Eddie. Who seems a hoot =D.

Me and some other girls from the apartment came home a little early, having to get up for things tomorrow morning, and already exhausted from last night, and just spent the last 45 minutes in the common area just chatting which was great, we all have so much in common, it's fantastic..

Day One

So.. This is it....

My first night alone.

Today I moved away from home, and into the University I'm going to be attending for the next three years.

Actually, I've really surprised myself. I didn't cry when my parents left, I've managed to make my room look rather nice, and I seem to have made quite nice circle of friends with the people I live with, and one of their friends.

Well, obviously today has been difficult, and stressful, but after we finally managed to make out way here, Mum and Dad helped me unpack, and then enrol and get everything sorted- which was great. We went for a wonder around campus and went for a drink, a bite to eat etc...

Then Dad helped me sort my computer out, before Mum practically dragged him out, and left me alone- for the first time in my life.

So, being alone, I went to the common area and forced myself to make some friends, and they all seem lovely.

I know this is the first day, and we're all trying to make good first impressions but they seem really nice people.

Some of them I've spent more one on one time will and spoken too a bit more individually, Mike and Becca. But yeah, I'm really happy.

Then we all went out as a group with a whole Court, and the Court next door, but our apartment kind of... went our own way, which was probably for the best, and finally went back to the room so that we could talk and get to know one another.- We had enough alcohol anyways.

So there we were playing drinking games and having a laugh and decide to go back out and catch the end of the Michael Jackson impersonator that was here today, which... was actually a little depressing actually- I just kept thinking about how this guy is spending his whole life pretending to be someone else... Who is dead.. and an alleged paedophile...

But after that there was like an after party thingy- which was great... I had a really good night, and we got in about around 3am... but now, I'm freezing, and think I'm just going to snuggle up in bed... night =D