Sad goodbyes

So it's that time of year again; bedrooms are empty, Santa is coming and I'm heading home for the long summer vacation. This year, however, is something of a landmark for two important reasons.

Firstly, I've finished my undergrad degree :D whooooot! Assuming that I've passed all of my exams (which I'm fairly confident about, barring Property Law) I technically have my BA in Legal Theory and Philosophy. Next year I'll have to face the trials and tribulations of LLB - what fun. Seriously though, I'm looking forward to a new syllabus and to getting involved in more practical courses.

Secondly, I'm moving out of residence. I'm in two minds about this one. First I'm quite pleased, as moving into digs has many, many advantages. I won't have to deal with intervisiting rules, house comm and house meetings, noise hours or general res-type limitations. On the other hand, I really am going to miss Jammies :( I've lived here for three years; I've enjoyed res braais, I've held and been to numerous pre-drinking sessions in res (yes I know they're not allowed. Like that really stops us), and I've had a massive wardrobe thanks to the fifty-odd girls living in the same res who are always willing to lend out clothes. Meal times, although not the tastiest, were gossip sessions and occasionally a forum for more serious discussions. Tea breaks with friends during exam studying, Mrs R's awesome cakes, getting to know the new first years every year...I know many people want to move out of res as soon as possible, but I really am glad that I stayed here for the entirety of my undergrad time. Now I sit in my empty, echoing room and can't help feeling somewhat sad that I'll never sleep in that bed again, or work at this desk, or examine my outfit in that mirror on a Friday night. This period in my life is over.

On the bright side, undergrad has been one of the most epic times of my life. I've partied, I've studied, I've been on house and hall comm, I've been to endless res and university events, I've joined societies and made friends and met some incredible people. So to all of you who made my undergrad time so special, even if it was in the smallest of ways, I wish you all the best with your future careers and I hope that if our paths cross again in the future, you'll have achieved everything you ever wanted to achieve! To those of you hanging around for postgrad: I'll see you in 2013 :D

Undergrad highlights
2010

 Our first night out in 2010 as Jammies first years!

 The first night that we danced on Pirates' bar counter...

The Three Musketeers! :D (predrinking at Corey) 

2011

Celebrating St Paddy's Day 

First night I met Dave :) 

The biggest pre-drinking session I ever had in my room! There were about 15 of us at one point  :D

Taking part in the Green Fund Run for Jammies (some guys pushing a wheelbarrow beat us. It was awkward). 

2012

Getting ready to sing with the first years at RU Jamming. House comm were getting psyched :P 

Getting prettied up for the Welcome Dinner 

Rocking Gtown as ladybugs for Jon's 21st 

Caroline and Dan's joint Harry Potter party :D (I was the Golden Snitch :P ) 

Celebrating my 20th at the Wreck (admittedly, I don't remember much :P )

Diary of Dehydration

Saturday 24 November 20h00
As is usual in Grahamstown, the power unexpectedly went off. So much for studying tonight. At least I have the light from my laptop for a few minutes; I wish it would last longer than ten minutes though. Early bed time I suppose.

Sunday 25 November 07h00 
The power has returned but water in res appears to have been switched off. Luckily I have a full kettle of water so I can still make tea! There's still loads of water in the geyser (well, my hot tap is working anyway) and I have a 5l of drinking water in the fridge. No worries. In the mean time, I'll give myself a quick scrub in the sink.

15h00
Arrived at Prince Alfred for a study session with a friend and discovered that they still had water. Made use of their bathroom, seeing as I had the opportunity.

19h00
Still no water. Girls in res apparently can't be bothered to go next door to use the bathrooms so the residence is starting to smell somewhat bad. I'm heading over to my boyfriend's place to use his shower and wash my hair; apparently it's only our residence that has no water. Typical.

Monday 26 November 05h30
Woke up early to prepare for my exam today and found that - surprise surprise - there is still no water. Being the resourceful cookie that I am, I boiled my kettle and once again had a quick wash in my sink. Dying to pee, but the toilet on my floor appears to be filled almost to the brim with used toilet paper. This is becoming drastic.

08h00
Arrived at Eden Grove for my exam and found that they still had water. I could finally use the toilet. THANK THE POPE.

12h30
17 hours without water. This plague of water-less-ness appears to have spread to several other residences as well as half the library bathrooms (seriously, why only half?) and a few digs. Boyfriend no longer has water so I can't shower there. I ma becoming concerned. And smelly.

13h00 UPDATE!
I just tried my tap!
...still no water. Sigh.

It's never just one drink...

DON'T BELIEVE THEM! No matter what people may tell you, it is never just one drink. It is not possible.

As it's exams, last night was supposed to be a chilled night of pool and maybe one or two ciders. I should have suspected something when the friend with whom I was going to play pool suggested finishing off her bottle of vodka before we left. To be fair, there wasn't much left and I figured hey, why not. Once we reached Pirates, we decided to take a shot each to prep us for the game. Then we bought cane and mix because it was on special, and students never turn down specials!

Once we'd been kicked off the pool tables, we were at a loss of what to do. Then someone (regrettably it may have been me) suggested that we go to Monument and have a few drinks up there. One friend wisely pointed out that our night could only go downhill from there (pun totally intended), but we ignored him in the interest of fun. Within a few minutes - and after a brief trip to Pick n Pay - we were comfortably ensconced on a wall at Monument, surrounded by far too much alcohol.

By 1am we'd had enough of playing Never Have I Ever (plus the alcohol was finished) so we headed down to the Rat. At this point I was far tipsier than I'd intended to be, possibly even bordering on drunk. However the Rat dance floor was far too empty for our level of drunkenness so we  made a move towards Friars. This mission was interrupted by some drunken DMCs. Mine was something to do with the uselessness of a wing-woman when a guy is looking to hook up. I don't remember most of it. :P We finally made it to the holy ground of Friars and bobbed around on the packed dance floor for a while, bumping into people we knew and making new friends. Finally we grew sober and thus sick of being elbowed in the head all the time (actually I might be the only one short enough to have to deal with that) and so we headed home. BUT the night was not yet done! We ended up having more DMCs outside res (as one does) until finally hitting the sack at 3:30am.

There really is no point to this post other than 1) to point out that I had a fantastic evening and 2) to remind people that telling yourself "I'll just have one drink" is a lie. :P