Ready To Take The Javanese Gamelan Playing World By Storm! In Dublin!

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As a higher level music student, not only do I get two codes free every week to just compose and free voice lessons from a Welsh National Opera star, but I also get lessons on the Javanese gamelan every Sunday afternoon! Last Sunday I just stuck by the huge gong, but next week I'm hoping for the nong or maybe even the ka-nang...a unique skill, but not exactly one I could take to the streets of Dublin, where Sioned, Henrik and I hope to go for the long weekend in March. After discovering that all of us have Friday evening codes free (and, therefore, our weekend starts at 1:15 in the afternoon instead of 7), we planned a celebratory meal at the only really nice restaurant in Llantwit, only to discover that the only really nice restaurant in Llantwit doesn't start serving dinner until 6:30 and therefore we should have just come back after evening code ended anyway. So, being ravenous, we acted like real British people and ate fish and chips and chicken curries on a bench in the dark with our fingers turning blue from the wind; before we threw the delicious, grease-and-vinegar soaked styrofoam cartons into the rubbish bin outside Somerfield's supermarket, we made sure to hold them up to a streetlamp to see just exactly what we had just consumed. Our hands were frozen but our throats were burning from the curry, a somewhat surreal physical state that I blame for the rather impetuous Dublin Decision. We spent the rest of the night searching for flights and hostels...Dublin was only finalised when we found a flight for 49p (the equivalent of about $1.20 per ticket) and a hostel called Paddy's Palace. I mean, how can you resist? My fingers are finally thawing out from the performance of the Tempest that I just did with my English class by the roiling Bristol Channel. It was ridiculously cold, the wind was whipping my hair into my face, and we had to yell to be heard over the waves; in short, a real tempest. I'm trying to think of a more accurate word than 'AMAZING' to describe the whole experience...see, maybe if we did these sorts of things in Physics I'd be getting a better grade! Even my tutor looked at my first term exam results and exclaimed "Oh look at this, you're doing so well! You've only got one huge disaster!" And I AM actually doing quite well...I'm writing this right now because I got a 7 on my maths exam and therefore don't have to attend that code today. To my credit, I am studying my notes every day now AND even enlisting the help of the Asians. I help them write the essays and bake the cakes (last night's was pineapple upside-down, thanks to the reduced price can of pineapple at Somerfield's. I go shopping at night now, because that's when they halve the prices of everything that expires the next day), they help me with my uniform rectilinear motions. The best people to study physics with, you see, are those who actually want to BE physicists. But who knows? I've still got two years!Still, they shouldn't exactly start monogramming my lab coat...

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