Rememberance

This time of year there are lots of things to remember but the most important is on November 11th. The day that World War 1 ended and which is the day that we remember those who gave their lives defending out country whether they chose to sign up or were conscripted.
Below is a very famous Russian poem that kept a lot of Soldiers going, it's called 'Wait for me' (Жди меня) By Konstantin Simonov:

Russian version:

Жди меня, и я вернусь.
Только очень жди,
Жди, когда наводят грусть
Желтые дожди,
Жди, когда снега метут,
Жди, когда жара,
Жди, когда других не ждут,
Позабыв вчера.
Жди, когда из дальних мест
Писем не придет,
Жди, когда уж надоест
Всем, кто вместе ждет.

Жди меня, и я вернусь,
Не желай добра
Всем, кто знает наизусть,
Что забыть пора.
Пусть поверят сын и мать
В то, что нет меня,
Пусть друзья устанут ждать,
Сядут у огня,
Выпьют горькое вино
На помин души...
Жди. И с ними заодно
Выпить не спеши.

Жди меня, и я вернусь,
Всем смертям назло.
Кто не ждал меня, тот пусть
Скажет: - Повезло.
Не понять, не ждавшим им,
Как среди огня
Ожиданием своим
Ты спасла меня.
Как я выжил, будем знать
Только мы с тобой,-
Просто ты умела ждать,
Как никто другой.

English translation:

Wait for me, and I'll come back!
Wait with all you've got!
Wait, when dreary yellow rains
Tell you, you should not.
Wait when snow is falling fast,
Wait when summer's hot,
Wait when yesterdays are past,
Others are forgot.
Wait, when from that far-off place,
Letters don't arrive.
Wait, when those with whom you wait
Doubt if I'm alive.

Wait for me, and I'll come back!
Wait in patience yet
When they tell you off by heart
That you should forget.
Even when my dearest ones
Say that I am lost,
Even when my friends give up,
Sit and count the cost,
Drink a glass of bitter wine
To the fallen friend -
Wait! And do not drink with them!
Wait until the end!

Wait for me and I'll come back,
Dodging every fate!
"What a bit of luck!" they'll say,
Those that would not wait.
They will never understand
How amidst the strife,
By your waiting for me, dear,
You had saved my life.
Only you and I will know
How you got me through.
Simply - you knew how to wait -
No one else but you.

1941

So buy a poppy and wear it with pride!

Postal strike

It seems that almost every month a different group of people feel the need to go on strike until their demands are met, the one that usually affectings me as a Londoner are when the Tube drivers go on strike usually demanding higher pay (you get like £40,000 a year get over it some of us students get only £6,000 to live off and survive, seriously grow up and get back to work) but at the minute the posties have gone on strike.
While I was on facebook I came across this little gem that somes up how a lots of people are probably feeling:

'Postman Pat, Postman Pat, Postman Pat and his unionised cat.... Early in the morning,They're still in bed a-snoring, And I'm wondering where's my post you f***ing twat.'

I often wonder what would happen if everyone went on strike at the same time and how long it would take before chaos and mass riots broke out. Given the current climate probably about 2 days.
Strikes may have worked in the past but now all they seem to do is annoy people, and annoyed people are not people who are going to want to give you what you want. Instead may be try having a civil conversation and trying to work it out that way rather than throwing toys out of the pram and stopping me from getting my post through.

A blast from the past

As you may have gathered from the lack of blogging fourth year involves A LOT of work basically every night. However it has been proved that a person learns in 45 minute cycles and that after 45 minutes you should take a break for about 15 minutes then start again. While on one of these 15 minute breaks I stumbled across this on youtube. It amused me when I was little and is as funny still today proving that cartoons like Bugs Bunny really do stand the test of time.

Music

While I am tied up with Uni work here is something to keep you entertained. It's an oldie but a goodie :)

Oh that's interesting!

Two bits of interesting news that I found out today/yesterday that have improved my mood since being woke at 7:30am this morning by a stupid fire drill. I know that these save lives etc but did they have to do it on the one day that I don't have to be at class until 1pm?
Anyway the first bit of good news is that there is only 4 days until Spooks series 7 is available for sale on Amazon priced at around £25. As a huge fan who has all the box sets this is awesome I don't have a TV so watch DVDs instead. In short 4 days until we can find out what the Russians did with Harry and Richard Armitage will once again grace my laptop screen. :)
The second is that according to the Times Newspaper UCL is the 4th best University in the World and Second best in the country beating Oxford and Imperial College London :D. It seems that each year that I am here that UCL moves higher up the league tables. Who knows maybe next year we could be better than Cambridge Uni!

Sources:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spooks-7-DVD-Richard-Armitage/dp/B001HN6PPI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1254956359&sr=8-1
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/Rankings2009-Top200.html

Music

Something to enjoy over the weekend, it even has lyrics for you to sing along to;

Spare a thought for this poor woman

A woman in Indonesia has given birth to a 19.2 pound baby. Early reports say that it is the heaviest new born ever born. Child birth is not one of those things that most women look forward too but it must have been so much worse trying to push this not so little baby out. Pictured below is the baby and a standard size newborn.

I wish the new mum and baby all the best and a huge congratulations.

TUC bans heels

I couldn't quite believe this one when I read it but the TUC has banned its workers from wearing high heels. I can understand that they are impractical in some areas of work like building sites for example but sure it should be up to the wearer whether or not they want to wear them. Seems like another choice that has been taken away from the public.
Fair enough that they do cause foot problems if woren all the time and that Two million working days are lost every year through lower limb and foot-related problems. Two million working days equates to a £300 million contribution to the economy, which is a seriously problem. Further I can see the point that some areas of work require women to wear them as part of the dress code but is this really such a big issue that it has required this much debate. If I want to wear heels and damage my feet then surely that's my choice.
Personally I love shoes, especially high heels (ask anyone I have ever been shopping with) and I don't like the idea that I could be banned from wearing them at work. I would like to have the choice as to whether I wear this:

or this:to work. Which would you rather been seen in? I know which one I'd pick.

How they made my laptop

Upon returning from Russia I started to notice that my laptop had not enjoyed the trip as much as I had and was starting to misbehave doing things like freezing or turning itself off without warning me, being as I had a HUGE project to write and did not one to lose any data or worse still the whole essay I felt that a replacement was needed. So I bought a lovely new pink Dell mini nice and light so it can come with me where ever I go and not cripple me like my old laptop. Last night while having a surf on Youtube I discovered how exactly my laptop was made. Watch below.

If only all factories were like this one.

A year ago today...

Hard as it is for me to believe but only a year ago today I left for my year abroad in Moscow. By this time (Moscow time) I would have been being collected from Domodedovo Airport by the RLUS Reps and being driven to my home stay with my bab in Sokol.
It felt so strange to know that at this point a year ago I was so scared about going to Russia and staying there for a whole year. Partly because I am not a huge fan of flying so the prospect of being on a plane for 4 hours did some seem fun, I was heading to a country that I had never been to that and I didn't really know any of the other people attending my course. Scary stuff. But as I had already paid for the flights, gone to the trouble of getting a visa, had all the various injections and well pretty much told everyone that I knew that I was going to Russia for a year there wasn't really anyway of getting out of it.
However despite being scared at the beginning the year in Moscow was without a doubt one of the best things I have ever done, it's amazing what you can actually do and what you learn once you leave your comfort zone. It is hard to convey the feeling you have on your first night; a mix of excitement, total fear and confusion, as I had no idea exact where I was located in Moscow, how to get to the nearest metro station, what ticket I needed to buy, how much it would cost, was I being ripped off etc. That and I knew that everything had to be done in Russian.
While starting off was a hugely scary experience it was fun, once you have sorted out the basics eg buying new mobile phone and sim card, working out how to get to school and to home, where the nearest pub is etc it's actually quite fun. It is also a fresh start and means that you can try new experiences and make friends with people who you might not have ever spoken to had you not all been stuck in the same place. It also give you the chance to explore a totally new country and have amazing stories to tell your children and grandchildren.
To anyone reading this who is about to go on their year abroad or has just arrived to start off with it's terrifying, there is no point in lying it is, but once you are settled and got everything sorted it is the best experience you could have. The most important thing to do is just talk to everyone and remember to laugh when it all goes wrong! In fact a part of me is wishing that it was a year ago today so that I could experience my year abroad all over again.