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Showing posts from September, 2014

What to Expect from a Spin Class

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As my gym membership is coming to an end I decided to go all out and try different classes I've never been to before, starting with the dreaded Spinning class this morning. I was advised to NEVER go to a Spin class as your first class, which is why I've left it so late to try it. Spinning is basically indoor cycling where you change the resistance settings to imitate different cycling situations, like cycling up a hill for example.  I did my research before I went, and expected a seriously hard workout where I sweat buckets and feel my legs and glutes on fire- most of which was true! The instructor was really nice and showed me how to set up my bike and change the resistance, but the rest was fairly self explanatory- just get on it and cycle. During the first 10 minutes, I felt pretty good- I was keeping up with everyone else, my legs weren't burning, I wasn't dripping with sweat... but I was on pretty much 0 resistance going at a mere 60 RPM (revolutions per minu

My Domestic Day

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This weekend my poor mother was bedridden, so it was up to the rest of the Mandal family to fill her  shoes in the housework department. Naturally my brother did none of it, so my Dad and I dished out the rest of the jobs. While he took care of the shopping and laundy, I changed bed sheets, hoovered and –believe it or not- COOKED. I usually fail at most of these jobs, so today was interesting… Bed sheets - The pillows were easy enough, but the disaster came with the changing of the duvet cover. A normal person would do the whole ‘put the duvet in the sheet corners then shake it until the whole duvet is covered’ thing. Of course, me being me, I decided to use the hardest and most stupid way to get the duvet in… It didn’t occur to me as I was climbing into the duvet cover that it was a stupid idea. Only when I got stuck and couldn’t get out that I realised I didn’t choose the best method. Needless to say, after about 10 oxygen-deprived seconds of struggling around in the mat

First Impressions of Sixth Form - expectation vs. reality

After possibly the best summer yet (which in my opinion needed to be a lot longer) it’s back to work, although this time in sixth form! Crazy to think we only have two years left at school …  We’ve only had 3 days back, 2 if you count the super engrossing Cathedral service, but I’m going to share some things I initially thought versus the reality of sixth form life. Expectation: more freedom Reality: Hmm not so sure about this one. On the one hand it is true, you have free periods to ‘work’ and you can go to town at lunch without having to get permission.  However, people make a massive thing about sixth form being more about individual learning and doing things your way, but to what extent is that true? You still have to do every bit of homework set by the teachers, go to every lesson (even pointless ones like LFL), learn the way the teachers like to teach… it’s pretty much GCSEs in terms of freedom but with less subjects and more that you actually want to do! Expectation