House.

 As of 2nd July, I said goodbye to being a fresher forever by moving out of my student halls and into my first shared student house. Halls was a great experience, I met so many different people, including a very scared small Chinese girl named Dodo who moved into my flat three days before I moved out. (She asked if I spoke Chinese, which I declined and her heart seemed broken. I do hope she's managed to grasp the language barrier well enough or she may well be very scared over here. But I digress.) Lois and Jordan taught me that despite my naivety I do in fact have a very strong accent, as well as a burning addiction to chips and gravy, a rarity in the South. I think I may cry if I ever live there. James, my wonderful Yorkshire companion was my little ray of sunshine when I felt home sick. We were all very contrasting but it's so crazy to think that for nine months, we shared a flat and lived in relative peace and serenity. Except of course when me and Lois returned back from Christmas to discover pieces of orange on the ceiling from the food fight the boys had. I was not impressed with that one. But all together, they were the greatest first flat mates to have. And I shall miss each one of them dearly, they are always welcome to my humble abode.

The new house is wonderful. We signed way back when in December and I forgot what it even looked like, but on moving day both landlords were there to greet us and explained it all, which was great. I had my pick of the rooms and being the girl I am, I chose the room I thought would be cutest. And here it is, at the end of moving day, decorated and full of student essentials.

My bed, which is also the comfiest thing in the world and not as small as I expected looks great too. My landlord is that nice, she even trimmed down the curtains and stitched them so they wouldn't get in the way of my sleepy self. How sweet. Special thanks to Mummy, who found the perfect bunting and bed cover. 

The four others I'm living with are all on my course and are all just as crazy as I am. I'm so close with them and I know it's going to be a lot of fun this coming year living with them and getting up to many crazy antics. So far it's just me and the guys but I'm managing to cling on to my femininity for the time being. As soon as the other two girls arrive though, we shall make sure we leave our mark on this place. Including Charmaine's plan for a vegetable patch in the back garden. Excellent idea if you ask me.


On my third day here, I also had a visitor. Mr Liam. Here he is. Looking dapper. And yes, he is just as charming as he appears. I don't think I've ever giggled as much.

All in all, my experience at 121 Pomona Street has been grand. Here's to the next year, or two of many fun times, drunken antics and endless stories to tell our friends. 

The Duck Stranglers of Janada.

As all of you know, I'm studying Performance for Stage and Screen at Sheffield Hallam University. (DUH?!) Well, many of those who teach me have connections to the real acting world, from the director of Ghost The Musical to Jarvis Cocker. Around two months ago, I got the opportunity to audition for the biggest role of my life. And I got it. This is my diary from the amazing week I spent working with John Godber, Rob Hudson, William Ilkley, Neil Sissons, Luke Scott and Kyle Williams for the world premier of John's new play 'The Duck Stranglers of Janada' on The Crucible Main Stage for the International Student Drama Festival. (I know that's long winded, just me blowing my own trumpet.)

On Monday, we met. I have never been more nervous walking into a room knowing there were two professional actors, an award winning playwright, a highly experienced director and a musician who holds two gold records for his music. But the moment we sat down around a table and read the script, I felt so confident. Also, opening it and seeing my name printed really made me smile.

The rest of the week was almost a blur of intense rehearsals. It was incredible to see the two guys who have been doing acting for years really show off what they know. They were so helpful too, although they may have got slightly sick of my constant asking of questions. William Ilkley later confessed he went to Rose Bruford with Gary Oldman, my idol. I almost fainted. Everything from their stage presence to their ability to speak a fluently strong Eastern European accent upon first read through inspired me. I feel privileged to have shared a stage with them. John Godber is one of the most intellectual people I've ever spoken to and his passion for what he believes in is obvious. He'd speak and I'd instantly feel connected. The greatest thing is when I was 16 and studying my GCSE's, it was John's play 'Shakers' which got me an A and into college, which lead to my degree and to my position right now. Crazy when you think about it. It was so amazing to see myself progress in just four days from a basic knowledge of the script to a thorough understanding. I sure hope I did John proud.

The performance took place on Friday and being the typical student I am, the moment I was back stage I snapped away on my phone everything I could to do with The Crucible. Here is me and fellow student Kyle Williams stood on that very stage. I felt the greatest sense of pride wearing THAT hoodie, standing on THAT stage and representing Hallam.

Stage Right. My view for the vast majority of the performance. You couldn't see faces past the first three rows, which helped with my ever growing nerves.

With half an hour to go, Maddie the stage manager was getting more anxious. I, on the other hand, was just happy to be there. Look at my smiley face.

Walking down the Vom, I found this. I think it's so arty, I love it. The scribbles had so many notes on, from rude drawings to Hamlet quotes and the usual dated signatures. If I had a pen I would have happily written on "Leah was here, 29/06/12"

And here is the only performance still I could manage to grab, courtesy of Assistant Director Elliott Brown. In the background you can see William Ilkley, practising his Russian accent ready for show time.

The one memory I love was looking up from the stage, stood at the lectern and feeling myself shake from nerves and seeing my Nana, who had spontaneously turned up to support me, smiling. I instantly dropped my nerves and just felt into the performance. It was wonderful. Walking off the stage into the wings, I almost cried and instantly hugged everyone for doing such a grand job. I will never forget that moment for a long time. After, I sat on the stage and answered questions on the whole experience. One of my favourite lecturers asked "What was it like to work with such a batallion of professionals?" I simply said "Unreal." I think that summed up this experience perfectly.