It never rains but it pours

That's right, a second blog post in just 3 days. You may be wondering why I am writing again, it is partly due to my "freshers' flu" which in reality is just a nasty cold but has left me without the energy or inclination for socialising but mainly because it is pouring with rain. I am currently at the University of Nottingham studying biology and loving it. The only very slight downside is my mile long walk to the biology school (no buses available or needed) which I have to do several times every day. It is a reasonably nice walk with a lake and lovely views but I am not looking forward to doing it in Winter when it will be raining. My biology tutor reassured me about my rain fears. He said "this University only came number 1 in one university ranking: least rainfall". Until today I was confident in his statistic, I got absolutely drenched on my walk back from a lecture, not a pleasant experience. Oh well, life goes on, I had rain in London so Nottingham rain isn't so bad.

A fridge is a very complicated piece of machinery, I have one in my room. I have finally got to the stage where the noises it makes during the night don't wake me up so that is alright. It does have a tendency to freeze the food at the top though. I decided I'd had enough of this so turned the dial from 3 to 7, no more frozen food for me! I awoke the next morning to find everything in it frozen, not good. Apparently a higher number does not mean a higher temperature, it means a higher power, they should make that clearer.

My room is right above the junior common room (jcr) so I can always hear what is going on in there. When I first moved in I thought i might have trouble sleeping because of the noise should I decide to go to bed a bit early. To my surprise, I sleep like a baby through the noise of the jcr, even if there is noise in my corridor (if I have the willpower to go to sleep and not get up to join them). What always wakes me up, without fail, is the clocktower in the Trent Building. I seem to be the only person in the hall who can hear it but it wakes me up constantly, despite being half a mile away.

I have a big choice tonight: stay in and focus all my energy on recovering before Saturday (more to follow) or go on the Biosoc Campus 14. The campus 14 is the campus bar crawl of 14 bars. I should really preserve myself for Saturday because I am going on a Rag Raid. Organised by a charity called Karnival, we are bussed off to a city in the UK to collect money for charity whilst dressed up to a particular theme. I am going to Bristol, Professions theme. I will be going as a referee since scientist is far too common. The best bit is the journey home, the Karni reps get you absolutely smashed. There are rewards for big collectors, punishments for poor collectors and copious amounts of alcohol. I am very excited. They even tie a black sack to each person so chundering is not an issue, maximising drinking ability. Crazy. Wish me luck.

Back at Last

I'm sorry of the looooooonnngggg break in my blogging, I have had absolutely no inspiration due to having a really good summer with nothing to moan about. But good news followers, I'm now at university so (despite having an amazing time) I have plenty of new findings to moan about.

Freshers flu, how did I let myself get struck down by such an inevitability, the late nights and excessive alcohol were unavoidable but I ate fruit, drank plenty of orange juice and water and ate reasonably healthily in an attempt to avoid it. Alas, it did not work and here I am, sat at my computer, nose running and unable to sleep due to a stuffy head. I loved freshers week (or WeekOne as it's known at Nottingham because we like to be original) but this illness has kicked me while I'm vulnerable. Also, I have been forced to pen my box of tissues and it reminded me of an old quibble of mine, why does the first tissue of the new box insist on bringing out it's friend with it? I only want one tissue, why give me two? Do tissue makers assume that opening a whole new box of tissues must mean a dire situation that can only be rectified by two tissues?

A change I've noticed in myself is in my voice, partly caused by the sore throat, my accent is altering ever so slightly, I find that every now and then I say a particular word in a completely new regional accent. I'm surrounded by people from upp North, Wayells, Somerrrrrset and Irland. So sorry Surrey accent, you become become tainted.

There is very noticeable rivalry at university, East wing vs West Wing in hall (still not sure what wing I'm on), Catered halls vs self-catered halls and the main rivalrly: everyone vs Rutland Hall. Naturally all abuse is carried out through the medium of song, if you're interested in these chants ask me at some point and I will belt them out at full volume for you. The Rutland hatred goes one step further, with a little phenomena known as The Rutland Raid. This involves going into Rutland undercover as a Rutslut and stealing whatever furniture and appliances you can get your hands on: toasters, kettles, chairs and sofas are fair game, personal possessions are not, this is rivalry, not robbery.

I am no longer allowed to do a naked run to the toilet/shower, as thrilling as it would be in such a public place it is apparently not appropriate. So instead I resort to doing it with a towel round my waste. Many times I have been caught and it has become known in the corridor as "Joe's scantily clad shower dash", clearly I need to get better at the dash before a naked attempt.

I am loving life and there is only one way life could be any better. Alex why don't you live in Nottingham, I miss you so much! (sentimental bit complete).

Stay tuned, I have more spare time and procrastination opportunities so blogging may happen more often.