I’m not going to get this post done any other way. If I try to write the events of the last 9 days out in full, it’ll take me the next 9 days.

1. Possibly the best way to get to know people is through making and sharing food. Bonus – you get to eat food, too.Mooncakes are made of win. (Also lots of lard and sugar, but mainly win, which cancels it out.) Leftover pasta goes brilliantly in omelettes. Crushed almonds make biscuits so much nicer. I’m much better both at cooking and at socialising than I realised. Although I managed to spill a lot of stuff (I still haven’t completely cleaned the cooking oil off our kitchen floor. Sorry guys.)

2. Organisation is not my forte, but if I were devising a timetable, I wouldn’t put two classes in the same module one after the other in buildings on opposite sides of the city. Not everyone shares my mind-bogglingly poor sense of direction, but most people share my inability to apparate.

3. Three of my 5 flatmates were born before Disney’s Alladdin cam out. Scary.

4. I managed to accidentally attend a theology lecture on “Religion, Identity and Embodiment.” (The seminar I was supposed to be in was cancelled, so that was ok.) It was uncannily relevant to my personal life and OCD stuff, to the extent that I’m going to try to gatecrash a few more lectures in that series for the sake of my mental health. (Yes. Gatecrashing lectures. I am that cool.)

5. I have signed up for (deep breath):
Christian Union
CathSoc
Students With Disabilities Association
Conservation Society
Hillwalking Society
Assassins Society
Folk Music Society
Trampolining Club
Art History Society
Classics Society
Spanish Language Classes
Chocolate Appreciation Society
People and Planet
Speak
ActionAid
DUCK
Allottment Society
DoE award scheme
SCA
Free Palestine Society
Liberal Democrat Society
And I’m sure there’s a few I’ve forgotten…
I think perhaps I need to be more realistic about time-management.

5. DUSSD have been wonderful to me so far. So has the University Counselling Service. Seriously, if you’re a disabled student at any University, ask for support. I can’t guarantee it will be as good as what I’m getting at the moment, but it’s worth a try. Proper support makes such a difference. My new GP is also lovely (although I’m kinda broke and worried my student loan won’t arrive in time for me to get my next prescription.)

6. Most students actually do come to University to learn things (other than where to buy the cheapest vodka.) This is one of many reasons why Asher Roth’s music is annoying and made of fail (though far from the most important reason). I’m not the only one who thinks so. So can people please stop deciding that all the freshers want it played out of every speaker in every public place every minute of every day?@ In fact, why do we have to have music in shops anyway?

7. My first ancient history lecture started, bizarrely but aptly, with a quote from Maya Angelou.

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Everyone here (with the exception of timetabling people and Asher Roth) has made me feel wonderful. Thank you.