That end of term feeling

Hello everyone! I should first of all apologise for not being a very good blogger! I'm afraid university life got the better of me when it came to finding time to write on here. I'm writing now as I handed in my final two essays of the term this morning. I've had a summative essay for each of my modules this term. History seems to be one of the few subjects where all essays are summative and count towards our final marks for this year. First year doesn't count towards your degree but you must pass! As I'm one of the few people I know of who do 6 History modules, I seem to have had the most summative essays! I started reading for my last essay yesterday and finished writing it at 2.30am this morning. I've been very bad at organising my time and completing my essays this term so I'm going to make sure I sort that out next term. I've passed the two essays I've had back so far however, so luckily it's ok. I don't regret socialising and having fun- I think that's what being a Fresher is all about! I'm truly lucky as I've made some wonderful friends and we can now support each other as all these deadlines approach. My one friend is currently in the library finishing her last essay and when she's done we're going to celebrate with mince pies and mulled wine. We take each other hot chocolate and food when we know one of us has a deadline the next day- it's lovely! Everyone is getting ready for Christmas and this coming week is full of some great events. There's Carol Singing tonight, a Shakespeare play tomorrow, A Swing Night on Sunday, Christmas Panto on Monday, Carol Service in the Cathedral on Tuesday..... and all of these of just the official events organised within John's! In addition to this, there will undoubtably be lots of relaxation and Christmas themed fun with friends. I just did some Christmas shopping, well browsing, with my roommate and wandering around Durham is even more beautiful at this time of year. We had snow earlier this week but it has just about all melted now. I'd like it to snow a little more but not too much so that we can all get home! The end of term is always a time to reflect and I realise that I feel settled and happy at John's now. It took some adjustment as it is very different from AC but I do really like it now. I'm looking forward to enjoying John's in this coming week as I'll be free and it is a great place to be. Hope everybody is well and am looking forward to seeing as many of you as I can when I'm home over the Christmas break. Love to all.

Rainy Durham days

2.30pm- I can't be long as I must do some reading! However, I wanted to let you all know that I am really enjoying life at John's. Durham is a wonderful place to live and John's is definitely a great college. As lectures and seminars are now in full swing, the advantages of living along the Bailey are becoming even clearer. I feel so lucky when I sit next to people in lectures who've had to catch the bus down from the hill colleges and I've had to walk the whole of about 5 minutes to the History Dept! I've been busy enjoying everything that John's and Durham has to offer- from peaceful riverside walks to fun nights out. We were planning on going to Klute ( the infamous nightclub) tonight but I found out at lunch that tonight is a foam party and now I'm not so keen! I've just come back from a John's Welfare Committee meeting and have another meeting about Toastie Bar in about an hour. I'm very happy today as I am going down to London to meet up with old AC friends tomorrow night. I'm travelling down on the train with a friend from John's and we're both very excited! Should really get down to some reading on British Imperialism now. I'm taking a couple of books with me to read on the long train journey. I'm going to venture out into the murky haze later to get some fruit and also a Birthday card for a friend. Tonight I'm helping out on Toastie Bar and may or may not go out afterwards... Love to all.

Settling in

1.45pm- Hello everyone! I must first of all apologise for failing to update my blog more often. However, I'm sure you'll all understand that the past two weeks have been incredibly busy on all fronts. From spending time with friends to sorting out the academic side of things, I find that by the time I finally get in to bed at the end of the day I am exhausted. I must just say that this is the way I like it- I love that I have to juggle trips to coffee shops, mealtimes, nights out and reading for my course. I had three lectures so far this week. All three lecturers have quite different styles of teaching but I enjoyed and feel I have benefited from them all. My lecture in Monarchy and Religion began with Handel's Zadok the Priest being played at a very high volume! In a rather strange way it was a good introduction to the module. I have the first of my seminars tomorrow morning. I am feeling slightly apprehensive about seminars however I am feeling more relaxed following a talk by the History Dept. leaders this morning. We had a really good session led by the Head of Dept and Director of Studies regarding our expectations of lectures and seminars and what the dept. expect of us in turn. We also had a really good, open and honest discussion about our fears and most impressively the lecturers fears regarding seminars. This sort of meeting is one of the things which I believe sets the History Dept. apart- there is a very caring atmosphere amongst the staff (in addition to a very high level of professionalism of course). I am going to finish preparing for my seminar on Reformation Europe now. I know absolutely nothing about this time period and so must do a lot of reading!! I then have a meeting of the John's Welfare Team. I had not originally signed down for this but have been persuaded to join for a number of reasons (partly due to my own wish to contribute to John's life and partly due to the encouragement of others.) I am then meeting a friend to go shopping for hot chocolate (!) Tonight I am helping to run the John's toastie bar with some friends. I did it last week and it was a lot of fun. Love to all.

Late nights, early mornings

Good morning all. I am writing this post from the John's library. The library is a former chapel and is an interesting building. Luckily for me it also has wifi, a surprisingly good history section and is very quiet. I did not have any lectures yesterday and as seminars are yet to start this meant I had an entirely free day! I still made sure I got up at a reasonable time and had breakfast. After breakfast a group of us walked up to the main uni library which is on a hill outside the city centre and about a 10min walk from John's. I managed to get a couple of books and I will start doing a bit of reading today. I am starting to understand that lots of the reading required for seminars and essays will actually be available online. The uni has a very good online catalogue and so many of my texts will be available to read online. I will obviously have to still borrow books, but my expectations of how I'll be working are changing. After lunch some of us went down into the town to wander around the shops and a couple of people had things they needed to buy. Last night was the John's Fresher's Noah's Ark Bar Crawl. We had to let the Freps (Fresher's Reps) know if/ who we were going with and they assigned animals for us to dress up as. My roommate and I were swans, which luckily meant we could just try to look elegant. When we arrived at John's bar we were sellotaped together by our wrists and ankles. We all then had to head to the other college bars on the Bailey (road around the Cathedral) and walked together, two by two! The Noah's Ark theme continued when we played some strange game and the Freps squirted water pistols at us (imitating the flood apparently). The highlight of the night was when we all ended up in Klute (the notorious nightclub) and danced until the early hours to some of the cheesiest songs imaginable! I am going to read a little about Reformation Europe now. I have my first lecture of this module this afternoon but I have a book on a short-term loan and so must return it to the main library on Saturday. Love to all from a cold but beautifully sunny Durham.

Finally a Fresher!

12am- Hello everyone!! After what seemed like a very long wait all summer, I have just finished Fresher's Week. The past week has been one of the busiest of my life (and after 2 years at AC that is quite something!). I cannot believe that I have only been here for a week! So much has happened- from the chaos of arriving to the excitement of everything that Fresher's offers and I am left feeling very tired! I have managed to escape with only suffering from mild 'fresher's flu'- a cold for a couple of days. Some people have fared far worse and are quite ill. I cannot begin to give an account of everything I have done in the past week so I will try to be very succinct. I have made great friends, been out to sample Durham's nightlife, had tea parties, attended Matriculation in the Cathedral, tried local coffee shops, been on a cruise down the Weir, worn some strange outfits,had a ridiculous amount of fun on a bouncy castle, gone to Christian Union meetings and church, tried out at a rowing trial and as a result of all of this yesterday was the first night I went to bed before 2am! There have been times when I have felt unsure, missed family and old friends but now I am really starting to feel part of the John's community and can begin to call it my home (albeit not for many weeks of the year!!). I had my first lecture today (I was supposed to have two but one was cancelled) and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The module is entitled "Birth of Western Society, 300-1000" and I really liked the Professor. I have had to buy my first book- and that was for £23! I am writing down everything I buy in a little notebook so that I can keep track of my spending. Tomorrow I only have one lecture and that is not until 3pm. I'm not sure what I'll do before that but as always I know something will evolve or crop up. I may actually go to buy my NUS Extra card as apparently it is worth investing in. I'm afraid that is all I have time for for now. Good night.

My new room- half decorated. Lots of pink and hearts, as expected!

A new adventure...

Hello everyone! In a couple of weeks I will start a new chapter in my life as a student at St.John's College, Durham University. I cannot wait to embark on this new and exciting journey! I hope to write on this blog about my day-to-day life as a Johnian, living in the shadow of the beautiful Durham Cathedral. I will write more when I arrive as a Fresher at St.John's....!

The cathedral on my visit to Durham for the University Open Day last year.