h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

for any of you that noticed that i'd actually been away! am now firmly settled into the life of being a student-i've st9opped eating properly, i've definitely started drinking properly, and i've missed my first lecture already! also, having been away from a computer for so long, i've also forgotten how to type, which explains any mistakes in this entry!
how is everybody? hope you are all doing well. will take me *ages* to catch up with my backlog, so apologies for that.
student life is great, there was a time (around the end of freshers week) when i thought this is all very well, but i really *don't* want to start work again-i'd rather just carry on going out and getting pissed! but all my lectures so far have been pretty interesting, and altho i'm still on my foundation course (1st 2 weeks) the timetable hasn't been that hectic yet. and i'm in london!! have been doing the markets-i love camden, its fantastic. going food marketing tomoro-i'd really, really like some sundried tomatoes, pine nuts and balsamic vinegar, but they're too expensive in the shops! my student loan has come through, and i'm spending it with abandon, so i will probably be job hunting soon...
anyway, i should probably start catching up with the backlog. now i'm settled in, i should be able to keep in touch fairly regularly
speak soon
hannah Xx

hello and welcome back, hannah!

how has orientation been? you-have-been oriented, right? right? or don't you fellows have that tradition over there at queen's? at least be thankful that you get to 'drink properly' - over here, one can't even do that because it's always absolutely *sweltering*. so all you get to do over here is miss your meals because you're too engrossed in your work/have no time to eat...

anyway, i expect we'll hear again from you pretty soon telling us about the students at college, and the market(!!!) and london, so -


again,
far.

ah well, the markets, yup...
i didn't *quite* make it in the end-something to do with staying out until 3.30 the previous nite/morning!! it was fantastic tho-saturday nites at the union, double spirit and a mixer, £1.50...
orientation? what is that? i've been enrolled, but if you mean being shown around the campus, there are lots of maps... its not too difficult tho-i've pretty much found the places i need to be.
had a 9am seminar this morning... it shouldn't be allowed! it means getting up at 7.30, and getting the underground with all the horrible commuter people, who are v untolerant of students-they presumably think (and rightly so in my opinion) that we shouldnt be up until at least 12, when all the serious people are already at work!!

you seem to be enjoying yourself loads, lol. 3.30!? (i feel so inadequate. i've only stayed out til 4 once, and that was 'cos i was at a club party... and even then never got inebriated) how *do* you manage to get up the morning after... er, i mean, after the sun comes up. oh. ok, i see, it was a *weekend*.

good golly! you fellows don't have *orientation*??? erm, ok, maybe university/college traditions are different over there. over here, all undergrads have to undergo one week of orientation, which means:

1. you have to live in the residential colleges for one week (well, it's actually like prison camp 'cos you can't go out for the whole week, and must endure bob-awful college *food*)

2. you get a couple of uniforms - which you must wear at all times! (well, except when you go to bed) of course, there aren't exactly enough uniforms to wash-n-wear, which means that most people go without washing their clothes for the entire week. eww.

3. you are guided by these senior student leaders in most university registration stuff. they take you (in whole college groups, or faculty groups) to the registration hall (where you hand in your medical reports etc etc), to the swearing-in ceremony, to faculty orientation etc etc.

4. when not engaged in registration activities, you are required to participate in activities organised by the student leaders, which usually involves running around the college grounds (and other physical activities), learning cheers and insults to hurl at other college members, and getting abused verbally by the student leaders.

it's not an experience to be missed. it's hell, but it's still a once-in-a-lifetime thingy.

i commiserate with you re: 9 o'clock lectures. i used to have classes that started at 8! (which meant getting up at 6.15 in the dark because i had to walk) and lasted til 7! (and band practice afterward til 12) times like these should be reserved *solely* for classes like *abnormal psychology*...

i think i get it-your orientation is like our freshers week-no lectures, one huge fair in which all the clubs and societies try and get you to join by giving out loads of free stuff (strangely consisting of pens, stickers and condoms!) and a diff event every nite with the aim of getting you absolutely slaughtered!! there arent any uniforms or anything, and we can generally do what we like during the day but its a great experience. i live in halls about 40 mins away from campus, but the halls were also doing freshers evening events, so it was pretty good. and of course, freshers is the time to work out exactly how much you should be paying for a taxi home (usually by finding people the next morning who paid alot less than you-we paid £20 one night, but by the end of the week had got it down to £12!)
but yep, its great-i'm still currently hungover from wednesday nite! (its now friday luchtime) i had a bottle of wine and a double vodka, after lining my stomach with a cup-a-soup (yep, that was an entire days eating) and ended up getting pushed home in a shopping trolley!! which promptly tipped over...i'm v bruised

I love freshers week - managed to get 2 free pens and I'm not even a student never mind a fresher (although oddly one pen has "African Aids Helpline" written on it...not sure there's a real demand for that in Soton).

Glad to see you have officially been trolleyed

lol a trolley! now all you need is a fireman's lift, and your life will be complete!




$20 for a taxi ride! good golly girl, that's about $120 over here... i didn't think you lived in rome (well, that's about how far that amount of cash will get you over here anyway)

really? taxis over here are always horrendously expnsive-i dunno why. £12 was vv good going tho.
hows things going at soton PQ? havent heard from you in a while