this has been a long and painful absence

I'm sure I could find out if I wanted to, but right now I simply cannot remember the last time I went this long without blogging. Weird. I find myself planning posts out in my head as humorous (or otherwise) things happen to me. They all start with, So...

So... Where did I leave you? I believe I'd just been vomited on by that charming girl from the Fez.

In short, since then I've moved out of the house I've lived in my entire house, and into a spangly new flat in Royal Holloway that smells of new paint and cleaning fluids.

That's what I need to tell you about, the smells.

Three smells that shall forever remind me of Fresher's Week:
1) The interesting 'new' smell in our kitchen that I liked at first but now makes me feel sick.
2) The scented toilet block in my en-suite that I liked at first but now makes me feel sick.
3) The smell of newly chopped/slowly composting woodchips that I didn't really like at first and now definitely don't like on account of them making me feel sick.

I'm going for information rather than order here.

I don't have internet in my room yet, I won't until I get a PC next week so blogging will be sporadic and shite. Please leave me comments, I'm so lonely.

My new flatmates are called Reena, Kate, Adam and Endrit. We're still missing a sixth person. Everybody here apart from me has interesting names and languages and accents. Am boring.

Number of times I have left the flat since 4pm on Tuesday:
.....5. For no more than a couple of hours each.

I got ill on the Sunday after I arrived. Stomach cramps. Say no more. Off to bed I went, for a hefty seven hour nap. Then I was fine.

Until Tuesday. Because at 8pm on Tuesday, I woke up from yet another nap feeling distinctly delicate.

(I stayed up til 4am that morning talking to my flatmate, which is one of the Nicer things that has happened to me here.)

At 8:05pm on Tuesday, the vomiting started.

And carried on.

And carried on some more.

Then it headed south.

I woke up on Wednesday evening feeling absolutely unbearably homesick. I started calling and txting everyone from home in a desperate attempt to feel better.

My flatmates came back from their 'hurrah we have student loans' shopping trip and brought me a lollipop, which made me ill but happy.

Thursday I felt better. So I got up, went to the Fresher's Fayre (1) and joined the Ninjitsu club, the Christian Union, People and Planet, Comedy Society, Drama society and the Girl Guides. Don't ask me how the hell that happened.

Then I ate potato wedges. With ketchup. And it all got a bit blurry.

A few hours later, I woke up in my bed again, feeling grotty. Martin and Liz came to see me, which was lovely, but made me sad because I couldn't eat the chocolate they gave me and they couldn't take me home with them.

We had a corridor party. Everyone had Bacardi. I had a shotglass of Pepto Bismal. My flatmates looked after me (BLESS THEIR SOULS THEY HAVE LOOKED AFTER ME).

This morning I woke up feeling better. Not having learnt from my mistakes, I decided to leave the flat.

I felt sick and came home and slept for a few hours.

Then I decided to go out and buy a book. That was when I realised my debit card was missing.

The lost property at the Student Union doesn't open again til Monday. By that time my student loan could be gone. So as soon as I'm done blogging, I'm off to cancel the first grown up card I've ever had. Unused. Sigh.

Don't get me wrong. The people here are beyond lovely. The clubs are fun, the booze is cheap, the campus is gorgeous and my room is heeyowge. I've even found a local rock club. My course looks awesome, difficult but soo interesting. And, woohoo, the drama students are ace. Not an asshole among them.

Let me say this once and for all - I AM GOING TO BE HAPPIER HERE.

Once I've stopped mainlining Pepto Bismal and my toilet has stopped smelling of that rim block, that is.