The analysis of my perpetual cough.

When I got off the train for and viewed Durham for the first time in my life knowing that I had subjected myself to studying there for at least three years without even looking up the place on google maps (I know that is a serious level of laziness) I was delighted when my first impression was not that of a massive dump. With the cathedral dominating the landscape and my position up on the train station giving me a view of all of Durham I was filled with a sense of possibility, which was quickly stifled when the taxi journey simply kept on climbing, and climbing, and climbing.

St Aidan's.... The rainbow college or even lovingly called the reject college has to the best of my knowledge a 4% application rate amongst the people who go there giving it a claim to fame no other college has or probably wants. To be fair it is completely understandable when you see the lovingly crafted dirty exposed brickwork facade that I am sure took an architect many many years to design. However it turns out that everything that seems to present Aidans as lacking in the class department actually makes it great and I would not change for castle or Hatfield (which I embarrassingly remembered that I applied to on the third night), mainly because they seem incredibly stuck up.

So Aidanites are separated into categories through the very small but surprisingly effective questionnaire that we filled out before venturing into the unknown. There are the B curves who are aptly named because with the amount of alcohol consumed there in a single night no one could be expected to walk in a straight line. So far my experience of this magical kingdom of booze and destruction has involved covering myself in the most nu-luminous UV paint in the world and getting absolutely shit-faced off another's alcohol. I have a feeling that he felt bad for me after I had sat there for an hour with nothing enjoying my exploration of the true nature of student hood.... poverty.

And thus I will take a small detour to describe my current pain which is the very small thing in my trousers, my wallet. I don't think anyone really understood the amount of money one can burn through in the persuit of living the same lifestyle as when we were financed by the bank of daddy (technical term though I feel it necessary to mention that my mother brings in the cash). With the prices of textbooks almost amounting to that of an ipod and my desire for a light weight travel bag causing me to rebuy items that are sitting with impunity on my desk at home I am starting to feel the strain. No that isn't right, I am basically broke. Not in the fun way though were you actually have no money but in the painful way that in a month living costs will be deducted from my account and I am not sure how Susane Frenk would feel about my account bouncing, though I am sure that none of us would understand it anyway but it will be deep and profound I am sure.

Anyway back to the important stuff like insulting large groups of people with no real basis. It is one of the constant joys of life to remind people of the factual existence of the A straight corridor which is lovingly situated underground to better accommodate the hermits that take up residence in its embrace. Unlike many I have drawn upon the strength of my ancestors and ventured into those deep halls and experienced such wonders as the assassin society and guitar singalongs. It turns out that while you can make some judgements about each corridor or house (yes I didn't forget you guys) the strong diversity of Aidan's is what makes it the best college in Durham.

Finally I feel it is necessary to address the title of this piece of procrastination which is something that everyone in Uni's across the country will sympathise with, The Freshers Flu. When everyone around the world is fretting over Ebola I feel that they have missed a much more diverse (If less deadly) phenomenon. The freshers flu has a plethora of interesting symptoms some of which are kind of funny in hindsight. It seems that the most common symptom of the flu is the belief that you have finally caught the flu. After 4 days straight partying in town and enjoying wonderful the way that the see through curtains granted my unadjusted body a wonderful amount of 3 hours sleep per night, I was absolutely sure that I was in possession of the flu. However I have reverted to that horrible state a total of three times so far in my university career making the flu more of an enigma. Probably rather than being sick it is simply our bodies kicking us for the rapid change in curcumstances from watching netflix on the couch all day during the holidays to walking back at 3 in the morning with no shirt on ( wooo toga-party). Never the less it is a bonding experience allowing all of our new friends, associates and people we pretend to like only to their face to bond over not only the good times but the more unpleasant ones.

While there is so much more about the first few weeks of university that can be explored and my personal choices to fail to join any societies can be ridiculed I will leave it there. Now I can go back to my favourite past time which has been easily revived from the glory days of old, doing literally anything other than work because first year doesn't count, am I right?