People I End Up Sitting Near In Lectures

• Girl who won't stop jiggling her knee and therefore making the entire row of seats shake. Obliviously, of course.
• Girl who makes weird inadvertent 'hm' noises at odd intervals.
• Guy behind me who keeps reaching the bottom of his page and poking his notebook into my shoulder.
• Scary-coughers.
• People who whinge about how 'boring' the lecture was when actually it was genuinely interesting. Go home then.
• Girl who sits behind me, jabs her foot into my back and then keeps it there, despite much passive-aggressive seat-shuffling on my behalf.
• Guy who texts solidly throughout the lecture.
• People who return after a five-minute break with a mound of hot food that smells really strong when I'm really hungry.
• Guy who asks incredibly awkward irrelevant questions that make everyone cringe.
• Smokers. Gaaaah...
• A group of self-styled 'lads' (kill me now - or rather, kill them) who like to share their hilarious 'banter' with everyone in the nearby vicinity.
• A very heavy mouth-breather whose breath I can actually feel on the back of my neck. Ughhh.
• Girl who takes intimidatingly detailed notes
• Someone very tall / with huge hair / with a huge hat in front of me who manages to block out everything important on PowerPoint, leaving me with the flinch-inducing Comic Sans titles and irritating ClipArt cartoons.

Snippets

All I've been listening to for the past week or so - recommended tracks You Stole The Sun From My Heart, Indian Summer and (It's Not War) Just The End Of Love among others.

Some classics, some not-so-classic...

Summer-winter mix, always an awkward time of year to dress.

Things I Have Learnt In Freshers' Week

• No matter how much stuff I think I have, I will always forget something. 
• Halls are not very soundproof - at all. Luckily the only unwanted noise I've had to endure (so far) has been bizarre music from down the corridor, and people singing about snakes. 
• I talk to myself way more than I thought, and it's only now that I know my next-door-neighbour can probably hear me that I've become aware of it.
• Ditto singing.
• Fire alarms at quarter past three in the morning are sheer hell.
• No question is too stupid for Google. Such as, 'how long does a tumble dryer take?', and 'how many calories are in a Greggs ham and cheese bake?'. Someone, somewhere, will have asked the same thing.
• Might be wise not to punch a freshers' rep, no matter how infuriating they might be.
• That club chain that I hated back at home? Yeah, it's exactly the same here, too. Avoid.
• Choosing a hall of residence right next to a building site has its advantages, such as hammers providing a useful alarm clock. 
• It's not a brilliant idea to forget vital stuff, such as your glasses. 
• Everything you found annoying about home will suddenly become incredibly endearing and sweet.
• Recipe books become a way of living vicariously, as you look at all the lovely things you could be eating if you had more than peanut butter and a potato.
• Mixer taps are so underrated, as are hot taps that don't go from lukewarm to scalding in the space of two seconds. 
• The choice between laundry-lurking and laundry-paranoia is a tricky one. 
• Watching stuff alone on a slowly-loading iPlayer is not really the same. 
• Being able to eat what you like, when you like, might be a very dangerous thing, but it is so good.

How To Survive A Hangover

(all purely hypothetical, of course)

• Be realistic. Don't force yourself to get up at some unearthly hour. If you have to stay in bed til the afternoon, do so. 
• Keep a bowl / bag / bucket close to hand. 
• WATER.
• Eat something, but slowly, in the company of aforementioned bowl. Just in case.
• Banish all memories of last night. Don't even consider them.
• Surround yourself with comforting people who were not witnesses to last night, such as sympathetic parents.
• Only stand up very, very slowly.
• Don't drape yourself over the coffee table and refuse to move.
• Have a long, relaxing shower.
• No, the shampoo does not smell like alcohol and no, touching your hair will not make your head fall off.
• Don't sit in the shower stall staring at nothing like Eva Green in Casino Royale. You are not a traumatised Bond girl, you are a prat with a hangover.
• Avoid anyone who is likely to smirk, 'How's the head today?' at you. 
• Er, try to stay off any social networking sites that may be slightly painful to look at. Just in case.
• Don't sit around feeling sorry for yourself. Do stuff, just quietly.

Graffiti

UK graffiti

Copenhagen graffiti

Canalside in Copenhagen

Snippets from my summer so far.

How To Survive Magaluf - the Real Girl's Guide

• Suncream. Seriously.
• Choose as good a hotel as you can - thanks to the boiling heat (which I personally cannot deal with), I found myself going indoors to seek shade and I wouldn't want to do that in a hovel.
• If a drunk guy on the beach offers you a weird-coloured Calipo, don't take it.
• Don't bother going out before midnight - use these hours for something useful, like napping.
• Having said that, avoid confrontations immediately after naps. They will become explosions.
• In light of this, stick to the golden rule - What Happens In Maga, Stays In Maga. *
• * This rule applies to embarrassing emotional outbursts and / or horrible, drink-fuelled and stress-related arguments. These will happen, but it's best to forgive and forget. The hilarious, 'she-got-with-a-minger' stories on the other hand, are gloriously exempt from this rule.
• Don't wear heels. Don't even bother packing them.
• STICK TOGETHER.
• Frequent ice-cream breaks help keep everything and everyone sweet.
• Avoid usual bodycon-town dresses - a) you'll boil, b) you'll boil, c) nobody wears them. Think vest tops and denim shorts.
• Likewise, take clothes you won't mind getting drink spilt on. Inevitable.
• If a guy says, 'I'm not trying to pull you', he's trying to pull you.
• Stock up on magazines / books - life poolside can be pretty, er, relaxing. Plus even though heat is available all over Magaluf, import prices are higher and issues are slower.
• Blister plasters. Even flip-flops can be lethal.
• Before a night out, make sure your PJs, make-up wipes and a bottle of water are all within easy reach - makes things so much easier on return (a friend of mine fell asleep in her suitcase while retrieving her pyjamas).
• Pedalos are fun, and wet. Your stuff will get soaked, so bear this in mind when taking a bag.
• If you're going as a group, stick like-with-like when allocating hotel rooms. Don't put OCD Monica with Little Miss Messy - even the best of friends clash over things like that.
• Accept that boys will always outnumber girls in Magaluf. You can take advantage of better drinks deals that way, as most places are eager to even out the numbers.
• Within reason, don't be afraid to kick a guy who won't take no for an answer - my friend didn't want to dance with you, OK?
• Set some money aside for post-night-out munchies, and say goodbye to your diet, because Magaluf knows how to do chips.
• Unless you're planning some serious travel days, leave the Spanish phrasebook at home.
• Don't be afraid of the strip - it provides some of the best nights out ever.
• Relax.