Term one, week nine and I’m still waiting for the novelty of life in York Uni’s “student-ville” to wear off. So far so good. The bars are still serving me, the clubs are still permitting me entry, and the people are (so far – touch wood) still talking to me. I have, as yet, failed to tarnish my reputation as anything but the fun-loving, friendly, albeit slightly mentally unstable, average eighteen year old. Having arrived at York full of intentions to join this society and that one I have also failed miserably to achieve anything except keeping to my essay deadlines, turning up to seminars and (most) lectures and attending an impressive amount of social events. I’ve somehow managed to wangle my name onto the college netball team mailing list, meaning I receive fascinating email updates regarding our successes (or otherwise) in college sports, and, more importantly, all the details about college sports socials. Now for any freshers out there who have yet to realise this let me tell you now: if you only attend one college social event in your life make sure it’s a sports social. Guys; the netball girls will be there. And girls…well, how do the football, rugby and hockey teams sound? And did I mention in fancy dress? Never again will I go clubbing in my sexy Eeyore PJs…some experiences are too traumatic, regardless of the soothing powers of alcohol. Yet at the time, a “Bananas in Pyjamas” themed social in which the guys turned up as bananas and the girls in pyjamas, seemed like such a good idea. On the way home I was actually saluted by one random female passer-by who screamed at me, “are you wearing PYJAMAS?! Respect!”. I look forward to the forthcoming Cops and Robbers themed bar crawl…who knows what that will bring… Fancy dress in general is extremely popular at York. I’ve managed to successfully put together outfits for Halloween, Playboy Mansion, Hawaiian, School Days, REHAB (doctors and nurses) and am currently working on my Reindeer costume for the Christmas event. As far as I’m concerned, attendance at campus events is essential – after all there’s no taxi fare necessary, and you can’t be tempted by any kebab or chip shops designed to lure you in en route back to uni. Plus it’s a great way to make your presence known. Although friends met on nights out tend to need to reintroduce themselves at some point in the future. My friends and I have difficulty remembering names under daylight circumstances so during the early hours you can imagine the confusion when we’re suddenly confronted by a horde of new (and distinctly blurry) faces. As a solution to this memory problem we’ve taken to allocating people nicknames based on what we first know them as (or in some cases what we first know then for). It’s an alternative to remembering real names, and also provides us with handy code-names which we can use to have private conversations in public places. For example, we have “tie guy”, “suit guy”, “fit-ugly guy”, “tank-top”, “tank-top’s room-mate”, “piercing guy”, “indie guy” and “barefoot guy”. And those are just the ones which wouldn’t need censoring. Despite our attempts to keep these code-names secret, certain ones have inadvertently slipped out. It doesn’t help when you’re having a conversation about the person, and infront of the person, using said person’s code-name. You have to give them some credit…thankfully so far no-one has been offended. It’s been an eventful first term so far and there’s still the last two weeks to go before my return to Cardiff with its multitude of clubs and streets without cobbles. Don’t get me wrong, York’s a fantastic place to come to study (apparently that is why I’m here…), but eight weeks without a home-cooked meal or a mum to do your laundry can take its toll. Never fear – by the 9th of January I will be well rested, full on enough Christmas food to last me through the first week of term two, and totally psyched to start it all over again. Luckily the first year doesn’t count towards my final degree! Rachel | 
