End of week 1

Tonight's 'Back 2 Skool' disco marks the end of our fresher's week. It's been fun. I'm slightly surprised with the ease at which I seem to have settled in. Maybe I haven't really settled in at all and am going to spend much of next week - when the work begins - in floods of tears, missing home. We shall see.

Currently, though, I am thoroughly enjoying the experience of cooking what I want for myself, showering twice a day (might as well make the most of 'free' utilities), and sharing each day with loads of people who are as addicted to music as I am.

My flatmates are a lovely bunch. There's Paul (another male - yessssss) who is a jazz pianist, seemingly quite quiet, but definitely enjoys a good night out. Reminds me somewhat of Joe Chet. There's also Laura - a flautist - who is short and not very fast. 'Fast?', you say. Allow me to explain. Laura is like Sam in that she is often the one you are waiting for. She is however - and I never thought I would be able to say this - worse than Sam. She doesn't particularly enjoy the walk to the conservatoire from our flat, but insists on bringing an enormous, apparently superfluous rucksack which is literally half her size. That will give you some idea of both the size of the rucksack and the size of Laura. Also in our flat are Autumn - who plays classical guitar - and Hannah, who likes to get wasted and homesick.

Anyway - gotta go, we're off to the disco now =] No doubt I'll think of something to write tomorrow! Lotsa love x

p.s. still no idea why she's called steve.

Day One...

So, I decided to copy Helen and start a blog. It seemed the most practical way to keep everyone updated instead of sending some sort of round robin email.

Today was our first day at the conservatoire. The day began with an hour long talk from the principal, as well as the vice-principal, and the registrar. That was followed by another almost-an-hour-long talk from a woman called Steve who is in charge of undergraduate studies. Slightly disconcerting. I don't know why she is called Steve. I think she said her name is actually Jane.

After a bit of a wander around Brum with a few new friends, we headed back to Opal - our accomodation. It's pretty nice - reasonably sized rooms, roughly the same size as my bedroom back home, only now I have an en suite. Good times.

I'm feeling very nervous about enrollment, which is at 1510 today. As I don't have any student finance stuff, I'm hoping they aren't going to invoice me with the full amount!

My flatmates are very nice, one boy and three girls. We're all conservatoire students and all from the same school year, so that's nice.

We got our timetables today too, so it was interesting to see what we're going to be doing. It's a bit scary, as it's definitely going to be hard work, but to be fair - should I have expected anything less?

I'm missing everyone at home a huge amount. A hug from that girl in Northampton would go down well too. Anyway, love to all xx