It's December 1st, and this is an obligatory 'it's December 1st' post.

When I bought this advent calendar in ASDA, the conversation with the checkout man went like this:

Man: "Is that Peppa Pig calendar yours?"

Me: "If I say yes, will you judge me?"

Man: "No. I love Peppa Pig. I'd have got the exact same one."

Anyway I opened the first window whilst listening to a certain Mariah Carey Christmas classic on the radio so I'm feeling pretty festive this morning. I also just downloaded the Love Actually soundtrack.

I'M COMING HOME IN 10 DAYS!

I have a lovely little group of friends here at UCF. As many a wise owl told me before I moved down here, I would find people who liked the same things I do. These people share the same opinions as me and enjoy the little things, like drawing zombies in our notebooks and playing endless games of pool during our free time. I guess (as people in general) we're all pretty desperate at the beginning of university to make friends so we end up becoming this exaggerated version of ourselves. Like some sort of weird animal attraction display. I admit I blew my crescent like any good Parasaurolophus in the first week and yes, I did speak to people but it was after the first week that I finally settled down and talking to new people actually became just the normal thing to do rather than some sort of omgIhavetomakefriendstalktomehahahahahaaa.

So there we were, my group of sandwich-eating ornithopods, at half ten in the morning some time last week. Probably Thursday. We were in the Stannary (student chill-out area/canteen) when a load of guys rolled in and ordered a round of beer at the bar. At half ten in the morning. Was I wrong in thinking 'blimey, they're a bit early'? I guess if you want to drink from half ten in the morning then you can, who am I to judge. I caught the eye of a Parasaurolophus on my right and went back to my roll. Half ten on Thursday morning might suit you as a pefect time for drinking, especially if you're a heavy set Ankylosaurus like these blokes were.

And then today I was sitting back on a stool in the Stannary before I was joined by two students I know, both in their second year. It wan't half eleven. No exaggeration, every two minutes I was asked to go and get a drink, to buy a drink, to go and get a drink, to have a drink, to go and buy a drink. And I got so sick of it. I like these people, but I almost just walked away. What is so unfathomable about not wanting to drink alcohol in the morning? It was like I was trying to protect my eggs of moral highground from a pain in the arse Dilophosaurus (the one that kills Wayne Knight in the original Jurassic Park).

This is why I'm glad I'm a Parasaurolophus. Because I have a herd and we like each other and all agree on the same things. And there's no real pressure to do stuff we don't want to do. My crescent is finally a nice, healthy colour.

And that's not a euphemism.

So here I am, back in Falmouth after a week at home. I have to say that I was surprised at how much I missed being near London. It was a weird feeling getting off the train at Paddington last Saturday. Dad wasn't sharing my excitement at the new tubes on the metropolitan line or the lovely interior of St Pancras. It certainly cemented in me the fact that no matter how much I might like the countryside and being near the sea, I feel like I belong either in or close to London in the future.

I had a pretty good week. It was busy and despite being called a 'reading week' I think I read more of Caitlin Moran than any newspaper over the course of the seven days. I walked round Verulamium in the drizzle and went on the swings and played CoD: Modern Warfare 3 with Maddy and had a posh lunch in Tunbridge Wells. I also got my hair cut because it had got to a stupid length and now it's nice and manageable again.

I have four weeks until I come home for Christmas. That's no time at all and yet I have so much to do. I'm currently restless about not being able to crack on and get going.

The train ride between Paddington and Truro (four and a half hours) was interesting. It was quiet until we reached Plymouth and then all hell broke loose. I specifically reserved a seat in the quiet carriage but these two oldish ladies got on and started talking really loudly between themselves. Another lady got on and took the seat opposite me and within two minutes had put her iPod in. She said I was allowed to poke her if she was playing it too loud, because I was trying to do shorthand, her excuse being "I need to drown out those two". Then everyone and the dog (literally) got on, including two eleven year old girls who proceeded to eat a pomegranate between them (I watched them, bemused, in the window reflection) and unpack what seemed to be all of Plymouth's Toys R Us. They were sitting across from the loud ladies, who were now quiet and watching disapprovingly as the two little girls covered the table in plastic boxes and toys. Then one of them got over-silly and spat her Oasis all over the table into the lap of one of the older ladies. I would have laughed if I hadn't found it so disgusting. She then laughed so hysterically she fell out of her seat and onto the dog. Her friend sat and ate salted cashews loudly the whole time.

I was glad to finally get off.

I get back into the flat and within five minutes of my arrival the walls are trembling with the bass music from the room across from me. I thought I was going to explode but didn't have the time as I was on all fours mopping up the pond on the floor of my flooded bathroom.

Good to be back, eh?

Congratulations to me. This is my 400th blog entry!

I could say that everything is fine and dandy (and for the most part, it is) but I'm looking forward to coming home and getting my head out of this place for a little while more than you could think. I know I have to come back at the end of my week off, but I'm hoping I'll come back feeling better about everything having been given the chance to step back and write down everything my weeks are full of, and think about everything I've done so far.

Football was utterly brilliant last Thursday. We played outside, in my perfect conditions. The ground was wet and soft which meant control was key, and I happily put away at least six goals before netting the 'last-goal-wins' winner, too. Kirsty slide tackled me, leaving me to walk home with one leg compeletely brown from the mud but I didn't care.

I slept at Bryony's house last night. She lives in a tiny Cornish village called St Newlyn East, and I thought it was gorgeous. I've been re-reading The Hound Of The Baskervilles for about the hundredth time and it was very much like what I imagine Grimpen to be like. Anyway we stayed up late and watched Sherlock Holmes (of course) and discussed the more pressing matters in life, such as whether we'd still date a guy if he laid eggs like a chicken.

Madre has informed me that Padre was 'quite taken' with my idea of building a Hobbit-hole style door up at Grandma's house. They've got the planning permission to do the conversion at Easter and seeing as her house is called Bank End (only a wee difference from Bag End) it makes perfect sense to me. Can you imagine? With my plans for my own birthday treat (too early to tell) it would just be amazing. I'm not getting my hopes up, just sayin' is all.

Happy 400th Post Day!

Today, in shorthand, our tutor Sue decided that the next word she was going to teach us was TARDIS. So she wrote it out in shorthand on the board, and asked "okay?"

It was not okay for me. I didn't know what to do.

The shorthand only uses the letters T,R,D and S. There is no capitalisation. As TARDIS is already an abbreviation I was tempted to ask if you do still need to use all the respective symbols? She'd already moved on to the word ROBOT by this point so I ended up rather regretfully doing the shorthand as she'd done it, but making sure to put the capitalisation mark down too.

There are going to be serious problems if I ever have to interview someone from Doctor Who.

She also taught us the symbol to write BATMAN, and invited putting the capitals mark down because it's "his name". But it's not his name. And I said so, sitting between Paul and Mike who both agreed with me that it's his alias.

I was going to write out BRUCE WAYNE but she'd already moved onto TORTURE. How apt.

I feel like I should be doing something productive with my day. Currently it's 10:36am and I've been up for an hour because it's also my 'day off'. I have breakfasted (2 mini chocolate brioche, a roll with marmalade and a glass of milk) and now think it's important to note that I am eating properly again, or at least trying to. Chicken curry (out of a box) on Sunday night, and lasagne (out of a box) last night. I'll probably have to do a run to ASDA today because I'm sick of couscous and I have almost an entire tub to eat having pre-prepared far too much. I feel a bit perkier anyway.

As far as today goes, I think I'll watch Boromir die with the cast audio commentary after writing this while I digest breakfast. I'll then finish my shorthand crossword, pop down to ASDA and maybe go to the library. I don't know why I'm telling you all this.

For one of our projects this semester we have to set up a blog. Seeing as I already have this one my lecturer said there's no point setting up another one, but I'm not sure if by 'blog' he means a specific one, with a focus (e.g. film, reviews) or this, which is basically me rambling about rubbish and deciding how to fill my days. Is it a good idea to let my lecturer know that I spend equal parts of my day doing shorthand and then watching Aragorn lop an Uruk's head off? I don't think so.

Football training has moved to 5:30-6:30 on a Thursday for the next 5 weeks which is absolutely pants because my last seminar finishes at 5:30 and I have to get the bus to the sports centre in Falmouth itself. So I guess I won't be going until after the 5 weeks when I've been told they'll look to changing it to a Sunday. I'm not exactly pleased, as I've now told the guy taking the seminars that I'll be attending them all from now on after missing last weeks and I can't imagine he'll be best pleased if I vanish half an hour before the end to go and play football.

Urgh. Anyway. Back to Middle Earth I go.

Time for an update, I think.

At some point in the last week I stopped thinking about not being in my own bed. I guess this is my home now, and certainly my room has become my haven. I'm getting used to where everything is, in fact people ask me for directions so I must look as though I know what I'm doing. I think this is probably due in part to finally getting the ball rolling. My weeks are pretty busy and this week especially is full of excitement.

I went to the Freshers Fayre on Sunday and signed up for the student paper and radio, as well as women's football and judo. I spent the best part of this morning wandering around Falmouth searching for shin pads but apparently they don't wear them down here. Hopefully there won't be too much slide tackling going on during my first training session on Thursday. Signing up for football also meant I needed to buy new boots and astros, and they have been ordered and are (the last I heard) with the courier awaiting delivery. I did order them on Sunday night and it's now Tuesday so I'm starting to get twitchy. It's judo tomorrow night, so Ma and Pa have sent my green belt down in the post and I'm actually quite looking forward to it.

EDIT: Boots and astros arrived and they are b-e-a-utiful.

I've been learning the shorthand alphabet. It's actually quite simple once you get the hang of it but you have to get it absolutely right or you'll get your H's and P's mixed up and that's never a good thing.

I've got a bit of a cold so have been drinking water and eating soup. Yesterday I made the startling discovery in Asda that you can get spaghetti bolognese out of a tin. That's dinner sorted for tonight! Along with the Great British Bake Off final of course.

You know you want something so badly when adverts about it make you cry. Take this one for example:

Maybe I'm just emotional because I'm under the weather. Yeah, that's probably it. Pull yourself together girl.