Whoops! It would appear I am almost three weeks in and haven't updated this yet with all the news about freshers!
In my defence, when we got internet the Monday after I arrived, I spent ages writing a long detailed post about everything and anythign that had happened but then, thanks to some major network/computer errors I was having for a few days I lost the whole post and tbh, my heart wasn't quite in making a new one. I figure I should try again though, as otherwise this is pretty much a failure of a blog.
Thanks for all your comments too, everyone
Anyway, I'll try not to give you a blow by blow account as quite frankly you would get bored, I would get bored and nothing would be achieved.
First impressions of UEA are very positive. Arrivals weekend was, I imagine, fairly typical. I arrived, was pointed in the right direction by some helpful yellow t-shirted helpers and given my key along with further directions to my actual accommodations. My mum and I were quite early so we didn't have to wait to get a parking space outside the accommodation itself (there was a complex queuing system in the main car park while you waited for one of the more limited spaces in the accommodation car parks).
Anyway, I'm in a nice house called Yew, with about six flats of eight rooms, so it's small but big enough to find good people. My room is small and at first I panicked about space but it turns out that storage is good and there was plenty of room for everything (though one thing I have found is that in a small room, if you put the smallest thing down somewhere it shoudln't be the place instantly looks a mess!) The best thing about it is that it has a massive desk with space for pretty much anything you want.
The only downside about the room when I first arrived was that instead of a mattress on the bed there was a very hard, green piece of foam. For a week, I was literally unable to sleep unless I was very drunk (not always a good idea). But this was fixed by going to the accommodation office and asking for a new mattress (I expected them to be awkward but with only a little bit of persuasion I found a new mattress delivered two days later - and since then, the rest of my house have also been asking for them (though there's now a waiting list so it would appear I was lucky!) The new mattress is actually a proper one and so has been a lot easier to sleep on (though I've still not been sleeping great - my hours have been very weird...)
It also took us about a week to get hot water! Cold showers are really not fun, though I did get around it once by going to the pool for a swim and using the shower there.
The people I've met have been great. For me, I've found that my friends have come from my flat and my house, rather than the people on my course. This is a bit of a pain in some ways as not really having a group on my course to hang out with means I don't really have anyone to sit with in lectures, but I'm hoping that I'll get closer to some of the people in my seminar groups and I've made some really good friends who aren't on my course, so I should be happy with that!
I went out quite a few nights in freshers. UEA is apparently one of the only unis not to have a proper freshers, in that while there are activities going on in the evening, there is regular uni stuff and lectures happening in the day, and the History school seemed to schedule a cruel amount of 9am starts! So for a week, everyone was pretty much dead!
One of the best things about Freshers, was that I was really worried before I went that I'd be expected to go out and get really drunk every night or people would think I was anti-social. As it was, there was usually at least one other person staying in so when I didn't feel like going out, I didn't have to - I still went out every day from Sunday to the following Monday except for two, but I didn't feel like it mattered that I chose to stay in on the two nights I did. I've also found that the people in my flat are similar to me, in that when we we go to the LCR (union) on a night out they're not that bothered about staying right until the end and most nights we've left, not really early, but after having a good night and being ready for bed. It's completely my style of clubbing as 3/4 am finishes are not me at all!
I was struck by the dreaded freshers flu in week 2 and believe me, it is the least fun thign with Freshers in its name! I felt absolutely awful for at least two days, and pretty rough for the next two. I missed a couple of days of uni because I didn't want to spread anythign and tbh, I could hardly get out of bed! Loads of people have been ill to some extent though and in every lecture there are people coughing! I just seemed to get it quite bad for a few days. I finally felt properly better at the beginning of this week though which is good.
I don't have many contact hours during the week, but do have quite a bit of reading etc to do. I'm trying my best but still haven't quite got into the swing of things yet! I've also managed to get a weekend job at Phones4u which is initially temp until xmas but will give me some money!
Weekends so far have been strange - they are very quiet. Some people go home, and not much else seems to happen, apart from in the evening. I guess a lot of people use them for working or recovering from teh week before but it's not what I expected!
I've been hit quite hard with homesickness - there's nothing wrong with the uni - I'm perfectly happy here - I just miss my home and my family like crazy! It started when I was ill, and I just wanted to be at home in my own bed, but even now when i'm better, I have a kind of aching longing to just be at home again for a couple of days and to see everyone. I've seriously not met anyone here from anywhere remotely close to where I live so that's also a bit lonely, as I feel very far away when most people seem to live so close. I'm going home for a weekend in November but it seems like so far away still! It's my birthday next weekend and even though Im hoping to have a good time - I can already see that it's probably going to be a low point for me as it'll be the first time I'll have had a birthday away from home.
Money-wise, I feel like I've spent a fortune! My loan finally came in, but most of it is going straight to accommodation. I'm hoping spending is going to decrease a bit soon, as I'm kind of worried but I just keep telling myself that a lot of the tihngs I'm buying now - books, hoodies, etc are one-off purchases that I won't be making every week.
Cooking is going ok so far - I haven't killed myself yet. It hasn't taken long to slip in to the student diet of pasta all the time, but I've also been eating fish, chicken and potatoes etc so I'm getting some variety!
I think that's all I can think of right now, though if you have any specific questiosn feel free to ask!
Read what some TSR Freshers have to say as they start university this Autumn and follow them as the term progresses.
coolh5000's Freshers Blog 2009 - No. 5!
fellow uea'er!
) which is one of these rather sarcastic, but amusing books that actually appears really useful, and another one that I can't remember the name of but is something along the lines of Essential Student Cooking and has over 400 recipes in, including the fairly basic ones that you'd think I should know how to make but don't! 
We seriously seem to be living the same life! I'm yet to actually meet anyone from Manchester or even remotely near. 
