Ah, okay. Have you started it yet? Just from checking your profile where you state 'Doing a Foundation Certificate in History at Kellogg College, University of Oxford, then into the 2nd year of the BA History at New College, Oxford'- a bit unsure about what exactly you're doing this year/when and where you're joining the Oxford course, that's all
Also I may be confusing you with someone else, but I believe you've started undergraduate history at university before? If this is the case, I'd imagine you'll take less time trying to 'find your feet'.
I don't really know whether 'finding your feet' and 'illuminating' need to be mutually exclusive- the process of finding my feet was, for me, one that was pretty illuminating and made me really explore the subject I'd chosen to study and why it was that I was doing it. In my experience, Michaelmas was a pretty big culture shock, and I think I was mistaken in my approach as I spent too much time in the library/tried to read too much of the reading list and sort of got a bit overwhelmed with both the academic and social side of university. However, by Hilary, partly because the modules I was doing were ones that I found myself enjoying a lot more, and also because lots of things in my personal life started to fall into place, things got a lot better. Of course, come Trinity exam season I was once again questioning why I'd chosen history/Oxford/etc etc, but I'd pretty much say that from February things were a lot better.
Have you had to choose any modules yet?
Kind of (see discussion above regarding how it varies between colleges what exactly 'swishy gowns'/scholarship/rewards etc. are given for). Although generally the universal convention seems to be that you do tend to get a different sort of gown if you get the top band (be that distinction or first) in your first year examinations.