My new room

For the next two semesters this was to be my room. Not enormous, but cosy and spacious enough for my needs. And for my belongings - too much room and my bagfull would have been swamped by empty space. But the window was the highlight. I spent many hours watching people walk, run, play, and bbq on the large area of grass beside the lake. At night the space would echo with the shouts and laughs of people returning from the pub, birthday choruses in the next block of flats, or just silence. Rarely did the noise bother me, only occasionally would it go beyond decent hours, and I'm a pretty good sleeper. The bed was a little hard and narrow, I certainly was happy to see my bed when I got home, but the desk was enormous and I had a sink and mirror and reasonable wardrobe. Sometimes the pipes was make funny clonks, or I'd hear people clip clopping in the flat above, the kitchen was right next to my room so I'd wake up to the sounds of people dropping saucepans at 3am, or the door squeaking back and forth as people ran to and from their midnight snacks.

But I loved this room. In some ways it was the best in the flat, with the widest view of the lake, and it was my little kingdom. And my flatmates were amazing. From day one they welcomed me in, told me to use whatever kitchen stuff I needed as long as I washed up after. And having a flat with several tidiers was good for sanity. We looked after each other, everyone going to someone's exam recital just to support him, or letting the med students practise their consultation skills on us the night before their exams. I'd been concerned about a flat full of 19 year olds, but this was a 'mature' flat, full of health students who had to work hard, so it wasn't all party party party, which just isn't me.

And on this day not much happened apart from more orientation and getting to know people. But we all knew a free day was looming, a day in which to explore Norwich.