A word on the flat. Despite my landlord being the nicest guy and allowing us all sorts of delay based on “gentleman’s agreements” in my opinion as one who finds him terribly cute, he’s an idiot man. The flat is “fully furnished” by which I mean no curtains, a sofa but no extra furniture, a table and four chairs but one is broken, and bedrooms that are not at all decorated. Diana had requested (or maybe he came up with the idea on his own because we’re students?) that in addition to the beds we also get a desk each. I received a call yesterday to let me know the highly anticipated pieces were in process of assembly and would be finished by the end of today. Rah! Oh, and by the way, terribly sorry but he washed the sheets (actually duvet covers and pillow shams) but they seem to have bled and are now disgusting stained foul messes, not sure what we’ll want to do about it. (*To which I chuckled, amused, and thought “well, you’ll replace them right?” but said aloud, “well just take a look and chat about it then, right?”) Well, indeed the covers are ruined but much more importantly at the moment to me is the fact that the desks are large plain wooden tables too large for any of the spaces they occupy. They’re atrocious! But very clearly the absolutely cheapest item available in IKEA. I’ve not got any great decorating sense unfortunately but the sheer blind stupidity with which the flat is furnished is beginning to tick me off - more so each time I see another school chums’ place and our lack / their grandeur is reinforced. We are vastly overpaying for this living situation and the least he could do is have the good sense to measure the wall space before cluttering up other people’s rooms!

For some reason, this led me to thinking about the frustrating experiences of the last weeks and how positively polite I’ve been about not putting all my bad feelings towards fellow classmates out for the world to enjoy although perhaps I ought to have done so as it would have been more than amusing while fresh. Overall I suppose it’s just the to be expected dynamics of the first weeks of school, the natural division age &/or maturity creates, and personality differences but I’ve gone from positively liking to absolutely being incapable of tolerating certain students in under three weeks. We’ve got “cultural clashes” that may or may not have anything to do with nationality, power trips and egomania, competition and miserably ineffective “group” efforts. In otherwords, class is in session, kids! The degree to which is arguable depending upon who you ask however after next (Fresher’s Week) there will be no question but that we are in the full swing of things. Perhaps once people (i.e., I) have a bed to call their own and some functioning personal space the study schedule will solidify and nerves will relax. Actually, in all fairness, as the social group(s) got clarified and the new friendships began to truly blossom my personal stress eased significantly and I am already happier / less homesick. Now we just have to work out where to put a catbox (if such would theoretically be called for or if not, would a budgie be more interesting than a guinea pig?)

P.S. Had pigs today. What a smell! Rumours of photos abound!