You may find it surprising that we spend most of our time here when we have a ridiculously small table and only four chairs - you move and you loose your seat. Our rule, your mistake. This is our eating, pre-drinking and basic hang out area, we make the most of what we have, seat sharing is common and people who eat get the seat. Because we all get on pretty well we've all established what the rules are with dinner and seat space, when's the best time to cook, when you don't want to be in a hectic kitchen, and most importantly when it's time to throw the dishcloths away.

The other thing we have to share is the bathrooms. In the whole block we have two bathrooms - boys and girls - both have one shower and two toilets. This sounds like it could be a pain in the ass, but truthfully I haven't had a problem at all. I've had to wait for a shower about twice, and it was about a five minute wait, so it honestly hasn't bothered any of us. 

To most it may sound like an awful cramped place to live, yes your food gets buried in the freezer, and your bread gets eaten if you leave it out, but to be honest there's only minor things that can grate on you. The messy kitchen being the main thing. But, when I say we are like a big family, I really mean it. When people go home for a weekend, they love returning to our Hawthorns home. We've known each other for 6 weeks and miss each other when we're away. 

My friend Amanda (Panda) had her birthday yesterday and absolutely loved it. We all chipped in to buy her a birthday top hat - I'll show some photos to you all soon - and a cake was made along with a card we all signed. I think having all these people make such an effort on your birthday makes you feel so important - we even went to the effort of making her a birthday dirty pint, in it was vodka, Archers, Disaronno, coke, lemonade, a bit of chicken, chicken juices from a pan and gravy granules. Because we are just so lovely. 

It was also my sisters birthday yesterday so a big happy birthday to my big sis, Cupcake Mumma!

Today it's my friend Deacon's birthday, we went out for Amanda's last night so when the clock struck twelve we all leapt on Dea and his birthday began. We had also given him a birthday dirty pint before we even left - I won't talk about what we put in his pint, because it was disgusting, but he powered through and drank it, somehow. He'll receive his birthday surprises in time!

I also managed to successfully submit my second essay today - I'm coming to terms with the fact that I'm quite clearly a person who loves to work under pressure. I woke up at 8:30 this morning - after going to bed at 5:30, to write the last 500 words of the essay. I had it all planned out, knew exactly what to write, I just like the pressure, or I'm just super lazy!

Now, I best go rejoin my block who are gathered in the kitchen singing Bob Marley!

These guys are the ones that understood the theme of the fancy dress...and decided to steal a cone. They put it back though guys, no danger. 

The rest of us just chose to swear at the poor stranger who took this photograph. Although, pay attention to the fact we have just come away from the shot bar.

Then on Friday we went for the usual fRISKy fortnightly event, that always proves to be a good one. 

Work wise, I've got essays and such to get stuck in to, Aphra Behn is challenging me with her poetry (which I despise analysing) and a passage of 'The Fall of the House of Usher' is still also waiting to be analysed. Reading week is hastily approaching and none of us can believe that this is the sixth week and we're half way through already!

We've got two birthdays in the block on Monday and Tuesday, Halloween - watch this space for (hopefully) some brilliant costumes - and then on Saturday evening my boyfriend, Julius, arrives after a long seven weeks apart. Should be another good week, I hope everyone else's is just as enjoyable!

We went on a trip to London in 2009 with our secondary school, I loved London but it was also one of the moments I realised I could never live in a city. Not even Keele has got enough countryside to satisfy me.

Recently we decided to start discussing the possibility of getting a house together - I know it seems eager but four weeks have flown by. If we could, we'd remain with almost everyone in the block, but a house that big would be a little ridiculous and ambitious. 

We've been here for one month now and I can honestly tell you we're a close bunch already, we pretty much were from the first week. Whether you're in a hall, block or house you'll most likely love the people you're living with - after all you have one huge thing in common, being at uni, away from home, friends, family. And in my block there's another thing we all seem to have in common - the desire to drink copious amounts of alcohol. 

I hope everyone else is getting on as much as we are! 

This surprisingly lasted us until Tuesday, with help from the Student Union. I can't emphasise how handy shot glasses are, they are most definitely a key item to take to uni with you. We've had a hectic week of drinking, and we've all already become such good mates. We also, somehow, managed to drag ourselves to introductory lectures either hungover or drunk, meaning that we no longer remember what normal truly feels like. I've had to adopt a way of remembering which night was which; Saturday was the night I tried to break into all the halls in Hawthorns because I couldn't find M block, Monday was the night my friend woke up next to the Chapel at 3am, Wednesday was when Me, Faye and Alex bought outfits for the fancy dress and we're too drunk to leave the house, and Saturday I woke up at 9am asleep on the stairs. I'm about to say a phrase I despise using, but it is truly the only way to explain our week...YOLO.

I've taken almost 400 photos over freshers week, plenty of our hall and drunken friends we've made on SU nights. I'd take a picture of my room and more, but my camera, which was on the way out anyway, has now been laid to rest and a replacement may be in order, providing I don't need to buy any food for a week!

So far, I can't even describe how much fun it's been. I couldn't have a better bunch of people to live with, we've passed on all these phrases and, in some cases, accents to each other, we've heard some classic drunken lines too such as 'That's pasta, that is', 'Stephen Moffat said I could sit here so I can' and I've passed on the only way I can describe everyone when we're drinking - 'filthy'. 

The real learning has only just started, but I can tell you what I have already learned just after my first week; I definitely can't dance, I know even more now that I can't sing, sleeping in weird places is acceptable during freshers week, offering Vaseline to strangers isn't socially acceptable, the alcohol stall in the market has some illegal feel to it that makes you want to say 'seems legit', I'm too lazy to wash my clothes, not all students can't cook, but the ones that can can't be bothered to anyway, I have a problem keeping my room tidy and that I can drink a hell of a lot more than I ever thought, as can many of the people in my block.

I can't really sum up this week with just YOLO, but I can say that despite not having all that much recollection of it, it's been one of the funniest and most enjoyable weeks of my life, all thanks to the chaps in my block.

I hope everyone's freshers weeks were messy and hectic (in the best possible way). Now time for some learning...maybe?