Oop Norf

Just spent a few days visiting my sister at uni in Preston. She's just moved into a new house with 6 other people for her final year, and invited me to join them there for a taste of Freshers' week. Having gone gallivanting abroad to study, I never experienced this cultural phenomenon, so it was an enticing opportunity.

The house is a very nice three-storey terrace, with 1.5 kitchens, a lounge, and 3 bathrooms. Her house-mates are all people she knows from previous years, all thoroughly nice people whose only apparent flaw was not keeping up with me in tea consumption.

Living with Nicole necessitates getting used to two things: 1) her nocturnal schedule, and 2) the sheer amount of alcohol she and her friends consume. Highlights of my stay include:

- Being genuinely surprised that the sun actually shines on occasion in Preston.
- Downing the four bottles of wine we got for a tenner with Heather.
- Meeting two fresh-off-the-boat French girls from Metz, forced to struggle indomitably with the impenetrable Northern accent. Their happiness at finding someone who could translate was heartwarming.
- Being begged to stay oop norf by said Frenchies.
- Sitting around pissed until dawn talking with Nicole's house-mate about nothing and everything.
- Laughing with Heather at her unbridled northernness.
- Drinking games at Mark's place.
- Re-arranging Nicole's room to look pretty.
- The cheap booze. And food.

The only negative aspect of the whole trip was the last night, when it was cold and raining outside, yet horrendously hot in the club we were in. Could have done without that, but the shwarma pizza I got afterwards was pretty damn amazing.

In summary, thank you very much to Nicole and everyone at Glenda, I hope you have a great year in your new house!

Flying back to Israel tomorrow, exciting stuff!