...I still like it.

The town centre is very pretty and the cathedral is spectacular, and ridiculously huge. The outskirts are a bit dingy, and there's some seriously hideous '60's architecture in places (The Student Union? Oh...my...god). But overall, I like it. I could happily spend three years here, especially with Newcastle being pretty close, if I need to actually do anything. I want to go to uni in a small town; I've grown up in a big city (Liverpool), and in a pretty shitty suburb, so something pretty and vibrant really appeals. I'm not overly fond of campuses, a little too insular for my tastes, and the same with the Oxbridge collegiate system.

And the course...well, had I not already been applying to Durham for definite, the department talk wouldn'tve swayed me. I can't fault that, however, the speaker was an admissions tutor, and was incredibly helpful with regards to that side of the process. But, I've checked out the course online, and it's not perfect, but the best I've seen, bar UCL. The Icelandic exchange is incredibly tempting.
I've noticed though, at every English talk I've been to, has been very heavily female dominated, with about 3/4 of the room being female. There's always one ridiculously hot male student as well. Not that I'm letting that influence me or anything.

All in all, Durham remains my first choice. And I'm pretty certain of my other choices: UCL, Exeter (Falmouth), York and St Andrews. I've ruled out Cambridge, I think, because, as I've mentioned, I found the collegiate system, wherein almost all of your socialising, and teaching is done within the college, far, far too insular for my tastes. I've spent seven years in a small private school, and frankly, it can get a little claustrophobic at times (I've enjoyed it, but I wouldn't want my uni experience to be identical.)

My next post will be about something different, I promise.

ETA Patrick Wolf is beautiful and amazing. Check him out.

Being home alone for two weeks is an interesting experience. So far I've learnt that I never want to have cats of my own (Being cooped up with THREE of the bastards, and it raining everyday), much as I like them, and that I really, really, really don't like being alone. The novelty wears off very quickly. It's strange, especially given how detached I normally am, how little I'm enjoying this.

Still, I have UCAS to occupy my time. Joy. Still haven't decided on Unis, which is a little worrying - I know I want to apply to Durham (I would be so happy if I were to get in here), UCL ( though living in London is a little daunting), and Exeter (though I'm not sure which campus, Exeter requires higher grades, but Cornwall seems nicer). Considering Cambridge (Surprisingly I quite liked it after visiting the open day, Oxford not so much. Will blog about this in a day or two), though I've heard being accepted for Cambridge gets you an atuomatic rejection from Durhm, the logic being no-one would turn down an Oxbridge place for Durham. Which is irritating, as I would :(
York and St Andrews are tied for my final slot - St Andrews looks wonderful, but I'm not sure I like not being able to do English only until the third year. York seems interesting, if a little inflexible in the course structure. I'veb een able to rule out Warwick and Leeds, on the grounds that I wouldn't want to live for three years in Leeds or Coventry.

Finally, A S Byatt's Possession is many shades of wonderful, despite some issues with characterisation I think you, alankria , would really enjoy this.

Will blog about recent trips, and papery things soon.

It has begun. The great "So where are you going to apply to?" question asked by every teacher, brought up at every assembly, over and over again.

And my answer? I don't honestly know. I know what course I want to do: English Lit (No, not theology. If Classics and History can leave me alone, why can't you?). But I don't know where I want to do it.
I know where I don't want to do it: Liverpool, mainly because having lived here all my life, I hate the city. But other than that, I'm at something of a loss.

Durham appeals to me greatly, both the town, course, department, college system, and awesome chancellor (Bill Bryson!). But so does King's College, London, which has a similar course and reputation. To say nothing of Warwick, Leeds, York or St Andrews. Which is all complicated enough before we even mention Oxbridge, which half of my tutors have decided I should go to. And I'm really no sure about that. I don't want to go to make my school look good in the papers, and to be honest, the websites at both universities are very vague on what the courses actually entail. Helpful, yes? But there is aconference in a week for people interested in Oxbrigde, so we shall have to see.

In the meantime, any advice on British univiersities would be greatly appreciated. *Flutters eyelashes*

was rather wonderful.

Very nice city (or at least the city centre) if a bit twee. I rather liked the slightly rambly layout and the fact that there were a lot of quirky little shops (and two Waterstones!). And the accent was quite nice if really bizarre (Scottish meets Cornish meets Yorkshire meets Welsh).

Of course the lack of large shops is bit of a bugger and parts of the city looked a bit clapped out and well, wet, I suppose.

I didn't see much of the Uni (apart from the museum of Archaeology  - which was very nice, and had a small but fascinating exhibit on China) and the Castle (apparently up to 80 students can live in the castle, which sounds awesome, but  I imagine it would be very restrictive) I have, however, poked around on the Uni's website and looked at the English Lit course and some other stuff, and based on that I think Durham is my first choice. Not that I've ruled out Edinburgh, which is also very lovely and has a good, though not as good as Durham, English department.

Also, a surprising amount of man pretty in Durham. Not that that's influenced my decision or anything. I'm not quite that shallow.