48 HOURS- less than- until I find myself up in the grim North, surrounded by other bewildered undergraduates of the University of Sheffield. Wide-eyed and staring, we'll all be wondering where we're meant to be, what we're meant to be doing, which of the thousands of strangers we'll meet over the following week might end up our new best friends, and which our new worst enemies. Fun times for all!

I've been in a gradual state of packing over the past week, meaning I've slowly emptied one cupboard, picked a few things in it that I'd like to take with me, then unceremoniously plonked them in the spare room. I was folding clothes earlier, but the overall amount in my wardrobe does not yet seem to be diminishing... Who knew I had so many clothes? I swear this has never happened when I've packed to go on holiday before.

I don't know. Things are all a bit weird at the moment. My CD racks have been gutted of their tastiest parts, leaving barren skeletons containing only the unpalettable dregs of my music collection. (I'm sorry, I thought Make Believe would be good! I HAD to believe it would be good!) My beautiful flat-screen monitor has been removed from its sexy wall-mount, and is currently perched upon an old Tupperware box. The lovely Monty himself, the most stylish and cute of personal computers, will probably be trapped, alone and scared, in a cardboard box by tomorrow evening. Shall I bring any posters with me? Spare food? What about all my jewellery, scattered in various trinket boxes around my room- should I jumble it all together, or keep them in their separate containers? After the stress of trying to decide on all this and other stupid matters, I'm starting to think that Freshers' Week will be a breeze. OH GOD, that's a lie though- a week of non-stop partying/socialising with complete strangers? I find a single night of partying with my best friends a bit wearisome come 3am- how am I going to cope?? At least I have the thought of seeing my Beloved come the weekend to keep me going, but there's a whole 5 days until then! ARRRGH.

Still, excitement far outstrips the terror, and the stress, and the annoyance at this point. I am SO looking forward to being in a proper big city, where things actually happen- and AMAZING things at that, take a look at Offbeat where I will surely be every other Tuesday night- as opposed to the cultural black-hole that is Aylesbury. And I am keen to meet new people and make new friends, even though I'll be missing the old ones like crazy. Most importantly, I guess, I am also eager to start my course- having bought a labcoat, and lots of big fat medical/physiology textbooks, I feel I'm ready to start being a REAL scientist. The part of me that just wants to crawl into a cupboard and hide is definitely marginalised by the rest of me that is jumping to go.

I suppose I'll find that I miss it here when I've left, but right now I can't see myself being homesick. It's my friends I'll miss most, and I'll be able to keep in touch with them easy enough by the miracle wonders of facebook etc, as I've said before. My parents... not so much. I've never been that close to them, and, although it shames me a little to admit it, have been becoming increasingly irritated by the onset of my mother's Empty Nest Syndrome. I've tried not to let it show though, I'm not that much of a horrible daughter that I'll reveal how goddamn happy I am to get away. I'll probably miss the countryside as well- no more walks through open fields, squelching through mud, avoiding steaming cow-pats and pitying the myxomatosis-riddled rabbits; but I suppose, as I'm right near the Peaks, I can always go there for a day if I really start to miss the open. And Sheffield is in fact a pretty green city anyway, despite its steely past, so I shouldn't feel like I've set off to live in a concrete wasteland.

I think I've put off further clothes-folding for long enough now. If you're leaving for uni this weekend, or in the coming ones, good luck to you! And if you're one of my most adored friends, who'll weep and weep once I have left, you'll hear from me soon enough so don't fret :) THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM ME.

ALSO, I passed my driving test on Wednesday! First time! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Too bad I won't be able to drive until the Christmas holidays, by which time I'll probably have forgotten it all. Still, GO ME!