Refreshers

So, this has been my first week back at University after 3 months away for summer, and alas I've done no work. I did order a book off Amazon today though, so things are looking positive. It has been a pretty eventful week, and after arriving back last Friday, today (Saturday) is the first time I have stayed in. Last weekend was spent moving 700 freshers into my old hall, trying to reassure anxious mothers that their children would survive and meeting fathers who seemed a little too keen to wave off their offspring. Aside from fresher nights out, I've been to a few alternative clubs. Snobs on a Wednesday is Bimingham's answer to 5th Avenue in Manchester and a weekly staple for the alternative crowd. It's an independent, self promoted albeit a bit sweaty (all the good places are) club which plays various styles from jazz to folk in one room and more crowd-pleasing alternative songs in a second room. It was an enjoyable night out for one of my housemates birthdays and was pretty much like greeting an old friend and catching up. Snobs is still definitely a must on a bi-weekly basis for me. The second place was GateCrasher's new replacement indie night Supersonic vogue as last year's night, Propaganda, has since moved to the O2 Academy. Although there was a lot of hype surrounding the night because of the quite brilliant free promotional remix CD, the night itself wasn't the "alternative Loaded" which we had maybe been expecting.

I also managed to visit The new O2 Academy to see Florence and the Machine on Sunday, which was fantastic. To be honest I never really listened to them before my girlfriend introduced me to them, however I'm glad she did. They were breathtaking and performed the whole album to perfection. The Academy is also a lot nicer than the old one, which in a strange way I dislike, I prefer my music scene to have a bit more character than cocktail bars, carpets and bathroom attendants, but maybe that's just me.

All in all a great first week back. I also applied for my own Radio show on the University's Burn FM (www.burnfm.com) to host a punk/rock show, so hopefully some more information on this will follow. All I have to worry about now is getting a degree.