Christmas Cheer (Too Much, Too Soon)

We are only nine days into December and I think I've already had a bit too much Christmas cheer.

Thursday was our last official day of lectures and what a great day it was to round off such an industrious first term. In Bill's class we sat around in a huge circle and were each given a compilation of our homework, all 26 pieces with the theme of 'Metamorphosis'. We then had to read each one in turn and then comment on the others. None of the entries had a by-line, so we had to see if we could guess the author.

I've only read work by about half of the class, so it was harder than I thought it would be. Some people had changed their style to deliberately dupe us and others wrote in an entirely different genre than normal. There were a few that gave the game away by making the authorial voice strong enough to recognise and others ended up having to read their own work - which led to shifty body language and detections of awkwardness. But on the whole, the exercise was a great way for us to critique each others writing skills and to emphasise the overall consistent standard of the work.

At the end of the session we did a vote for our favourite three stories and then the authors were revealed. Hearing my work read by someone else and then critiqued by others was a bit unnerving. But it was certainly constructive - I noticed the mistakes in my story straight away, just from the way it was read out. There were a few 'stand out' stories which genuinely moved me, and I seriously think the collection is publishing material. And considering that the standard is already high - just two months into the course, I think we should try to publish some kind of anthology before we graduate.

So after all that suspense, and anticipation we dispersed after watching a short film with Richard E. Grant satirizing Kafka - just for some light relief. I got back into town at quarter to four - our Xmas dinner at Five Degrees West was booked for four. So I had only a smidgen time to buy a dress to wear, do my makeup and get myself cross the other end of town in my daintiest heels with gale force winds against me. Needless to say I was pretty late. Everyone was there already and I must have looked quite amusing with my wind-swept hair knotted around my head and rosy nose and cheeks burning in the warm atmosphere.

The wine flowed and the food swiftly disappeared - trust us students to make the most of our tenner! I think I saw Joe intercept a waitress when she tried to take away the ripe cheese selection - waste not want not. Maybe not the best thing to take home from a party, but if it's destined for the bin...

We took up our section of the restaurant till closing time, everyone extremely merry (one or two almost legless). The die-hards amongst the group honed towards Toast and then Club International (rumour has it that Steve McFadden aka Phil Mitchell owns the joint, which speaks volumes). Thursdays at Club are pound-a-drink student nights - which automatically spells out trouble. By this point I knew I'd crossed by limit and concentrated on dancing off my drunkenness. We danced madly to a selection of nineties dance tunes, Christmas oldies and modern cheese. Someone gave me a red bauble and I seem to remember passing it round to everyone, why it caused amusement: I could not tell you now.

We were drunk as skunks and I think we made quite a scene with our raucous behaviour, you've got to remember that Club tends to be chav central - so we probably looked quite out of place in our glam party get-ups. I have to say Liam is such a wild card - his dancing demands attention, he's got so much energy and disco pizazz. The night was over before we knew it, out on the street - an after party suggested at Duncan and Ryan's house. But the majority were in need of a Bayside kebab - (a place that's got a bad rep. for leaving the street in such a greasy mess on the weekends that they had to implement a 'no take away' ruling). It was fit-to-burst inside, and I couldn't be bothered to wait around for a bag of chip that would take me all week to work off at the gym.

I walked home with Liam and Ben who were going to get a taxi from the Moor, then staggered across the road - desperate to take my heels off. It was sad to say goodbye to my new friends, it's astounding how well we get on - and in such a short space of time. I'm off home on Tuesday, back to my old set of friends for yet more Christmas and birthday celebrations.