Collingwood is separated in to two sections, the old block (an original part of the college), and the new blocks built in 1990.
The old blocks house non-en suite rooms and are predominantly occupied by freshers, whilst the new blocks are used mainly by those returning to the College after their first year (normally in their third or fourth year). A small number of shared double rooms are also located in the new block, used by a mixture of fresher and returning students.
There are around 550 students who live in college and around 300 of these are 1^st years.

Question - Is a Durham student more likely to spend hours researching, creating and talking about:

• a) Their formative essays?
• b) Fancy dress?
• c) Their summative assignments?

Entering the Durham bubble is a lot like being thrown head first into a foreign country. Before you’ve had much of chance to master the language you’re catapulted into a unique culture; in this case probably dancing a drunken night away to a Spice Girls medley in a small and sweaty club known as Klute. However, there’s no shame in this! The vast vocabulary that constitutes the dictionary of Durham slang has been known to daunt many a third year linguist, but fear not freshers - here’s just a small selection for you to get to grips with.

A (non-exclusive) list of what to do and not do during freshers' week.

When you have to get up depends entirely on whether you're one for turning up for lectures at 9am unbreakfasted, unwashed and probably still in your pyjamas, or whether you fancy rolling into the dining hall for some rice crispies in acceptable attire before making the short walk to the science site. 8am seems a standard time to fit in the latter of the above, so get used to this rather untimely wake up call. Most scientists have the joys of early mornings 5days a week, yet there is something surprisingly invigorating as you make the sleepy stroll in the company of all other scientists down Grey hill at 8:50, happy in the knowledge that bailey colleges have a massive trek uphill to attend the same lectures!

Usually it's worth making the trip back to Collingwood for lunch. There is nothing quite like massive amounts of potatoes to tide over a busy afternoon of thinking. After all, it's more satisfying eating a disproportionate amount of food when you know you've had a hard morning's work whilst arts' students appear in duvets and slippers having achieved nigh on nothing. Alternatively the YUM cafes serve a selection of tasty treats to get you through the day if the hill looks too steep.

Afternoons will present pretty much the same as the morning. You may be blessed with those eccentric lecturers who will try to lighten the mood with thermodynamics puns or jokes about the lanthanides, or maybe have 3 hours worth of labs, which aren't as bad as they sound, and you're finished all in time for a hearty supper at college.

Thankfully evenings aren't too full of ghastly equations and impossible maths problems.... well, by and large. The joy of having so many lectures results in the perk of minimal reading lists, meaning the evenings are free for some banter in the bar or just chilling with some friends. Go out if you dare, but remember to have an alarm set for a vaguely respectable hour to repeat this all over again.

As you can see, scientists don't have it all that bad!  

Sophie Scott

A Day in the Life of a Arts Student

 ‘Oh God, Thursday morning' - a typical first year English student wailing over the idea of a 10 o'clock lecture (yes, that's right, 10 o'clock) after a ridiculous night down in Loveshack and Pizza King. Thursday mornings never fail to fill you with dread, as you open your eyes to a splitting headache and the prospect of a whole 3 hours of lecture time in one day... Welcome to the life of an arts student.

 I won't write about any other day simply because most of them start at 2.15 and end at 3.15, and let's not mention free Fridays; it'll only make the science students inexplicably green with envy. You might wonder what one does with all this free time stretching ahead of oneself like the plains of Africa but it is surprisingly easy to fill (and not with the hours of reading that we're supposed to be doing). Stumbleupon and YouTube are your new best friends, welcome them with open arms and even when reflecting on the amount of pointless hours you have spent cruising the internet looking at baby monkeys (riding backwards on pigs), you will find yourself appreciating this all the more for its apparent uselessness. A little bit of internet guilt might even spur you on to pick up a book, yet this vain endeavour will be abandoned for the sound of the lunch bell. (I lie. There is no lunch bell.) Another benefit of being an arts student is that you'll almost always be in college for lunch, which is a bonus when you haven't had breakfast (8 o'clock? No chance). Follow this up by ambling in and out of other peoples rooms, maybe a spot of lazing on the meadow if the weather's nice, and if you're feeling particularly studious even heading down to the library which, believe me, you will slowly grow to love, rather as one slowly grows to love broccoli or Ben from Lost. Later, enjoy the ‘scrumptious' delights of another college tea, get some vodka in you, dress up as an idiot to ‘live it up' in Jimmy's or maybe the dreaded Studio and you have completed a typical day in the life of an arts student. (I am in no way condoning irresponsible drinking, exchange vodka for Appletiser if you wish.)

  I will leave you with a few words of warning for all you budding arts students:

i) Never boast to the science students about how few hours you have a week. They might just get so angry they forget how to do any calculations for their weekly problems. And we don't want that.

ii) Keep LOADS of books in your room, preferably open on your desk, so it looks like you're working really hard when all you're doing is facebook stalking people or watching paint dry.

iii) And finally, don't be the idiot that recalls books straight after they've been taken out of the library. It's just annoying.

 Now, breathe a sigh of relief that you've chosen the right subject and look forward to LOVING your life in Collingwood.

Hayley Parsons