I decided it was probably about time that I wrote my first blog, and what better way to do so than write about my trip to Birmingham yesterday.

I think quite a few people have gone to visit Birmingham since they've had their offer confirmed, and I definitely think it's a good idea just to have a wonder round without worrying that you're supposed to be somewhere an hour ago and you still can't find where you're supposed to be.

I went with one of my fellow Astoners, and we started off having a quick nosy around one side of one floor of the Bullring (more on that later!) before coming out and making our way to the Aston campus completely map free! We spotted the towers and lakeside, so followed them and we didn't go far wrong.

We went up to the towers... and we were looking at Stafford so we thought we'd look inside.. it was open. But then we felt a bit awkward because someone from the office was watching us so we hastily left.

At this point we decided we were starving, so we found our way to a bullring map, and had a look at what to offer. We picked Nandos (despite the fact I'd been there the day before hehe). We decided that in 4 years we should come back and sit and the same table (although it was pretty cold by the door) and reminisce about our time at Aston :p We probably outstayed our welcome, and drank many many many free refills, and so we decided we should have a wander round for a bit longer.

So we walked through the East Wing, the West Wing and every other wing of the Bullring, going into the shops which looked interesting (the entertainer, I need a builders hat for one of the events during freshers, the ELC, same reason, and Selfridges obviously because it looks cool:

There is literally three of every shop in Birmingham, and treble that for Starbucks. It's fantastic actually. They also have more shopping centres than I care to put a number on. Some are really run down (the Pallasades!) some of the others, like the Pavilions were very quiet but looked almost brand new.

We wanted to find Broad Street. We were armed with not just 1, but two maps, plus the street maps and sign posts, and we walked, and we walked and we walked and eventually we suddenly realised we were there. So we walked up Broad Street for a bit, which took us almost out of Birmingham, and we deicded to come back, so we followed road signs until we finally made it back. We must've walked for two hours straight and decided that our legs could not walk anymore, so we went and found a Starbucks (not hard to do) and had a nice sit down! Too bad their new 'Vivando' drink sucks. But I couldn't complain too much, my feet were too grateful for the rest.

SO finally we decided to get the train home and leave. And it was one of those brilliant times where you look on the board and see the train is coming in 7 minutes; not so soon you have to run, but not so long you have to wait for hours. On the way back though.

Overall, brilliant day. It really hit me actually that I'm actually going to be moving to Birmingham! That the Bullring will be my local shopping centre! It's all very exciting, and I can't even say I'm particularly nervous :D

Long long post, don't worry, there won't be anything this exciting until freshers week now