Five Things I've noticed about Cornwall

1. The road planners are very fond of the double roundabout, a totally confusing piece of two circled road trickery. There is this one near campus that they've put on a fairly steep hill so that you really can't see what you are supposed to be giving way to.

2. There are a lot of steep hills here. I've just brought my cycle down from London and I am going to try a cycle in the next few days. The journey into campus will be tiring, due to hills, steep hills, almost the whole way. But I am more scared of going home, especially in the rain.

3. It rains a lot here. Big, heavy, drain blocking downpours. Which means I may regard my cycling commitment as folly. I got SO wet yesterday just going to the corner shop to buy some milk. My shoes are still not totally dry.

4. It takes ages for things to dry here. It is really humid and damp, much more so than London. I'm thinking of getting a dehumidifier for my room. I think it's due to the weather. There is a lot of it see above) and here in Cornwall, we are almost totally surrounded by a sea that pounds rather than laps, causing little bits of sea (i.e. water molecules) to fly up into the air – thus my towels wont dry.

5. But the sea is utterly fantastic, 3 mins walk from my house. I've been surfing a few times, once on the beach that is overlooked by the amazing hotel used in Roald Dahl's 'The Witches' and another on the next beach along. I can now control the board a bit, did a turn a couple of times and am getting ready to go “out back” where the big waves are. Am scared of that but will do it when I'm ready.