There is a tradition, or a holiday if you will, that I believe I might be the only person to observe. This day is known as conker day, the day when you can go collect untold amounts of conkers! What’s a conker? Well I’m glad you asked!

‘Conker’ is a colloquial term for a horse chestnut, a large nut that falls from a chestnut tree in the autumn. These nuts make excellent autumnal decorations, so every autumn around mid to late September I celebrate conker day, where I go out and collect as many conkers as I can fit into my pockets!

Today is that day.

I didn’t set out very early, I figured if I wanted conkers the universe would provide for me, and the universe did not disappoint! within minutes along my walk I came across a road lined with chestnut trees, the floor was littered with the brown chestnut or the green spikey shelled alternative. I wore my big pocket pants especially for this, it was time to start collecting.

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a grown woman slowly walk down a road picking things up every 5 seconds, but it looks a little odd. As much as I tried to play it cool, there was no escaping it. That didn’t matter though, all that mattered was the conkers.

My pockets began to fill, my pants began to weigh, was my discomfort worth the conkers? Yes of course, everything would be sacrificed for the conkers!

Soon, I was done. My pockets were full. My autumnal vibe had been achieved, and the land had been conkered.

Conkers aren’t the only thing im picking up today though, freshers week is in full swing at the uni and I want to check out the events. Today there’s a few things going on: there’s the Freebies fair – where students can go to pick up all kinds of free stuff (so of course I’m going) and learn about a few of the facilities available to them; and the Societies fair – where all the societies convene to show off their topics and activities to the new students who might consider joining them.

My afternoon was filled with QR codes and pamphlets for all the different clubs. Leicester has a lot to offer and whilst my course is going to be demanding, if I get any free time I now have a list of the people I can spend my time with!

Once I was done at the fair, I swung by some of the stalls that had been set up outside. Here they were selling important student items, like comfortable clothes for all those late nights at the library, and plants that will maybe make it to December if they’re lucky. I picked up a few small flowers, and some new prints for my wall, then I headed to the library.

Now that I’m in the final countdown for my course starting, some of the information has already been released including, very importantly, the prereading list! I still have a lot of free time (as evident by my morning amongst the trees) so I want to get as much of this reading done as possible. Once I had my library card all sorted out, I headed in and picked out as many of the textbooks as possible.

All of my many adventures into nature and university life had me getting pretty hungry though, so I stopped of at the cafe inside the library for a snack, a milkshake, and a quick read of my new book: Physics of Electric Propulsion!).

Finally, after all the excitement, it was time to head home. It had been a busy day, but my bag was almost bursting at the seams from the collection of conkers, leaflets, and textbooks. There’s a great word for all of that which I know…

Studying!

I’ll leave you here with a shot of my total collection of conkers, and who knows it’s never too late for another day of conker collecting, autumn is still freshly upon us!

See ya!

Cassie