A family friend asked me once why I’d gone back to university to study and ‘Aren’t you sick of it?’ Er, no. I love being a student. Why? Let me count the ways.

Because it’s free. Obviously you have to pay for education. However, there are tonnes of free benefits, many of them intangible and unavailable elsewhere.

1. Free access to online journals and to my beautiful, amazing library:
   Including ones that are nothing to do with my course, like Sexualities. (I was Googling and found a fascinating article: Constructing Polyamorous Languages in a Culture of Compulsory Monogamy, by Ani Ritchie & Meg Barker) Free access if you have an Athens username & password.
2. Free time, lots of it, ostensibly:
   In fact, I’ve worked full time in the past (last year) and it’s true: Comparatively, I have tonnes of free time. I need to remind myself of this. The key reason it feels like I don’t have lots of free time is because I procrastinate, leading to creating unnecessary urgency in my life. Roll on Christmas holidays and I will be tackling these bad habits with a vengeance.
3. Free student discounts & promotional products:
   Currently, my favourite is Yo! Sushi’s half-price student offer. Last week my university were giving away contraception, apparently (because it was AIDS Awareness Week).
4. Free advice and access to genius minds:
   My university includes such geniuses as Thomas Pink and Raimond Gaita, as well as my brilliant tutors and my course mates.
5. Free film screenings:
   Tomorrow, I’m going to see what looks like a rubbishy teen movie with a cliche twist, even the name is ‘ironically’ rubbishy teen movie cliche: Another Gay Movie.
6. Free discussions and the atmosphere:
   My classmates are amazing people. What’s the likelihood I would have met them if we hadn’t gone to university? Chances of us talking about philosophy of religion, if we had met, especially in a structured setting? Even lower.
7. Free choice of where I work:
   When I wrote this I was seated in Starbucks (4 Dec, 6.10pm), where I’d been sat for a couple of hours. It’s brilliant, great opportunities to people watch and socially acceptable eavesdropping.