There is a strange sort of optimism connected to the first days of every term. I don't know exactly what causes it. It may be the first lectures of exciting new courses, books that make that first cracking sound when you open them, seeing old friends for the first time since before exams or making first impressions on new ones. It may be that fresh feeling of cleverness that always accompanies the promises you make to yourself about great working, eating and socialising habits. It may also have something to do with the fact that this early in the term, no-one is 'worse than'. You still have a shot at becoming one of the good ones, and more often than not a genuine hope that this year, you'll make it.

Whatever the reason may be, I'm going to enjoy this feeling for as long as it lasts.