My non-answer

I've been asked before what I like about University - my course, my house, my city. I pause and always offer easy answers. I like my lectures, I like my bed, I like the beach. Easy to say, easy to explain.

I always leave out the other, simpler, you-just-have-to-be-there things. Like the way the sun can light up our bathroom and warm an otherwise freezing room. Or the way I find clarity in the most stressful of night-before-the-deadline moments. Or the way the park looks in the sunlight on the way in to Uni. Little things.

Important things.

One thing that is simple to say but that would never do it justice is the late night talks I have with the boys.

It's never the same conversation, even if the topics are similar.

It happened a week or so ago. We somehow ended up sat or stood around the stairs. The hall light only lit up our faces enough that we could see faces but not enough that it wasn't still dark. I don't know what the conversation began with and I'm not sure I was even there for the beginning of it.

The conversation meandered through serious and funny topics. We discussed religion, YouTube videos, future families. Everyone shared their own opinions - no one's thoughts quite lining up with anyone else's and the conversation benefited from it.

Silence eventually fell and I followed it to my room, falling sleepily in to bed.

I could say I like the late night conversations but it doesn't feel like enough.

There's something about them - whether it's the fact we're still awake at 1am, that we're still teetering on the edge of not-quite-grown-up or just the fact that it's time with my best friends - something that causes explanations to fall just a little short.

So instead of attempting to explain, I just pause, smile and offer something simpler.

Not everything can be explained.