Returning.
Last week I started back at University as a student. I'm doing a MA (by research) in Russian, looking at the impact of politics on heavy metal lyrics. I won't be any more specific than that because hopefully I'll be covering a lot of it over at my other blog. Suffice to say it's generated a lot of interest among people I've only just met :)
Also last week was Freshers' Week, which was both entirely normal and completely different. Entirely normal because I always have it off work, was doing the same sort of thing I always do and the same sort of things were happening; completely different because it was in the Portland Building (as the sports hall area is under reconstruction), I had to attend Welcomes etc. and it was running alongside two demonstration areas, inside and out, which RPGSoc were using. And the commercial stands were lacking. I'm also on the RPGSoc committee again and that's new and different!
Being back at Uni has made me very excited: I think it's great to be back, to be doing something I love doing for actual reward beyond my own mundane satisfaction, meeting new people, talking about what I love doing with people who are also excited about my research and their own (I met someone in History researching 'men's hairstyles in the 1960s', for example!). I'm also terrified: the last time I did an extended piece of writing it was awful because I had no results (damn technical degrees), my Russian is incredibly lacking, I'm not sure how well I'll cope working and studying again especially as it's self-directed, and I'm not sure I'm even cut out for this. But, I don't know until I try and that's the point!
With regard to the studying side, everything is the same and different as well: half the Russian staff are the same, the building is still the same Trent Building, the café's still downstairs, the Library is still Hallward and everything's still on Level 4. But there are new rooms: postgrad rooms to find, a study area to use, all the offices and departments have moved (about 3 times since I graduated). And there are new staff, new students, (some) new admin people; new resources to find out how to use; new initiatives to get involved in; a whole new way of working to get used to...
I'm rather scared that, because I'm well-known to the department because I never really left (seminars are interesting!), they'll assume I know everything and everyone. And I really don't: there's a lot of new postgrad etiquette to work out and nine years is a long time...
Time to send some polite emails to my fellow postgrads for some help settling in!
Sahha ohrain.
Also last week was Freshers' Week, which was both entirely normal and completely different. Entirely normal because I always have it off work, was doing the same sort of thing I always do and the same sort of things were happening; completely different because it was in the Portland Building (as the sports hall area is under reconstruction), I had to attend Welcomes etc. and it was running alongside two demonstration areas, inside and out, which RPGSoc were using. And the commercial stands were lacking. I'm also on the RPGSoc committee again and that's new and different!
Being back at Uni has made me very excited: I think it's great to be back, to be doing something I love doing for actual reward beyond my own mundane satisfaction, meeting new people, talking about what I love doing with people who are also excited about my research and their own (I met someone in History researching 'men's hairstyles in the 1960s', for example!). I'm also terrified: the last time I did an extended piece of writing it was awful because I had no results (damn technical degrees), my Russian is incredibly lacking, I'm not sure how well I'll cope working and studying again especially as it's self-directed, and I'm not sure I'm even cut out for this. But, I don't know until I try and that's the point!
With regard to the studying side, everything is the same and different as well: half the Russian staff are the same, the building is still the same Trent Building, the café's still downstairs, the Library is still Hallward and everything's still on Level 4. But there are new rooms: postgrad rooms to find, a study area to use, all the offices and departments have moved (about 3 times since I graduated). And there are new staff, new students, (some) new admin people; new resources to find out how to use; new initiatives to get involved in; a whole new way of working to get used to...
I'm rather scared that, because I'm well-known to the department because I never really left (seminars are interesting!), they'll assume I know everything and everyone. And I really don't: there's a lot of new postgrad etiquette to work out and nine years is a long time...
Time to send some polite emails to my fellow postgrads for some help settling in!
Sahha ohrain.