There's been a lot of everyday stuff going on in the background, behind the big events like camping holidays and food festivals.
For the whole of Friday and Saturday I was working at the Sutton Bonington campus of Nottingham University as a 'Student Ambassador', meeting prospective students and talking about the course and about life at university. I'm particularly keen to talk to the mature students, because all the other ambassadors are in their early 20's and can't really talk about how to fit a real life with family responsibilities alongside a full time degree. For a change, the weather was glorious. And there was a most interesting meeting of taxidermists taking place in the cafe...
I had access to the lecturers and tutors over the two days, so I could ask their help with choosing modules for the coming year. We are expected to gain 120 credits in a year, from modules that award either 10 or 20 credits. Ideally, these should be arranged so that we can do 60 credits in each semester, but next year the compulsory modules are very unevenly spread, so that the majority of credits are in the second half of the year. We must choose an additional 20 credits from modules in almost any course in the whole university, but they have to fit with the compulsory module timetable.
All of my fellow students that I have spoken to have spent hours - days - trawling through the module catalogue and timetables to find acceptable modules that fit, just as I have. There are hardly any - a few in the School of Psychology, a couple in the Business School, but no modules that appeal to me. I ended up with Plan A: Molecular Nutrition (20 credits, level 3, full year), or Plan B: Macromolecules (10 credits, level 2, autumn) and Introduction to Practical Biochemistry (10 credits, level 1, autumn).
Plan B would win easily except that it is by no means certain that I will be accepted on the modules, Practical Biochemistry is on a more distant campus on Friday afternoons and will lead to an extremely unpleasant journey home every week, and my lovely tutor whom I trust is very unenthusiastic about the idea of me doing Plan B and is very keen on Plan A. But choosing Plan A means I will be doing a level 3 module instead of easier levels 1 and 2, and I will have just two exams in January but five in May. Four exams last May almost killed me. I'm still thinking about it.
I took my camera on campus on Saturday because the weather was so fine, and snapped a few pictures during the day. This weather vane is mounted on top of the 'Amenities Building', which houses a cafe, bank, bookshop and offices, and I hadn't really noticed it before. It wasn't until I looked more closely at the picture just now that I discovered that the design was quite unusual, presumably reflecting the agricultural focus of the historical Sutton Bonington site. Click on the photo and enlarge it within your browser to see what I mean.
Meanwhile...
Lastly, a little splinter of ipod news - I've been in touch about redeeming our Points, and I'm now waiting until 24 September when I get a whole lot more. The minor problem with that is that Apple have gone and released a new higher capacity ipod (at a higher price) that I don't necessarily want or need. I'll let you know as soon as there's any more to tell.
For the whole of Friday and Saturday I was working at the Sutton Bonington campus of Nottingham University as a 'Student Ambassador', meeting prospective students and talking about the course and about life at university. I'm particularly keen to talk to the mature students, because all the other ambassadors are in their early 20's and can't really talk about how to fit a real life with family responsibilities alongside a full time degree. For a change, the weather was glorious. And there was a most interesting meeting of taxidermists taking place in the cafe...I had access to the lecturers and tutors over the two days, so I could ask their help with choosing modules for the coming year. We are expected to gain 120 credits in a year, from modules that award either 10 or 20 credits. Ideally, these should be arranged so that we can do 60 credits in each semester, but next year the compulsory modules are very unevenly spread, so that the majority of credits are in the second half of the year. We must choose an additional 20 credits from modules in almost any course in the whole university, but they have to fit with the compulsory module timetable.
All of my fellow students that I have spoken to have spent hours - days - trawling through the module catalogue and timetables to find acceptable modules that fit, just as I have. There are hardly any - a few in the School of Psychology, a couple in the Business School, but no modules that appeal to me. I ended up with Plan A: Molecular Nutrition (20 credits, level 3, full year), or Plan B: Macromolecules (10 credits, level 2, autumn) and Introduction to Practical Biochemistry (10 credits, level 1, autumn).Plan B would win easily except that it is by no means certain that I will be accepted on the modules, Practical Biochemistry is on a more distant campus on Friday afternoons and will lead to an extremely unpleasant journey home every week, and my lovely tutor whom I trust is very unenthusiastic about the idea of me doing Plan B and is very keen on Plan A. But choosing Plan A means I will be doing a level 3 module instead of easier levels 1 and 2, and I will have just two exams in January but five in May. Four exams last May almost killed me. I'm still thinking about it.
I took my camera on campus on Saturday because the weather was so fine, and snapped a few pictures during the day. This weather vane is mounted on top of the 'Amenities Building', which houses a cafe, bank, bookshop and offices, and I hadn't really noticed it before. It wasn't until I looked more closely at the picture just now that I discovered that the design was quite unusual, presumably reflecting the agricultural focus of the historical Sutton Bonington site. Click on the photo and enlarge it within your browser to see what I mean.Meanwhile...
- Our very old bath has sprung a leak and we're going to take the opportunity to replace the bath, sink, toilet, radiator, bathroom flooring and walls, so we're looking for reliable plumbers (one quote already in), and then we'll need reliable decorators.
- I've continued to make progress with my clothing quest, although I've exhausted Leamington's charity shops for the time being - I tried Solihull, but the charity shops there were hopeless and I went to BHS for black trousers instead.
- We've managed to give away one wheeled office chair, and sold another one.
Lastly, a little splinter of ipod news - I've been in touch about redeeming our Points, and I'm now waiting until 24 September when I get a whole lot more. The minor problem with that is that Apple have gone and released a new higher capacity ipod (at a higher price) that I don't necessarily want or need. I'll let you know as soon as there's any more to tell.
2 comments:
So when do you slip back into the school thing for proper then Lola?
And yes - waiting to see what happens with the ipod.
Even the sound of thos courses terrify me Lola. Don't they just have ones called science, or history?
Post a Comment