I’ve finally gotten around to sending my blog address along
to Hampshire’s GEO office, so I suppose this is the part where I stop bemoaning
my various kitchen-implement and weather related issues and start pretending to
be useful.
A student life tidbit, then. Events for students are organized on a few different
scales. The University hosts some,
as do societies (and those organized by societies are not necessarily restricted
to members, though things like wine tastings and lectures may have a small
entry fee). Events come in all
sorts – academic lectures, charity efforts, casual sports, touristy trips, and
so on. Departments bring in guest
speakers, Residence Life puts on a few different initiatives to keep students
productive and entertained, and some of the residence areas have their own
specific shindigs. The Warrender
Park group, for example, is comprised of three roads in Marchmont: Warrender
Park Road, Terrace, and Crescent.
We have a facebook group to keep in touch and ask questions, and our RAs
and directors get us together for things like pub outings, urban capture the
flag, holiday parties, five-a-side football, and so on. Some flats have signed up to host other
flats for little competitive dinner parties, ala “Come Dine With Me.”
Recently they got us a good deal on tickets to the New Zealand v.
Scotland rugby match. No one I
know well is going, but that certainly didn’t stop me from signing up to go
along. If I shirked from
everything I thought I was going to have to do by myself, I would have lived a
very different life from the one I have.
All of this generally means that you can be as busy and involved as
you’d like to be, but you’re also quite free to keep to yourself and find your
own way around. I’m happy enough
to do my own thing, but it’s nice to have the option of dipping into a larger
group of people should the desire present itself.
Myself, I’m rather partial to the wine and cheese lectures
hosted by Res Life. I’m a curious
person, and an epicurean of a sort, so it’s a nice two for one. The subjects are interesting, and while
the wine isn’t exactly top-shelf, I’m not one to quibble over free drinks, and
the soft cheese and crackers are rather nice. Last week I went to one given by Dr. Gordon Findlater, the
University’s Director of Anatomy, on the time and conditions of medical schools
in Edinburgh at the time of Burke & Hare. The whole talk really underlined how much fascinating history
is just underfoot here in Edinburgh.
It was interesting and relatively informal, it cost nothing, and I even
got to walk away at the end of the night with one of the leftover bottles of
cheap white. Not bad, for a
Tuesday night. It was also a
pleasant little walk – about a mile either way – from my apartment to the venue
where it was held. Pollock Halls,
a set of buildings owned by the University, is made up of residences and other
facilities, like event spaces and fitness centers and whatnot, so it’s good
that I had a reason to figure out where it is. I believe that the residences there are catered and
primarily for first-years, so I don’t know anyone in my classes that actually
lives there, but I’m sure I’ll find myself there again sometime. Catered, by the way, is how the University
describes housing that contains no or limited kitchen facilities, and where
students are expected to eat at a dining hall. I served my time as a dining hall goer in first year, and I
have no desire to repeat the experience.
Dude I want like a description of what you generally make for yourself on a regular basis, like I am not on meal plan right now but kind of wish I was because the dining hall is RIGHT THERE and I always forget to bring food. So yeah. What do you eat usually for snackage and stuff? Let me know somehow. :P
ReplyDeleteAlso, to your previous post: it's only wasting time if you're not learning something! But bad grades could mean you learn less later, so yeah. There's that.