I’m back in Manchester now, getting settled back in to the university routine. With only a little difficulty, I’ve managed to get my timetable sorted, and everything should be in place for the start of lectures next week. I say ‘with only a little difficulty’, because for some totally pointless reason, the university has abolished departmental offices. So now, if I need to find out something about my course, I have to wait in a very long line to speak to one of the two very harassed, and totally clueless admin people at the ‘Student Information Point’. It’s gone from a system where each department in the faculty had an office of its own, with a couple of full time staff, who knew what they were doing, and knew who the academic staff were, to a system where the whole faculty shares two people who don’t seem to know who half the academic staff are, even the well known and respected ones! Anyway, rant over. The professors are revolting, and trying to put pressure on the university administration, so maybe it won’t stay like it is for long.

Tags: university, manchester

In just a couple of weeks, I'm going to be sitting down to my first exam on Global Governance. Then I have one exam per week for five weeks, which means that in a few weeks time, I'm going to be totally exhausted. Of all the exams I have to do, I'm really not looking forward to my EU politics exam. If I were really good at the subject, I would be able to recite all the names of the 10+2 accession states in English, French and German and give a quick rendition of the Ode to Joy afterwards for good measure, but sadly it is hard enough the remember the key dates and details of each treaty.

Extra-curricularly I've had a bit of success, though its down to lots of other hard-working people too. Unfortunately, though I would love to break the news on this blog, I can't say what exactly it is, though it's in the area of international social justice.

If a thunderbolt of inspiration for a political post comes, I may find some time to write it, but until then, I'll leave you with this personal post. Read More...

Tags: university, exams, revision, fairtrade

When I first moved to Manchester for the first year of my course at Uni, I spent the first few weeks just settling in and trying to get used to the whole idea of living away from home and being in a city and country with a quite different culture from that which I grew up with. This past week, I have been sort of doing that again. I just started back at Uni for the second year of my course, and its quite strange how all the totally new experiences are mixing with lots of familiar stuff.

I have to find a launderette and work out how to use storage heaters and an Economy 7 water heater, but I know my way around campus and can find most of my lecture theaters without getting lost. It helps that I have a decent place to live this year. Last year, I was in a really bad hall of residence in Hulme, sharing a flat with people who I didn't really get along with. This year, I have a comfortable flat in Didsbury which, thanks to their cheap furniture, almost resembles a page out of an Ikea catalogue. I'm still getting the hang of things, but I feel a lot more settled than I did last year.

Tags: manchester, university