I’ve had a little e-mail in my inbox glaring at me for a day or so, which is from a reminder service I set up to remind me to blog. So here I am, blogging.
Something I realise I missed out last week is talking about freshers fair. It was, as all the rumours say, crazy and full. There were sports, language societies, political societies, employment societies, publishing and journalism societies, music societies, what I can only describe as geeky societies, religious societies and some free pizza. The worst group though was the charities and aid societies. This is going to sound callous but I wasn’t really interested in joining any of them because (yes this does sound awful) I find campaigning and fundraising really boring. I prefer that not-really-volunteering type of charity work which involves flying to exotic places and building schools or teaching English or selling wares. Regardless of my personal inclinations, walking through a hall where people scream at you “DO YOU WANT TO SAVE MILLIONS OF DYING SPECIES?” or “DO YOU WANT TO GIVE UNDERPRIVILEGED CHILDREN OPPORTUNITIES IN LIFE?” is… awkward.
After quickly making my way past that, I entered sport and activities where i honestly went a bit crazy. I signed up for walking, horse riding, kayaking, expeditions, mountaineering and two martial arts. In the end, I’m only going to be sticking with kayaking, expeditions and mountaineering (which is really just rock climbing) because being outside is fun and I want to be Indiana Jones. hence the title. I’m so witty.
I’ve actually gone to the first kayaking meet, which was probably the most fun I’ve had since Iceland! Apart from the flower child feeling of being part of the water, maaaan, it was just hilarious. I, as most of the others, was a complete beginner so my first few strokes sent me spinning around in circles. After we all vaguely grasped the idea of going in a straight line, we played children's’ games like Stuck in the Mud or Bulldog, during which I twice made close acquaintance with the muddy Isis. That’s right; I fell in. Twice. It was awesome.
The other societies I signed up to wont’ really surprise you: Scandinavian Society, whose first meeting was very chilled out and happy, and German Society, whose first meeting was so packed that there was actually a queue to get in! I’m really looking forward to the events organised by both of those societies, though I have to say that the Scandinavian Society is winning with its Scandinavian themed pub crawl on Friday. I’ve got a Viking helmet. It has horns. Sorry, purists!
Finally, I applied for several language courses: beginners Spanish, beginners Portuguese and Intermediate French. I actually got placed in Advanced French which I was gleefully surprised at… but that clashes with something so I’m a bit bummed about that! Still, I won’t even know until Friday which one I’ve been accepted for, if anything, so I’ll let you know.
So that’s it. My timetable is almost complete. Ten or eleven hours of lectures, seminars, tutorials, and grammar classes a week, plus one or two hours of rock climbing, one or two hours of kayaking and one or two hours of language classes. Oh, and one or two hours of German or Scandinavian society stuff a week. I’m a busy bee!
bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Something I realise I missed out last week is talking about freshers fair. It was, as all the rumours say, crazy and full. There were sports, language societies, political societies, employment societies, publishing and journalism societies, music societies, what I can only describe as geeky societies, religious societies and some free pizza. The worst group though was the charities and aid societies. This is going to sound callous but I wasn’t really interested in joining any of them because (yes this does sound awful) I find campaigning and fundraising really boring. I prefer that not-really-volunteering type of charity work which involves flying to exotic places and building schools or teaching English or selling wares. Regardless of my personal inclinations, walking through a hall where people scream at you “DO YOU WANT TO SAVE MILLIONS OF DYING SPECIES?” or “DO YOU WANT TO GIVE UNDERPRIVILEGED CHILDREN OPPORTUNITIES IN LIFE?” is… awkward.
After quickly making my way past that, I entered sport and activities where i honestly went a bit crazy. I signed up for walking, horse riding, kayaking, expeditions, mountaineering and two martial arts. In the end, I’m only going to be sticking with kayaking, expeditions and mountaineering (which is really just rock climbing) because being outside is fun and I want to be Indiana Jones. hence the title. I’m so witty.
I’ve actually gone to the first kayaking meet, which was probably the most fun I’ve had since Iceland! Apart from the flower child feeling of being part of the water, maaaan, it was just hilarious. I, as most of the others, was a complete beginner so my first few strokes sent me spinning around in circles. After we all vaguely grasped the idea of going in a straight line, we played children's’ games like Stuck in the Mud or Bulldog, during which I twice made close acquaintance with the muddy Isis. That’s right; I fell in. Twice. It was awesome.
The other societies I signed up to wont’ really surprise you: Scandinavian Society, whose first meeting was very chilled out and happy, and German Society, whose first meeting was so packed that there was actually a queue to get in! I’m really looking forward to the events organised by both of those societies, though I have to say that the Scandinavian Society is winning with its Scandinavian themed pub crawl on Friday. I’ve got a Viking helmet. It has horns. Sorry, purists!
Finally, I applied for several language courses: beginners Spanish, beginners Portuguese and Intermediate French. I actually got placed in Advanced French which I was gleefully surprised at… but that clashes with something so I’m a bit bummed about that! Still, I won’t even know until Friday which one I’ve been accepted for, if anything, so I’ll let you know.
So that’s it. My timetable is almost complete. Ten or eleven hours of lectures, seminars, tutorials, and grammar classes a week, plus one or two hours of rock climbing, one or two hours of kayaking and one or two hours of language classes. Oh, and one or two hours of German or Scandinavian society stuff a week. I’m a busy bee!
bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Oh God, I envy you so much! I wish I'd had all those opportunities when I started uni in Bergen. I didn't. We didn't really have fresher's fairs (not in the same way), and I never got to join any societies, because we didn't really have any of those either. Well, we did, but in a very different sense. I too want to go to Oxford! You lucky lucky girl and your kayak. :D
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