How to sum up a year

Hello everyone,

I will start this blog by trying to summarize the experiences I gained during my first year at the University of Glasgow. I think they describe the first impressions of not only me but probably many other students moving to the UK from abroad.

I came here after a year of idleness (not true of course, as I worked hard and forced my way through Moby Dick) travelling and working in Australia and New Zealand. I did not come all by myself as well. No, my loving and caring and most of all supporting partner of quite some time moved here with me:

Finding accomodation

So first of all we had to find a flat that would be big enough to fit in all our stuff. This proved more difficult than we expected in several ways:

1. we have a really big bed and British bedrooms seem to be really small

2. We have a lot of stuff (i.e. books and shelves)

3. we used to be spoiled with space in Germany

4. renting in Germany is different from renting in the UK: you definitely do not get the same value for money here.

But after we looked at some places with disfunctional heaters, or no heating at all, too small rooms, carpets stained during centuries, and my personal favourite: “This flat has rats,please do not leave your rubbish in the hallway, if you see a rat please call…”we found our perfect 2-bedroom affordable flat. As it is outside Glasgow, some of you might not consider it quite that perfect, but as we are both no city people, we liked it immediately. And it even comes with a little strech of garden.

Setting up a bank account

So now that we had a UK we could finally set up a bank account. Accordingy, we went to all the major banks and asked what documentation they required etc. No surprise there: every bank wanted different things and most of them did not want to give us a debit card unless we could prove we are employed, which, of course, we weren’t. But then I attended the international welcome week and a solution presented itself. They gave us n internet link, where you could ask the University to write a letter to the bank with which you want to set up an account. I still did not get a debit card but at least they finally agreed to give me an account which I urgently needed to transfer my money to in order to pay my first installment of University fees.

So here are my two pieces of advice:

1. attend the international welcome week, it is really useful and you can ask all your questions, plus they take you on a day trip!

2. Go to the international office and ask them to provide a letter for your bank and ask them whatever else you need to know, they are really helpful there.

First steps at the university

That settled, I could finally focus on what I was here for: studying!

I set up a meeting with my second supervisor, as the woman who was supposed to be my first supervisor unfortunately had left for another university. Which was a pity as she would have suited my research perfectly. This meeting went really well and gave me my first and lasting impression of the University: helpful, friendly, efficient. And ten months later this impression still probes valid. Every time I have a question- and believe me, that happens rather frequently- I send an email to the person I think might be best qualified to answer it. If they can’t, they point out the person who can; if they can, you usually get a quick and detailed answer! I really like that. My second supervisor quickly found me other supervisors whom I briefly met the same day and who gave me “homework” for our next meeting. This slightly shocked me, as I officially had not even started research yet, this was only supposed to happen a little later, in early October. I was in the beginning also startled by the frequency they suggested we should meet: once a week. I just thought I would never get anything done in one week. But now, with a part-time job next to studying, I am quite happy about this arragement, as it forces me to do something and prevents procrastination. They always give me great input, and are really supportive.

The rest of the year…

…sums up pretty quickly. I attended many workshops e.g. on project planning and time management, which, at least in part, I thought extremely useful. I worked on two conference papers, one of which I presented by now (this was my very first conference, and I think it went really well). I applied for about 100 000 scholarships and bursaries (note the slight exaggeration, but that’s how it felt at times) none of which I received But does that stop me from trying?

A couple of months ago my computer stopped working and I freaked, as I really could not afford to buy a new one. But thank God (or whatever deity or philosophy you choose to believe in) I could recover windows XP and all has been working well since- knock on wood!

In February, a bit of a tragedy hit my family. My dad, only weeks before his 52nd birthday had to get a bypass peration. Here again my supervisors wre extremely supportive and always enquired about the state of things. Of course, I wanted to fly straight home, less because I was worried about the operation itself- it seems to be routine today- and more to keep my father company in hospital. he is a very active man and I knew he would be bored senseless in hospital. However, my family told me to stay, and so I did. My dad was up and about again in no time and he has not lost his sense of humour either. So I am very happy. We went home for three weeks in May and he was just his same old self. I found this very comforting. I also enjoyed the trip, as the weather back in Germany was really nice and I could use the change. Sometimes the constant clouds of Glasgow can get a bit depressing.

Conference

About three weeks ago I attended my first literary conference and I was quite overwhealmed- as I often am- by how much some people know. I am always awed by wisdom and knowledge and I always feel that no matter how long I have been studying my subject, I am always only still discovering the margins an there is so much more to know.

But back to the conference: It was just great. so much wisdom united at one spot. It was a four-day conference and the days started at 8am and never ended before 9pm. There were parallel panels and I always found something that interested me, so I went to listen to every panel & plenary lecture. After the four days I was exhausted accordingly but I had to work for the next four days and on the fourth I got a bad migraine that forced me to bed for the rest of the day. I guess that was my body telling me not to overestimate how much I can do. But now I am back on track and short of finishing the first chapter of my PhD thesis. So I guess after all I am doing ok.

Work

For those of you who are wondering what kind of work I do, I am not going to tell. This is just a preventive measure for the days that are sure to come at which I will say work just got on my nerves etc. And I don’t want to blame the company for it, as I still feel very lucky that i got this job, as it is so extremely flexible. All I can say is that it is one of the really stupid, non-academic job that are necessary to feed the body that houses the brain.

I think this gave you a pretty good overview of the last 10 months of my life here in Glasgow. I will try to keep you posted on a more regular basis now, and I promise future posts will not be this excessively long! I hope you’ll bear with me…