Hi all!

I have been very quiet for a while, and now that the summer holidays are here for a lot of you, I thought it was high time that I checked in again!

I thought I would ramble a little about something that I – evidently – have struggled with for a long time; routines.

One of the most noticeable things about coming to University is that your time is yours to manage. This is a liberating thing, and it means that you are able to organise the way you work, cook, rest and see friends in a way that is totally your own. But it also means that things get forgotten, missed or ignored all together. Like the appointment you’ve been meaning to make with the dentist, or the important email you still haven’t send yet, or the blog post you keep forgetting to write in the midst of coursework.

I find that I have particular trouble with this, especially when I have lots of meetings to go to, which knock me off of a stable timetable. You guys might be feeling this too, as long sunny days bleed into one another over the summer break.

These last few months I have been trying something new. I have been keeping a Research Journal. Much like a bullet journal, I set out my plans for each month, followed by to-do lists, travel schedules and notes about how things are going; what has helped me stay on top of work, what I have found challenging and advice to my future self about silly things that I may have (or usually have not) done. By doing this, I am able to see in one place all of the resources I need help me improve – in this case – my research, and staying on top of work.

I have friends who do this to keep on track of self care, recipes and lifestyle things, and health. These diaries can help to organically and holistically help you identify hurdles and change your routines to deal with anything that comes your way; and you get to be creative!

So, how about on the run up to coming to university, keep a note book handy. Note down those things that you are looking forward to, worried about, need to remember or want to do more of in the future. And then use those to help you keep on top of that niggly thing that you find more difficult; perhaps keeping to helpful routines.

Perhaps this might include a timetable – like the ones we all got in secondary school – or systems for keeping on top of grocery shopping and society commitments. Whatever it is, be creative and inventive in the ways that you organise yourself and your time, and explore new ways of taking advantage of the opportunities that come your way in the next few months! And it’s ok, you don’t have to be good at routines, graceful disorganisation is also a very valid way of being!

I hope you are all well and enjoying your summer, how ever you find yourselves and your schedules, and I will (hopefully) write soon with another ramble. Here is a picture of Lumpy on a train, on the way to Durham where I stayed for a few days recently, doing fieldwork for my Dissertation. He really likes the view!

 

Kenneth and Lumpy

 

Well, ladies and gentleman, this post marks the final of all posts from me.

I have really enjoyed sharing my experiences of being a student of Lancaster with all of you.

Right now it’s week 20, which means final lectures and seminars, and the mad rush to get essays in. I’m sure all of you are up to your neck in revision too, but all of your efforts will be worth it; remember, you reap what you sow. No matter how difficult the work seems at the time, you’ll only be struggling for a short while, so why not try your best?

Once again, thanks to all who got involved at the open days, it was very enjoyable meeting you and your parents, getting to share my experience and meet the future students of Lancaster. I hope you all got out of the day something valuable, if not the decision to come to Lancaster, then at least clarification on the kind of place you are looking to study at.

I would like to leave on a few overarching lessons I’ve learned in my stay here, particularly for those who might not have heard my speech at the open day, and to reemphasise for those who did.

Do things that scare you – University is the perfect place to try new things out: whether this be in doing a completely new subject for your minor in first year, joining the gym, or going along to societies when none of your friends want to; treat things that scare you as opportunities, opportunities to learn and grow into the well rounded person you will become. I can’t stress enough how important it is to take risks in the name of growth. My example was taking English as my minor in first year, despite the fact my teachers told me I shouldn’t, I ended up achieving an A.

Make the most of your time – It will seem as though you have all the time in the world here, you don’t. I know you’re all just starting out on your journeys, and I remember being in the exact same position; it feels like just yesterday. Put your all into studying, making friendships, networking, and so on. If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well. You’re not here for a long time at all, so take yourself out of your comfort zone, do all you can do while you have the chance. I don’t mean putting yourself under so much stress that you can’t handle it – but I do mean trying to find the balance in all you do, and doing it well. You will enjoy yourself much more if you get involved and make strong connections.

Finally, put yourself out there – ask for opportunities, be confident in yourself to do things you wouldn’t otherwise do. For me, I wish I had taken a year abroad, but in first year I just wasn’t confident enough in myself to do so; on reflection, this attitude was completely ridiculous, particularly because I ended first year with a strong first!

I hope some of the lessons I’ve learned will reach some of you, so you can make the most of your experience at university.

 

That’s all, folks.

Good luck to everyone revising for final exams, and thanks to all who have been following my journey!

Ellie

Hey guys!

 

Hope everything is going fine for you. It is Week 19 here in Lancaster, and this means that deadlines are just around the corner. I’ve been able to manage well my time and I’m doing quite well, but the workload has undeniably been quite time consuming. I keep myself happy by thinking that it is almost done and that me and my mates will be able to enjoy ourselves very soon after the deadlines. The dissertation is running along quite nicely, but I need to put in a final effort to make sure that it turns out to be as good as I hope it would.

In terms of socials, I am glad to announce that the Philosophy Society is going on stronger than ever! We’re organising talks with a PhD candidate from the department to talk about existentialism, and people are responding really well, with high turnouts and a lot of participation. I’m really glad its working so well, because it opens up the possibility for doing more interesting events in the future. The new exec are really enthusiastic about this as well, so it seems that next year we might be able to offer so much more.

 

We’re having another open day this Saturday, so if you haven’t been able to come before I’d really encourage you to do so. See you guys around!

Guillermo

Hi guys, 

Once again, it was really great getting to meet some of you at our last open day. Amongst all of the very impressive and interesting students I was lucky enough to meet, I met a fellow International Baccalaureate student from Italy. For me that was particularly rewarding, as since we share a common starting point, I was able to give him a perspective really relevant to him. All of my discussions with students and their parents made me slightly envious of all of you just starting your journey at university! I’ve enjoyed my time so much here that I wish I could do it all again. You all have so much awaiting you. 

This will be a brief stop in for me, it’s week 19, meaning that my essays are due in by the start of next week. These are the last three pieces of coursework that I will ever write as an undergraduate, which is quite a sad prospect. Nonetheless, once these are submitted, I can focus on revision for summer exams as well as finishing my dissertation. So, although it’s quite sad, the reduced workload at this point is well welcomed. I have made good progress my essays, having set myself a 500 words a day limit. It doesn’t sound like much, but it takes me quite a long time to write, so I have to take this into account when approaching deadlines. Some of you will be able to write thousands of words a day; I know I can’t, so this requires that I keep rigorous check on what I can accomplish within the time limit set; often meaning that I often start my essays before others. I think that it’s really good practice to find out how much you can [realistically] write in a day, so that you can properly schedule yourself, making sure to complete all of the required set reading for the week at the same time. You’ll find out how you work best through trial and error in first year. 

For most of my modules, we’ve covered all of the material that we will be examined on in the summer term, meaning that week ten is spared for revision and general questions, which is really useful before being set free over easter to revise. Revision sessions are a great opportunity for clarification on topics you aren’t confident with, as well as a chance to delve deeper into subtopics which might’ve been missed. 

What have I been up to? Well, on Wednesday I went to an open mic night at The WaterWitch, which was really enjoyable. There seems to be a lot of support for the arts here in Lancaster, which as a musician I think is a really beautiful thing. I have only been out a few times, since the deadlines have taken priority over socialising for the past few weeks. Nonetheless, I always take time for myself most mornings in the gym, because I find that working out kills two birds with one stone: it is a positive time to focus on yourself with no distractions, and it sets you up for the rest of the day, [ironically] giving you the energy to focus on your studies. 

I’m definitely ready for a break, I must say I am really relieved my essays are almost done with. I’m mostly excited to be able to focus on revising now, as I really enjoy independent study and having the opportunity to read deeper into the material with supplementary texts, without deadlines hanging over my head. This is kind of like the artistic license you are allowed in formulating your own personal responses to queries raised by the topics throughout term; the opportunity to be truly expressive and creative. I think this is what I enjoy most about exams: being ready to respond to the question at hand, having formulated an interesting and personal response; really proving the time and effort you’ve dedicated to synthesising it. 

Easter I’m taking a week for myself before getting heavy into the revision. At the end of week 10 I’m going straight to London to meet one of my closest friends, and from there on to Dublin, where we’re going to visit the Jameson Distillery and the Guinness Factory [on the same day]… we have connoisseur experience tickets… it should definitely be an interesting one [to say the least], and a very well earned break. I’ve promised to put the work away for the week, and I feel ok with doing this having scheduled myself well throughout term with regards to dissertation etc. Also, I’ve just booked flights to LA for the 12th – 19th June, my last exam is on the 6th June, so its definitely something to look forward to! I have a cousin who lives there, and as some of you might know (if you’ve seen mine and Michael’s speech at the open days,) this will be my second time visiting her. Exciting times ahead!

Good luck everyone with your summertime exams and preparation. But most importantly make sure to find time for yourself amongst all the stress. 

Ellie 

Hi everyone,

So, last weekend was the British University College Sport Nationals weekend in Sheffield. Over the weekend, there were 7 sports all going on at the same time – Badminton, Climbing, Fencing, Indoor Athletics, Judo, Karate, Rifle and Long Course Swimming.

Lancaster University did really well. A couple of my friends helped break university records, which is a fabulous achievement. In terms of my own perforamce, I finally got an official time for my 100m breaststroke in long course swimming (1 minute, 35.33 seconds). Long course swimming is when the pool is 50m long instead of the normal 25m, (I missed the little breaks you would get as you turned in a 25m pool very much!!) Despite a few hiccups here and there for other members of the team and myself, everyone did super well and it is always an honour to wear your Lancaster swimming hat and show the country what we can do.

Back down to reality from the weekend of competition, I have been making some good progress on my essays. For my public economics essay, I am writing about the theories of voter turnout. I am also doing a very similar essay for my politics course on elections, voters and political parties. Whilst both essays take a very different approach to the subject, I find it great to work on a subject that actually blends my two separate degree subjects together. It is allowing me to get a deep understanding of a subject which is often a point of contention once election data is released. My dissertation is also coming along nicely. I have been enjoying writing it a lot because I have a passion for American politics and it has allowed me to learn a lot about President George W. Bush, as well as allowing me to develop key academic skills in my search for information and examples about President Trump.

Finally, this week is perhaps the biggest week of them all for Lancaster University Politics Society. On Friday 22nd February, the society will host its first ever ball! This has been a long process to get all the bits and pieces together, but I have every belief it will be a brilliant event that all our members will enjoy.

That’s all for now everyone, take care.

Orla

 

Hey guys!

 

I hope those of you who came last week enjoyed the Open day! Week 7 is already here, accompanied by an incredibly good weather and by the call of duty to our essays. With 4 weeks to go, most of us are already starting to get tense about the deadlines, and it is about time to get serious about the work we do. Things are going quite well for me, so I can’t complain much. I have only two essays left for the end of this term, and the dissertation for the end of April, so I feel that I can manage it.

At the same time however, it is tempting to leave everything and enjoy the weather! For those of you who have already been on campus, you’ll have seen how big and open it is, and it is in these warm times that one can best enjoy it. One thing people tend to do is read and study outside, it is actually quite enjoyable and contributes to create a general feel good factor that is quite necessary in this period.

 

If you’ll excuse me, I must now return to writing my essays and joining my fellow classmates in doing the photosynthesis outside. I’ll keep you posted of how things develop!

Guillermo

Hey everyone!
First of all, I want to thank you for those who came to the Applicant Visit Day on Saturday. I hope you had a great day, I certainly did, I enjoyed talking to you and to your parents, and thankfully, the weather was very nice which made the day even better.

It has been a very busy 2 weeks since my last post, as my sister came to visit me for five days. It was amazing: we had loads of social time with my flatmates who couldn’t have been more amazing, went out on Friday, went to Morecambe for a nice walk, and watched one of my friends play a football game. As I will not be able to go home until the end of June, it was so nice to have some sister time, and to show her what my life looks like here (not to mention all the Hungarian goods she brought me).

Since she left, I am trying to catch up with all the studying which feels like a mission impossible right now, but hopefully, I will manage all the essays, dissertation and seminar readings. I also met my dissertation supervisor to discuss my next step which was really helpful, as I now have a very clear idea how my dissertation is going to go. I started working in the pre-school after a long time, which is great; it’s so good to be back with the children.

Maybe it’s only for just a brief time but we’ve had quite a few beautiful sunny days here, in Lancaster (so we do get sun even during the winter ), which means spring is coming! I love this time of the year when the weather gets warmer and sunnier and the campus becomes very lively with students enjoying the sunshine. I already feel happier and more energised and I try to spend as much time outside as possible, when I catch up with friends on Alex Square (the main square of the uni) or go for a walk around the campus.

Next week will be very busy as well, as this time my friend from Hungary is visiting me for a few days, which is amazing, especially that she’ll be here on my birthday.

That’s about it for now. Have a lovely week, everyone!

Zsofia

Hi guys,

The last few months for me have been very busy. I’ve have been applying for some funding for my PhD next year, and away in London for a Cyber Security competition. Lumpy has been staying at home keeping an eye on my house and reminding me that I need to sleep in the evenings and write during the day… not the other way around!

The last few months have also seen our first Offer Holder Visit days! These days are an opportunity to see the campus again, learn more about what studying in PPR might be like, and to meet some of the awesome staff and students here!

There are 3 more Visit Days coming up, so sign up for one of those if you can; they really are very helpful!

I went to an offer holder day this time 3 years ago, and it was a really great day! I got to remind myself of what the campus looked like, and think more clearly about what it might be like to actually live here. It helped to ground me in the knowledge that the place where I would study was also somewhere I liked to walk around, and felt safe in.

Talking about the course defiantly filled me with a feeling of wonder and excitement that had stuck around to this day. I was able to see that I really would be learning about topics that I loved, and had the opportunity to learn about others that I had never encountered before. I also realised that I would be able to still learn a little about History, without having to do an entire History Course. This helped my transition to university a lot, as I didn’t quite feel ready to end my formal study of history, but I also didn’t want to do it as my degree – doing it as a minor helped patch this discomfort.

 

Hello everyone,

It was a pleasure to meet some of you at our last open day, I hope all involved enjoyed the day and hopefully gained valuable insight into life at Lancaster, ideally helping you to make that big decision. Thanks to all for your interesting questions, I hope myself and the department did a good job at answering them; if not, feel free to get in touch and we’ll do the best we can. I continue looking forward to meeting more of you in the coming weeks, perhaps this coming Saturday.

We’re now in Week 7 of second term, meaning deadlines are approaching quickly. I mentioned in my last blog that my intention was to start summarising the content I’ve been learning over the past weeks, in preparation for essay writing. I kept my word, and have started this, along with supplementary readings with intention to start planning this week; giving me around three weeks to get my essays done.

I received a few grades back last week, which was incredibly relieving, particularly as I wasn’t feeling too confident about them. It was difficult to know where I stood, having written over 14,000 words during the Christmas period; so the results felt like a great weight off my shoulders. I was concerned mostly about getting my grade back for Moral Philosophy, the specialist module on Parfit’s Reasons and Persons I took in first term to challenge myself, since I struggled understanding his work since first year – when Sam Clark introduced Parfit’s work in his module on Death. Although I found it very difficult, I thought the module to be worthwhile, as I ended up with a grade I’m more than content with.

I’m really enjoying Aesthetics this term, in fact it feels like the most enjoyable module I’ve taken in part II, which makes the prospect of essay writing enjoyable. If I could give some advice to students starting out, it would be to ensure you’ve read and researched the course/module descriptions before enrolling in them. This is good practice, particularly in first and second year, as you can select modules of interest to you, and if you find they are as enjoyable as you assumed, you can select similar ones in Part II/ third year; meaning you can pursue a more in depth study of what interests you. Nonetheless, not knowing what interests you is equally as fruitful, and now is an opportunity to experiment and find out.

In Reading Political Theory, we’ve moved on from Rawls’s A Theory of Justice, and we’re now studying Iris Marion Young’s Justice and the Politics of Difference. Until this point, I couldn’t find a flaw in Rawls’s work. What is so interesting about Young’s work is that it questions the real life applicability of Justice; which Rawls’s work seems to skirt. Young talks about injustice manifesting in the relations we have in society, between people. Because we are born into society with immediate relations with other people (i.e. if we are fortunate enough to have parents or caregivers, already we are in relation to other people from birth), justice must concern these relations. Rawls, in a way, asks us to ignore these relations and rather to imagine what life would be like from any point of view, in abstraction from these relations, from an Original Position. In contrast, Young thinks that injustice is manifested by the culmination of actions and choices of many different people, who all might be following the rules. Those who are victims of injustice may even be contributing to their own suffering unknowingly by following those “rules”, which might be implicit social rules, which, when followed by all, although oftentimes unconsciously, cause injustice.

The above on Rawls and Young is sketchy and introductory in nature, don’t take my word as gospel: I only intend to give some insight into what I’ve been reading recently.

Sunday afternoon my flat and I visited Williamson Park, it was beautiful weather as its starting to look a lot like spring here. We took a tapestry to sit on and had a picnic under the sun. From where I live Williamson Park is only a few minutes walk.

Very best of luck to all of you who have began revising for your summertime exams, and I hope everyone had a nice half term.

I’ll speak to you all soon,

Ellie