… But this is a warm hello!
Hi, my name is Ellie, a third year Philosophy major at Lancaster University, who you will (if you so wish), be able to follow as I journey through my final year here at Lancaster in the following weeks to come. To introduce – who am I? well, I am a 21 year old student from Jersey, Channel Islands. I chose to come to Lancaster because it allowed me to pursue an eclectic education following my achievement of the International Baccalaureate Diploma. My current modules include Philosophy of Work, Politics of Cultural Diversity, Seminar in Contemporary Moral Philosophy, and my Dissertation, which focuses on the ideal of authenticity and social media. You won’t find me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or the like, but if you are curious about what I am studying or what I get up to in my daily life at Lancaster, count yourself lucky – you can follow me here!
Since studying at Lancaster I’ve been able to pursue a broad range of subjects throughout the PPR department, including Politics in my second and third years, and religion in my first, (and of course Philosophy is my major, so I have pursued different Philosophy modules throughout). The vast number of combinations of modules you can take is something quite unique to Lancaster and something which really ought to be taken advantage of; if you have even a remote interest in something your major doesn’t offer directly, (in my case, this was an Economics For The Real World module in second year) or maybe you are entirely clueless about a particular study, these are equally good reasons to pursue something new and broaden your horizons exponentially. Another example is first year in which I was also able to take an English module, which I found to be an excellent opportunity, not only to prove that I could do it, but because it linked many aspects from other unsuspecting modules and enhanced my writing skills.
- Well, what have I been up to in the past two weeks?
We are currently in week three of Michaelmas term, and I must say the settling back in after a long summer holiday and trips away was a struggle. (Summertime I was lucky enough to receive some funding from my college (mighty Furness) which subsidised part of my trip to Los Angeles and Las Vegas, in return for a report on my venture.)
Yes… a struggle… particularly as it’s now dark upon waking up, dark when returning from university, and significantly colder than Los Angeles…
But it’s certainly not all bad. This week I was given the opportunity to write to you on behalf of my department once a fortnight (or maybe even once a week if your particularly lucky), and for this I must say I feel immensely proud.
Other than that, this week I’ve managed to get up at a reasonable 7am, hit the gym, and study for a few hours prior to my midday lectures. In my Seminar On Contemporary Moral Philosophy, I’ve presented on Chapters 2-5 of Parfit’s Reasons and Persons which was intensely laborious, but incredibly rewarding to get my head round and present my results to my seminar group. I’ve also officially started writing my dissertation on the way in which authenticity is a genuine ideal we ought to take seriously and the way in which social media has detrimental effects on our pursing of this ideal.
Oh, and I’ve booked tickets for SugarHouse’s “House of Horrors” event for Halloween: I’m going as a “Blessed Babe,” probably because the outfit only set me back £11.
If you made it this far, well done, and thank you for reading. I will catch up with you again soon.
Ellie
I’m Emily, I’m 21 years old, and am currently a Masters student studying LLM International Law and International Relations. On this blog I’m going to give you a bit of an insight into what it is like to be a student in the PPR department, and what normal days/weeks look like as a student at Lancaster University. But first, I thought it would be wise to let you know a little bit about me. I studied my undergraduate degree in Politics and International Relations here at Lancaster, and have decided to stay here for my masters as I really enjoyed my time here and didn’t quite want to leave! I’ve played college netball for Bowland throughout at my time at uni, held numerous part time jobs, and also been lucky enough to have three internships during my time here at Lancaster so far. During my spare time, I enjoy going to the pub with friends, often entailing a few pints and a game of pool, so, this year joining the college pool team was a must (mainly because it’s the perfect excuse for a pub trip).