Hello all! First things first, let me introduce myself. My name is Michael and I study as a second-year History and Politics at Lancaster University. In these blogs, which will be published weekly, I will attempt to present to you the life of a ‘typical’ Lancaster student. This will involve updates on my activities, assignments and events for that week, and I hope that I may even be able to impart some pieces of advice (no matter how small they may be!) to you along the way.

 

Despite only being two and a half weeks into term things are already moving at a pace. As I am a member of my college football team (the Bowland C team) the week began with a practice session on Monday night. Lancaster has a huge number of activities and societies to join and so there is always something for everyone. The most important thing for me however is that they are all so open and accepting, no matter what your ability or your experience there is always something to get involved with. The practice was a good session and involved some team drills mixed with small practice matches. Having said this, I am still getting back into the swing of things as I didn’t play at all over the summer break – well over 3 months out!

 

This week I also met with my academic advisor. Every student is assigned an academic advisor who will provide additional support and guidance through the time that they spend at Lancaster. The purpose of this particular meeting was a beginning of the year check-in to see that all aspects of the year, both academic and non-academic have started well. These opportunities are great in getting a second opinion on pieces of work, receiving extra-pastoral care and tutors often write references for employers when you leave the university.

 

I also had the opportunity to attend a fantastic extra-curricular lecture this week as the film 300 was shown and was then followed by a lecture by Owen Rees (from Manchester Metropolitan University) on the Battle of Thermopylae. The lecture focused on the accuracy of the film in comparison to actual events on the battlefield and it was interesting to see how in some areas the film was surprisingly accurate such as the portrayal of Sparta as a warrior state. Whilst in other areas Hollywood has perhaps taken some artistic licence, such as the presence of rhinos and elephants being present at the battle – which they were certainly not…

 

Aside from that the bulk of the week has been taken up with studying. As I am a double major student of History and Politics my time is pretty evenly split between the two disciplines, though as you can imagine there is quite a degree of cross-over. For instance, this term I am studying the Vietnam War in History, whilst in Politics I am taking a module in International Relations and Security. This mixed nature of the subjects is really useful and can help provide some deeper understanding to concepts that appear in both subjects.

 

However, as exciting as the week has proved to be it has also been exceptionally busy and so I look forward to the weekend, which promises to be a great time as my flatmates and I are heading into Lancaster itself for a Halloween party. It will be a blast and I am really looking forward to rest at the end of a long week.

 

Until next week…