That distinct uni feeling is back: the nerve-cited tingle. Knowing that there are going to be lots of new opportunities, new challenges and new experiences is something that I cannot really describe – the excitement and anticipation of it all makes me nervous, but it’s a good nervous! Just thinking about all the amazing experiences I was lucky enough to be part of last year makes me think that all the nerves are worth it! I am really looking forward to the next chapter as the new semester is getting well underway. And speaking of the semester getting well under way, I must apologise for the lateness of this post – it is now approaching the best part of week three and we’ve a lot to catch up on! (I promise that the rest of the posts for the year will not be as long as this one!)

Seeing as this post is entitled ‘I said it wasn’t goodbye’, I guess we should start with a quick ‘hello!’ I hope you all had a lovely summer, full of smiles and (at least a little bit of) sunshine and that you’re ready for the beginning of a new academic year. For any new students reading the blog, I wish you all the very best with your studies over the course of your degree and I hope that these little ponderings can give you a little bit of insight into what could be to come. And for any prospective students, I really hope that I can encourage you to come to Lancaster; it really is lovely!

I must take a little paragraph to talk about the summer, even though it seems quite a long time ago now! It was so, so, so good to have a lovely long break and recharge my batteries ready for the new term. The summer term at uni can be a little intense, but just that feeling of freedom over the summer makes it all worth it. I had some time to reflect on all of the things I had learnt last year – thinking about how much I had really taken from my first year at uni and the more I thought about it the more I realised how much I had done over the first year – it’s quite scary! Seeing my friends and family was just the best thing – having cuddles from my grandparents, going for walks with my dad and baking with my mum made me think about some of the things I missed about home whilst I’ve been away. It really made me appreciate how much I enjoy life’s little pleasures! If you were reading the posts last term, you may recall that I said I was going to visit Edinburgh? The trip was absolutely fantastic! Spending some time with two of my closest friends, enjoying the sights, the comedy and just the whole atmosphere was really lovely. (Plus, there was shortbread – you can’t go to Scotland without shortbread!) I was also lucky enough to visit Banky’s Dismaland exhibition in the summer, with my friends, because it was situated where I live – how very exciting! Just like at Christmas, being home for such a long time felt a little odd to start with but once I was back working in the shop things returned to normality! As ever, it was so good to be back – I love being part of the summer sales, things get really busy and hectic and in a very strange way it’s really, really fun!

Here we are in Edinburgh!

And here’s Dismaland!

But, we’re back! These last three weeks have been all go, go, go with starting the new course, catching up with friends and settling back into uni life. I travelled up to Lancaster for Freshers Week and just having that week to catch up with everybody and to hear about all their summer stories and adventures meant that when Week 1 began I had a little more time to get my head around what was going on in the course structures, and getting my reading to together and things, but I will come to that shortly (aaah!) So, Freshers Week: Take 2! Moving into my flat in town will remain as one of those standout moments in my life. I have always thought about having a flat in a city and now this little thought is a reality! Having seen the film Notting Hill when I was about 11, a house with a blue door was particularly important to me (just another one of my little weirdisms) and I now live in ‘the flat with the blue door’. I really love it here and it makes me feel so grown up; I’m not really sure why but it’s kind of cool to say that when I’ve finished for the day ‘I’m going back to my flat’…*sigh*. Just like the first evening of my first Freshers week, I spent the evening making my bedroom my own – my lovely mum took me on a quick jaunt to Ikea when she dropped me off so I could get a little bit of storage and my flatmates and I spent an evening assembling flat-pack-furniture…forget Sugarhouse; it was screwdrivers and peculiar instructions until dawn!

When I had settled into the flat and taken some time to get myself sorted it was time to have some fun with my flatmates and some of our friends from last year! I went to my very first paint party – which was amazing, albeit very slimy, and I had such a good time! Just seeing everybody smiling, having a lovely time and singing at the top of their lungs to club music reminded me that uni is about having fun, as well as studying. Studying, assignments and lectures will remain at the forefront of my mind, but taking some time to have a little bit of fun can be really beneficial – I had such a good night! We had a couple of quiet nights in too, one of which included a ‘Great British Bake Off Mini Marathon’ complete with homemade cookies! (YAY!). During the daytime we were equally busy, but the best day for me was definitely Freshers Fayre. Meeting up with the Ballet girls and being on the other side of the exec stall, trying to get everyone to join the society was so exciting! I can vividly remember walking into the craziness that is Freshers Fayre and just being totally astounded by the number of amazing stalls: from football, to Quidditch all the way to baking and rock climbing – but it was amazing to be part of the Fayre this time. I can imagine that I looked the same as lots of the Freshers – a little scared, but hopeful to find a society where I could fit in and enjoy myself and I really hope that for some people ballet will be that society! We had little dishes of sweets, pretty pens and bunting – which was so, so exciting. I couldn’t help but smile as I saw lots of new students eager to see what was what. It made me think how much I valued being in my society and being part of the exec I had such a fun time and I am eagerly anticipating all the new tasks that my role as treasurer will bring!

Here we are at Freshers Fayre!

And this is a picture of my friends and I in the aftermath of the paint party!

So, there was a whistle stop tour of Freshers week! It was wonderful to catch up with everyone and to have some fun! But, now I must devote some of this post to my new modules – which, by the way, I absolutely love! Heading to lectures this time around was just as exciting as I remember it being when I began in my first year. Actually, just the process of waking up, making myself a little packed lunch (and getting to use my Moomin vacuum flask!) and then catching the bus made me feel extra-specially student-y – I loved it. It’s really difficult to convey the specific feeling that I had as I was sitting on the bus; I just knew that I couldn’t wait to get things underway for the year.

So, the course! I am now a second year History Major, minoring in PPR! The fact that I was able to choose my modules myself this year is something really valuable to me. I feel very privileged to have been given the opportunity to study some of the key issues in history that stand out to me as a student. The minor system here at Lancaster also means that I can continue on with some philosophy modules. However, I have strayed away from some of the more obscure philosophical concepts and have chosen to take my studies more in the direction of understanding religion and the way it has impacted on society through history – something I hope that will run concurrent with some of the key themes arising in the history course. The history modules I’ve chosen focus primarily on social and cultural issues in various areas of Europe from around the 1500s, (although I do have a module on post-War America in Lent term) and the upcoming material looks absolutely wonderful. So far I have really, really enjoyed the shaping of the course because we are thinking about so many themes that will aid the appreciation we have for history as a discipline and as a means of aiding societal development. I am really, really enjoying the workshop style sessions too! Whereas in first year we had seminars which were mainly tutor coordinated this year we are working closely with our lecturers and taking the discussions in our own direction. I think this is a really useful way for us to ask questions and to hear how other students’ opinions differ to my own and I look forward to seeing how these sessions progress. Just like last year I have a fair few readings and things to be doing, but being able to explore lots of new sources and looking at them from a different historical perspective is all part of this new challenge and, so far, I have loved venturing into the world of C18th Paris, Medieval monasteries and Aristotelian thinkers!

The more I think about it, the more I realise how much has happened in the last few weeks – too many things to talk about in one post! (However much I’d love to, I fear that this one is becoming too long!) I mean, there have been lots of new starts and new opportunities for me as a student and I cannot wait to see how things pan out over the course of the year and I hope that you will come back to find out what happens! I am nervous, but I think it’s more an anticipation – like when you are reading a good book and look forward to every page. I seem to refer to my time at uni like a story quite frequently – maybe that’s because, like most stories, there will be ups and downs but it’s about making it to the end and finding out what happens.

Thank you for reading, guys! For any previous readers, thank you for coming back and if there are any new readers I hope you’ll stop by again!

Have a lovely week!

History Hugs,

Eleanor