This week has definitely been one for trying new things! As I’m starting to get to grips with the new challenges of second year I am realising the countless opportunities arising for me as a student here at Lancaster. The new course material is stretching me in ways that I had never even imagined and I am very lucky to be able to explore new ways of thinking about the discipline in the various modules I have chosen. Alongside this, the uni is starting to open up the nomination processes for new elections. There have countless opportunities popping up to help us develop skills outside of the course curriculum this week and. I have definitely felt that I’m starting to branch out a little – I don’t know if it’s because I feel a tiny bit more confident to try new things, but I know for sure that taking on these new challenges is proving very exciting!

So! I have some very exciting news to open this week’s post; and I cannot believe that I am about to type this – (in fact, I am almost in the same sense of disbelief as I was when I realised that I had completed my first year of uni). If you were reading the posts before the summer, you may have a distant memory of me mentioning a careers mentoring programme here at Lancaster? Well, this week I had a very lovely e-mail from the co-ordinator telling me that I had been accepted onto the programme and that they had paired me with a mentor who works for the BBC as a senior broadcast journalist. The e-mail was just telling me about the sorts of things my mentor was involved in and outlined the way that they aimed to help students progress into the terrifying world of careers. My reaction: *incoherent squeaking noises!* I am really, really chuffed with my mentor, Victoria. Just reading her profile made me so, so, so excited and I feel very privileged to be a part of the programme. A little later on in the term we have some sort of open day to meet our mentors and to have a little chat about the sorts of things we’d like to get out of the programme, so I will let you know how we get on and how things are progressing. Eeeek! It seems too strange to be thinking about career prospects this seriously yet!

There is a small mention in the introduction this week about the uni opening up the nomination period for the elections and this is definitely something to elaborate on! Over the last couple of weeks here at Uni departments have had openings for Academic Reps, which is rather cool. The reps have a chance to meet with members of the department, members of the faculty and even, on occasion, the Vice-Chancellor of the uni (!) to discuss issues that may have been raised by students, or to develop ideas suggested by LUSU’s Education Officer. One of the aims for these meetings is to try and make Lancaster’s educational experience for students the best it can possibly be. As a student this is something I seriously care about and it makes me so happy to know that there are people who are discussing changes, improvements, or are even trying to reinforce things that have worked in the past to try and make the uni experience her at Lancaster the best it can be. The education we receive here, and at any institution, is something so, so valuable and I think it is really encouraging to know that the departments are genuinely seeking feedback from the people that experience the effects of the way degrees are taught, structured and assessed. (Sorry, I will stop rambling now and get on with my point… (for any new readers, I must say that these little ponderings are not uncommon – feel free to skip to the next paragraph)…) Because this is something that really matters to me I did decide to sign up for the rep scheme and I am very pleased that I did too! After writing my little manifesto I was a little bit nervous to see what the outcome was from the voting, but it turns out that there were three slots and three applications, so we were all able to take part. We have our first couple of meetings in Week 4, so I will try and keep you updated on the sorts of things we get up to!

This week also saw the first SCAN meeting of the semester. At the end of last year I was really keen to get involved with the paper on campus, but as exams crept up I knew that I would have to put things on hold a little, because my degree needs to come first! However, this week I took the plunge and went to one of their section meetings, for Lifestyle and Features. Well, what a lovely bunch of people – everyone was so enthusiastic about the things they were interested in writing about. The editors were really friendly and eager to hear any thoughts we had and they had some really, really cool ideas for articles to be featured in the next issue. Speaking to the Features editor, Bethany, was really interesting and she had so many cool stories that she wanted to look at in the upcoming weeks, one of which I have chosen to write an article on! I’m so excited to be a part of the paper and I am really looking forward to getting some ideas together too; she has even asked me if I could conduct an interview – maybe it’ll be like being a proper little reporter; I’ll have to get a cute little notebook and a fluffy pen! The article is due in on Thursday of Week 4, so in next week’s post I will be post-article! I’m really too excited…!

I have been spending a fair bit of time this week in our new, and rather snazzy, library! They have done such a lovely job with it; I am so, so impressed. It’s really contemporary and airy and lovely – it even has a little tree in there, which, I have been told, is supposed to bring a feeling of calmness, or a tree of knowledge…or something… Either way it’s rather sweet. There are so many more places to sit and there are loads of different styles of seating too. Some for group working, others with a little desk lamp, sofas with adjustable desks, booths – all sorts and it is just so, so lovely. (I do apologise for my oddness, just rambling about all the lovely seating). Being able to pop in there, where it’s wonderful and quiet and just engage with all the interesting new things I’m learning about is just the best. It’s such a nice environment to work in now, which is perfect because I seem to have such a lot of reading this week! All there’s left to do is to have a little explore and work out how to navigate the shelving system!

Even amongst these busy times, I did find some time for some baking this week! (Eeeek!) On Sunday morning I went into our kitchen in my pyjamas, with my radio and made a chocolate and orange loaf…as you do! Just being able to take a little bit of time for myself to relax was so lovely – just waking up in the morning and thinking ‘I feel like doing this today’ and just doing it – no questions asked. I couldn’t help but smile as I was kneading away – I was doing something that my younger self could imagine doing, or wanting to do: just baking something yummy and then settle down at my desk to do my studies with a cup of tea. (It was probably something I read in a book, or saw in a film, but to me that was just pretty cool) Sometimes baking is just a good way to ground me – things have been so hectic this week and it was nice just to calm down and then get back to what matters the most: my degree (and baked goods, of course!)

Thank you for reading! Have a lovely week, guys!

History Hugs,

Eleanor