Night-Classes Fun

2004-09-19 at 11:22 p.m.

Well, I meant to update last week and say how my course has been going, but with it being nightclasses I ended up getting home rather late, and just wanted to go to bed, really. Still, better late than never.

The first night of the course - last Monday - was a bit of a disappointment as the lecturer didn't turn up. We were left sitting in a room in Birkbeck for an hour waiting for him. No one seemed to know where he was or how to reach him, and eventually the servitor just told us to go home. Still we got the chance to meet the other students! I met up with a girl called Suzy who seems roughly the same age as myself, and Suzanne, who is a bit older. I was vastly early and so were they so we ended up chatting. In fact I sat next to them for the rest of the week. Suzy is doing the Tuesday night biology classes so it looks like we'll be in the same class then.

Everyone else seems to be doing either biology/chemistry or physics/maths, I haven't found anyone else doing physics and biology yet, but I suppose I would be unusual as its only radiography asks for that combination!

The next night the lecturer did turn up, apparently no one had told him the class started that week. He was quite a good lecturer, except I had a bit of difficulty with his accent. I'm not good with accents outside the UK, really. Not that his English was bad, but all his vowels were mixed up and the wrong parts of words stressed, which can be a bit difficult to understand really.

We did fractions and graphs and algebra and that sort of thing. Not too bad really, though I am still struggling with fractions. The trouble is that I know exactly why I can't do them well and there isn't a great deal I can do about it. The trouble is that I do not know my multiplication tables, you see. I only started learning any sort of maths when I was eight, and had trouble through school with that early setback. I had one year in which to catch up on the four years of basic addition, subtraction and the times tables and of course I never learned the tables as well as those who had chanted them over and over for years did. Its surprising how much of a difference that really makes, because I've never been able to make the stupid things stick in my brain, and have to count them on my fingers. Now, normally I have a calculator nowadays so it wouldn't be a problem...except with fractions. Other people can look at a fraction and say, oh four would go into that, or three or something like that, then simplify the fraction from there. I can't. I have to guess it with the calculator, and just test and test and test until I accidentally hit on the right one, or end up with some big fraction that isn't simplified enough. Its a problem, but I can't really see anything I can do about it.

On the plus side I think I've got the hang of algebra again. I couldn't believe how I managed to get every question wrong on the test, but I found the exercises in class quite easy. I think its just remembering how to do them - once you've got the rules, its all just rote really. The only thing I yet cannot do is simultaneous equations so I'm going to look them up and have a bit practise.

I've figured out how to get to the college, and managed to find it (not as easy as it should be). So I'm all set for next week. The only thing I'm lacking is my biology and physics text books - because they're expensive and dad wants to see if he can get them cheap somewhere. I might also need a labcoat. I'm still not sure if I actually need one so I'm going to ask at the biology class on Tuesday, and I've discovered they sell them in the university shop. Where I also managed to get hold of a laboratory book - and they are not as exciting as I thought they would be, just one side graph paper and one side ruled.

So all in all I've had a good week. Far more social interaction than I normally get, which was fun, plus getting to play with calculators again, and I've remembered what it was I liked about maths. You're either right or wrong, and if you are wrong, there are only a certain number of things you can have got wrong - unlike arts subjects, where its all far more messy. I was also pleased to discover that I'm still as quick as I was - or at least, I'm quicker than my neighbours - in some aspects of maths. You see I spent my time at school racing my classmates and, eventually, my teacher, to see who could finish first and get everything right. By the end, I always won. Definitely more sense of achievement doing that - no point being fast writing essays really, there's only so much you can say, so much waffle you can write.

So, now I still have to see about getting a job. Oh and mum and dad are going up north week on Wednesday and then off to Paris so I shall have some time alone to do my homework...

Only thing I wish right now is that we got a student card - because I'd go and join NUS and get the discounts I never could get at Edinburgh because we were not NUS-affiliated. But alas we part-time evening students don't seem to be counted as "real students". Maybe next year.

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