Once More, Academia

2004-09-23 at 11:51 p.m.

I am a terrible correspondent.

So, I've now had my first two lectures of my new course. Which is, incidentally, the Foundation Certificate in Life Sciences and Subjects Allied to Medicine (nothing like a snappy title...)

First off, on Tuesday, was Biology. So I got there nice and early, all provided with fresh stationery (and didn't I enjoy buying it all). I also bought the text books and promptly buggered my back because they are very heavy. Particularly the biology textbook. No way am I carrying that to classes, I've been in pain for the last two days and I'm no longer allowed to take anti-inflammatories because of my bloody medication!

Rant over. Hem. The biology class was interesting, evidently vast numbers of people are doing it because there are two separate, large groups on the Tuesday and another two on the Thursday. I knew a couple of people on the course from the maths class but, naturally, they are in the other group to me.

We had our class in a laboratory - and very swish it is too. All nice marble-effect benches and clean-looking gas taps. Not like school, where everything was brown and orange and the wooden desks tended to fizz if you dropped acid on them. The lecturer's name is Peter, he seems nice. Very chatty anyway.

Turns out the woman I was sitting next to - called Kerry - is also wanting to do radiography so I have someone I know in the physics class too. And quite possibly for the next four years... She seems quite nice, anyway. Older than I am, from Sheffield, a little loud but that might just be the Yorkshire personality coming through. I'm not the only one in the class with a previous degree - the guy who sits opposite me (who also did the maths course) has a degree in dance, an old guy has a degree in modern languages, and there were similar sorts of arty things with some of the rest of the class.

The first class was a sort of overview of the history of the world and the history of science, which was quite a lot to pack into three hours really. Disturbingly the lecturer talked over and over about creationism in the US and about religious conceptions of the universe - which all made me wonder, am I ever going to be free of Divinity? What with seeing priests everywhere I go and now this, I begin to wonder if its just going to haunt me all my life!

The class was fairly easy and everyone seemed nice so I think I'm going to enjoy biology. We got given the most enormous sheaf of papers, which will be our practicals, lesson plans and miscellaneous stuff for the entire year. I had to buy myself a lab coat, too, for the practicals. Its fairly horrible. Those things are definitely designed for men, as its long in the arms, big in the shoulders, and tight at the waist. And its supposed to be unisex *sigh*.

The physics class was on Wednesday night. Now it was not quite so much fun. Again we're separated into two groups, and I'm in the same one as Kerry again. First bit was about motion and displacement, velocity and that sort of thing. I made some mathematical mistakes - but that was mostly because we had to write in the dark, which makes it quite difficult really. Then we switched to being in the lab-of-very-pointy-seats again. Now here I did have some problems. The lecturer, a woman called Sally, seems very nice, friendly and helpful and all...but I struggled. On the first lesson! However, part of that was because I just cannot remember the formula for determining force as it has been seven years since I last used it, and so that shouldn't be a problem. The other thing I have discovered is that I need to figure out what all the buttons on my calculator mean and what they do as I got incorrect answers because I pressed the wrong buttons.

I have to figure out trigonometry for next week. I can see that I'm going to have to revise and work quite hard at the physics because I've simply forgotten so much. I had to work at it at school to, whereas biology was easy. I don't recall ever actually exerting myself for biology so I doubt it will be hugely hard now - though I'll have to remember not to get complacent I suppose. But the physics will require some work, as I especially do not want my weak maths skills to let me down. I had to keep an eye on that at school too, although I was obsessed with physics and, indeed, wanted to be an astrophysicist at school, I was always aware that my maths is not so good as most people's. I blame it on that four year gap I had, only starting learning maths at eight. Still, I managed at school and I'm going to manage now. I'm supposed to get used to working harder now anyway, arts subjects are easy compared to sciences and I knew that before I signed up.

I had some good news today - I turned on my mobile to discover that Blackwells bookshop had left a message asking if I still wanted work. I rang them back and the man said, could he ring me later, only he hasn't. So I shall be ringing him again tomorrow in case he has forgotten me and see if they have anything going. Part or full time is fine by me - frankly anything is going to give me more than the £40 a week I am currently failing to live within. I need some money, mostly because I overspend when I go out to the course, buying coffees and crap before and after it. And I'm bored, and the parents are increasingly irked that I am not in gainful employment. So hopefully Blackwells will come through for me, and give me a job.

I am also feeling rather virtuous today as I text messaged all my friends, Lynn, Shirley, Drew, Frank and Neil, and got replies from most. I'm going to ring Neil soon. I definitely do not want to lose contact with them all, and particularly not Neil. I've discovered that I do actually miss him quite a lot - I spent a lot of time at university sitting around drinking and righting the wrongs of the world with him, and I miss all that. Maybe at Christmas I can go up and see them all again - not just Shirley. Not that I dislike Shirley, on the contrary, but I end up getting embarassed because I'm staying with her, and don't like to suggest we go out with my other friends (like Neil) who aren't really her friends.

I wish my last year at university hadn't been so crap, really. Part of the reason I'm losing contact with some of my oldest friends is simply because I was so depressed, so insular, and so forgetful that last year that I didn't keep in contact when I was actually in the same city. I don't even remember a lot of that year now, its all just slipped from my memory. I have no idea what I said and to whom, though I do gather that I was behaving quite strangely at some points. Its the memory loss and the sheer confusion that bothers me the most, I feel like I've lost an entire year, and all the friendships and communication that went with that, all due to being less than myself at the time.

But enough of all that. I shall concentrate on the future - and cross my fingers and hope that I will not have another episode brought on by studying.

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