Settling In At University

Posted by Colin Harvey Oct 19, 2009

This last week I've finally started to settle into a routine.

I'm taking a BA in Creative Writing and Media Communications at Bath Spa University. In the first year those subjects account for only two thirds of the marks. To complete the year, I also have to study two electives, for which I've selected Poetry and Introduction to Scriptwriting.

Even if I never write another poem or script, they will --hopefully- make me a better writer in that in one, every word has to count and has to be weighed for its contribution to the whole, while in the other anything that can't be seen or heard by the final audience must be eliminated. Both different approaches will give me a new perspective on prose. At least that's the theory.

Choosing the electives was the major factor in the timetable uncertainty that stressed me out so badly two weeks ago -- not only me; several students admitted that with no money coming through because many grants have been delayed, and further major uncertainty about what they would be doing, they came close to walking out.

The result of the timetabling is that I have alternate weeks.

The first week of teaching, which was actually Week 2 of the courses, but Week 7 of the Academic Year (so guess which weeks were shown on the timetable) saw me taking my 'even' (or is that 'odd'?) weeks' lessons. It's that pattern that I'll be following this weekend, with the additional complication that I've started work back at the BEH on Mondays and Fridays.

I'm now starting to realize the implications of that, which I'll go into on another day.