Settling in

1.45pm- Hello everyone! I must first of all apologise for failing to update my blog more often. However, I'm sure you'll all understand that the past two weeks have been incredibly busy on all fronts. From spending time with friends to sorting out the academic side of things, I find that by the time I finally get in to bed at the end of the day I am exhausted. I must just say that this is the way I like it- I love that I have to juggle trips to coffee shops, mealtimes, nights out and reading for my course. I had three lectures so far this week. All three lecturers have quite different styles of teaching but I enjoyed and feel I have benefited from them all. My lecture in Monarchy and Religion began with Handel's Zadok the Priest being played at a very high volume! In a rather strange way it was a good introduction to the module. I have the first of my seminars tomorrow morning. I am feeling slightly apprehensive about seminars however I am feeling more relaxed following a talk by the History Dept. leaders this morning. We had a really good session led by the Head of Dept and Director of Studies regarding our expectations of lectures and seminars and what the dept. expect of us in turn. We also had a really good, open and honest discussion about our fears and most impressively the lecturers fears regarding seminars. This sort of meeting is one of the things which I believe sets the History Dept. apart- there is a very caring atmosphere amongst the staff (in addition to a very high level of professionalism of course). I am going to finish preparing for my seminar on Reformation Europe now. I know absolutely nothing about this time period and so must do a lot of reading!! I then have a meeting of the John's Welfare Team. I had not originally signed down for this but have been persuaded to join for a number of reasons (partly due to my own wish to contribute to John's life and partly due to the encouragement of others.) I am then meeting a friend to go shopping for hot chocolate (!) Tonight I am helping to run the John's toastie bar with some friends. I did it last week and it was a lot of fun. Love to all.