The title of this blog is a question I am often asked on open days by prospective students, or, more usually, their parents. Yes, with a population of approximately 17,000, you can be forgiven for thinking that not a lot really goes on in our quaint little seaside home. So why then has it taken me a good six weeks to get around to posting another entry on my blog? When university staff and students make up more than a third of the town's overall population, and with everyone keen and eager to get involved and make the most of their time at university, you really are spoiled for choice for things to do in St Andrews! The university has over 100 societies and sports clubs to get involved in, all putting on events, socials, plays, trips and much more every week. Even if you were never to attend a lecture, I doubt anyone would find time to do all of the extra-curricular activities on offer here. And that's without even delving into the myriad of exciting things St Andrews as a town has to offer, outwith the university. So, we may be a small town in Fife, we may not have nightclubs, large shopping centres or a railway station of our own, but that doesn't mean that St Andrews is boring! (And anyone who insinuates such on an open day is likely to suffer my tirade to the contrary!)
So, what have I been doing of late? The answer to that is simple. I've been in the library. Studying. A degree at St Andrews is split into 2 sections, Sub-Honours and Honours. The first 2 years at Sub-Honours are quite easy. The marks don't count towards your overall degree classification, you get a basic grounding in the subject area(s) you have chosen and you have plenty of time for societies, coffee breaks with friends and sleeping 'till noon. Then in third year you progress to Honours (unless like me you take a year off and go swanning around abroad) and the panic sets in. Everything suddenly counts and your workload triples, you spend hours in the library pouring over medieval texts and feverishly awaiting your turn with the short loan (3-hour loan) books and you spend your time in hall telling everyone on your corridor to be quiet because you need to study/sleep. Woe betide any first or second year who complains about their workload to an Honours student, they are likely to be met with comments of "Oh, just you wait 'till 3rd/4th year!" or a swift clip round the ear depending on the stress levels of said Honours student!
It's not all doom and gloom though. I seem to be on top of my workload (for now at least!) and I am still finding time to go ice skating every week, work as a university ambassador, mentor school children in the local area and participate actively in a couple of societies, as well as seeing my friends, albeit slightly less than I would like! I am quite enjoying my modules this semester as well. On top of the core language components of my degree, I'm doing Medieval German Literature and German Science Fiction. I really enjoy both of these, although I sometimes wonder what use is my degree to the world, and if it is worth the thousands in fees, when I spend entire mornings reading and discussing robots and the fundamentals of time travel! Then again, unlike most people nowadays, I don't see my degree as a vital tool to career progression, it isn't a commodity to be bought either. Yes, I need a degree to go into teaching but if all I wanted to do was teach, I could have done a degree in teaching straight off and not spent 5 years faffing around with medieval princesses and dragons. As it is, I came to university not because it was expected, not because of the current social status attached to having a degree, but because I love to study. I love my subject, I want to find out more about it, about everything I can, and university was the obvious choice. Yes, It will help my career down the line, but that's just a happy accident.
As it's now lunch time and I am still in my pyjamas (ah, the life of an arts student. Yes, I have work, but it can be done from my bed!) I should probably extricate some clean clothes from the mess on my floor and go and find some sustenance for this afternoon's class. Singular.
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