University of Aberdeen Blog

At this time of year, you always seem to be at your busiest. Its time when essays all seem to be due; parties all seem to happen; and to top it all off, you’re worrying about what to get people for Christmas!

The past couple of weeks have been no different. To begin with, last weekend we kick-started advent with a 24 hour vigil in the Catholic Chaplaincy. This started at 12 o’ clock on the Saturday lunchtime with midday prayers and a talk from the Abbot of Pluscarden. Pluscarden is the only Benedictine monastery in Scotland and it is located about 70 miles from here.

Following the talk, we had arranged a 3 course lunch for Abbot Hugh which was lovingly cooked by a friend of mine. It gave us the chance to talk with Abbot Hugh and discover more about life in the Abbey. We also decided to plan a retreat to Pluscarden next semester.

After finishing lunch, I then had an hours adoration at the vigil. During every hour, a chapter of John’s Gospel was read and then a decade of the rosary said. It is a wonderful chance for people of all religions to gather together and pray.

Following this, I had to rush home and get ready as that evening, I was going to the OTC ball.  This is held every year at the Beach Ballroom which is on the seafront. It was a delightful evening with a (second) three course meal followed by a ceilidh. 

The week following this was used to recover from the merriment but also write an essay. This was my first legal essay since I dropped the LLB and I must say, I found it quite a challenge. But now that it is out of the way, I look forward to starting my next History essay which is examining religious poverty in the Middle Ages.

Also this past week, the University’s Christmas lights were switched on. This is a superb event every year. The main attraction is the large Christmas tree on the lawn outside Elphinstone Hall. But there is a Santa’s grotto for children, mulled wine for the adults and carols to be enjoyed by all.

I now look forward to being allowed to put up my own Christmas tree on the 12^th December. My flatmate assures me that a week is plenty of time to enjoy it before we return home for Christmas.

But for now, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

It’s that time of year again where for about a period of 2 weeks, I have to put away my party shoes, and bring out the evil textbooks. It’s not really as bad as I make it sound, coursework does have its advantages.  For both my courses this semester 30% of the final grade is based on a mixture of lab reports and problem solving exercises, so at the end of the day if I don’t do too well in the exam that 30% may come in handy. So this last week has been spent in front of my laptop typing away and the end result was actually very satisfying. One of the assignments involved writing up a lab report and formatting it to look like something out of the British Journal of Pharmacology, and it felt really good to see my name on a fancy looking report. All I have left to do now is a problem solving exercise and one final lab report and then I am free!!

Coursework luckily hasn’t completely taken over my life, I still have managed to find something to do that doesn’t involve staring at textbooks and lecture notes. I was recently elected onto the Societies Committee as an Ordinary member, which basically means that I am now some what incharge of helping all the general interest societies, and I get free pizza every other Thursday (though this depends on me attending a meeting). This Friday is one of our big events to raise money for societies, a James Bond themed party. I’m really looking forward to dressing up as a cool spy or Bond girl, and it’s a good opportunity to meet loads of new people. I’ve also got the final pub quiz of year at the Union on Tuesday, where my team has to defend its title as champions of the pub quiz which is always a good laugh. The final thing on my calender is the Humanist Society Scotland meeting tonight which I will be going to with the Atheist, Secular and Humanist society (AUSHAS) which is supposed to be really interesting and will be a good distraction from work (I am the queen of procrastination).

Wow reading that last paragraph has made me realise how busy my life has been recently and I’m not complaining. I was talking to an old graduate a couple of weeks ago, and we both agreed that even though university life does come with a fair amount of work, taking part in as many extra-curricular activities as possible really does make the experience of living the student life even better. At the end of day you have loads of fun, meet people from all over world, and sometimes have more things to put on your CV, which is always useful. Anyhow staring at a computer screen is making me sleepy, I’m off to go on a caffiene hunt before I hit the books again.

Nooreen