University of Aberdeen Blog

Aberdeen is currently basking in glorious sunshine and almost everyone you meet has a smile on their face and a spring in their step. I say almost everyone, as it is revision week and some people are worrying about exams, which start next week. As a PhD student I do not have exams, but I still remember what it was like as an undergraduate student. I was never a fan of exams, but nowadays I occasionally wish I still had exams. Because if I had exams I might have three weeks of stress and revision and worrying and all that jazz, but afterwards I would be free for the whole summer and able to relax and unwind. As it is I will spend the whole summer in Aberdeen trying my best to write at least a page and a half per day. Still, it is not all bad, as I will not be totally alone. As I have mentioned on this blog before, I have an amazing circle of friends here at the University of Aberdeen. Some are people I have only met this year; some are people dating back from my first year in Aberdeen. The best thing about being at university is definitely the people you meet and the friendships you make. Of course, not all of them will be in Aberdeen over the summer, but there will be enough left to have BBQs and coffee breaks with. Unfortunately, some friends will not be coming back after the summer. My best friend for the past seven years has recently joined the Navy and now resides down in Dartmouth, while one of my fellow PhD students and close friends is moving back home to the States to finish writing up his thesis. I am not very happy about this, but such is life and I wish them all the best. And just because they are leaving Aberdeen does not mean that the friendships will end. I am still in regular contact with people I met on campus all the way back in 2002 when I started out in Aberdeen. Staying in touch is fairly easy these days, and I am certain we will see each other again.

I’ve just been asked to be Senior Student Ambassador again for this year’s Open Day which will be held on Tuesday 31^st August – I will have mixed emotions however as I love the Open Day and the buzz round the campus but it will be my last at the University L

Anyways, I think that is enough from me for now. The sunshine and a farewell dinner are calling. I hope that those of you joining us this September will make the same amazing friendships that I made. Who knows, maybe I will be one of those friends J

Until the next time, be well in all things

David

I know it has been absolute ages since I last wrote a blog entry. I have been very busy with my studies and I took some time off work to focus on them. The campus has been rather quiet and empty for the past three weeks as it was the University of Aberdeen’s Easter break. Not being able to make it home for Easter turned out to be a bit of a blessing this year, as it means I am not grounded somewhere in an airport due to volcanic ash covering most of Europe. A large number of my fellow students have not been as lucky and are currently trying their best to make their way back to Aberdeen as today is the first day of the summer term. Of course, some of them will probably enjoy having a prolonged Easter break J

A number of people that were hoping to come and visit Aberdeen in order to be shown around campus by one of our student ambassadors also had to cancel their trips due to the current situation. However, preparations are well under way for our university wide Open Day on Tuesday, 31^st August 2010, when we expect to welcome about 6,000 visitors to the university. This Open Day will be of special significance to me as it will probably be my last Open Day as a student ambassador. I will really miss my job, which has allowed me to meet people from all over the world and show them the university I have come to love so much. If anyone wants to be present for one of my last campus tours ever, you can find more information by visiting www.abdn.ac.uk/openday. An online booking form will be available in the near future.

Until the next time, be well in all things.

David

As I sit here writing this blog entry and looking out the window I cannot help but notice that autumn has arrived in Aberdeen. The leaves are all changing colours and falling down, the days are getting darker, and the winds are getting colder. All of this means that winter is just around the corner and that it will soon be time to put on a thicker jumper and turn up the heating a bit. Having just started my eighth year in Aberdeen, I am fairly well used to the winters up here and actually enjoy them. It never gets too cold, because we are an east coast city and the darkness has its advantages from a study point of view. It makes it more appealing to sit in a class room or office or one of the many coffee places around campus with a nice mug of tea or coffee (or a hot chocolate if you are feeling really indulgent) and read a chapter or two in a text book or plough your way through some journal articles. I find I am always more productive during the winter and hope to get a lot of work done on my PhD over the next few months. This will be crucial towards me finishing it on time, so I for one am grateful that winter is coming J

Until the next time, be well in all things.

David

On Tuesday, the 1^st September 2009 the University of Aberdeen held its annual Open Day and once again over 6,000 visitors flocked to the campus to get a feel for the university and meet with academics and members of the recruitment and admissions staff. On top of the chance to listen to a number of talks and presentations on a wide range of issues concerning students, visitors could also go on a tour of the campus and our new sports facilities, as well as visiting various departments. The weather played along beautifully and the atmosphere on campus was really good. The day before the Open Day about 200 prospective students and their parents stayed over in halls of residence to get a taste of student life. There was a student party with a pub quiz and some karaoke (the highlight of which was me and my fellow student ambassador Sean singing ‘I Got You Babe’ by Sonny&Cher).

This was my 5^th Open Day as a student ambassador and once again I thoroughly enjoyed meeting loads of new people and showing them around campus, despite only getting 3 hours of sleep and my feet hurting a lot by the end of the day. We had a number of new student ambassadors starting this year and they turned out to be a very friendly and helpful bunch and it was good fun working with them. I am already looking forward to next year’s Open Day on Tuesday, the 31^st August 2010, which will probably be my last Open Day at the University of Aberdeen unfortunately.

After the hustle and bustle of the Open Day the campus has quieted down again, but will roar back to life in just over a week when Freshers’ Week 2009 kicks off. Freshers’ Week is great fun and gives students new and old a chance to settle in, sign up to one of our 58 sports teams and 105 student societies, and have a bit of fun before classes start the week after. After the long, quiet summer it will be fun to have the campus thronging with students again and to catch up with friends that were gone all summer. And as I am involved in a number of societies it will also give me the chance to meet some of our new students and make new friends. Which is what being at university is all about.

Until the next time, be well in all things.

David

Those of you following this blog should know by now that I like going to the gym and staying fit. At the moment the university’s gym is closed down which is rather annoying as I have had to get a temporary membership in a different (and more expensive) gym. But it will be worth it in the long run, trust me. On Monday I was lucky enough to be part of a tour of the new Sports Village which will open on the 24^th August 2009. To say that I was impressed is a blatant understatement. The new gym will probably be one of the best in Scotland and will make sure that students at Aberdeen can stay healthy and fit and participate in almost any sport imaginable. I was mostly interested in the fitness suite which has over 100 cardio-vascular and muscular machines, all of which have TV screens and can be programmed with exercises tailor-made for individual students! And the best thing is it will only cost £15/month or £11/month if you opt for the Off-Peak membership. And if you sign up for an entire year in advance you get a 10% discount (making it £162 or £118 for the whole year). Your membership will give you access to the swimming pool, the fitness suite, the performance gym, the squash and badminton courts, as well as over 60 fitness and health classes per week. While our swimming pool will originally stay in the King’s Pavilion (the Olympic swimming pool will not be ready till 2012), it is being refurbished (the main reason why our gym is currently closed down).  Those of you visiting the Open Day on the 1^st September 2009 will have the chance to go on a tour of the Sports Village. For more information in the meantime just redirect your browsers to http://www.aberdeensportsvillage.com/ and prepare to be dazzled.

I think I will head over to my interim gym tonight to make the most of my temporary membership and to get fit enough for our new gym. Until the next time, be well in all things.

David

It is hard to believe, but another academic year has come and gone and the quiet days of summer are upon Aberdeen again. However, quiet does not mean idle or uneventful, at least not in my case. Quite the contrary, actually. It is not just the weather that is heating up, but my PhD work, too. I have recently finished a draft version of the first chapter of my PhD thesis, which I am very happy about. I am currently trying my best to get chapters two and three done and dusted, too. Once that is done I will have about half of my PhD sorted and can breathe a slight sigh of relief.

The last few weeks have not been very helpful in that regard, as I have been rather distracted. At the end of May my oldest sister got married down in Piperdam near Dundee. We had crystal clear skies, and plenty of warmth and sunshine, which confused a lot of the guests who were in Scotland for the first time and had only ever heard horror stories about the Scottish weather. Some had to go into Dundee to buy shorts and t-shirt, only having brought woollen jumpers and raincoats… The wedding itself was wonderful and I have never seen my sister look more beautiful or happy then when she said yes.

I only had about a week to recover from the wedding, as my best friend and I went on a Nile cruise in Egypt at the beginning of June. This was totally irresponsible from a financial point of you, but a bit of a dream come true as I have always been fascinated with the ancient Egyptian civilisation. We saw plenty of ancient monuments, temples, and pyramids. After having lived in Aberdeen for about seven years now, it definitely took some getting used to the Egyptian sun. We had an average of 42 degrees Celsius, with the thermometer hitting the 49 degree Celsius mark one day! Overall, it was a really great holiday and I am glad I went despite it being so warm and rather expensive.

Looking out my window while I sit here writing this shows me nothing but low-hanging grey clouds at the moment which bring my feet nicely back on the ground in the here and now. I have had my fill of sun and fun for the time being and will now go back to work on my PhD. Until the next time, be well in all things.

David

Hello Readers, I hope you all had as good an Easter break as I did. While I do not celebrate Easter as such it is nonetheless a good excuse to share a nice meal with friends. Which is why me and some of my friends that stayed in Aberdeen over the Easter break got together for a nice roast chicken dinner (courtesy of my fellow blogger Nooreen) and a few hours of witty conversation about this and that. During the break I also made good use of the fact that both of my housemates were away and finally organised a long-overdue raclette for some of my fellow PhD students. The evening was a great success with a perfect mix of food, wine, and great company and there will definitely be a repeat at some stage in the near(ish) future. To top it all off I visited two of my best friends in the whole world in Edinburgh last weekend and as you might have guessed this visit involved yet more wine and good food.

All of this feasting means that I will have to hit the gym again more often in the coming weeks as I need to get in shape for the summer. As mentioned in previous blogs I totally love going to the gym, though there are days when it is a real chore to drag myself out of bed and over there. I recently picked up a little leaflet that has me even more excited about going to the gym: the university will be getting a brand new gym this summer and it looks fantastic! It will have an Olympic sized swimming pool, several indoor and outdoor track courses, its main games hall is the size of nine badminton courts, and its gym will have a hundred cardio-vascular and muscle-pumping machines. In other words it will be a gym bunny’s paradise J Best of all, students at the university will only pay about £90 a year for full membership despite the facilities being used for the 2012 Olympic Games and the 2014 Commonwealth Games (as training grounds, not venues mind you). The new facilities are just two minutes off campus so there is no excuse not to make use of them J

That is all the news from me this week. I going out for dinner with my sister and cousin, but thanks to the new gym I will not have to feel bad about it J

Until the next time, be well in all things.

David

As mentioned in my last blog post I only came back to Aberdeen about five weeks ago after an extended stay back home in Luxembourg. And yet, it feels like I never left in the first place. My work as a student ambassador has kept me fairly busy as we had a number of Applicant Days in February and March. I always like helping out at the Applicant Days or the Open Days (the next one is on the 1^st September 2009) as it gives me a chance to meet more of my fellow student ambassadors and as it, more importantly, allows me to meet a lot of prospective students from all over the UK (and some from further afield). I really enjoy meeting new people and showing them around campus while trying my best to answer any questions about student life that they might have.

I’ve also been very busy with my PhD. I had a few meetings with my supervisor and the “dreaded” PhD Progress Committee and I now have a clear timeline of what has to happen when in order to finish my thesis in a timely fashion. I won’t bore you with all the details, but all in all it means that I will be a student in Aberdeen until June 2010. It’s a bit longer than I originally expected, but I much prefer this to having to rush things and hand in subpar work. So far things are going well and I should be able to stick to the new timeline. My first chapter is due next week and the way things are going right now it will be done on time. Of course, there is no rest for the wicked so after that it’s straight on to chapters two and three, which are due at the end of June.

All of this means that I while most of my friends are currently looking forward to the Easter break which starts next week, I am busy considering the implications that state-building has on the notion of sovereignty and other such things. Like every year the campus (as well as my social life) will quieten down greatly during the Easter break. But I don’t mind as it reduces the number of distractions and thus allows me to focus on getting some much needed PhD work done. And the gym will be less busy again, which is good as I’ve recently gone back for the first time in three months and I couldn’t help but realise that I’ve lost some of my fitness, which I hope to recover during the Easter break.

Of course, I won’t spend all of the Easter break at work, with my PhD, or at the gym. I think I’ll get tickets for Blood Brothers, which is coming to Aberdeen in early April and I am in the process of arranging a raclette for some of my fellow PhD friends that are staying in Aberdeen, too. Whatever you get up to during the next three weeks, I hope you’re having fun doing it.

Until the next time, be well in all things.

David

Hello everyone and apologies for my long silence. I have finally gotten back to Aberdeen after spending almost three months in Luxembourg. This was the longest I have been away from Aberdeen for a few years now. As always it was good to catch up with my family and friends. I am especially glad that I managed to meet up with one of my cousins I had not seen in a few years, as she is studying in Germany and I am studying here in Aberdeen. It can be tricky to synchronise our schedules, but this time around it finally happened. On top of some great social events I also took part in my theatre group’s annual production again. This time around I played the CEO of a very successful American company visiting one of his local managers. It was great fun and I got to put my English to good use during the play.

My stay back home was not all pleasure as due to some personal issues I had to stay away longer from Aberdeen than I normally would have. My PhD has unfortunately suffered a bit due to my prolonged absence and I will have to put extra effort into it in order to get it done on time. Thankfully, with all my business back in Luxembourg sorted out I am now able to make it my top priority and to focus all my energy into it. As such I am rather confident that I will manage to finish my PhD within the deadlines.

Being away from Aberdeen for so long has also made me realise that I consider it more of a home than Luxembourg now. Do not get my wrong, I still love Luxembourg and still have many good friends there, but Aberdeen is where my heart is right now. I have an awesome circle of friends up here and I really like the city and its atmosphere. On top of that one of my sisters and one of my cousins are studying here in Aberdeen with me and my other two sisters are studying in Dundee and Edinburgh. As such I can even meet up with (part of) my family when I feel like it. I will definitely be with a heavy heart when I finally leave Aberdeen. But I have about another year left, so no reason to think about that at all right now. Instead I am going to focus on my PhD and make sure to do a good job. Until the next time.

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