Londonward

Lectures so far have been really good. Everything is relevant and interesting, be it issues in environmental law, the socially constructed nature of science in society or the use of economic principles in informing environmental policy issues. Things I thought complicated and contrived (such as economics) start to make perfect sense in the right context. The lecturers actually seem to give a damn, which is great. Last year it seemed like they were winging it a bit, forcing themselves through the motions. I felt like very little of what we were doing was directly relevant to our course. Maybe it prepared a foundation for us, but I still felt rather out of place then.

There is a complete change of attitude among the academic staff teaching us. By and large, it’s the same people, but now they both give their own opinions on the material (immensely entertaining) and show their personal dedication and itnerests in what they teach. Even the monolithic reading lists are softened with a “Yes, I know it’s really long. It’s meant to cover the whole breadth of the topic - it would take you years to read all of it. Read the relevant bits and those you are interested in for the exams.” You can see why I much prefer the second year to the first. I am really looking forward to the rest of the year, though with the caveat that I still haven’t begun the essay/class presentation grind yet.

Work is going swimmingly as well. I like the people I work with, and though I’m still confused about what I should be saying half the time I think I’m doing all right. I’m doing 10-hour days (lectures, reading, working, society stuff) most of the week, which means I’m pretty worn out by the time I get home. It’s been fine this far though.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 19th, 2007 at 9:33 and is filed under school, work. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.