February 3, 2013, by Kiran

Course Life

Usually I use this blog to tell everyone what’s happening outside of my degree. In fact I barely mention my course at all apart from when I’m rushing to meet a deadline. But after taking the National Student Survey this week, a survey for final year students, I realised I do actually really like my course (which is English with Creative writing as I’m guessing you all needed reminding!)

So we all have lectures and seminars but after this survey asked me a bunch of questions based around teaching methods, it is safe to say that at least once a week I come home with a story about some strange activity we were given. This is probably the reason why my housemates don’t think I do a real course but I have to say these practical tasks have been the most effective…or most memorable at least!

Now I won’t go though every obscure assignment but seeing as I am a sentimental third year I shall simply reminisce over a few of the most interesting of my course life:

Freshers

When I was about 4 years old I would tell this awful joke that was not really a joke but simply a statement!

‘Why is a piece of paper a piece of paper?’

‘Because it is a piece of paper!’

When presented with a blank piece of A4 paper in our first ever poetry seminar at university then, I applied this fact only to be told we had to make this very piece of paper the most interesting piece of paper in the history of the world. Quite a challenge!

It also had to reflect our writing style. A factor I was not aware of when I made a collage and then used a shredder to hack away at what I had done. A very interesting reflective discussion followed.

 

Second Year

A very mysterious introduction to Writing for Performance as we were handed an envelope with a map of campus and instructions to wait at our base until someone told us a very important piece of information. While we were waiting we were to take notes of our surroundings and subtly write down any snippets of conversation we heard…a cross between a spy and a stalker!

Using this as inspiration to write a scene in future sessions, the secret messenger never arrived and this was the point. However, before our feedback session I was convinced I had been the only one to receive my message as at my spot by the lake a man on a bike stopped and told me ‘Jessie Boot would be very pleased’ asked me if I knew what that meant and cycled away. Turns out he was just making casual elusive conversation and I, like everyone else in the group, was just Waiting for Godot.

 

Final Year

Take my 4 hour workshop from this week as an example. The session involved throwing around an invisible ball, making seal noises and running away from a killer whale as well as playing cops and robbers with blindfolds and forming a monster out of our bodies in groups. (Our monster was a giant evil squid called Bob with five heads that was just misunderstood!) It may have been fun but it is actually going towards developing our own theatre company.

Now What?

Then came the selection of questions concerning my plans after university, something final year students all over the nation are fretting about! In all honesty I don’t know what I’m going to do; at the moment I’m juggling ideas of a Masters, potential internships or curling up in the corner, crossing my fingers, closing my eyes and hoping someone else will make me a successful career!

 

p.s. I realise I have been rattling on about my own university experiences but if like me you are graduating soon and want to voice your own opinions, here is a little more information about the National Student Survey

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/currentstudents/finalists/nationalstudentsurvey.aspx

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