Although it wasn’t going to be the most strenuous of public speaking events, I still had a few nerves about participating in this seminar, but I actually really enjoyed the experience and the various discussions that the seminar brought about.
I have found that during my time at university my public speaking has improved vastly. In my first year I was terrified at the prospect of presenting a five minute talk in front of my tutor group (consisting of four people!) and I needed to have the presentation written out in front of me. However, by my third year I was able to give a confident and well laid-out presentation on space weather in front of a room of staff and students as part of my group project – practice really does make perfect!
One of the things I most enjoyed about the seminar was being able to read the first years’ posts about how they were finding their first few weeks in Southampton. Some had travelled from abroad, whilst others already lived in Southampton; but regardless of where they came from, they all seem to have settled into their new lives, finding friends in a whole host of different societies.
The session got me thinking about how much has changed since I was in my first term at the University of Southampton. The biggest change for me has been to do with my university work. As you might expect, the workload has definitely increased - especially now I’m a Masters student, - but the most significant difference is the type of coursework I am now doing. In first year I had weekly assessed problem sheets for each module, which had their own help classes set aside within the timetable, as well as tutorials that also dealt with the same problems. Throughout the following years this means of assessment has become more independent and naturally a lot harder!
Of course this year, on top of my other modules, I also have my Master’s project, which runs for the majority of the year. For this my project partner and I am studying a group of astronomical objects called Quasars, which are a very luminous and distant type of galaxy core that surround supermassive black holes. Our project involves running a computer code to discern particular characteristics of these quasars, which will hopefully provide new insight into this rapidly growing area of research.
As well as the different type of work I am doing, I feel I have a lot more trust and responsibility given to me within the Physics department. For example, two weeks ago we were involved in a two hour l conference call with a professor in Italy discussing the computer program he had written to analyse Quasars. Every week we also have a meeting with our project supervisor to discuss ideas and any progress that we have made, which echoes the fact that the work we are doing is actually new and important.
Although it may seem like it, but life as a fourth year physicist isn’t all work! Last week the Physics Society hosted a Game of Thrones themed social, where we were encouraged to dress up as our favourite characters from the show. Despite my involvement with the fancy dress society, I found assembling a costume for this theme quite difficult, but in the end I think my Little Finger costume turned out alright and really enjoyed the evening.
My Little Finger costume for the Game of Thrones Physics social
When I think about it, it’s clear to see how much has changed over the years I have been at the University, in both an academic and personal sense. This is one of the reasons I enjoy blogging so much; I get the opportunity to really think about my university life, and it also provides a nice way to document it too!
James
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