Holiday or hard work? Why you should choose a field trip module

“Field trips are just holidays”

I am fairly certain that anyone who has ever been on a school field trip has heard this phrase at some point or another, despite the fact that trips can be highly educational.

Field trips often result in mixed experiences - yes, admittedly certain school field trips end up being a (potentially free) holiday with your classmates but, equally, field trips can also provide an occasion where students are constantly engaged and working due to the close contact with staff!

This September I went abroad on the Berlin field trip for one week for one of my third-year Geography modules. Unlike previous years, this year’s trip consisted of only eight students (six of which were male!)

East Side Gallery, Mühlenstraße– An International Memorial for Freedom

Due to the small group size, this meant that there was nowhere to hide in terms of each individual pulling their weight in terms of workload and contributing to our intimate seminars.

The field trip was very intense - given that it was the equivalent of a term’s worth of lecture content squeezed into five full days!

A typical day on the field trip

7:30am: Wake up calls and breakfast
9am: Lecture
10:30am: Out in the city
4-6pm: Return to the hostel to prepare presentations
6pm: Evening presentations/seminar

Each day was themed (political ideologies, memory and memorials, architecture, etc.) and the lecture at the beginning of the day provided an overview into what kind of concepts we were expected to research during our day. We were split into two groups of four (which varied each day) and had to prepare a research proposal and presentation for our evening seminar.

Amongst the stelae at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

As you can see, we were studying and researching from 9am to 8pm at night. Part of our assessment for the module was ‘participation in the course’ therefore there was an extra incentive (and pressure!) to perform well during the course, and not just treat the week as a holiday abroad with lovely company!

So why bother going?

I realise that so far I have portrayed my field trip as rather busy but, in fact, it was the best trip I have ever been on! Yes, the workload was intense and the days were exhausting, but you go to bed knowing that you’ve had a majorly productive day and learnt much more about a city than any Lonely Planet Guide could tell you.

The week in Berlin also put me in a great position in terms of coming back to Southampton and not having any lectures for the course but just coursework to write!

I realise that field trips are not always optional or part of every degree on offer at the University of Southampton, but I would encourage any of you with the opportunity to take a field trip module! Aside from visiting a very trendy city filled to the brim with historical and cultural significance, I had the opportunity to meet and bond with people on my course whom I may not have ever ended up meeting if it weren’t for the trip!

Learning outside the four walls of a lecture theatre was a real refresher as to why I chose to study Geography and reminded me of its real-world relevance.

Berlin was a brilliant experience and I’ll never forget the excellent week I had away!

Aditi

The importance of student feedback

The end of the year is fast approaching and for the teaching staff at the University of Southampton this means wrapping up modules, running revision classes and trying to get students to fill in the module evaluations. However not many students actually fill these in, and I’m not sure why.

If you think that the feedback won’t be taken into account that’s totally not the case. Throughout my time here I have always admired how seriously the lecturers have taken feedback about their classes and endeavour to improve things.

If you do have any concerns about a class you are taking, perhaps you feel that the deadline for coursework is too soon, or you haven’t received enough feedback on a piece of coursework you have handed in you can either talk to the lecturer directly or speak to your student rep. In my experience, lecturers at Southampton have always been incredibly responsive to student’s issues and have changed lecture plans or organised extra sessions to make sure that students are as prepared as possible for coursework or exams.

If you don’t feel comfortable going to the lecturer directly then you can always talk to your student rep. This is a particularly good idea if there if there is a group of you with a problem; rather than all contacting the lecturer individually, the student rep can collect your feedback and present it directly on your behalf.

The feedback system at Southampton is something that I have always really admired. When I came here I never expected the staff to be so responsive to the class’s thoughts, and they are incredibly helpful when it comes to revision. For instance, all lecturers have office hours where you can go and ask any questions that you have, but if there is a large group of students who need extra help, why not ask if you can arrange an extra revision class during the lecturer’s office hours?

In other news, there are a couple of extra things that didn’t warrant a blog post all of their own so I’ll include them in here. Think of this as two mini blog posts in one!

Bournemouth in the sunshine

It wasn’t quite bikini weather

Last week I invited my sister to come and stay with me and my partner for a couple of days. We don’t see each other very often so it was a real treat to see her. To convince ourselves that we really were on holiday, we booked into a hotel in Bournemouth just for one night and got the train there from Southampton. We had loads of fun wandering around the town.

If you haven’t been to Bournemouth from Southampton yet, you really should try and go because it’s incredibly pretty and such a good day out when the sun is shining. Of course, being March it was bright sunshine in the morning but torrential rain in the afternoon, so we retreated to the hotel to make use of the spa services before going out to dinner.

Completely out of the blue I got a text from my Aunt yesterday saying that she and my cousins were going to be in Southampton for the evening and would I like to see them. Of course I immediately said yes and then panicked because one of my cousins is vegan and I am a die-hard carnivore so cooking for vegans isn’t something I do!

However a quick google for recipes and a trip to Sainsbury’s meant that I was able to whip up some vegan flautas and enchiladas and I was surprised at how tasty they were! It was a pleasure to see my cousins but more so to see their dog Nahla who is just the cutest thing.

Flaunting my flautas

I miss having pets so much – look how adorable she is!

That’s all for now – but remember, make sure you feedback to your lecturers to make sure that future students can benefit from your thoughts about your course!

Emma

A university field trip experience: Politics and International Relation in Brussels, Belgium

I went to Brussels as part of my Politics and Governance of the EU module last year. It is, most definitely, one of my most memorable experiences from my time at university so far. After spending a mere three days with people from the class, it surprised me how well one can really get on with those whom they’ve previously thought of as simply a familiar face they see from time to time in lectures.

The module’s aim is to provide students with a working knowledge of the history of European integration, of the main institutions of the EU and the EU policy process. The field trip was a stakeholder visit that allowed young people to discuss some of the key current issues confronting the EU’s future direction: its democratic legitimacy; its enlargement, the Eurozone crisis and other current challenges.

We made our own travel arrangements to and from London St Pancras. Thankfully the way there was smooth and I didn’t run late. We arrived 50 minutes before the train’s departure for security checks.

Belgian Waffles for 1 euro!

We stayed at the Sleep Well Youth Hostel. We were lucky as we didn’t have to sleep in mixed rooms with ten or twelve people per room! I packed lightly as we had to carry our bags with us all day on the Wednesday. The towels and toiletries (shampoo etc) aren’t provided at the hostel but we were able to borrow towels (for 1 Euro) which I did to save space in my bag.

Day 1

We must have arrived in Brussels around midday. We had lunch at a small restaurant at the Grand-Palace. I managed to get myself steak & chips and a beer for 10 Euros! Everywhere was pretty close, so after a short walk we made our way to the European Commission office. The Commission’s role is to defend the interests of the union. Its role on paper is to effectively the driving force of European integration.

Group picture at the European Parliament visit

Day 2

Our schedule was pretty jam packed on the second day. We spoke to a representative from the Committee of the Regions which gives voice to the regions and cities in the European Union. We found that there are 350 members from the 28 EU countries. When one thinks about the effort that must go through communicating through translations, you really can appreciate the challenges that Union has to go through.

What I enjoyed the most about this day was meeting with Jean-Christophe Filori. At the time of the visit, he was head of a unit that deals with Turkish issue of membership within the European Commission. The honesty of his opinion, that it is not accession that the EU prioritises but the consideration of whether the state in question follows the Copenhagen criteria first and foremost, was refreshing. You don’t have to agree with what they’re saying, but hearing the opinions of Brussels politicos nevertheless makes European politics less distant.

Inside the European Parliament

The field trip took place in spring. I must say that this was the perfect time to hold it as the weather in Brussels was absolutely divine! I must’ve averaged at 23 degrees with not a cloud in the sky! It was also fantastic of the trip conveners to let us have time to wander around the area. I think this is when the group most bonded.

Basking in the sun outside the European Commission office

 

Belgian Beer 101

Day 3

The last day was spent visiting the Eurochild office and the UK Representation in Brussels (COREPER- Committee of Permanent Representatives).

Eurochild is a network that promotes the rights and well-being of children and young people. Talking about the interests of young people in Europe was incredibly mind opening. Europe is a wealthy continent and has abundant resources to provide for children who will grow to make up the foundations of its society. However, at the time, the Euro crisis with Greece begged the question of whether or not the European Commission had time to consider other things in its agenda. I had the chance to mention this issue during the visit. It is true – the question of finance was indeed priority at the time, but what the EU must always keep in mind is investing in children is both a moral obligation and an economic priority. The youth are, after all, Europe’s solution to its ageing demographic.

The UK Representation in Brussels (COREPER- Committee of Permanent Representatives)

I would absolutely consider working in Brussels when I’m older. The UK has representatives working there. The picture above shows when we were given a talk about what policy making involved when working with the EU. In short, there are a lot of priorities that is considered. It is effectively a relationship based on bargaining and consolidations. But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing – Politics is the study of humans with differing opinions that is made to work through negotiations.

Free time spent at the Grand-Palace Square

You hear a lot of negative news about the European Union in the media. Britain leaving the EU (or ‘Brexit’ as some media outlets aptly put it) is once again becoming a hot topic in politics; the Conservative party adamant to hold an in and out referendum by 2017. Allowing us to have a first-hand meeting with the policy-makers within the Union made its complicated institutions a little less ‘mythical’. The field trip is an excellent example of how Southampton maximises the learning experience of its students.

A video of the trip!

The Department of Politics and International Relations (PAIR) and School of Social Sciences paid for our accommodation and travel. All we had to bring was our travel documents, money for the metro and for food. I wanted to mention once again my thanks to the department and to the University for financially supporting the trip – it really was just fantastic.

If your department offers a field trip like this, don’t miss the chance and take it. It will really make your university experience!

Rylyn

Jumping into the year ahead

Somehow - and I still don’t quite know when or how this happened - I woke up and it was late August. Whether you’re a third year at university or a third year in secondary school, you’ll recognise such a date to be the universal sign for summer basically being over.

No matter how you fight it, it always seems to just creep up out of nowhere, but I guess at least in realising it this time around I can start to put things in place for the new semester. Doing so is - surprisingly enough - actually pretty exciting when it comes round to it!

Maybe I’m just the kind of person that has a weird fondness for making to-do lists and generally getting myself organised, but even if you’re not, the thought of a complete change of pace from your home/work life must surely be enticing.

The new year at university always seems to offer so much adventure in such a small space of time, whether you’re a veteran like myself or totally new to the whole experience (that means you, incoming Freshers; congratulations and welcome to one of the greatest places on planet Earth!).

So anyway, I guess the question from here became: how does one get themselves ‘organised’ exactly? Well, with moving in still a long way off thanks to that significantly shorter housing contract I just had to have, thoughts became more focused on the academic side to things; preparing for my upcoming modules and making sure everything was in place mentally for the start of that first semester.

For those not yet aware, in a standard semester at Southampton your course is split into a series of what they call ‘modules’ - units of study, all about differing subjects within your main field. As far as my Film course goes for example, in the past I’ve delved into the delights of world cinema, women in film, and documentary, whilst other courses will obviously vary. English may have a module on Dickens and another on Shakespeare and Maths will probably have something on big numbers and… I don’t know, shapes or something. Maths was never my strong suit. My point is, you choose which modules interest you, and build your course through them.

 I think I find making to-do lists a little too fun...

The best way to prepare academically is to look forward at what modules you’ll be tackling first and doing some reading (or in my case, watching) around the subject. In fact, in some cases you might even have access to a module outline or reading list, meaning you can get a jump start on the actual things you’ll be studying. Otherwise, like me, it’s all about getting creative and reading around the topic. For example, ahead of my Music in Film module I’ve listened to so many film scores and arrangements that every ambient noise has just started to sound like a trumpet. Curse you, Hans Zimmer!

Then there’s the elephant in the room. Above all else academically speaking, third year means dissertation time - that gigantic essay I have the whole year to do but feel a bit weird going near since overall it’s actually pretty daunting. But this week I took the first proper leap and, believe it or not, I actually thoroughly enjoyed myself!

The dissertation may seem like a rather gargantuan undertaking, but it is ultimately about a subject of your choosing, meaning it’s, in reality, pretty easy to find interesting. This is what university is ultimately about after all - finding what you love and exploring it further. Gone are the days where work was just work: something you suffered through to reach an end-goal. Now it’s… well, fun!

With the first big step towards reconfiguring my brain now taken, it feels almost as if the new academic year couldn’t come soon enough.

Next on the list - a stationary run to Southampton’s finest on-campus bookshop John Smith’s, soon after which I will no doubt be drowning in post-it notes and funky marker pens. Now it’s begun, the excitement never stops.

Enjoy the final whispers of your summer and if you’re joining us in September for the first time, don’t be afraid to say hey! It all starts here - after all, to paraphrase a formerly popular and now extinct mobile service provider: the future is indeed bright.

Ben

Building a portfolio

After nearly eighteen years of education, from early homework assignments in Primary School to the full-blown essays, lab reports and dissertations of University, there was a surreal feeling in the air as I clicked the “Submit Assignment” button for the very last time.

It’s become very much second nature to check a diary of some sort and to see assignments aplenty staring back, so knowing that the final deadline had been met was a mixture of relief tinged with a weird sense of sadness. Now, with only two exams left, it feels like I’m on the home stretch of University and academia as a whole – slightly terrifying, but equally (if not more so) exciting!

My relief mainly came from getting through what’s usually the most challenging spell of the academic year, when assignments can often start to pile up. This three or four week period after Easter and just before exams is what everybody comes to know as ‘deadline season’, when every module competes to set deadlines which give you enough time to assimilate and apply the material covered before the holidays, while still allowing you enough time to actually produce the work. There’s plenty to get done, as reflected in the number of fellow students flocking to the ever-useful Hartley Library!

The result can often be something of a mad rush to keep on top of lots of assignments at once, particularly when the topics covered are as eclectic and interesting as those I’ve experienced. It’s sometimes quite difficult not to get so into one assignment, researching it more and enjoying it, that you neglect the others you’re tasked with, like with a design module I recently undertook - I spent most of my time on drawing up interface sketches, and nearly forgot about the written report element!

Likewise, deadline season is one of those times where the more you get done in advance (for example, at home over Easter – easier said than done when there are so many distractions!), the less pressure you’ll be under when the deadline date looms. Luckily, although I’d be the first to confess most of my Easter was spent reading for pleasure and career-researching, not to mention catching up with very important television, I’d covered enough ground with my work that I’ve been dealing with a very manageable workload. The end result of it all, though, is hopefully something I can be proud of.

I think one thing which people perhaps might not associate with my course in Software Engineering as part of the School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) is a surprisingly vast element of creativity. Quite often you’re tasked with quite an open project brief and asked to apply the theoretical aspects you’ve learned to an idea you might have. The end result is usually a project that’s personal to you, featuring your own creative input, while also academically quite progressive, and in this way you begin to build up this portfolio of ideas which even, one day, might be taken forward commercially (with the permission of the University), giving you plenty to talk about in conversations and interviews alike.

This isn’t just your dissertation or research projects, although these generally form the crux of such discussions – having spent so long on it last year, I still feel like I could talk for hours about my work on automated camera selection in footage of theatrical shows!

From first year assignments, where we were tasked with building a personal and professional website (although I’ve not quite updated it since!), to creative programming exercises including an app which produces solvable crosswords (a few late nights went into that one – I kept getting distracted by playing!), to research-based tasks like one I recently handed in (the design of a biometrics-based feature extractor and classifier), the ball is very often in your court.

The traditional celebratory ‘hand-in selfie’ my group took following our Group Design Project submission in January, featuring many bleary eyes!

It’s this sense of personal attachment which not only makes coursework assignments so interesting (particularly in terms of that link between course content and your own ideas), but which also drives you to want to achieve the best results you can – if more out of personal satisfaction than anything! Although not every coursework assignment follows this format, and you probably won’t enjoy every single one (I’ve always struggled with some of the heavier Maths-based content, for instance), it’s great to have such a variety, particularly in terms of the skills you pick up along the way.

And so, with only exams left to revise for before I face the real world, I’m glad to say I’m relatively proud of the portfolio I’ve amassed, and look forward to trying to present it in future interviews. That is, once I stop getting distracted by that crossword generator…!

Robin

Project presentations and birthday celebrations

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I recently handed in my BSc Biology Third Year Project which has a weight of two modules worth of credit towards my degree. Included in the final mark for your project are the marks you get for presenting your work to a panel of lecturers. Last week I had my Third Year Project presentation which, while feeling slightly nervous, I actually really enjoyed doing. It was fun to talk about the work I had been doing for the past year. The presentation had to be within a five minute limit which is surprisingly challenging. There’s an awful lot you could talk about regarding your project; from background knowledge, your methods, the results, statistical tests, the discussion and importance of your work, ideas for future research, and more! The list is long, so trying to organise everything I wanted to get across into the five minute limit took some preparation - but in the end I think I succeeded quite well.

While I was a little nervous, I think being President of a society for the past two years has really helped my oral communication skills. I think speaking in front of a group of people only gets easier with practise, although when talking to members of a society you’re not being marked which makes it much less intimidating but still great practise nonetheless.

The actual presentation went by in a flash. After speaking for five minutes we then had about five minutes of question time during which the panel could ask you about something they were particularly curious about. Your ability to answer the questions was also marked. Then it was all finished! Both my coursemate and I still felt a rush of adrenaline after we finished our presentations, and luckily we could get rid of the left over nerves and energy in a kickboxing session. This was a lot of fun, especially because we had missed the past two weeks because of all the deadlines.

After doing well in the presentation I really wanted to celebrate, but with additional deadlines and exams around the corner it’s really time to focus. However, on Friday it was birthday (with so much going on I had actually almost completely forgotten about it!). My housemates suggested we go out to eat to celebrate, which was fun. They also surprised me with a present and cake back at the house.

It’s been a while since we were all together because everyone has been so incredibly busy with third-year work. We also started talking about when each of us has our last exams and dates we’re planning on moving out. I’ve become really comfortable sharing a house with these girls for the past two years, so it’s going to feel really weird packing up all our stuff, cleaning the house and leaving it ready for a new group of students to move in.

In the end one of my housemates, who also is on the same course as me, managed to convince me to go on a night out to celebrate too. I guess seeing as we had both just done our presentations earlier in the week we felt it could be justified, and so I had a really fun birthday despite being very busy!

Me and my housemate/coursemate (who I’ll also be travelling around Europe with after exams), can’t wait!

Exams begin in just over a week, so revision mode is on. Knowing I’ll soon be preparing for a trip around Europe is a good incentive to work hard for a bit longer and then enjoy some free time to travel.

Kristin

Deadline day

Wow, what a week! The first week back at university after any holiday is usually busy, but none have been quite as crammed full as the week just gone. It began with moving back to down to Southampton for the final time, knowing that the next time I pack up my things into the back of a car, it will be my last day in this city that I have learnt to call home.

However, there was very little time to reminisce on my time at Southampton, as I had plenty of other things to be thinking about. The most pertinent of these was the deadline for my Masters project that was rushing towards me. Thankfully, due to the hard work I had put in over Easter, my project was well on the road to being finished before I came back. It only required the completion of the final two chapters, the addition of a few paragraphs here and there and a final read-through.

The final trip down to Southampton 

It’s remarkable to think that at the start of the year I barely knew what an active galactic nuclei (AGN) was and yet, seven months later, I have completed a research project that proposes new ideas for the field of AGN astronomy. There’s a saying in science that the day you submit a scientific paper, you are the world expert in the field you have written about. I certainly wouldn’t call myself an expert yet, but I do feel like I understand this subject more than any other branch of physics I’ve studied (except perhaps for my true passion: medical physics).

After several hours of checking and double-checking my report, to the point where I started to question even the simplest spelling, I finally submitted my project electronically, a day before the deadline. Submitting a piece of work that you’re proud of is always a nice feeling, but this time it was also accompanied with some sadness. This was the last piece of coursework I had to submit and, despite the incredible workload it required, I will miss working on my Masters project.

The deadline came just in time for my birthday! Although my birthday is actually this week, I celebrated it with my university friends at the weekend, because it meant that my sister and some of her friends could join us. After spending the afternoon relaxing at home, we then went clubbing in the evening and had a great time, helped by the fact that there were so many of us!

The next day I then went into the city centre to watch the new Avengers film with my housemates, having been assured that the fact I’ve not seen most of the previous Marvel films (with the exception of the Iron Man trilogy) wouldn’t make a difference. This turned out to be true and the film, combined with our fast food indulgence afterwards, proved to a great birthday outing!

As tempting as it was, I didn’t wear my Iron Man costume to the cinema! 

Now that my Masters project is finished, I can turn my full attention to revision and prepare for the exams that are now less than a month away. This week I also have a Viva (an interview for my project) to look forward to, so although a deadline has passed, I think I will be equally busy in the week ahead – which, to be honest, is just that way I like it!

James

Why so far away from home?

It’s probably the most common question I’ve had from friends and family ever since I chose to come to the University of Southampton  four years ago, which somehow simultaneously seems both a short and long time ago! “Why so far away from home?” But, hailing from the North-West and thus a five-hour journey away, it’s a fairly good one as… well, you don’t get much more South than Southampton!

All jokes about moving as far away from my parents as possible aside (although they haven’t let me forget it!), this distance from home has been a defining feature of my University experience as a whole. And, as with everything, it has its advantages and, occasionally, disadvantages, but I’m glad to say it’s a gamble that was well worth taking. I’ve had a fantastic three (and two thirds!) years on the South coast, and am looking forward to a great final term there to boot.

Making the journey back last week to head back up North for some rest and recuperation did invoke a curious feeling. It’s not that I wasn’t excited; I’ve had more home-cooked food here in a week than I managed in the whole of last semester! But when the two lives you’ve led – the Northern life and the Southern life – have so little crossover (I was only one of two from my school year to go to Southampton!), it is an odd sensation to transition between them, well aware that the other one will continue on regardless. With five hours on a train, there’s a lot of time in which to ponder! But, to allay any fears you might have reading this, this curious feeling vanishes the second you see everyone at the station, at your house or in the city again; there’s nothing quite like seeing friends, family and, in my case, cats, again, sharing stories of what’s gone on (although there are different stories suitable for different people)!

In that sense, nothing ever really feels like it’s changed at all, and it’s amazingly easy just to slip back into old routines, friendships and groups and go bowling, see a film or grab a meal together. My school friends’ tradition of regular curry house trips well and truly lives on, and we appreciate it more than ever!

This week, as a break from revision, I’ve gone back to helping to stack hay bales on the farm – with a little help!

In that sense, I’m an extremely lucky individual, in that I have a brilliant set of friends both in the North and in the South of the country and so almost always have someone to call on. It’s not even that the two communities are as distant as I imagined they would be when I arrived so many moons ago – the wonders of webcam chats, texts and, most frequently, social networks, all go a long way to bridge that gap, keeping me ever-connected and chatting with people from all over the country, and making sure we don’t get out of touch. Well, not too often, at least - I do sometimes forget to text my parents back. Sorry Mum!

But the question remains: why Southampton in the first place? For me, I think it’s just because, ever since I visited on an Open Day and follow-up departmental day (which is definitely the best way to get a sense of any University, so I’d hugely recommend attending one here if you’ve a decision to make!), it’s just felt right. The course seemed (and has continued to be) brilliant, the facilities comprehensive, and, best of all, the campus homely.

As somebody who values their home comforts and who hadn’t had any experience of independent living before moving away, this was a critical factor for me. Once I got the sense that I could feel at home in Southampton, surrounded by friendly folk, a beautiful campus and great facilities (the Students’ Union shop remains one of my favourite buildings on campus!), I knew it was the University for me – largely because the well-stocked campus, surrounding area and community would make it nearly impossible to be lonely!

Although, nearly four years later, I still do once in a while find myself missing life at home ever so slightly (and vice versa when I’m back there, and I see there’s stuff happening in Southampton – stop having fun without me, guys!), it’s more than compensated for by the fact that, at both places, I feel like I have an incredibly inspiring, supportive and warm place in which to live every day: a home from home, if you will.

Although I knew from the start that I wouldn’t be able to pop home every other week with my dirty laundry, I’m hugely glad I took on that extra challenge and went for Southampton. If anything, it’s made me throw myself into the real world and learn even more than I probably would have done at a closer university, particularly alongside my flatmates in first year (the perfect time to experiment with stuff, as nobody really knows how to live independently!). Suffice to say we committed more than our fair share of cooking atrocities!

You’ll never know until you’ve seen for yourself how much distance from home, or indeed any other factor, should play a part in your decision, so if you’re considering universities now or for the future, I can’t recommend enough trying the virtual tour on the University of Southampton website or, better still, coming along and seeing the city for yourself! Who knows? Maybe your gut will point you to your home from home!

Robin

Into Industry: the Software Engineering Group Design Project

Phew! Just days after the (thankfully pretty successful!) conclusion of the performances of Romeo & Juliet by the Students’ Union’s Theatre Group in the Nuffield Theatre last week, I find myself thrown back into the directing chair for the next project, the Spring season show for the musical theatre society, Showstoppers. Called The Drowsy Chaperone, it opens in two and a half weeks, leading me to ask:

“Where on earth is the time going - and how is it nearly the end of February?!”

I know it’s a cliché, but I’ve found that time really does fly when you’re at university, particularly when there’re so many interesting things to be absorbed by along with so many ways to fill every day. Be they shows, projects, trips away or coursework assignments, it always seems that one day you’ll find yourself agreeing to take something on . Weeks of planning, meetings and effort later, you’ll be finishing it off, eventually leaving you wondering what actually filled all that flash of a time in between!

This was recently the case for me and my group with our Group Design Project, the Electronics and Computer Science equivalent of a Masters’ dissertation. As I wrote last time around, last week saw the conclusion of everybody’s projects with final presentations and Q&A sessions. Afterwards, we all headed to the Turner Sims Concert Hall on campus for a poster display and buffet event, where we got to chat to other groups about their achievements as teams since the start of the year.

As ever, the lure of a free buffet also helped bring people along to the session!

One common theme subject amongst these talks was just how quickly the overall timescale had seemed to shoot by. Given how we were assigned our project briefs at the end of September, all derived from problems in various scientific or commercial industries with real-world clients providing professional specifications, you’d think three or four months is plenty of time to put together a product.

However, if there’s one thing the project taught us, it’s that it’s seemingly impossible to account for just how much else goes on in that time, both in terms of academic activities, other commitments, and unexpected delays, and just how quickly time passes when all you need is for it to slow down!

Therefore it was incredible to see just how much people had achieved, with many a display of excellent work on show at the event. From interactive advertisement performance monitoring systems - which were positively stuffed with features - to electronic implementations of safety inspection forms which had already been put to practical use around buildings and worked to splendid effect, as well as others like systems for improving communications within airports (on an incredible scale!), the variety of work at the event was huge and made for many an intriguing conversation, particularly as, three months into beginning developing, we were all talking in terms relevant to our new found industries and thus had a lot to explain to one another!

On the whole, it was inspiring to see, with teams showcasing commendable levels of creativity, diligence and professionalism in delivering some outstanding systems in such a short space of time. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to suggest that the majority of projects will end up going forwards commercially, which is a testament to just how well many groups performed, and just how close to industry the experience of the Group Design Project really is.

A huge number of brilliant projects were on display at the Turner Sims Concert Hall on posters abound!

As for our group, we were ultimately very pleased with the end result and had a brilliant experience in putting it together. With a few tweaks here and there, we believe we've provided a firm basis for future work in the development of a remote hearing test phone application. This was done through liaison with the on-campus Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR) Centre, and hopefully will go on to have huge benefits for clients’ quality of life in the future – fingers crossed!

So as I head now firmly into job application season, and potentially thence into industry, it’s been a great experience having a taste of what a professional development life is like, providing another string to my metaphorical employability bow and another project to place in the portfolio. Thanks to all involved with the Group Design Project’s organisation and that of the wrap-up event itself – and congratulations to everybody on its completion!

Now, back to directing those Chaperone rehearsals…!

Robin

Getting back into the groove of university life

I’m writing this blog post after completing my first assessment of semester two, which feels bizarre to say as it seems like we’ve only just started the semester! The assessment in question was a piece of group work for my Space Plasma Physics module that counts towards the coursework portion of the overall course mark. The assessment consisted of being split into predetermined groups of four in the lecture room and having to answer three questions that cover the topics learned over the last few weeks.

Usually Physics coursework consists of problem sheets that you can take away and work on for a week, but this is the first time I’ve had this kind of in-class assessment (except for the mid-semester tests of first year). Naturally this method is a lot harder, but it does give good practice for exams (not that I haven’t had enough over my four years!) and the nature of the questions require a lot of approximations to be made, which for scientists is a great skill to acquire.

Three weeks in to this semester and I feel like I am on top of all my modules and I am especially enjoying the Nanoscience module, which I was a little unsure about taking because it is a collaboration between the Physics and Chemistry departments. In addition to my modules, my Master’s project has progressed a fair bit; the most important development being the production of our first plots and thus our first results! I have also begun to write my final report - 500 words down, only 7,000 more to go!

In addition to getting back into the swing of doing university work and assessments, my extracurricular activities have restarted. I was looking forward to the first Art Society (ArtSoc) meeting of the new semester all the way throughout exams because it was the return of the cheese, wine and charcoal night that I missed last time around.

Anyone who knows me will tell you how much I love cheese, so it was no coincidence that I was the first to arrive, even beating the committee! Since it was the first event after everyone had returned from the Christmas holidays, the evening was mainly a chance to socialise and an excuse to pig out on cheese and wine. Naturally that meant that very little drawing was actually accomplished!

The first of many plates! 

Unfortunately I couldn’t make it to the following session, so the next Artsoc event I attended was this week’s Valentine’s Day-themed arts and crafts session. Seeing as my girlfriend reads this blog I won’t disclose exactly what I made, but I can tell you it took me an hour to assemble and involved a lot of cutting and gluing!

After the session had ended we began our first social of the new semester, which, after a brief stop in the University pub, saw us heading into Portswood to visit a fancy cocktail bar, where we enjoyed their 2-for-1 deals!

Susu (the Students' Union resident cat) came to take part in the Valentine’s Day fun, but sadly she declined to join us on the social afterwards! 

Although the last few weeks have definitely been some of the busiest of my University life, I have somehow still managed to squeeze in plenty of relaxing and socialising too. Getting back into the groove of University life has made me realise just how much I will miss the University, and Southampton in general, when I come to graduate in the summer.

James

My final semester and module variety

This week marks the beginning of my final semester at the University of Southampton. In my third year I no longer have any compulsory modules and have been lucky enough to choose modules that best suit my interests. This new semester includes an applied plant biology module, a module with a focus on the relationship between ecology and evolution and a module on how current global issues such as climate change impact biological systems. In addition to these three modules, I’m also continuing work on my third year project in which I’ve been looking at both phenotypic and genetic aspects of stomatal patterning in Poplar, a forest tree seen as having a large potential as a more sustainable feedstock for biofuels.

Now that exams have officially ended, I’ve also had more time to catch up with my housemates (everyone has been pretty busy with exams ever since we came back after the Christmas break). I’ve known my housemates since my first year at the University and have mentioned them a few times in previous posts. So, I thought that it may be interesting for you to read a little bit about what some of them are doing in their final semesters and what life at Southampton is like for students on other courses!

One of my housemates who is studying Audiology at Southampton has recently begun her placement. She’s been gaining practical work experience such as testing patients’ hearing and fitting them with hearing aids and has been practising skills that she learnt over the past couple of years during her course.

Another one of my housemates who is in her third year of studying the University of Southampton’s Geology course has recently handed in a large mapping project which equates to two modules worth of credits (similar to the weight of my third year project). Over the summer, she and others from her course spent about six weeks in Petrich, Bulgaria where they needed to map the area for each of their projects. Other areas where students could chose to go to and map in included Oban in Scotland, Skye in Northern Scotland, Spain and Romania.

During her time in Bulgaria she and the other students who chose to map in that area also had the opportunity to visit two copper mines which she said was both really interesting and useful for their projects. They stayed in the village houses owned by the locals who knew very little English, so she said they quickly picked up simple Bulgarian phrases in order to communicate with their hosts. They also adapted to local ways of living during their stay, including their diets (which was mainly meat-based), and learnt a bit about their local traditions and habits. It sounds like an amazing experience abroad, and it must feel really good to now have finished and handed in such a large project! It's one of the many chances students get to study abroad at Southampton.

A photo of my housemate which was taken in their mapping area. 

I’m a little envious of her trip to Bulgaria but I was also lucky enough to travel over the summer when I went to Italy to collect part of the data for my third year project.

Anyway, on a separate note, with the new semester beginning, my course mate and I attended our first Chinese kickboxing class this week which we really enjoyed. It’s fun trying something new and with this being our last semester it’s great to take the opportunity. I’m not going to lie, we both have a lot of room for improvement (we are both total beginners!) but I’m excited to see how we’ll improve our strength and coordination over the term.

Lastly, to current students at the University of Southampton, I thought I’d also mention that the University is in the process of looking for another blogger to join the team! More details can be found on the University’s blog. It’s a great opportunity to earn a little bit of extra money, gain employed writing experience and enhance your CV! Why not give it a go?

Kristin