Haven’t blogged for quite a while because…phew…I’ve been involved with so much stuff! So here’s a quick jog through them. There’s obviously university lectures which I *cough* always attend *cough*. We’re rapidly approaching the stage where we are going to start doing stuff I already haven’t covered in India, in some of the course. The next few weeks leading up to Christmas promise more to be become slightly more intensive as far as academics are concerned. One subject that is really challenging for a lot of us (including me) who have never done electronics practicals in school are the electronics labs; they’ve been designed around the premise that the students are already competent to A-Level UK curriculum electronics. Can be quite a steep learning curve when they expect you to run before you walk. However, our sweet professors are quite receptive to feedback and things are already in motion to change this next year so that a basic introduction is done for everyone. Thank this batch, future students.
Also on a slightly academic note are my Spanish language classes. This is an optional add-on that you can take on, and the language course credits are added extra to your degree. Class strength has dropped by half compared to the first week. Our Spanish professor claims that he was either Fernando Alonso’s teacher or butler – my Spanish isn’t nearly good enough for me to comprehend which of the two is it. I get along fine as far as writing / reading is concerned, but speaking / listening can really puzzle a lot of us in class. Hopefully, the full week break next week (oh yeah, I’ve mid-sem holiday!) will help catch up.
Moving on to other stuff. I got a job on campus with the University’s CoLab team. Basically, it’s about conducting workshops on various fields related to personal development, creative approaches to education, et al. They pay more than twice the minimum wage, so it’s really sweet! 🙂 No wonder that 42 (I kid you not) people applied for 4 vacancies.
I’m the copy editor at the student union newspaper The Stag. It’s a fortnightly publication (and soon to available online) covering events on campus and around Guildford, along with a few special features. Boy, the amount of time that went into the final design stage of the latest issue was tiring…but at the end we had this academic year’s first issue. Will work on getting basic stuff online after coming back from the supermarket today, but The Stag team is working on a proper online edition. Read the latest issue online above (my bio is on page 4).
Without a doubt though the thing I’ve gotten most involved with right now is MAD TV. That’s a student TV society which currently publishes student news programmes online (but we plan to expand to diverse shows next year). Made some amazing friends, both at MAD TV and The Stag.
I’m involved with the technical side of things – filming, editing, sound. Again, it’s run completely by students – we’re a committed group of around 20 – and it’s been quite a ride. Shoots can be quite exhausting with those involved all but ready to give up by the end of the day. MAD TV has really taken off this year and we’ve been learning right from day 1. We’re constantly working on improving everything from the stories to the technical aspects of the shows we release, so watch out in the coming weeks!
Watch Episode 4 of MAD TV (Part of technical team for ‘Change on Campus’ story)
Watch Episode 5 of MAD TV (I worked on filming / editing the ‘Surrey Sports Park’ story)
As I mentioned, there’s a mid-sem break coming up next week. Will use that to catch up on work. Might also use it to push out a few blog posts which have been in the works for a while. Learn a bit of proper cooking. Upload more pictures, including ones from the national UKSEDS 2009 space conference that our uni hosted this weekend. Catch up with friends back in India. Complete the assignment we have to submit! Continue balancing everything I’m involved with at uni. 🙂
There are a few words which I tend to repeat a lot., don’t I?
2 replies on “To entertain, amuse and inform”
When I read this post, I miss my college days. It’s really interesting to read them. Anyway your magazine looks good. Keep going
Thank you!