Ah! Delays delays delays! My intention was to update this blog once a week, but obviously that hasn't happened. I ran into some visa problems which created a great deal of stress, and this blog was the last thing I wanted to deal with. Things are a bit more sorted now though, which is fantastic. On that note, I'd just like to say that the International Student Advisory Service at Brookes is really amazing, and I don't know what I'd have done without their help, advice, and support. Absolutely fantastic.
And since we're talking about visas, due to the issues I'm having (which are extensive and absurd; if you're an American applying for a student visa from within the UK, speak with ISAS before you apply, and actually, probably just go back to the US and apply there), I have had to back out of the Frankfurt trip. This is very disappointing, but there's not much I can do about it. There's always the London Book Fair though.
So I'm at Brookes now! Those of us living in halls moved in last weekend; I moved in to Cheney Student Village on Sunday. That ended up being quite the busy day what with the move and all, and that was followed by a meet and greet at a pub called The Cape of Good Hope, where some of the incoming students met up with the ones who have just finished. The event was a hit, and it was really great to have that chance to meet people on my course, and ask the old students questions. It was also the beginning of a very strange time for me, as a surprising number of people recognized me. Ros (the publishing senior tutor, who is amazing) had started up a Facebook group for us, and apparently the fact that I started the first topic combined with a really clear profile picture meant that loads of people recognized me. It was a bit odd, but fantastic as well since it acted like an ice breaker and helped me meet a lot more people than I think I otherwise would have.
So that was Sunday. Monday we had free, so I went into town with a couple other Publishing students from Cheney in search of a Sainsbury's. Tuesday we had enrolment, where we got our library cards and computer passwords. Enrolment was followed by a 3-hour information session in the Buckley Building for everyone on a Publishing MA (there are several different ones), which was in turn followed by drinks and mingling. After that we realized it was someone's birthday, so some of us went off to the pub. Wednesday and Thursday were IT sessions, introducing us to uni resouces and some of the software we'll be using. Today was just for visa nationals; we had to go to the Main Hall on Gipsy Lane to get our passports and visas scanned (this was a surprisingly painless process due to the complete lack of a queue).
Things are already quite busy, and it's obvious this semester is going to be quite go go go. We already have our first assignment for Marketing, which is to go around to a variety of local bookshops and take a look at the different ways they market books. Oh, on Wednesday we also had a work experience/CV workshop, which they said they generally don't hold this early, but needed to this year because Blackwells wants students for work experience more or less NOW, and they're hosting a tea and biscuits thing for us next Friday, 1st October. Harper Collins is coming on the 11th, I think? So it's all getting a bit real as we realize work experience and assignments aren't some vague time in the future, they're NOW. It is exciting though.
I've met a lot of my fellow students so far (thank you, Facebook!), and though I have a long way to go to remember everyone's names, that's coming along. And so far, everyone is absolutely fantastic. Everyone is nice and welcoming and helpful and just really easy to get along with. The lecturers I've met so far seem to be largely the same. I found out the other day that my personal tutor is Beverley Tarquini, who is head of the various Publishing MAs, so that's exciting. She interviewed me back in March and was generally fantastic. I'm also excited about having her as my tutor because I want to go in to editing, which is exactly where her experience lies.
The only bad thing I have to say about my experience so far is that I wish the bus stop was a little bit closer to Cheney, but to be honest, that's just me being lazy; it's not THAT far.
It is a bit intimidating thinking about all the work I have ahead of me, but it's exciting as well.
