Saturday 28 September 2013

The year ahead

A couple of people - and I do mean a couple only - have asked where my blog went. Apparently they enjoyed reading it, and so in deference to them I continue. This year, and the next, will be my last two at Aberdeen - after which perhaps I can settle down somewhere and stop moving every 12 months. It gets very tiring.

This term I have a couple of exciting courses to get my teeth into; Science in Society, Atheism (oh boy, this is going to be interesting) and French Emblems. I've also scored Fridays off completely, so for the next twelve weeks it's a three-day weekend. That I will be working through. Obviously.

Work is another interesting matter. I have been offered two jobs; neither of which by themselves are enough to live on but, together, will stretch me to my limit. I'm really excited to see how we progress, and if I can summon the strength to get back to the grind.

I'm well installed in my flat; there is a chess set on a central table and shelves groaning beneath the weight of dictionaries, bibles, and The Lord of the Rings. There's also a poster that I need to get round to hanging: the entire text of Hamlet on one sheet of paper.

This week has been hectic and nocturnal as I volunteered for the 4th time in our Freshers' Week: 8 days of shepherding freshers about the city, rescuing them from foam parties, and bumping into two-ex girlfriends at the same club night. The latter part doesn't happen every year, I'll point out, but to bump into the both of them on the same night seemed unhappily like Fate was messing with me. However; it was very amicable - I suppose it's one happy note that none of my breakups have ever been dramatically awful.

The week has gone as smoothly as you would expect the mass movement of nearly 1,400 new students to go. All the volunteers are amazing, and it's so incredible to come back from a year out and see so many familiar faces - some old hands, and some who I distinctly remember moving into their halls the year before last. As always there were hiccups, and sometimes those hiccups were literal hiccups followed by literal vomit, but it turns out that people are genuinely good-hearted and helpful. Hungry freshers shared food with people they'd only just met, scarves and jumpers passed from the prepared to the underdressed, and queue-jumpers were roundly shouted out.

Next year will be, heartbreakingly, my last opportunity. I can only hope it's as good as it's been this year.