Tag Archives: students

Strange happenings at the University of Newcastle recall scenes from 1984 (Rousse)

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Dreamaticus

TPR and I called in for breakfast at my sister S’s hall of residence at Newcastle University. Each morning Barton Hall put out an elaborate spread for its undergraduates and I couldn’t resist returning to the buffet for yet another … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged action, bar, barton, battle, bell, buffet, building, cereal, cheese, classes, cream, department, doors, dorm, film 1984, food, foot, formation, George Orwell, hall, March, movie, names, Newcastle, Northumbria, residence, resist, seat, spread, squads, staff, strange, students, teaching, toast, troops, tutor, undergraduates, university, walls | Leave a comment

Efforts for an A grade student (Rousse)

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I called to DT that I’d see her at the revolving door so that we could head home together. Then I thought that I had better check my office before I left. The PhD applicants who had unexpectedly turned up … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academic, applicants, door, home, mess, office, PhD, recruit, room, students, tidy, work | Leave a comment

Magic tables only a partial solution to University accommodation problems (Rousse)

Posted on January 4, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I was dismayed over the state of my accommodation. I had been allocated a tiny desk squeezed into the corner of a large computer lab populated by PhD students. My computer and printer took up most of the desk’s surface … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academic, academics, accommodation, chat, computer, conditions, corner, desk, dismay, furniture, lab, leg, legs, magic, opportunity, partial, PhD, printer surface, problem, problems, solution, space, spare, student, students, table, tables, tea, technician, tray, university, Vice Principal, wall, woe, woes, work | Leave a comment

A puffin child prodigy (Rousse)

Posted on November 6, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Although I’d given up my gym membership long ago, from time to time I still popped into Virgin Active at Edinburgh’s Omni Centre. This was largely because I liked sitting in the café and pretending that it was my own … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged baby, cafe, cardboard, chair, child, club, Edinburgh, folder, folders, gym, membership, mother, Omni Centre, placement, private, prodigy, psychic, puffin, rott, rotten, son, students, talents, tomato, tomatoes, toy, toys, undergraduates, Virgin Active | Leave a comment

Rate my professor: Rousse is doing fine

Posted on October 10, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I knew that I should never have mentioned the test: just 6 students turned up for my Thursday morning Knowledge Management class. Determined to hunt the rest of them down, I prowled the corridors. Perhaps they were with JB? If … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged campus, class, corridors, job, knowledge management, magazine, morning, profile, Rae my professor, rate my lecturer, student association, students, test, Thursday | Leave a comment

Foil-wrapped Easter bunnies prove more interesting than professorships (Rousse)

Posted on September 22, 2013 by Dreamaticus

We ejected the two students from the table and got down to business. Our newly-appointed bearded colleague contributed much to the discussion. This was just what we hoped for when we took the decision to recruit external experienced staff on … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged appointment, appointments, beard, birthday, bunnies, bunny, cafeteria, experience, foil, parents, present, presents, professor, professors, professorship, professorships, promotion, rabbit, rabbits, staff, student, students, table, university | Leave a comment

Unwise words and a Christmas tragedy on the Thames (Rousse)

Posted on September 15, 2013 by Dreamaticus

“How awful that your daughter-in-law’s father is a crook, and that her mother is a burnt-to-a-crisp, over-tanned, airhead shopaholic!” said N. More awful was that she uttered these words while (unknowingly) sitting right next to the daughter-in-law in question. This … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accident, airhead, balcony, bar, Birmingham, blood, boatman, car, catch, celebrate, celebration, celebrations, Christmas, city, colleagues, crook, daughter-in-law, death, die, drink, drive, drown, fall, family, faux pas, invitation, jelly beans, jetty, ladder, London, motorboat, motorboats, neck, party, pub, red, shopaholic, skyline, slip, students, tan, Thames, toilets, tragedy, water, wine bar | Leave a comment

The conference trap (Rousse)

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I was trapped at yet another dreary conference for PhD students. By Day 2 most people had given up on the programme and headed back to their offices to get on with some “real” work. Unfortunately for me, I was … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged auditorium, breakfast, chemistry, children, colleague, conference, CPD, distraction, doctoral, dreary, food, foodstuffs, format, librarians, office, offices, paper, papers, PhD, programme, Scottish, stage, student, students, technical, training, work | Leave a comment

Brad Pitt’s summer secrets (Rousse)

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Brad Pitt had managed to remain incognito for much of his visit – many of the students had simply not recognised that we had a Hollywood superstar in our midst – but soon he would be returning home. I’d really … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Brad Pitt, career, company, Hollywood, home, incognito, miss, photograph, Raiders of the Lost Ark, secret, secrets, Star Wars, students, summer, superstar, Thelma and Louise, visit | Leave a comment

The fish-eating fake vegan (Rousse)

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Dreamaticus

My office-mate was up to his usual annoying habits, behaving as if he had exclusive use of our shared room. He’d taken my poster off the door and replaced it with a congratulatory banner for his final year class. He … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged banner, bean, class, congratulations, corridor, eat, fake, fish, habit, habits, house, kidney, kidney bean, lock, mackerel, office, office-mate, peas, poster, rice, room, smoked, stew, students, supper, vegan, white | Leave a comment