Tag Archives: undergraduate

A hall of residence for horses (Rousse)

Posted on May 22, 2018 by Dreamaticus

I stabled the grey mare in my new hall of residence bedroom with a degree of reluctance. First I was dubious as to the ‘legality’ of keeping a horse on campus. I also harboured concerns over my skills as a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bedroom, car, conversation, curry, diner, dinner, Driffield, driver, driving, friend, grey, hall of residence, horse, horsewoman, house, hug, mare, operation, parent, polite, pregnancy, ride, school, skill, student, TPR, undergraduate, university | Leave a comment

A Star Trek screening and a sick bed sanctuary (Rousse)

Posted on March 14, 2018 by Dreamaticus

I was in no fit state to trek across the mountains after my operation, but TPR made me do this so that he could watch Star Trek films at the university cinema, snuggled up to a couple of women, who … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bed, beeline, building, bus, campus, change, cinema, extra, fit, home, HR, mountain, operation, pay, sanctuary, screen, screening, sick, snuggle, Star Trek, stop, TPR, trek, undergraduate, university, women, work | Leave a comment

Fried eggs and a friendship fractured (Rousse)

Posted on March 8, 2018 by Dreamaticus

My friendship with Belle was over, and it was all my fault. I invited two extra women that I barely knew to visit, even though Belle was meant to be my guest of honour. At the time we were also … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged alarm, angry, ballgown, breakfast, burglar, cook, corner, door, Dundas Street, egg, fix, flat, fracture, fried, friendship, fry, furious, green, guest, honour, Indian, lose, man, Nantes, pan, promise, punk, red-haired, swear, thin, toast, undergraduate, work | Leave a comment

Charity shop Whimsies and a sand slide bring joy to the office (Rousse)

Posted on December 12, 2017 by Dreamaticus

My new office space was appalling. I was shown to a tiny table with a computer at the end end of a long narrow room that accommodated around a dozen academics and research students. On the blue desk next to … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academic, assessment, charity, class, computer, desk, distraction, joy, meeting, miss, noisy, office, open access, PhD, research, risk, room, sand, shop, slide, student, table, training, undergraduate, Whimsie | Leave a comment

Disco dancing in only one shoe (Rousse)

Posted on November 3, 2017 by Dreamaticus

A huge mix of people came to the end of term disco. Many were my current work colleagues (e.g. KT and AD), and amongst them were friends from undergraduate days (e.g. JG, GW). I found the whole set-up rather uncomfortable. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bar tender, colleague, dance, disco, drink, equipmeny, Manor Ball, practice, pub quiz, shoe, snow, undergraduate, work | Leave a comment

A rescue from classroom chaos (Rousse)

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Dreamaticus

The classroom was in chaos. Bowls of soup dropped down from the ceiling. My ex-colleague KB had prepared far too much for a one-hour class, and I was unconvinced that colouring-in was an appropriate undergraduate activity. JM came to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ceiling, chaos, class, classroom, colleague, colouring-in, embrace, hand, madness, rescue, room, soup, undergraduate, walk | Leave a comment

The value of writing concisely (Rousse)

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Dreamaticus

‘The greatest skill that we learnt as undergraduates’ announced JS to the audience seated before her on rows of hard wooden chairs ‘Is how to write concisely. I can turn one person’s long-winded paragraph into three neat sentences – as … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged chair, class, concise, daughter, France, holiday, paragraph, PhD, row, scene, sentence, student, undergraduate, video, wood, write | Leave a comment

Katie Hopkins on University Challenge (Rousse)

Posted on July 29, 2017 by Dreamaticus

‘Katie Hopkins? Katie Hopkins on University Challenge?’ I asked. ‘Yes’, replied HJ, ‘Representing Birmingham University’. This was all related to me on a Scottish beach where, by complete coincidence, was gathered an array of my undergraduate friends. Here I also … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged action, beach, Birmingham, coincidence, disciplinary, Elena Ferrante, friend, headmaster, impose, Katie Hopkins, Neopolitan, novel, Scottish, undergraduate, university, University Challenge | Leave a comment

An incontinent labradoodle (Rousse)

Posted on June 9, 2017 by Dreamaticus

My school friend JC invited my fellow undergraduate CP to visit from France to celebrate her 50th birthday. I wondered what CP would make of the two rescue dogs – in particular the incontinent labradoodle.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 50th, birthday, dog, France, friend, incontinent, labradoodle, rescue, school, undergraduate | Leave a comment

Edinburgh academic workload woes (Rousse)

Posted on January 15, 2017 by Dreamaticus

Three of my undergraduate friends had travelled a long way to join this reunion in Edinburgh: SH from London, HJ from Cardiff, and JG from the Republic of Ireland. I felt terrible telling them that they would all have to … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academic, Cardiff, class, Edinburgh, entertain, exam, Irish Sea, LIDL, Logie Green Road, London, meal, Republic of Ireland, reunion, student, time, train, undergraduate, upset, Wales, woe, workload | Leave a comment