Hello, my name is Carney and I
have just completed my first year of my History degree at the University of
Greenwich. This blog is just a general overview of what I get up to here at
University. In this entry I’m just going
to cover a few things, like about me, accommodation, my course and SU Sports
Teams & Societies and a little word about Fresher’s.
So a little bit more information
about me first, I grew up in South East London and Greenwich has always been my
local university. I went to Greenwich as it was my insurance choice and I
failed to achieve a place and my first option. So even though Greenwich was my
second option and my local university I have really enjoyed my first year here.
I still moved out into Halls, I
live on Avery Hill campus (and will do so again next year) and I study on the
Greenwich campus, so I take full advantage of the free shuttle bus service to
and from class. I like living on Avery Hill as it’s cheaper, I don’t have to pay
for an ensuite (as I wouldn’t want one), plus by living on Avery Hill you are
able to meet a lot more people than you would by living there, just access to
different networks, plus living at Avery means it’s a lot less distance to walk
(crawl) home after a night out at Sparrows (our SU nightclub). I spent the year
living in a flat with shared facilities and it was pretty decent.
So like I said I study History
and I have enjoyed the course so far. In my first year we weren’t allowed to
pick all History modules, we had to pick two other humanities electives. I
liked this as I was able to do a Philosophy and a Sociology course as well, in
addition to the two other history modules I did. This mixed it up a bit and made it more
interesting. At first it was slightly
weird adjusting to university life (academically), lectures and tutorials are
different to that of sixth form classes. Depending on the lecturer, lectures
can be really interesting and tutorials are always a laugh. It’s a lot of work having force yourself to
do your ‘homework’ when there are so many distractions, but I think I managed
to get a pretty good balance between academic work and my social life, e.g.
writing an essay in the pub. But I really like all the academics and get on
with all the people on my course.
Another substantial thing to
happen to me during my first year was joining a sports team and a society. When
I first moved into my student accommodation, I was living with three other
people, one who barely spoke any English, the other two who I just didn’t get
on with at all (don’t worry, it’s unlucky that. That was why joining a sports
team was such a good decision for me during Fresher’s Week. I joined Hockey at
the Greenwich Fresher’s Fair and it was probably one of the best decisions I
made this year. Straight away you meet so many different people, not only from
your team but from all the other sports team as well. Whenever I have spoken to
people about Sports teams and Societies, I’ve always compared them to American Fraternities
and Sororities, just without the extravagance, as that seemed the easiest way
to describe them. It’s also a really good way to keep fit and exercise.
All teams and societies are run
by an elected student committee, so you can always get involved in the running
of it as well! For example this year I also joined rock Climbing, which is a
society, this is structured a little bit different to a sports team, but it is
still really good and has the same advantages as a sports team. All sports
teams and societies are mangled by SUUG and their web address if you wanted
more information is www.suug.co.uk.
And finally just a quick word and
about Fresher’s Fortnight, since this is my first blog and I suspect that the
majority of people reading it (if anyone actually is) are those who are due to
start in September, just a little bit of advice: don’t be afraid. Don’t be
scared to talk to people, put yourself out there, everyone is in the same
situation and you’ll be surprised at the awesome people you’ll meet.
Until next
time, good bye! J
