Studying, Jobs and Insane Lecturers

200 hours. That is the amount of hours the Scottish Board of Assessment has declared I should spend on each of my three courses over the eleven weeks of this term. That is 600 hours, including lectures, tutorials and self study. Oh. My. Word. I think I might die by Christmas! Honours will not be easy...

Anyway, I've made quite the dent into that this week (first week of term) already. On Tuesday we received an e-mail asking us to read The Merchant of Venice for our Jew in the Text course. Of course the SIX MONTHS of holidays we just had clearly couldn't have been utilised by reading it then... Thankfully it isn't particularly long and is quite interesting. Not so much was our Islam reading on Islamic Apocalypticism in the Classical Period. It was going so well - until we got to 'Classical Period'. Page after page of "xxxx declared himself Mahdi and his son Qa'im". A fascinating topic reduced to the driest of historical timelines; rather annoying. The rest of the course does look absolutely fantastic though; I'm so excited to get into it! I read a book on Deatha and Resurrection in Islam over summer and it had so many fascinating nuggets in it. For example, the second coming of Isa (Jesus) in order to defeat al-Dajjal (the Antichrist) as a precursor to the Day of Judgement - how amazing! Also really looking forward to the Jew in the Text too, although not as much as I would have had it been the course which usually runs under that title which covers the rise of anti-semitism and the holocaust, but Jewish-Christian relations is also a good topic. It is taught by the most insane lecturer though! A visiting professor from Dartmouth in the US, she is very, very loud and very, very dramatic. Mucho shouts of JEW! and dramatic reconstructions of stabbing scenes in Shakespearean plays are interesting to say the least... My third course was one that I thought I wouldn't look forward to as much as the first two as it covered a much more theoretical topic, but African Voices in the study of religion looks like it will be equally as fab. The lecturer is the nicest man I've ever met, and he can make a course on phenomenology with four pages of notes taken in the first class sound like the most fun anyone could be having. I'm looking forward to seeing how this pans out!

As for the social side of being back at uni - I'm absolutely loving it. I think I've now officially settled into that side of uni. I've been meeting up with everyone as they return, had a 21st birthday party, a tea party and quite a few laughs over cups of tea in Rainy Hall. Coupled with the fact that I'm meeting loads of fourth years now I'm in honours courses, it's all good!

In other Gemma's Life News, I'm still looking for a job. I've had interviews for a primary school tutor and sessional worker in a transition programme for young adults with complex additional needs and I've clearly been knocked back on both. I wasn't in the least bit surprised about the latter though - I have no experience in ASN and I knew from the outset I wouldn't get the job but I thought I should at least apply. I do however have another interview on Monday which looks slightly more promising as it is in After School Care, the area where most of my experience is. Here's hoping that I get it as I really do need to sort it out!

Apart from that I've had a haircut and joined the puppet group at church (oh yes!). Hair is now just hitting my shoulders and I'm rather loving it at the moment and the puppets have to be the best upper arm exercise known to gemmakind; my goodness do the muscles hurt after a run through of a cheesy Christian versions of popular tunes!