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Neglected the library to go to an extremely wet athletics meeting today, did my shopping after, then got in at about 4 and thought "meh, will work at home, there'll be no places in the library."

Haven't done a thing.

University College London

London

Reply 2141

lilys

First exam tomorrow and I've already lost my candidate number card. Hopefully I can get a replacement quickly...

Reply 2142

PJ991

Original post by Lizia

Is that Siena? The people I know there are having a pretty good time, so I'm sure you'll like it :smile:

I'd quite like to go to a university for foreigners, I don't really have many Italian friends here anyway haha. I don't think we heard anything about milan until the summer holidays, they get around to telling you stuff eventually!

Yup, all oral exams. Bleurgh. But I'm much more chilled about them now, so no worries. Back on May 30th, absolutely can't wait. The last semester has gone so fast, but I'm definitely ready to come back to London, I have such a new appreciation for it :smile:

I emailed one of them, can't remember his name. I've looked at the questionnaires from last year on moodle too. Most of them aren't too positive, saying the unis a bit crap and it took ages to find somewhere to stay.

That's reassuring. Thanks! :smile:

. I'm not a big fan of oral exams. And that reminds me, when we do oral exams at UCL, who marks them? Just the 2 people examining you, or do they all sit down and spend ages listening to them all and comparing?

I'm the opposite, I think I'm ready to get away from London, to nowhere in particular. I like it and all, but some change would be nice.

Reply 2143

Lizia

Original post by PJ991

...

Another quick question- do you know if there's any teachers/postgrad assistants in the department with the initials BS? We just got our oral timetables (for September- no idea why they've done them now), and I'm with Novella and someone called BS. Cheers!

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 2144

rockrunride

I miss a few things about my year abroad, like feeling a need to focus on cultural intricacies every time I stepped into a bar, restaurant or supermarket, the languages, the weather (of course!) and basically just how free and nomadic it felt. Feel guilty at not being arsed about what we have in Sainsbury's that isn't in French/Spanish supermarkets. Just suppose British culture is mundane on me in a way that French/Spanish culture isn't.

But I really missed some crucial stuff last year, like decent academics, Tottenham and accessible competitive running. Three things not readily available in France/Spain that I enjoyed so much in 1st/2nd years and am very much enjoying now.

Butttt.. I'm going back to Valencia on 26 May for a few days to meet up with some old friends, and I'm very much looking forward to it!

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 2145

Lizia

I miss so much food and drink available in England. I miss the prices being reasonable, and offers and promotions. I miss clothes that don't cost a flipping fortune. When I came back to England for Christmas I nearly died of shock at BOGOF in Tesco and £6 shoes in Primark! I miss organisation and queuing. I miss British boys who generally take no for an answer and don't tend to try and put their hands in your tights when all you're doing is standing in front of them in the queue at the bar. I miss lecturers who know your name and care about your well being as well as your academics (obviously not every UCL lecturer is like this, but in the Italian department I think all my teachers would know who I am at least while I'm taking their class, and most of them seem to have some kind of personal interest, or at least care if you're struggling).

As much as I like being clever and speaking another language, I miss English. I've made lots of international friends here, but there's no denying that they all feel like fairly shallow/casual friendships with the ones who don't speak English. Obviously I still love learning languages and speaking them, but I miss the confidence that comes with speaking a language fluently. There are so many nuances that I don't think you can ever really get the hang of. But my Italian is soooooo much better than it was when I first arrived, mute and terrified :biggrin:

From Italy, I'll miss the weather. Aperitivi, which are just the best invention ever. Insanely cheap student transport (€17 a month unlimited travel on all buses, trams, metros and S-trains? Yes please!). Non compulsory lectures. The freedom to choose much more diverse subjects that I can at UCL. Cheap rent. My favourite cosmetics shop. Piadinas and bruschetta. And obviously the people I've met here. Having so many beautiful cities on my doorstep. Not knocking England, but Milan has such a great location. Bologna, Parma, Venice, Verona, Genova, Portafino, Lake Como and Garda, Brescia...all within three hours of my house.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 2146

Nichrome

Original post by lilys

First exam tomorrow and I've already lost my candidate number card. Hopefully I can get a replacement quickly...

You don't even need it as long as you know yours, and even then the examiners have your candidate number written down! My candidate number cards never even arrived last year! Good luck :wink:

Reply 2147

Mother_Russia

Just came out of the exam feeling like **** :frown:

Looking through the paper, I failed even the easiest questions :frown:

Gutted, because I feel this is the one I really worked hard on. I think I freaked out too much during the exam, cos looking at it now it seems alright.

Basically, if I do fail. (IF), and in the end don't pass enough modules to progress to 3rd year, can I re-sit the paper in summer (and get a maximum of 40%), and then retake the module next year (to get a better mark overall)?

Can't find any information on this. I think I'm just worrying too much, but this just occurred to me.

I failed 0.5 modules last year, and it only told me I could resit it, and I assumed this year only. Didn't say anything about the summer (and I didn't know about that then)...

Anyone want to enlighten me on this? Thanks :biggrin:

Reply 2148

rockrunride

The awkward moment when your internet's down at home so you bring your laptop to the library and get f-all done...

Reply 2149

rockrunride

Has the Horace thing gotten to most of you as well through facebook? Just think he must have done sth pretty serious to be dismissed after 12 years' service.

Reply 2150

Noodlzzz

Original post by rockrunride

Has the Horace thing gotten to most of you as well through facebook? Just think he must have done sth pretty serious to be dismissed after 12 years' service.

No.. what is this?

Reply 2151

rockrunride

Original post by Noodlzzz

No.. what is this?

http://on.fb.me/KgStb0

Print Room staff member gets the sack after 12 years on the job. He's appealing for unfair dismissal so it doesn't sound like it's your run of the mill layoff.

Reply 2152

gumball

Yeah, the facebook page doesn't mention what he's done. It might be the crime of the century and he'll have (apparently) hundreds of people fighting for... whatever he's done.

Reply 2153

Mother_Russia

Yeah, Ive seen the guy. It must have been pretty bad what he did if he got fired after so long. And we dont know what we're campaigning for.

Then again...it seems that the owners of the page do know, and they don't want to say what in case it makes it worse for him. And yet they still want to campaign...

Hmm...

Reply 2154

Lizia

I don't see how you can support a campaign if you have no idea what your side of the matter is, nevermind the opposition.

To most of them, he's not even an acquaintance they could make a judgement on beyond "He works in the print room cafe and he isn't rude to me". Surely any other "support" or opinion they could give is completely meaningless.

I know at least one of the campaigners (or someone actively promoting the campaign on that page, they might not be involved in the admin) and they're the kind who would argue against UCL or UCLU authority on absolutely any matter, with little or no evidence required. A lot of the student politics at UCL seems to be like that, so it wouldn't surprise me if the people leading the campaign would support Horace even if he was sacked for justifiable reasons.

But as I said, we have no evidence either way, so asking us to support his appeal is a bit weird.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 2155

Ivanka

I agree with Lizia, unless you know the case and all the reasons behind it, you can't really make an informed stance on this.

I can see loads of people "supporting" things like these - maybe it makes them feel better if they "like" a group or a movement via Facebook, which obviously doesn't help anyone.

Reply 2156

Inner Poise

Original post by Lizia

Agree

I've no idea who he is anyway, I'm not sure I've ever been served by him :s-smilie:

Reply 2157

Ivanka

Any hispanists here? How do I successfully prepare for the comprehension and prose parts of the Spanish exam? I can't find any non-grammar papers online.