Just a quick update to say that I’ve got through the first week of my MA and I’m having a great time studying Classics and Ancient History. For the first time in years I’m actually wanting to do background reading and work, whereas in Computer Science it was always a case of “I want to get this lab done and out of the way because it’s the most boring exercise on the planet”.
Doing Latin and Greek, both on fast track (double speed), is something of a challenge, but so far I seem to be managing to cope. I get the feeling that you’re not supposed to do both at the same time, partially because no one else is doing this and also because of the weird “you’re crazy” looks I get when people find out (one guy presumed that I was intending to do a PhD because of this). I managed to get 100% on my first Latin homework though, so I can’t be struggling too much. 🙂
I was surprised to find such a positive reaction to me being a computer science graduate though—I’d expected a somewhat lukewarm reception but actually all the lecturers have been both intrigued and pleased that I’ve managed to make the switch, once they get over the initial shock (I wish I’d taken my camera to get photos of the expressions on their faces).
The one thing I’ve noticed more than anything else though is how postgraduates are treated as colleagues rather than students, at least in the department I’m in now. The best example of this was on Thursday evening, where I ended up going out for a meal with the lecturers (only one other MA student came along), then off to the pub afterwards and I spent the trip home talking to the head of the school on the bus.
So all in all I’m having fun at the moment (with the exception of the evil freshers’ flu which hammered me all this week and made me miss aikido twice as well as getting hardly any sleep for several nights on the run). Apologies to all the real people out there who are subsidising my continuing life in academia, I promise to get a proper job soon! 😉