Wednesday 19 September 2012

A Day For Victory

My blog is a bit behind (well that was quick) given that I started my student career last week. I shall save the stories of orientation week for a later time so I can get caught up to the present!

Today was as uneventful as it gets, but even then, I dominated the mundane! First I had to go back to my department to receive my official class list for registration. The day before, all the history students had to submit what classes and work placements they wanted. Today we got the results and I achieved 100% victory!

My fall semester is as follows:
"Early Modernities"
"Research Skills for the Historian"
"Wars of the Roses to Elizabeth I: The Archeology of England 1455-1603"
"Work Placement" -Sheffield Manor Lodge

The big news is that I have no classes Thursdays or Fridays which means four day weekends every week! Booyah! Actually, this is very helpful as I can now plan for overnight trips with no worries about school forcing me to cut short potential events/ visits.
The archeology course was not available for me to choose. It just so happened that another student from the US informed me about it. I asked my department if I could take it and have it count towards my overall credit total because it centers around my area of interest. They said they'd try to make it work and they did!
Having done some museum curation work before, I wanted to try a work placement which lets me get up close and personal with history. I requested the Sheffield Manor Lodge because of its historical significance over the centuries. Obviously its Tudor period is most important to me because Cardinal Wolsey stayed there on his doomed trip south to face Henry VIII's wrath over not securing a divorce. Wolsey would die at Leicester before reaching London. I hope to be doing some fun things on site!


The University runs a neat event program called "Give It A Go" which allows students to purchase a one time ticket to an event or club event. This allows them to experience new things without having to commit to the club or group. I picked up quite a few tickets ranging from archery to running to movie screenings. Today's event for me was fencing.
Fencing is always somthing I wanted to try and it seems (for once) that I have the proper body form to succeed. We were taught basic foot and combat techniques. I managed to win the mini tournament at the end. The instructors caught some of my efforts and were pleased with my form. After some talks, I have decided to join the club and hope to learn enough to the point I can compete on behalf of my school.

Also signed up for the gym located within my flat complex and did some laundry. No one cares about that ;)

Onwards to tomorrow!

1 comment:

  1. Wow! You're definitely off to a running start here, Mike. Looking to the future, I can see you this time next year, challenging your lucky high school students to blog for history right alongside you. Seize the opportunities...and thanks for taking us along. Looking forward to your slice-of-life writing style and your non-Mike like shenanigans!!
    -Michelle

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