Foreign Perspectives

Heading off at 8am got me to the Nottingham campus not too much after 11am so it was quite quiet to begin with and the numbers of students are really only starting to build up now, just after lunch.

Registration runs on ’til after 3pm with the introductory lecture in the biology building just after 4pm so I’ve hours to fiddle around. As expected, the shopping centre on campus is closed over the weekend which meant a long trek down to the little shop in the hospital this afternoon.

Surprisingly the taxi was the same price as last year (Lenton on 0115 9 781 781 do the airport pickups for £19.50, just over half the price of the airport taxis; it’s best to arrange for them to collect you at the petrol station just outside the airport parking area as otherwise they charge for the airport parking.

I’ve acquired a green dot already which presumably has some significance for the division up into groups for the lab sessions that start tomorrow but hasn’t been mentioned in anything so far today.

The introductory spiel from the admin people, learning advisor, OUSA and the course director was a joint one for both SXR375 and SXR376 kicking off just after 4pm and running on to almost 5pm. That was immediately followed by the course specific stuff in our respective laboratories. Just one lab for the course this year as there are only 29 of us but we’ve been split up into two groups to do the experiments over the next two days, which we’ll be doing in groups of three.

They seem quite keen on evening lectures although a number of them are optional, including the one on Populations and polymorphism this evening. It was quite well attended but I’m not sure that a lot was taken in as a lot of people seemed quite tired from the days travelling.

In the room is a phone (free internal calls), wired internet connection (you need a cable for this which you can get (free) in the Cripps security office; the wifi varies from poor to non-existent in the rooms), desk, tea/coffee tray with kettle, sink, wardrobe, towels (with soap & shampoos) and a single bed. The shower-room and toilet is shared  by about half a dozen rooms.