News stories
Mandalena gets stuck into spring term
Mandalena studies BA English and is from London. Here she starts house-hunting for the second year, and sees change on campus as the workload kicks in:
Starting out in my second term, as I began to touch on in my previous post, feels a lot less of a novelty, and, to put it bluntly, a lot more like real life. Student's attitudes have changed, as starting a new year in an independent life and new surroundings have motivated them to throw themselves into their degree, social lives, or the competitive house-hunt for second year. For me, these few months have always been about looking ahead, and this is all the more relevant at university, as many of us first years have realised our first year at Sussex is flying by and summer (and the second year) is fast approaching.
After finding ourselves well into the second term of the academic year, some of us have gained a little experience leading our own independent lives, and the topic on everyone's minds is a place to live next year - where, with who, and how much to pay? For some it has been an easy task, for me and my friends a bit more of a challenge, but it has encouraged us to grow up a little, to plan for ourselves, and personally for me, to see a bit more of the town we are lucky enough to live by. Our search has reinforced my idea that the 'student' is an entire separate culture, which everyone from landlords to estate agents is familiar with. While not exactly to do with the academic side of life, I feel I have learnt from the experience and it is something every young person has to go through to gain a bit of perspective.
Back on campus, with spring and summer approaching, everyone has risen from their winter hibernation, while I have once again taken up dance classes (an old hobby), others are re joining forgotten societies, and the library becomes an increasingly popular place for many to spend the day reading or meeting friends; a sunny haven in the centre of the campus. The mounting workload, while not putting many off their social lives, is beginning to have a effect, as degrees become yet more intense and the end of the first courses are in sight.
With more student elections taking place, the student union was once again the talk of campus. Every day we were barraged with flyers, whether stuck through our doors or left in lecture theatres, and faced with enormous and almost revolutionary banners encouraging students to use their power to vote for the young aspiring politicians that look after us at university.
The speed at which our first term is passing by finally sunk in when, going through my lecture notes, I realised we were in Week 6 of the academic term, and I had deadlines of my own to meet. However, students do still take a break and the live music nights in the bars and society socials do not appear to be coming to an end any time soon. Sussex really does cater for all aspects of life, and many more of my friends are eager to come and visit after telling them my adventures and experiences on campus!
