The last semester

The first big challenge was to hand in my Dissertation. The deadline here is a very early one compared to the Czech Republic; 26 January. I was working on my Dissertation continuously throughout the first semester but it was still necessary to make the final corrections and adjustments after the Christmas break. Therefore, I got down to it straight after my return to Glasgow and I am still “recovering” from the fact that it is finally all over. I handed the paper in on time and in one piece and therefore the hardest and also the most fundamental part of my undergraduate studies have been successfully completed. The reason is that there are no summarizing exams in Scotland, unlike in the Czech Republic. On the other hand, handing in the Dissertation does not mean that one can relax. There is still a very challenging semester ahead of me at the end of which I will have produced several more essays and class presentations. Moreover, one has to successfully sit the May exams in order to graduate.

Thus, in fact I could not relax for too long. I have to focus on the upcoming assessments now. The most imminent ones are a critical methodological appraisal of a sociologic study of Muscovite youth and a presentation on Central European media. As you can see, the curriculum is designed in such a way that students really have things to do before they are “released” for spring holiday. However, there are things which do not help you in your efforts. One of these is last week’s going off of the library fire alarm and the subsequent temporary closure of the library.

Among other things which can make life more fun is the weather. For local standards, it has been quite cold lately. Over the past two weeks there have been periods of frost and snow. This is not something you would necessarily like if you live in a typical Glaswegian flat with single-glazed windows. Apart from that, such cold is apparently not something local people take into consideration. The thing is that within one day, the snow that lies on the pavements is converted into ice and there is apparently nobody who would be able to get rid of this ice. The Council makes sure that there is no rubbish lying around but it is evident that they are not equipped with shovels. Similarly, most people seem to lack one as the ice covers the pavement all the way towards their doors. Moreover, no one uses ashes to make the ice less slippery…There are simply none in the whole of Glasgow. However, the most curious thing is that people do not know winter tyres here. Therefore, people are driving around at about fifteen miles per hour and there are traffic jams at the foot of every small hill in the city. Let us then hope that the weather gets wise as soon as possible and that spring comes soon, which is what everybody here would love indeed.