Timelessness

Third year brings many changes. Using a twenty-point scale, the university no longer measures only whether I have completed a module, but how well I have. My grades will now shape the classification of my degree, which will in turn influence the possibility of postgraduate study and employability. Also, for the first time, I have complete control over the classes I am taking. This semester I study literary theory - de facto philosophy of literature - and the history of portraiture.

Taking only two modules, the number of contact hours I have is amusingly low. While my friends who study chemistry or medicine spend up to thirty hours per week with their professors, I spend exactly five with mine. I am expected to engage in self-study and learn most of the courses on my own. As I am expected to commit about forty hours a week to studying and I am no good at learning from home, I spend a lot of time in the library.

I am in the library not only for academic reasons, but for financial ones as well. From September I work as a library guide, presenting the library to new and prospective students. I have to convey the most essential information within a short time frame. During open days, I am trying to indirectly convince the visitors that St Andrews as such is an ideal place for study (which it is). The university is to me a wonderful employer - the pay is good and I am surrounded by kind people.

When not studying or working, I am trying to dedicate as much time as possible to the activities I care about. In Amnesty International, our focus this year are the many connections between the environment and human rights. We are working on numerous campaigns this year, some of which I might end up writing about in future posts. I’m also newly a writer for the student-run Protocol magazine, a publication concerned with politics internationally. I continue in ballroom dancing, this year me and my dance partner moved up a category. As a result, our dance routines are much more difficult and engaging.

It is not a coincidence St Andrews is called ‘the bubble’. A place quite removed from the surrounding world, it is governed by its own rules. Which is why my third year is at once the same and very different from previous years. Every day I stop to think that I am more than halfway through my degree, that every moment brings me closer to completion. And the thought is both happy and sorrowful.