Hey all!
It’s been
absolute ages since I last updated the blog, but if you keep up with me on
other social media, you will know that considering final year was pretty
hectic, boi the masters is on another level.
Today I’ll
update you on my life over the past few weeks. It feels like the course started
a lifetime ago but it hasn’t actually been that long… 5th week of
teaching (which was Reading Week and the only reason I actually got round to
writing on here) has just come and gone. Christmas break can’t come quick
enough. Anyway, without further a-do, this has been my life over the past month
and a bit.
FRESHERS
WEEK
Unlike
undergraduate freshers’, postgrad was a lot more chill. We’d set up a Whatsapp
group over the summer for the people on the course and a few of us met up on
the Sunday of arrivals for a couple of drinks and actually meeting in person.
It was good to put a face to the name, not going to lie!
The course
inductions were pretty much to the point: a lot of info on assessments, options
and the year in general. The two main ideas I got from them were a) great job
to have chosen Bath for this course, you’ll probably get good networking done
and b) say good-bye to your social life, the course is f*cking intense. Both
things have definitely come true (and we’re only half way through the first
semester… great times). I have to admit, we’re a pretty good cohort. Everybody
on the European stream, MAIT (Interpreting and Translating) or TPLS (Translation
and Professional Language Skills) is super nice and the people from the Chinese
stream are too, despite there being a big divide between the two streams.
There’s not many of us, perhaps 25-30 on each course, which makes interpreting
classes really close-knit and hands on as the biggest groups are of 5 people…
Concerning
fun things, during Freshers I took part on the SU Societies Showcase with
BUSMS. We were lacking a few people and pushed it to the last minute (literally
learnt the choreo on the actual day of the performance), but it turned out
pretty well I think. We sang Revolting Children from Matilda and With You from Ghost.
And I went out a few times, something which has pretty much not happened since.
There was a PG cocktail event at the SU on Monday which was super nice as I got
to meet the rest of the cohort who weren’t able to make Sunday and just have a
good chat with most of the people. I also went to the BUSMS Returners Social (a
pub crawl with challenges) although I had to give Moles a sad miss. On Thursday
we made our way to the Canon for a Pub Quiz and one of the MAIT/TPLS teams
actually won. Finally, on Friday I went to the volleyball tasters (and wrecked
my knees because of course I did not have knee pads) and then went to a PG Silent
Disco with a few other course mates. It was the first time I’d gone to a silent
disco and it was a pretty bizarre experience but a lot better than I expected;
many laughs for sure. My weekend was a write-off as I had to recover and
prepare for the week ahead (I’m so old!).
THE COURSE
The course itself is really interesting but
also demanding and I must admit I have struggled, particularly with my
confidence on my English. Breakdowns included, but I know I’m not alone in
this.
We have one
hour of consecutive interpreting and one hour of simultaneous for each language
a week (so, 4 hours of interpreting), for which we should do an extra hour for
each of group practice and daily individual practice. I have not managed to
master this yet. It is crazy how much we’ve improved over the past few weeks
though. I think my weakest is French simultaneous but I’m trying to improve as
far as possible. It is an actual skill to be able to multitask: you need to
understand the speaker and be able to summon the vocab you need and monitor
your own English output, it’s a whole ordeal! All the teachers are quite nice
and give us good insight into the industry. The interpreting booths are pretty
cool and we have also had to do consecutive in the TV studio. I found it funny
that everybody got super nervous about having to go to the TV studio but it
literally feels like being on the stage and having the lights blinding you, so
BUSMS and music school served their purpose I guess?
Then I have
one hour translation for each language. Steve is my tutor and also my French
translation teacher, whereas Nick teaches the Spanish translation module. It’s
a step up from undergrad in the sense that we need to provide professional
translations that could be given to a client with minor alterations. And we
have time constraints. We have translation coursework every two weeks with 72
hours to complete. Mine kind of clash so I need to divide my time and work on
them during the week. Fortunately, I’m on campus 9 to 6 every day pretty much
so I use my extra time to work on assignments and practice in the PG learning
commons in 10w (honestly, I could just move into level 5, you have everything
you need there). I’m enjoying translation and I’ve been learning a lot of
random stuff, from mediators in French education, to malaria and water
management in Latin America…
Aside from
the I and T parts of my MA, this semester I’m taking Public Speaking. This is
not a super useful subject as we spend two hours basically listening to
speeches given by the other students and then just having to prepare and
practice 3 minute speeches for each week… I get really nervous when speaking in
public so I thought it would help but I have not learned anything useful to be
honest… At least it means I only have an extra option module next semester as
I’m already taking this one this semester.
Finally, we
have some optional lectures throughout the week, just for info on different
subjects. I didn’t think I’d like the Introduction to English Law one but
actually it is super interesting and the teacher is lovely and engaging. The
EU/UN talks we had, on the other hand, weren’t that useful and Globalization
and Politics is hit-and-miss as every week we have a new speaker on a different
subject, but they are good to attend, if only for the vocab.
BUSES
One of the
biggest problems this year has been the bus service. They changed the route
and, although that benefits me because it means I need to walk less in the
morning, it also means the queues are insane as every single student needs to
take the same bus. There has been a lot of complaining and press around it and
finally First are going to revert back to the old route in January (which
actually annoys me as I’ll need to walk further…). However, I have managed to
work my way around the problem and I haven’t missed any lectures so far as I
always make it to campus for half nine(ish) in the morning (fortunately no
9:15s for me this semester, that would be a nightmare!).
MY
NON-EXISTENT SOCIAL LIFE
I basically
have not been out in absolute ages. The most I do is to make my way to the SU
for Happy Hour on Fridays to celebrate we’ve survived another week… However, I
have finally gone to Bingo Lingo which was a crazy night to celebrate Grace and
Charlotte’s joint birthday. It was a lot of fun and although only Nana won
anything – a pink cat tee to be precise-, consensus was that going out mid-week
remains off limits. I felt so bad the next morning because of the lack of
sleep…
I have
tried to be as active in BUSMS as possible, but I honestly can’t afford going
out mid-week with the course. I went along to the Freshers’ Social and a
surprising amount of people showed up. Me being the only MA student and another
girl actually doing a PhD! I’ve become the grandma.
Urinetown
and the after show were great. It must be one of my favourite shows that BUSMS
has put together, so funny and well-performed. Definitely recommend watching it
if you get the chance. And then after show was great as a lot of graduates came
over and it was just nice to see old faces and catch-up on life. I ended up
missing my bus home because In The Heights came on right when I was meant to
leave and I couldn’t let it pass…
November
show this year is called The Clash: Screen vs Stage and I decided to audition
(because it’s kind of a now or never situation…). I was just looking to get
cast in one or two songs since I don’t really have much time for rehearsals but
I wanted something to keep me from going insane. I’m in two songs, one from
Dirty Dancing and one from Singing in the Rain. Have already had to learn how
to Charleston after making a right joke of myself at rehearsals but I think I
can now just about manage… I need to learn the lyrics but I’m excited to be
back on stage!
Concerning
fencing, if last year I barely made it to any training sessions, this year I
didn’t even try. However I still bought my membership (got to get those
members!) and I try to come along to the socials. The Welcome Social was quite
fun. It was pretty chill. I’d gone out for some drinks with course mates and
then joined the fencers in Spoons. There weren’t loads of people but Sam had
prepared some challenges so we still split up in teams and eventually made our
way to Belushi’s. It was good to see everybody again! After that I’ve tried to
make it to the other few events like film nights or whatever has been
organized. Hopefully I’ll make it to Snowball (I have exams that week lol).
OTHER
INTERESTING SHENANIGANS
Since I
knew I wouldn’t be able to do a proper sport, I decided to join the gym. I say
gym, and by gym I mean fitness classes. The actual Team Bath gym is super intimidating
and although I’ve had my induction I highly doubt I’ll be going anytime soon.
I’m really enjoying the classes though. They are easy to fit around my schedule
and I can do cardio and weights which I wouldn’t do on my own. I have managed
to stick to three sessions and week consistently so I’m pretty proud of myself.
The sore muscles at the beginning were worth it and I am starting to feel the
difference!
I also took
a training session to become a Dementia Friend (an Alzheimer’s Society
initiative) and raise awareness about dementia. It was really interesting and I
was useless enough to lose my pin as soon as I left the session. But fear not,
I have a replacement now lol
I haven’t
really met up with people from last year as it seems super hard to find free
time. I have seen Leila and Bego, both of whom I hadn’t seen since second year!
Vidushi I’ve seen a couple of times but I haven’t seen Amélie yet nor met Orion,
and D’Souza is also nowhere to be found... I also tried to set up a tandem
exchange to keep up my French and Italian. Italian was an absolute flop but I
met up with a girl called Flo from France. She’s super nice but we’ve had a bit
of trouble finding time to meet up for coffee… I need to get round to doing
that soon.
Megan is
still in Bath so I have met up with her after her shifts at Anthro. She has
finally managed to secure an internship in London so she’ll be leaving soon
*cry*, but I’m glad she’s been around thus far. We had a cooking night/catch-up
at mine and also spent Halloween together at hers, for dinner and to watch a
film (because no Halloween parties, lame). We’ve also gone out for dinner with
Meghan and Lydia a few times so it’s been good to catch up. Franco Manca never
disappoints and Pho Tuesdays at Noya’s kitchen was super good! And a few cinema
trips have also been thrown in the bag. A Star Is Born was better than I
expected and we are planning on going to watch Widows soon.
I also
attended a Gender Equality meeting on ‘What is Feminism?’ which they hold
annually. It was pretty interesting, particularly getting Eve’s point of view
on being a female SU President. I also met a fresher called Ellie who was super
nice and looking to find more like-minded people, you go girl! Finally, I went
to a Vegan market organised in the Pavilion which was quite good. I tried a few
things but it was way too busy. I’m not even vegan, I’m pescatarian, but I’m
trying to reduce my waste so a few of the stalls were really interesting. That
same evening were the fireworks so I met up with a few course mates and we went
to the Bath Fields to watch them. The view was amazing! Such a good (and free)
spot! Later we headed to The Ram for a couple of pints.
This past
week I have spent literally catching up on work (and writing this post!). On
Tuesday evening I went to an ITI translators networking event which was pretty
cool as we got to hang out with a few professionals and find out how they broke
into the industry. Then I went to Revs for a BUSMS social. It was so weird not
knowing half the people there and also I felt really old in Moles so I cut the
night short(ish). To be honest, I needed to work the next day anyway… On
Wednesday it rained cats and dogs all day but I made the effort of going to the
fencing Score social in the evening. It was nice to see a few old faces and I
had a good time. I do feel like I’m too old for SU club nights though…
On Thursday
the 8th I had to get up early to catch a train to London. Trains
that day sucked because of cancellations, but aside from having to stand up and
trains being an hour late, I made it to London. It was a lovely sunny day and I
had a great time roaming around. I went to the National Gallery and wondered why
I went down the languages route rather than arts, and then had some pizza and
roamed around the West End and Oxford Street some more until it was time to
watch Heathers! I’d booked myself the ticket as a birthday present and the seat
was insane and so was the show. I was so, so excited and not disappointed. I
enjoyed every bit and it even made me cry. Since Carrie is a youtuber I must
say it was weird to see the actors in the flesh, after following their
shenanigans online for a while… Such a lovely day out.
Finally,
yesterday it was my birthday. It rained quite a bit but I slept in, hit the
gym, opened all the lovely cards and messages you guys sent and then caught up
with some people and went out for dinner with Megan at Nourish. They were so
busy our food took a while but it was delicious! I am now 22 (cue Taylor
Swift). How crazy is that?
Anyway,
that is it from me. Tonight I have a BUSMS birthday party and I have a few
rehearsals and some work to do this weekend. The next update will probably come
around Christmas time so keep your eyes peeled for that! In the meantime, keep
up to date on my life through my social media:
Zoe x
