Wednesday 25 March 2015

End-Of-Term-Itis

It is the last week of term here at ULIP and across the UK universities are breaking up for Easter, which is also known in the academic calendar as the “quick I need to revise everything I’ve ever known” time. As a form of slight procrastination I have decided to explain a medical phenomenon that I have diagnosed in the student body with my wealth of medical knowledge and expertise in late night writing essays while simultaneously packing a suitcase for my return to Great Britain’s wondrous shores. You may only have a few of the symptoms they are as follows –
1.       Flasks filled to the brim with steaming hot black coffee clamped in the hands of tired looking students possibly with scraps of paper in the other hand and a crazed look on their faces muttering under their breath phrases like “no I can’t use the subjunctive there” or “Is this really a true representation of post-colonial history?
2.       Long conversations between friends on Twitter during lectures asking the really deep and meaningful questions like “What are we even doing here?” and “What is life?” Not necessarily existential crises maybe just confusion about French dialects.
3.       People huddled over their laptops in the library sometimes shouting things at them (definitely never done that one in the quiet area…) surrounded with piles of books, half of which are philosophy based which make onlookers question whether they are there for an actual purpose or just to make the crazed essay writer look/feel really intelligent.
4.       Meaningless arguments about who had the last waffle from the vending machine because no one can be bothered with real food and tensions are so high due to a mixture of having seen these people constantly for nigh on ten weeks and excessive stomach rumblings.
5.       The printer is constantly being used by people printing off Boarding Passes and Eurostar tickets like it will make the day they are going home come quicker.
So some of these might be slightly ULIP orientated but you get the message dear reader, at least I hope you do. If you see a student in the next week or two and you think they look a little under the weather or like they need a decent meal in them, they probably do. Take them to the local KFC/Falafel shop/Michelin star restaurant and treat them in this, their time of need.


No comments:

Post a Comment