Getting Down To Business

This morning, despite being unbelievably tired, it was time for the first class in one of our core subjects, History.

This was a chance for us to see how the class was going to work together in the year ahead. With group work and some lively discussion I think we'll enjoy our Wednesday mornings. We're going to be covering 'The Russian Revolution(s)', 'The rise of the Nazis in Germany' and 'Britain, France and de-colonisation'. Interesting topics and ones which I haven't studied before so I doubt I'll be getting bored.

Before getting stuck into the first unit we were given a list of common terms we'll be encountering in the months ahead. Whilst familiar, some of them were surprisingly hard to put definitions to.

See what you think:

• monarchy
• constitutional monarchy
• democracy
• emperor / empress
• communism
• socialism
• nationalism
• industrialisation
• conservatism
• liberalism

We get a longer lunch on a Wednesday, giving us a chance to gather our energies for a session of Psychology in the afternoon.

It got off to a shaky start. We switched classrooms to avoid a half time room change and it took a while for the lesson to pick up a smooth rhythm. Considering how big a part it'll be playing in our course I was surprised by the relatively scant knowledge the group had on the subject (admittedly mine is no better).

We won't get to the good stuff until the end of the course in our 'Abnormal and Clinical Psychology' unit but there's plenty to keep us busy in the preceding three. I'm a little daunted by the complexity and range of the subject, trying to figure out the depth of study that'll be required might take some time.

The group seems to be bonding, mixing well and helping each other out. We gained a new member today in Adam, but Robbie was a no show and we're still waiting for Sarah to join us. Hopefully we'll be up to full strength soon.

It's just a few hours tomorrow, an hour in tutor group and a second on IT Skills before we're done for the week.

Adding It Up

After failing to set my alarm clock it was a later than expected start this morning. I still arrived with time to spare for my first lesson of the day... Mathematics.

I've always loved Maths. I seem to have an instinctual understanding for most of it and over the years I've derived a great deal of satisfaction from displaying my affinity for the subject.

I recall being made to memorise my 'Times Tables' by my Dad long before they were ever mentioned at school, standing while I recited the whole series up to "twelve times twelve is one hundred and forty four". Now the rote memorisation of multiplications seems a forgotten art, replaced by constant access to calculators throughout school life. My youngest sister, aged 14, was never required to learn them and the effect this has on her mathematical abilities is beginning to show as she begins her first GCSE year.

I'm thankful for my prowess with numbers and formulae. With it I acquired two maths GCSEs at grade A, completing the standard course in the first year before undertaking another in Statistics during the second.

The mathematics on our course is of GCSE level so I wasn't expecting to find it too challenging this morning. I was looking on it as a chance to refresh a skill set that had been allowed to atrophy through a decade of disuse.

The first half of the class was a recap of some basics but after we returned from a short break an old nemesis from my childhood confronted me once more..

Long division, I managed to get through my life so far without learning it but it's finally caught up with me. I've always disliked it's singular inelegance when compared to other mathematical techniques. It lacks the beauty and grace which maths so often possesses, instead displaying it's clunky and unwieldy working across huge swathes of paper. I'll now be practicing this 'basic' technique in the coming weeks as the lessons become more advanced and in a perverse way easier.

When lunchtime rolled around it was more than welcome and I dared to hope that our afternoon class in 'Study Skills' would prove easier  provender. My wish was fulfilled as the first portion of the course is devoted to our imminent UCAS applications. Whilst there are some tough decisions to be made there will be nothing as fearsome as long division to face.

As a parting note, I submit for your consideration a (in)famous piece of maths:

One Day Down

Heading home at 3pm? It's been a long time since I last kept those kind of hours.

My anxieties were building last night and on into this morning but it didn't take long for them to disappear once we got started. Our usual Monday morning Sociology class was replaced today by a general introduction to the course. We went over the structure and objectives and things got a little less scary.

I've learnt that I'll need a bigger breakfast (with some coffee) to make it through the morning classes, by 10:30 I was stifling yawns as my stomach rumbled. Luckily our tutor Yvette wrapped things up with an hour to spare so it was a chance to grab a discounted latte and get to know some of my classmates for the year ahead.

It turns out one of my fellow students, Ricardo, was a couple of years below me at school and is best friends with my cousin. It's a small world isn't it? As for the others on the course, it's a good mix of people in the class with a lot of different backgrounds and experiences. I'm not the youngest by any means but I'm not the oldest either so that's one worry assuaged.

After our long lunch it was time for English with Steve Fitzpatrick, complete with our first writing assignment. Admittedly it was just a short piece giving some background about ourselves. It seems we'll be doing a lot of work in groups and pairs so there'll be an emphasis on discussion over dictation, which suits me perfectly. We've got four English units during the 33 weeks of the course, with our grades dependent on the successful completion of three essays and an oral presentation.

A little light homework covering some of the most common spelling mistakes topped of the end of a great first day. Tomorrow I'm facing a hard morning of Maths with a Study Skills session after lunch.

The Night Before

At 09:30 tomorrow morning it begins...

My first class in nearly ten years is a two hour Sociology lesson, and while I'm not expecting it to be too challenging, I've never studied Sociology before so it will be a new experience for me.

My second class is after lunch, two and half hours of English and this is where I think the struggle will begin. I always found it a challenge to stay focused in classes dealing with topics I felt I already had a good understanding of. I need to set aside any arrogant belief in my superiority and be open to retreading old ground in the hopes of discovering something new.

While the college provides courses for those aged 16 and upwards, my course is for mature students only so it shouldn't feel too old. Four and half hours isn't an overly strenuous workload for my first day but nonetheless I'm approaching it with a degree of trepidation and nervous energy.

College Supplies

So today I went into town to collect the bits and pieces I'd need for my first Monday at college. I had already picked up a few essentials but there were still a few items to procure.

The college had provided me with a list of equipment and supplies, which I of course have chosen to reinterpret, amend and ignore to suit my own preference. Pens and lined A4 paper were the lonely few who emerged unscathed.

I have replaced 'pencils' with auto pencils (the one's that look like a pen but actually contain pencil 'leads').

I have ignored the instruction stating a pocket dictionary is essential, but as I'm typing this my dictionary in OpenOffice is under the impression that 'actrually' is a word so I might wish to reconsider.


I only picked up ring binders instead of the ring binders and lever arch files I was instructed to. This was after calculating the space in my bag after a lever arch file was inserted and realising it wasn't going to work out. The reason space in my messenger bag is at such a premium, concerns one of my earlier purchases.

Through some administrative oversight a brand new, sexy, shiny laptop was not listed as an essential on the equipment list?

After hours scouring the internet for reviews and technical specifications that left me more confused than when I'd started, I set my heart on the new Acer Timeline 15", lightweight and with 8 – 9 hours of battery life! I saw it in the shop, talked to the sales man about it and was ready to hand my cash over. Just before he went off to look for one in the store room I asked if he could let me get online and see how it coped with HD YouTube videos. (What? I'm sure a lot of my course will involve in-depth research of online video).

He returned, carrying the slimline box with my desired beauty in it but after seeing my face realised what had happened. After his earlier assurances that a 1.4 GHz single core processor would easily handle all my day to day requirements it became obvious he'd been incorrect. Comparing it to one of the 2 GHz dual core machines surrounding it the difference was huge. It seems I'd narrowly avoided paying out for a Netbook in Notebook casing (very sexy casing though it may have been).

Undaunted, I looked around and soon found another shiny toy that would fulfil my needs.

I'm now the happy owner of a 17" Acer Aspire with 2 GHz dual core and 4Gb of RAM. It's light for it's size, far lighter than the 17" Dell Studio it finds itself sharing a house with. Luckily I'm a big guy so hauling even the bulkiest of laptops around is no issue but it does mean there's a little less space in my bag for my first day back on Monday.

What?

Monday will mark my first day in education for nearly a decade. I thought it appropriate to record my thoughts on the matter and try to keep track of my progress throughout the coming year.

Since the completion of my A-levels in 2000 I've been absent from the halls of knowledge. I never considered University, submitted no UCAS application and was already working full time when the summer began. I can't tell if it was a mistake, who knows what effect such early decisions may have? It is however one of my greatest regrets. Disallusioned as I had become with education, we parted ways just before the relationship would have fundamentally changed and finally offered challenge beyond the restrictions of a mundane curriculum.

Now I'm begining a one year Access to Higher Education course in Humanities and Social Science. If all goes to plan, September 2010 should see me starting a degree at University. I've still got to decide which subject(s) it will be in and where I'll be studying it so there's a lot of research to do and some big decisions to be made.

All of these are in addition to the everyday trials and tribulations of life. Finding a part time job, sorting out budgets/finances and generally getting myself a little more organised than I have been.

It promises to be a challenging experience and I'm hoping to capture as much of it as I can here.

Wish me luck.