We are working at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich, teaching English for Academic Purposes to International students who are hoping to do university courses. We actually work for a company called INTO, which operates at three universities - here, Exeter, and Newcastle. Some of our students are preparing to start a degree course, others are wanting to enter the second year of a degree course, and others have completed a degree in their own country and want to do a masters degree here - in English.
The student newspaper is called Concrete. Its not hard to see why:
Its not the prettiest piece of architectural design we have ever seen. Although they obviously have tried to go for interesting shapes ...
... its probably more the overwhelming greyness of the concrete that gives it a touch of 'grim'.
Clearly this is a bad time of year to get an impression of the place. There are sections that will obviously be delightful in sunny weather ...
... when everything has dried out a little and the plants have recovered. There are lots of trees, which will soften the view when they have leaves again,
and the grass will be more green and less muddy and trampled.
At the heart of the campus there is a central courtyard with (cement) steps all around, and a (cement) water feature that presently has no water, and several shops and cafes. When the weather is kind enough for it to be filled with some of the 13 000 students sitting around on the steps - instead of rushing past all huddled against the rain and wind - I'm sure it will be much prettier.
The Broad. You may have heard of the Norfolk Broads - they are of course waterways by another name. The university has its very own broad, a man-made one.
If you slush your way across the muddy grass to the broad and look back at the university, it is very attractive. This, of course, is where all the shots are taken from for the brochures - and, oddly enough, I haven't taken any pictures of that side. So if you go here, for instance, you can see photos that look very different from the ones above.
What about the Wabbits?
The Students Union also has a publication, it's called "Rabbit".
There are rabbits all over the place - anywhere that there is grass - hopping about (digging holes), nibbling grass, quite unconcerned about the 13 000 pairs of feet tromping by.
I haven't got any pics of them - well, you know what a rabbit looks like, and they don't look much on a photo, and they are not stupid enough to let me get that close to them to take a really good picture.
Squirrels too. They know that if they are on the other side of the tree trunk I can't get to them, and I feel a bit daft chasing them round and round ...
Work and Chaos
Funny how the two are linked, isn't it? If everything went swimmingly, it wouldn't be any fun - where's the adventure in that?
Talking of swimmingly ... there was a flood in the Arts building (the centre for our admin until the new 'INTO' building is finished) just before term started. It wasn't the rain (it's a multi-storey concrete building), but a burst radiator in one of the upper floors. What got wet? Well, amongst other things: our contracts, the teachers' induction handbooks - things that would have been extremely useful to us at this time.
So we muddle our way along, discovering important information by the stumble method. People seem to be endlessly saying, "Oh, haven't you got a .... yet?" "Haven't you done your ... yet?"
Oh yes, I know, it will get easier ...
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