Those Were the Days (University of Liverpool in general)

Member Name: Deany

Product:	University of Liverpool in general
Date:	05/07/01 (448 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great social life, Language degrees give you the chance to live abroad

Disadvantages: Student poverty - inevitable but depressing

Ah, I remember it well. The days of laying in bed until Richard and Judy had finished, out every night, having a laugh with friends out in Abercrombie Square. Oh, and the lectures, the stress of exams, the panic of deadlines. Looking back on my time at Liverpool University more or less exactly two years since I graduated is bound to leave me with a curious mix of memories and nostalgia.

Did I lie in bed until Richard and Judy had finished? Well, once or twice. When I started in Liverpool they were even still making the show down by the docks. I managed to walk past and get myself on TV for a blistering five seconds of non-fame. Was I out every night? Not quite, but probably more often than my grant managed to cover. Abercrombie Square? It was only good for sitting out during summer ? the time of the dreaded exams and essay deadlines.

The rest, the stress of exams and the panic of deadlines ? that?s all true. But, in hindsight, it wasn?t really any worse than being at school. Once you?ve been through the education system from the age of 4 onwards you don?t realise there is any other way to spend the year than learning for months on end before sitting exams and regurgitating the information.

So why was I there? I left school in my native Leeds in 1995 and that autumn I began a four year course in German and Dutch at Liverpool University. I have to hold my hand up and admit that this was not my first choice. I had wanted to study German and English, for no other reason than that they were my favourite subjects at school and I was at a bit of a loss for what to do once my A Levels came to and end. Then though, I slipped a grade on my English A Level and at the end of the round of discussion with the university powers-that-be I ended up substituting my own fair language for the then unknown tongue that is Dutch. It turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to me, and it really is a shame that the university no longer offers a
Dutch course due to the lack of applicants.

One of the main advantages of my relatively obscure course choice was that by the final year of my studies the Dutch group had been whittled down to 4 students. The almost one-on-one tuition we received in some of the lectures contrasted sharply with tales I heard from friends studying for other disciplines who were just one of a hundred or more students crammed into lectures halls for days on end.

The other main advantage was that, since I was studying for a language degree, I spent a summer in the Netherlands on a language course and a year living in Germany during which I worked as an English assistant in a German school. While my less fortunate friends were studying for their finals in Law and Chemistry and Music I was living abroad with a German family, travelling through Europe in my holidays and enjoying the experience of learning about a new culture. Of course, before I left for Germany I would have done anything not to have to go. Leaving home to go to university was something that I could cope with, leaving the country entirely for a year was something else entirely. I soon got used to it though and I cannot recommend the experience enough. My advice to you ? choose a university course that involves a year away from the place, be it in industry, business, abroad or research. Whatever, I learnt just as much, if not more, in the year I was away from university as when I was actually there.

To talk more about Liverpool in general: before I went I had all the usual warnings about the city and the dangers of being stabbed, shot, robbed or getting mixed up in drugs wars. Total nonsense! Liverpool is a vibrant city with a great
range of things to do and I never had the slightest problem with the locals. You hear the usual horror stories of attacks on students, but these things happen everywhere. It seems that they are exaggerated just because it is Liverpool and neither I nor my friends
ever had the slightest bit of trouble.

The University itself is a great place to study. I can?t speak for the whole place, but in the German and Dutch departments I found the lecturers to be friendly and very knowledgeable. It was nice to be treated as an adult after leaving school and during the course of my studies I built up good relationships with several members of staff. My only quibble with the course I took was maybe that it concentrated too much on the ?traditional? areas of foreign language study such as literature and history and not enough emphasis was placed on the more practical aspects like linguistics and translation. But, then again, I am now working as a translator so my point of view is likely to be biased ? I?m sure if I were in a literary line of work I would be arguing for more emphasis on literature.

Beyond the department the University has a great Students? Union, or Guild as it is called. The highlight of the week had to be ?Time Tunnel?, the 70s, 80s and (making me feel old!) 90s night which was sure to be packed out every single Saturday. The Guild also has the Liver Bar with its ?erm, interesting colour scheme, pool rooms, a shop and everything else you could need. And it is situated opposite the impressive sight of the Catholic Cathedral at the top of Mount Pleasant with a view over the city centre below.

Since leaving Liverpool I studied for a year in Salford for an MA in Translation and now I?m working in Germany as a translator. Life is still good, but it is true what they say, your university years are the best of your life. I would go back tomorrow if I could.

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