By Ainslie Roensdorf
Having just said goodbye to my student accommodation, I now think back to my transition to university last fall. On that warm-weather weekend, as we drove up from southern England and approached Scotland, my initial nervousness about leaving home turned to excitement. That move-in weekend was a transformative experience for me; it was so weird saying goodbye to my family knowing I’d be 500 miles away and wouldn’t see them for months.
But I didn’t have long to dwell on these thoughts; I’ve been looking through my calendar from last year while writing this and have been amazed at how much stuff I managed to do in those first few weeks!
In Welcome Week I took it upon myself to attend what felt like every event from any society I was even remotely interested in: orchestra rehearsals, auditions, welcome talks, induction sessions, accommodation-organized meetups, as well as all 3 days of the Activities Fair. I also took some time to cycle around on my bike, getting to know my route to the King’s Buildings, hoping to make at least one aspect of the first week of lectures easier. That week also involved my first in-person meeting with my academic advisor to check in and confirm optional course choices for semester 1, which was my first experience navigating the maze of corridors that is the James Clerk Maxwell Building (JCMB).
Overall, I found settling in fairly straightforward, thanks to the supporting community in the School of Physics and Astronomy, in my accommodation, and in student societies. It would be very hard not to make friends!
Although I was qualified for it, I opted not to take the 2nd year direct entry route, instead taking the scenic 1st year route, as I wanted to give myself more time to settle into the university and the city, as well as to adjust to living independently. Another important reason for my choice was not wanting to limit myself in terms of how many optional courses I could take – I do enjoy exploring beyond Physics!
Taking Astrobiology as an elective in semester 1 was an enlightening experience; this interdisciplinary course allowed me to return to subjects such as Biology and Chemistry which I hadn’t studied during my A Levels. This new perspective helped me to better appreciate these other sciences. Something I found particularly interesting was the discussion of how Chemistry and Physics can be applied universally, while Biology is currently a “one-planet science.” The implications of this in terms of the search for extra-terrestrial life are profound: considering how diverse life on Earth is, from microbes to monkeys, would we even recognize alien life as life if we found it?
In my second semester, I took Introduction to Geophysics as my optional, as I wanted to apply my physics skills in a new way. I particularly enjoyed the outdoor practicals, one of which involved hitting a concrete tile with a hammer, and then using geophones and a laptop to measure and analyze the resulting seismic waves. We then determined the depth of the surface layer and were able to estimate the composition of the 2 uppermost layers using the calculated seismic wave velocities.
Although I didn’t really enjoy labs at school, I was much happier in the experimental labs in JCMB with the longer-format experiments spread over 2 lab sessions, my favorite being measuring the half-life of a radioactive isotope of Indium. I enjoyed having some control over the course of the experiment, although at times we were rather confused by the written instructions and had to reach out to the TAs (PhD students working as Teaching Assistants) for help. In contrast to the rest of the course, we were expected to fill in lab books (and draw graphs) by hand, which I must admit I wasn’t a fan of as all my other notes live on OneNote.
One of my big academic takeaways from this first year has been learning how to learn. The pace at which new content was introduced, particularly in semester 2, was a big change for me, and required adapting my learning style to be able to take in information more effectively and rapidly. By the end of semester 2, I felt like I had finally worked out how to make the best use of tutorials; if I got stuck on a problem-solving question I learned not to wait so long and instead go straight to a TA, who would hopefully nudge me in the right direction so I wouldn’t waste hours exploring dead-end avenues. Having solved a problem, I also helped fellow students to get to the right answer, which meant explaining my thinking and approach, which I found useful in solidifying my confidence in new methods.
On the topic of exams, I have appreciated just having one exam per course (and often a good chunk of the grade comes from coursework anyway), compared to several exams per subject at school. One of my highlights of the recent May exam diet was sitting my Geophysics exam under the opulent murals of McEwan Hall’s domed ceiling. This provided ample distraction in those tense few minutes waiting for the exam to begin.
This past year, I played in both the University Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra, musical commitments which bolstered my teamwork skills and helped me make friends. As a musician who plays violin and piano, I am happy to live just around the corner from Usher Hall, which hosts concerts with musicians from all around the world. I would heartily recommend the Hillwalking Club to anyone who fancies exploring more of the beautiful natural environment we are lucky to have here in Scotland; the weekend trip I went on to Ratagan (by Loch Duich in the Western Highlands, almost at the Isle of Skye), was definitely one of the highlights of my first semester, not only for the amazing experience of hiking up Munro peaks dusted with snow, but also for the social connections I made.
Last fall also featured my first ceilidh, which I am now convinced is a must-do experience for any Edinburgh student; most societies organize at least one every year, so there are plenty of chances to take part.
More recently, I have joined the gliding club (EUGC), which is one of the cheapest ways to get into the sky, and allows you to quite literally fly away from your university work on the ground for a much needed break.
Living in Edinburgh is wonderful, with its mix of rich history, stunning architecture, and abundance of green spaces making it an ideal environment for all aspects of life. Even throughout the dark, rainy depths of winter, I almost always cycled to the King’s Buildings, rain or shine.
In short, it has been an amazing year, and I can’t wait to return in September!
