Semester 2 is now fully underway but it feels as if January exams were only just last week! We are in fact almost half way through new modules with essay deadlines looming before the Easter break, and more importantly this Friday our summer exam dates are released! However, despite this mad rush before the end of term let me tell you a little bit about normal politics life at Newcastle.

For most people the start of semester 2 meant beginning 3 new modules, for me this meant new subjects of Contemporary Russian Politics, Africa and the Politics of Development and Research Methods. For each of these new modules you have 2 hours worth of lectures a week, sometimes they are in 2-hour blocks or spread out across the week. On average there are about 100 students in a lecture, and you generally make notes as your lecturer goes through and discusses PowerPoint slides.

On top of this you get a 1-hour seminar session a week per module, which normally takes place in the Politics building. Your seminar leader, who is often your lecturer, runs these and there can only be a maximum of 20 students in each group. This is your chance to talk in more detail about the subject of the lecture, ask any questions and see what your peers think about the topic. You are expected to have prepared for these discussions by reading journal articles and book chapters, which are outlined in the module guide. On occasion your seminar leader may ask you to prepare a small presentation for the group, or they might go through past essay papers to show you how to improve on your marks. Although the week consists of only 9 hours of direct contact time, it is almost a guarantee that beyond 1^st year you will spend most of your free time in the library reading for seminars and working on assignments!

Frankie

As the second term ended, I could not wait to get home to just relax with my family and eat healthy food. The last few weeks had been extremely stressful, what with a difficult statistics assignment to hand in and my housemates getting on my nerves. But I knew it would only take a couple of weeks at home until I was desperate to get back to Newcastle to see my friends.

At the beginning I went to France on a family skiing holiday, which was hilarious but then Easter came and went in quite a blur, probably because of the large quantities of chocolate consumed! After that I went to London quite a few times to go out shopping and to the theatre. I saw an incredible play worth mentioning because of the rave reviews its received and the fact that I got the tickets for £25, (now they are selling them for ten times that price) starring Helen Mirren reprising her Oscar winning role as the Queen. But Easter wasn’t all fun and play, I realised that I seriously need to start saving for summer so I got a job with a catering company close to home that I can work for during the holidays!

It also dawned on me towards the end of the break the actual amount of revision I need to do and the essay deadlines, which I once thought were months away were now only a matter of weeks! I started with my essay for Contemporary Russian Politics first as the deadline was the closest. I chose the title ‘Assess the role of hard and soft power in Russian foreign policy’; I had answered a similar essay question before in the first term about Chinese soft power so I really enjoyed researching this topic and expanding my knowledge. I also chose a relatively similar question in my module for African Politics on ‘Why have Western Commentators been critical of China’s recent involvement in Africa?’ When I got back to UNI what also hit me out of the blue was that I need to start thinking about my dissertation topic straight away, as by the end of term (only 7 weeks away) I need to have handed in my research question and decided on a supervisor!

This term is going to be a busy one for sure, endless days and nights spent in the library I think, but not to worry though I still have tonnes of Easter chocolate left over to keep me company!

Frankie