After a fairly overwhelming Freshers week, I am now being fully immersed into university life at Sussex. I have experienced my first geography lectures, seminars as well as the Geography Society social event. I was reassured by meeting Dr Haberly, my academic adviser who went through the basic outline of the BA Geography degree. Modules including: Place, Space and Landscape, Sustainable Development, an elective on Colonialism and a series of informative sessions on study skills and tips for Geography.

So far I am especially interested in the Colonialism module as I am learning new ideas and perspectives on the far-reaching and still ever relevant consequences of colonisation. However, all the modules have something unique to offer such as Place, Space and Landscape which, for a set reading task, we were asked to read “The Art of Travel” by Alan de Botton, giving a fresh and accessible look at ideas of place as well as how and why we travel. Having taken a year out between school and university, I was especially interested in these ideas and it has already tempted me to the library to look for further reading materials for this module.

The library, as I am very quickly learning, is a fantastic resource. For a Geography student such as myself I can take my pick from novels such as “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe (recommended for Colonialism and After) to informative essays on Sustainable Development giving a vast range of opinions on the topic and introducing me to new geographical vocabulary. As well as the library, there is a huge amount of support on Study Direct on the Sussex Direct website. There are resources such as: second year students giving advice on how to study Geography, useful tips on how to write essays as well as the Harvard referencing technique, which is a new concept for me.  As a first year student, this support is of huge help to me as I can refer to the IT resources at any time of day if I have a query or simply want some reassurance that others have been through this all before.

Much of what I have experienced in these first few weeks is completely new to me. Before university I had been to a handful of lectures and no seminars. Now however, I feel more than comfortable taking notes, listening carefully and beginning to interact with fellow students as we discuss important issues in the seminars. The lectures are then uploaded on the Sussex Study Direct so one can catch up on anything that was missed and also to explore the ideas in further details e.g. further reading recommendations and helpful resources for upcoming seminars or workshops.

I am looking forward to researching and understand the current modules as well as continuing this new way of learning as I progress through the first year of my Geography degree.