Back to School

So, I'm now officially that old dude who goes to uni to be ridiculed by all the youngsters. Actually, that's not true. A combination of not looking my age and a being amongst a group of more mature students, meant I blended in okay. Here's the evidence to prove it.

There's about twenty or so students studying Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems (EASy). Only three or four are doing it part-time, like me. It was a little disconcerting when the course organiser kept mentioning part-timers, and the special requirements they have. The phrase part-timer always has an air of slacker about it. Which in my case is about right. I probably could do this course full-time, but I want to study more leisurely and give myself plenty of time to write over the next two years.

During the induction we we told about the various modules and got a flavour of how this course pans out. Basically, because it's such a cutting-edge area, there are no textbooks written, no this-is-how-it-is style teaching. In the seminars they want us to read papers and then have great ideological and technically debates amongst ourselves. Needless to say, this is in stark contrast to my physics degree where most the theories were developed hundreds of years ago by stuffy gentlemen in tweed jackets, and repeated ad nauseam to legions of drolling nerds. Bring it on!

Also the MSc will involve lots of hands-on work--from programming projects to robot design. There's a lab dedicated for the EASy students. It looks like a cross between a child's play area and the computing section at the local library. An enormous table takes up the whole of the middle of the room, laden with lego bricks and wheels and electronic equipment, while PCs line the walls. It's open 24 hours a day, so if I get into this shit, I could be spending a lot of time in there. For myself, as a part-timer, this term only involves Maths and Programming modules, which should be easy, but not especially exciting. The good stuff will start next term.

After all this geekery, I went on to the football trials. There must have been over a hundred and fifty trialists. The first thing we did was fitness work which was going fine until we had to do the running version of the cycling Madison without the slingshot part. As a pair, both guys run around a 100m track. One has to run 3/4 speed while the other jogs. When the 3/4 speed runner catches their partner, they tag them, and swap roles. Do this five or six times and you'll be knackered! I definitely didn't shine here. Shortly after this, some passing drills began, and it was at this stage that people were told to drop out. "Guy in the Converse shoes. Thanks very much, you can go now." Everyone started getting nervous with their touch....

Fortunately, I survived the cull and made it to the 11-a-side trial games where I performed alright. Still lack fitness, but I passed well, ran a lot, and helped organise the team. Back for the final trial on Sunday, where, fingers-crossed, I'll make one of the teams.