Bletchley Park

I talked a couple of days ago about visiting Bletchley Park, and thought I'd share a couple of photos we took on the day. 

Jay is actually working with Bletchley Park as part of a project for University. He studies Interactive Digital Technologies, and his group have been challenged with a way to make the site more interactive and exciting. I won't go into the details of his idea yet (mostly because it's still very much a concept, not a design!) but we've had a couple of brainstorming sessions about it where he has bounced his ideas off me and I helped him land a pretty exciting idea. We decided to go along and get season passes today so we could explore the park together and figure out what would go where and such, and as a history student I was pretty excited to be going along.

I'm not going to lie. I was pretty disappointed. BUT, I see this as a good thing. There were a lot of spaces that could be utilised, a lot of dry information and I don't see children being interested in this at all, which is exactly where I think Jay's project is going to be perfect. If I, a second year history student with the benefit of a local connection, was not hooked, then what chance does an eight year old have?

What it lacked in interest, however, it more than made up for in props. A lot of the park I shuffled around feeling awkward because it was super quiet and I was incredibly aware of the staff in the room (which might have contributed to me just not being in the mood for a museum - I can't see why else I didn't like it because I love museums!) but whenever we found we were on our own and around props which weren't nailed down (literally), I grabbed them, pulled silly faces [I was mostly trying to look like Churchill] and made the most of our time. Okay so it wasn't the most exciting morning, but it was awesome to spend some time together without worrying about kids or animals, and just have a bit of fun on our own for a bit.

Sitting at Alan Turing's typewriter

Pondering the Enigma code at Turing's desk

One of the interactive activities was to turn a dial until you heard morse code, then work out what three letters were being spelled

An entirely photoshoppable image of me pretending to ring a fire bell

Standing very matronly next to a phone

Evidently outraged on the phone

Using another interactive exhibit. Blurry pic but my hair looks good so who cares ;)

I believe this was an attempt to look like Churchill...

Just life and stuff

My first exam, which was for American history, actually went really well yesterday. We had to choose two essay questions and I ended up going for one about cultural conflict in the 1920s and one about political paranoia in the Cold War. I was able to write and write on both subjects, there were no points that I had to stop and think "oh God, what do I write now?!" so all in all I'm confident that I've passed and am now up to 40 credits towards my degree! (The first 20 credits being from a module that has no exam, though I'm yet to actually receive my average grade). I got home and we celebrated by having our friend Kathy come over - our Thursday night get-togethers have become somewhat of a tradition! - eating KFC, doing the Time Warp and booking tickets to see Rocky Horror Picture Show in Birmingham next January, as a bit of an impulse buy. I'm really looking forward to it, though Lord knows what we're going to do about childcare.

Today it's just more revision, really. I have a Women's History exam on Tuesday which I'm really looking forward to, and then Blood and Iron (origins of the first world war, essentially) which I'm not so much so need to really brush up. I've been watching Crash Course videos every day so I at least feel like I've got SOMETHING to say, and holla! I feel like I can finally explain the July Crisis.

On Saturday the 16th I'm having a tooth extracted by conscious sedation as it has crumbled away at the teeth on either side have already began to migrate together, making it a bit tricky to come out. And then my final two exams, Holocaust and then Kings and Confessions (all about early modern Europe) are the 18th and 19th. I'm a little worried about the little time available from the 16th to the 19th and how much pain I'll be in/how much I'll feel like studying so I really need to knuckle down and feel confident by Friday the 15th I think.

And then I'll be finished! 120 credits down, 240 to go! I'm not sure when we get our exam results, I'm really hoping not to have to do any re-sits - aside from the obvious, the re-sits are a couple of weeks before the wedding and it's the last thing I need to be worrying about while trying to plan our big day. Three months today, somehow. WHAT? 

This has been a ramble but I've got back in to reading blogs recently and it's been so nice to actually read proper lifestyle, not staged posts to see who can get the most hits and be the best 'brand'. So I thought I'd just throw in a bit of a ramble. I know I'll look back on exam madness and laugh. Or look back in 3rd year and cry into my dissertation, wishing for exams...

University.

Now that I'm happily back into my routine following Christmas, I thought I'd do a little post about my life at University. I've said I'm a student a handful of times, but haven't tended to talk much about what I'm actually studying.

I'm in the first year of a three year course, studying BA History. Within this course I take six modules. It's a lot more reading than many other courses, it sounds very factual and dry and while some of it is, there is actually a lot of room for light-hearted history! Many students take history as a joint-honours course, along with psychology or politics (or teaching, of course) and you can absolutely see why. Social history in particular is a great one for teaming up with psychology: how did people live? Why did that happen to that class, or sex, of person? I study everything from European conflicts and 18th century political groups, through to the definition and history of gender, witchcraft, and the psychology of ordinary Germans (or, more interestingly, Nazis) in Nazi Germany. All of this within the space of my first year.

This is a bit 'different' for the blogosphere, I get that. I get that most people will skip past this post because, hello, who is interested in simply hearing what somebody is studying at University? But I just thought I'd put it out there for anybody who is curious and, more importantly, anybody who is stuck thinking about what they want to do when they finish school.

In terms of job opportunities, they are endless with a history degree. It's one of those brilliant degrees that can get you jobs within many fields because of the basic skills you need to actually obtain a history degree. As for myself, I don't know what I want to do when I leave. Maybe something in an office. Maybe I'll work from home. Maybe head back into journalism. For now, I'm loving learning, loving the structure and believe it or not, even loving the 2000 word assignments that keep cropping up!

What are you studying, or what do you want to study? Did you use your degree? Let me know in the comments!