Surviving the First Term

Well I did … just about … but, as you can see, the MA doesn’t leave much time for blogging!  It keeps me very, very busy!  The good news is that the staff and students have been wonderfully welcoming and the course has been very varied and  interesting and has really widened my horizons.  I have seen real papyri and handled real Greek and Roman coins, learned about inter-textuallity and what goes into writing a commentary (lots of work going on in that area).  I have improved my Greek – well at least I have got back to the standard I once reached with the Open University and nudged forward a little bit from it – why is Greek so slippery?  I have also enjoyed studying different approaches to Greek Myth with a really lively group of fellow-students, herded like very wild cats by the admirably dramatic Emma Griffiths.  I am still knee deep in the Oresteia but am hoping to kick the addiction or at least widen my interest to encompass other tragedies and to do some research on how tragedy (and possibly other literature) was used to encourage virtue.  And what do I mean by ‘encourage’ and ‘virtue’  you might well ask … lots of thinking and reading to get on with there!

I think the highlight of the course has been the open seminars on Thursday evening.  They are open to anyone interested in Classics so you could probably drop in if you were near the Samuel Alexander Building at 5 o’clock in term time.  The speaker delivers a paper and everyone is then invited for wine and nibbles followed by an optional meal out where further wine (or beer) and discussion can be enjoyed.  Those who have studied Classics with me and / or been out drinking with me will appreciate how happy this all makes me.

On the down side, life has been really challenging around the course.  Moving from Flint to Manchester and finding a flat where my sons can visit occasionally and where I can be really near the university has meant leaving behind my dog and cat with my Mam. Finding the flat and moving in just as my car packed up was very trying and I still haven’t resolved how to get rid of the poor thing which is languishing under a SORN declaration in my cousin’s garage having failed its MOT. The flat has had various problems which I am now coming to see as features of the Manchester environment.  It is extremely wet!  When it rains (which is pretty much all the time) water comes in under the door of the flat to a distance of about 8 feet and makes a fairly deep puddle – I have to wear Crocs to walk around … The inlet valve to the toilet cistern doesn’t close fully so if you don’t turn the water off at the stop-cock, it spills over the top – it doesn’t have a handy overflow system like some toilets do … maybe this sort of thing is normal here – certainly the plumber who visited twice didn’t seem to have sufficient determination to fix it … I have been promised a new plumber in the New Year … oh joy!  I have, thankfully managed to get the landlord to pay for taking up all the lino and underlay which had become sodden and mouldy because of the leaking toilet so the flat smells a lot better, but I am sure the carpet in the hall will get in on the act soon enough …

And now, unsurprisingly I have a stinking cold and wheezy cough, probably also a badge of honour in this climate.  I will survive …. probably, but don’t hold your breath till the next exciting episode

Manchester MA Options

I will soon have to decide which modules to study for my MA.  I spent a while wondering whether to do Latin (which I am quite good at and quite like) or Ancient Greek (which I am pretty bad at, but really love).  In the end, the decision was more or less made for me when the Programme Director decided my Greek needed more attention.  This makes sense as I think I am going to try to pursue my interest in the strong women of Greek tragedy, their origins and how they are re-interpreted in Rome … well some of that anyway, maybe some will have to wait for the PhD .  So, for the MA Classics and Ancient History at Manchester, you need to do:

Two Compulsory Modules (90 points)
CLAH60510 : The Study of the Ancient World (30 points)
CLAH60070: Dissertation (60 points)

One Language Option (30 points)
CLAH70151 Intensive Greek I and CLAH70162 Intensive Greek II
CLAH70120: Advanced Greek I (I think this is the one for me!)
CLAH70220: Advanced Greek II
CLAH70320: Advanced Greek III
CLAH70171 Intensive Latin I and CLAH70182: Intensive Latin
CLAH70110: Advanced Latin I
CLAH70210: Advanced Latin II
CLAH70310: Advanced Latin III

One ‘List A’ Option (30 points)
CLAH60251: Writing and Power in the Ancient Greek World
CLAH60661: Greek Myth: Society and Psychology (this one too)
CLAH64012: Greek Religion and Society
CLAH60111: Living in the Roman Empire
CLAH60042: Latin Poetics
CLAH60001: Directed Reading – semester 1 (subject to negotiation)
CLAH60002: Directed Reading – semester 2 (subject to negotiation)

One Free Choice Option (30 points)
This can come from List A or from any other module on offer at Manchester, subject to approval by the Programme Director.  This is a more difficult choice for me as I don’t know whether I would prefer to do
CLAH64012: Greek Religion and Society
CLAH60042: Latin Poetics
or a directed reading module focussing on one of the Greek tragedies.  I think I will see where I end up for Ancient Greek (there is still some danger that I will be put in Advanced Greek II, but I am sure when I do the planned assessment to see what level I am at, that won’t happen!) and what text I do for the ‘enhancement’ of my language option … that might make it all a bit clearer.

The plan …

I’ve wanted to go back to university and be a successful full-time student for a few years now.  In fact, I think  I wanted to go back to university and be a successful student from the moment I finished being a ‘hanging on by the skin of my teeth’ student at Oxford in 1977  ( BA ‘only just Hons’ Mathematics).  That’s about 34 years of dreaming of this ….

In fact, I started making this real with the Open University in 2006, when I signed up for a 10 point course called Y160 Making Sense of the Arts.  One thing led to another and, this year, I graduated with a First Class (still feels sooo good to write that!) BA honours degree in Humanities and Classical Studies, with a distinction in every one of my eight modules (feels really wonderful to write that!)  So, I have done a bit of being a successful student already, but I am now going to go face-to-face at  Manchester University, doing the taught MA Classics and Ancient History!

At this moment, I don’t have anywhere to live in Manchester and I do want to stay there, but it is tricky finding a balance between having a family home (I have two lovely adult sons who sometimes stay with me) and having something which will let me enjoy the full student experience.  I think the compromise is going to be a private let as close as I can get to the University.  Other complications include my dog and cat, who, after a lot of worrying and soul-searching, are now not going to come with me, but will stay instead with my lovely mother, who has volunteered to take them on to make the year easier for me.  They will all be in reasonably easy travelling distance in North Wales so all I now have to do is sort something out for me … I am a bit rabbit-in-the-headlights at the moment but hopefully I will come out of that in time to get myself in place for an 18th September start.  Time to start living that dream