This is how you create a commmunity

[dolorosa_12]

One reason I've thoroughly enjoyed my postgrad years while finding undergrad a bit of an unmitigated disaster is that I have the good fortune here in Cambridge to be a member of a really wonderful department that seems to know exactly what to do to make socialising easy for people who might otherwise find it a bit difficult. I was always really jealous of my sciencey friends at Sydney Uni because their faculty seemed to be much better at organising stuff for its students to do, whereas Arts students were left to fend for themselves. (Most people I knew in Arts who had close friends in that faculty tended to have met them through other things, such as student politics, student journalism, improv theatre or religious groups.) I did make Arts friends eventually, but it took me about two years.* I was so awkward about talking to people when there wasn't some kind of structured purpose to our conversation that social events were a nightmare. But it struck me, as I sat in today's medieval Irish reading group, that our department is absolutely packed with structured, purposeful fun for all its students, and this really helps ease everyone in to friendship. (Our department is also odd for Cambridge in that students tend to socialise with one another, rather than with people who study different things but live in the same college.) This is what we have:

For postgrads
1. Weekly reading groups for all the languages we study (medieval Irish, medieval Welsh, Old English and Old Norse), where we get together and translate a text set by someone in the group;

2. Weekly conversation group for Modern Irish, where students meet up in a pub and talk Irish for a while. The Irish teacher also organises regular film nights with Irish-language films;

3. Grad pub night every Monday after the weekly seminar;

4. Palaeography reading group, organised informally by one of my friends who specialises in that subject;

5. Informal German conversation group (I'm not entirely sure, but I think people who are interested in other modern languages have organised similar things);

6. Greek reading group, although I think that may have stopped now;

7. Annual cocktail party held in our departmental common room at the end of the academic year.

For everyone, but mainly attended by undergrads
1. Weekly lunch held in the departmental common room;

2. Weekly pub night.

There also used to be people who organised semi-regular screenings of medieval-type films, but that seems to have stopped happening recently. Once a year we have a black tie dinner held at one of the colleges (which is a little expensive, but still well attended), and a garden party (which is free). And of course everyone organises informal, one-off events on top of all this. But my point is that there is plenty for everyone, mostly it's free (or extremely cheap - the departmental lunch costs about £2, if I remember correctly), and although people in my field tend on the whole to be fond of a drink, there are things to do that don't involve alcohol.

Medievalists are a nerdy, socially awkward bunch on the whole, but the way things have been set up in my department, this never feels like a hindrance. I went around during undergrad thinking there was something profoundly wrong with me because I rarely felt comfortable at any social event. Here, I not only feel comfortable, I feel wanted, and have done since the beginning. I am so grateful to have met them.

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* To be fair, that was partly because I had depression, and it's really hard to be friends with someone who has depression.

Comments

[ymarchoggwachul.livejournal.com]

I’m glad you realise what a great set-up you have there – I’d kill just to have those reading groups available (Melbourne’s Old Irish group died last year, and I was the only actual student amongst the attendees…), let alone anything else that remotely resembled social opportunities for like-minded folks. There was an exclusively undergrad medievalist group that I joined years ago, but I was in a similar frame of mind to yourself at that time.

If it weren’t for a few friends our age I’ve met learning Irish in town, things would be pretty bleak out here - never thought I’d envy Sydney for anything, but it’s tempting in this case because they at least have a Celtic Studies department! I hope those wonderfully nerdy friendships you’ve developed are ones that’ll continue well beyond your PhD. :)

[dolorosa-12.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear there aren't so many groups at Melbourne like the ones I've described, as they really are a wonderful way to get to know your fellow students and learn at the same time. Do you not at least have regular seminars for the postgrad students in your field? We have those, and they're always followed with a trip to the pub.

Your Modern Irish group sounds wonderful, and I actually envy you that! We have classes and social events in our department, but at this point I simply don't have the time, and my Irish has suffered.