How can we get the student board Bumpin?

Your friendly Old Dawg
52 years old next month: definitely recognizable as one of the oldest students around!

Grab your Lipitor and Aleve and head east, hon!  I'm so glad I'm not the only one here in her 5th decade.  I'll be hosting the Great Edinburgh Fluffernutter Fest this September when I get settled in Edinburgh.  After 35 years in the working world, I'm going for an MBA.  I hope it helps me land a job with a work permit so I can stay in Scotland with my family. 

How did you get the TA gig?  Is it part of the PhD?  I have an MEd, and I've been thinking about TAing, but don't have a clue about possibilities.

I'm a student!!!  I'm coming over to Lancaster for 6 months (Jan 06 to Jun 06) to study abroad and be with my DF.  Hopefully my experience will help me get a job in the UK?! 

I'll help ya get this board going 

Yay! *does a little dance* I'll be at the Institute of Education come October. Will be doing an MA in Media Culture and Communications and living with my boo :p I can't frikkin wait! Sending out all my visa stuff this week and feeling hella nervous about it :s

Grant, you have me blushing with your kind words. Thanks.

I worried about so many things before making this decision firm. But, hey, look at the option: Stay put and work to pay for health insurance for the next 40 years? Naw... I'm just a bit too frisky to stay under that saddle for very long.

I agree that none of the other ex-pat sites really met my needs like this one. :::raising a toast::: To the trailblazers who have made our way smoother, many thanks!

Good luck Grant!

How did you get the TA gig?  Is it part of the PhD?  I have an MEd, and I've been thinking about TAing, but don't have a clue about possibilities.

It was through my Dissertation Supervisor. He has been wonderful. When my funding fell through, he said there might be an opening and he made the introductions. I applied and just learned that it will happen! Now, it won't be the kind of Assistantships we have in US universities where fees are waved. It is just a few hours a week but for me, it is enough to pay for my commuting fees and a few meals. It is a Godsend, that's for sure!

There is also some informal TA work (unpaid) that will be part of my particular program. Whether that is standard or not, I am not sure. I had asked for teaching experience: since American grad students will also get teaching experience, I wanted to be competitive with them when applying for work once the PhD is done.

By the way, I am THRILLED to know there is another "student of a certain age" in the mix! I had wondered if I was the only one.  Too bad you are so far away! I'd love to throw in with your... uh... er... Fluffermutter Fest? I could bring a nice Geritol Delight!

My daughter and I were laughing about Aleve just today. She will be sending my Aleve supply in the Care Packages she will now have to send to her ole mom in College...next to the chocolate brownies! A complete role-reversal)

Well, we will have to compare notes at some point!
D-

By the way, I am THRILLED to know there is another "student of a certain age" in the mix! I had wondered if I was the only one.  Too bad you are so far away! I'd love to throw in with your... uh... er... Fluffermutter Fest? I could bring a nice Geritol Delight!

My daughter and I were laughing about Aleve just today. She will be sending my Aleve supply in the Care Packages she will now have to send to her ole mom in College...next to the chocolate brownies! A complete role-reversal)

D,

I travel!  And Fluff travels well, too.  I've been bringing it with me to the UK for a few years now with only one burst jar.  Gooey!

AnneR said something about a student get-together in Russell Square.  Wherever it is, I'm in.  Oh, I was planning on going to London mid-October for the big knitting expo at the Ally Pally.  When I get to Edinburgh (she says with such conviction!) I'll be in touch about when and where.

I also bring bottles of 200 Advil and 1000 aspirin, just because I can!  I love showing off the aspirin bottle!

I also bring bottles of 200 Advil and 1000 aspirin, just because I can!  I love showing off the aspirin bottle!

LOL!!! Me too! At the request of my English friends, many of a like age, I bring the 1000 count bottles of Ibuprofen, not to mention the little pots of Blistex Lip Medex by the score. This trip, I have a request for Campho-Phenique as a wedding presant. It is a product that seems to suddenly be in great demand. When I first started making the transatlantic crossing, everyone requested Levi jeans, now its huge bottles of OTC ache reducers.

Russell Square.

er... that would be right across the way from my school in London. Count me in! When are you scheduled to arrive? I leave here (I am in Virginia right now) for London on 30 August, less than a week! Oh my!

er...Fluff? Burst Jar? If you were a Medical Student, I would be very afraid but a CPA? What is a Fluff? (If it is not too rude to ask)
D-

I also bring bottles of 200 Advil and 1000 aspirin, just because I can!  I love showing off the aspirin bottle!

And Tylenol PM.....LOL!!...............see these Boston kids.......

I'm not a student here but I was in the past (MA English, King's, U of L) and now I'm a senior lecturer at one of the *new* universities.  In between the MA and now I did a PhD at NYU and taught at CUNY as a full-time asst. prof.  One of the things that you might or might not notice right away is that you shouldn't always call the person teaching the class, Professor.  Most everyone will be some sort of lecturer (lect., senior lect., prinicpal lect.) or one of the other many titles that exist here.  "Professor" is a hard-earned title that pretty much signifies that that person is at the top of his/her field (a very loose definition).

"Professor" is a hard-earned title that pretty much signifies that that person is at the top of his/her field (a very loose definition).

You have actually brought up something that I have been wondering about... Can you give us a rundown of the hierarchy? What is a lecturer, a tutor and a reader? How do they fall in the ranks? My dissertation supervisor has just made professor at Kings. How should I address him? Dr. H or Professor H?

I also am curious about my upcoming Teaching Assistant work. In all honesty they seem to have much more confidence in my preparedness to do the job than I have (mainly because my degree is more of an English degree than the History that I have been hired for) I pointed this out but no one seemed to mind that fact. How does the actual work of a TA differ in the British university? (my resume showed that I was a tutor in my American university in upper division English, Math, Geology, and Chemistry...but no History   Could the language of rank be the reason? A tutor to me is different than a tutor to them? I am VERY nervous about it.

Oh, and while we have you cornered.... How did you find Kings as a student? Many (don't laugh) "EXTREMELY mature" students?
D-

You have actually brought up something that I have been wondering about... Can you give us a rundown of the hierarchy? What is a lecturer, a tutor and a reader? How do they fall in the ranks? My dissertation supervisor has just made professor at Kings. How should I address him? Dr. H or Professor H?

A reader is the lowest rank, IIRC, and may not be done with a PhD.  Tutor at my uni is a universal term for all the instructors but it may be different at Kings.  A lecturer is below a senior lecturer and a professor is the grand pooba. 

Your dissertation supervisor should tell you what to call him.  The first time I met my supervisor I called her Dr. Lodge and she told me, "We're very informal around here.  Please call me Caroline."  And I did after that, but not until she told me it was ok.  If your supervisor doesn't tell you, the best way to find out is to ask.  You'll have a close working relationship with your supervisor and I'd be surprised if he told you to call him Dr. or Prof on a regular basis.

Thanks, Kristi... much clearer.

My supervisor has already said to call him by his first name. It is a bit awkward for me, however, as I have never been that informal with anyone I work with, even those who work for me. Coming from the South, I have run into something else that has caused raised eyebrows more than once. I use 'sir' and 'ma'am' deferentially to anyone older or in authority just out of habit. One person said "don't call me ma'am! I am not the Queen!" It was my first visit to England and it was then I knew I (quite literally) was "not in Kansas anymore" 

er...Fluff? Burst Jar? If you were a Medical Student, I would be very afraid but a CPA? What is a Fluff? (If it is not too rude to ask)

It's marshmallow that has a spreadable consistency.  Fluffernutters are a sandwich made with Fluff and peanut butter.  They are kind of revolting to Brits, but we OTC drug runners just love 'em.  The gourmet Fluffernutter is toasted with chocolate and bananas.

I'm bringing Eddie Bauer and Talbot's women's jeans, a couple of pen drives I got at Target for $25 and cost about £40, and scads and scads of yarn.  The UK is a bit behind the US in novelty yarns, so I'm bringing enough to keep me busy throughout the winter.

If all goes well, I should be in Edinburgh Monday.  Have you seen my gut-wrenching story in the Visa section?  It's under "I didn't get it," but I have it now.

Celtic, I only do drugs that come with instructions.  I chucked a lump of hash as big as the top joint of my thumb into the Charles River because I couldn't keep it lighted.

they have hash in England?  To try it, I always thought I have to go to Amsterdam or something.   Speaking of: what is Britain's Legal stance on hash and marijuana?  how bout mushrooms?  I think I heard in Amsterdam they have shroom tea? 
The states as everyone knows has very hypocritical laws and enforcement when it comes to weed: it's legal to own it (a certain amount) but illegal to smoke it - or in certain parts of California it's legal for medical purposes, unless the Feds decide to say something about it.  Is the UK similar?

I'm a student,,,and a verrrrry old one at that!  Just finished my first year of nursing at University of Plymouth (and survived), second year coming up in September.  I was an LPN back home and since that wasn't recognized had to start all over.  Needless to say its been a challenge, but its also been fun being the oldest and the only American in the class!

OK, so it appears my idea for drinkies in the Univ. of London area (Russell Square) is catching on?! I'll start a new thread and maybe we can work something out. My classes don't start until the 2nd week in October and I'll be in the US the week before that, AND to make it even more convoluted, I'll only be there on Mondays and am going to be working full-time. OK, nevermind - I'll start another thread on it and we'll hammer out a plan!