It’s been two weeks here in Belfast and one week of taking classes at Queen’s University Belfast. As the days go by so quickly, I am happy to say that I am slowly finding a routine and community in this new place. We are surrounded by small neighborhoods, and I have really enjoyed walking around the campus and taking in the new environment.
A recent favorite spot of mine is Queen’s Business School. The business school is located away from the main campus, providing some peace and quiet when the main campus is bustling with students and cars. It is a bit of a walk from the main campus as well as my accommodations, but I can’t help but find the area so beautiful every time I walk over. I definitely look forward to finding a nice study spot at the business school as the semester continues!
With this past week being the first official week of teaching at Queen’s, the Student Union was always packed with students and events to welcome us to the new school year. Furthermore, they also had a Fresher’s Fair, which is similar to Pitt’s Activities Fair for new students to learn about the clubs and societies offered at the school. I was excited to visit the fair at Queen’s and see if there were any clubs that I was interested in joining for the semester.
Overall, the teaching style at Queen’s is very similar to Pitt’s, both in terms of lecture style and class size. I have some lectures here with 100+ students, as well as classes with ~30 students. On top of the similar range of class sizes, Queen’s also utilizes a recitation-like course setup, with every class having an additional hour or two for seminars or tutorials. This allows students to ask questions to TAs and better understand the material taught in class.
When studying at Queen’s University Belfast, full-time students take on a course load of 60 credits. This is equivalent to three courses that are each worth 20 credits (6 Pitt credits). This type of credit layout is very different from Pitt’s, where each class is 3 credits, and many students take around 4-6 courses per semester. As a result, I found my days less jampacked with classes, allowing me to really soak in the campus life and enjoy outings with friends (at least until midterms roll around!).
During my time here at Queen’s, I will be taking an Introduction to Film 1 class, a Moral Theories class, and an Organizational Behavior class. I’m looking forward to meeting more people through my classes. Just after a few days of classes, I have met so many new friends from abroad and Northern Ireland. In my Organizational Behavior class, we needed to form groups ourselves for a project due in week 6. As a result, I was going up to as many different people as possible to form a group and meet some new friends. Furthermore, I made an effort to talk to the students sitting next to me and try to make a new friend.
I think taking a chance to say hello and ask for a name can start some really special connections here at Queen’s. Everyone is so open to new connections that you really just need to take that chance. Through this experience, I hope I continue to build confidence in making new connections with classmates and also professors.