29 things you’ll only understand if you’re a Durham BA Geographer

Pre-arrival tasks, fieldtrips and colouring in: 29 things you’ll only understand if you’re a Durham BA Geographer


1. Worrying that you’d chosen the wrong degree when you saw the ‘pre-arrival tasks’

Doreen Massey

2. Having to explain on a daily basis that your course doesn’t involve colouring in. Or map reading. Or mountains and rivers

3. The panicked scan of all 200 faces when you walk into Appleby on your own

4. Choosing your modules to get maximum fieldtrips

5. The minor freak-out you had when you saw ‘practicals’ in the Chemistry building on your timetable before you arrived…

6. …only to realise they were actually like this:

7. Having to put up with 3 years worth of ‘hilarious’ birthday presents

8. Getting teased by all your friends for doing a doss subject, even when you tell them the Durham Geography department has been ranked 4th in the world 

9. Actually having friends in other colleges

10. And actually socialising outside of lectures

11. Space and place are your two favourite words

12. The sheer respect you have for Lisa Tempest every time you give her your anonymous code and she finds your paper within seconds

13. Slowly learning all the tricks in the book to get around the dreaded ‘page limits’

14. The mind-blowing moment you discovered that BAnderson was married to Rachey-C

15. The carnage at the main office at 3.55pm when a summative is due

16. When a photo of your “really serious group-work” appears on Facebook

17. You always say ‘yes’ when someone asks you to fill in a questionnaire

“Yes, of course, it would be my pleasure”

18. The amount of stick you get from BSc geographers when they hear your modules are called things like…

19. The awkward moment when DUGS tell you to “hurry!” before the summer boat party sells out

20. What you think BA fieldtrips are like…

21. What they’re actually like…

22. What you think BSc fieldtrips are like…

23. What they’re actually like…

24. The tears you shed when you found out Rigg was leaving

25. The excitement of reuniting in Appleby for that one lecture in second year

26. Getting a grant to go to Africa to do ‘dissertation research’

27. When Gords doesn’t give you a break in your 2 hour lecture

Mac attack: thank goodness for Facebook

28. You’ve considered doing the MA purely because all your friends are

29. Everyone told you that geography was the ‘most employable degree’.  As you approach graduation, you realise they were lying.