So, this month was the start of my second year of university. After receiving a distinction in my first year of German, I decided to spend this year doing solely German. On top of my studies, I am also working as a student buddy for the German module I did last year and on top of the buddying job, I was also asked to volunteer as a peer mentor. Despite my busy schedule and a personal issue at the start of term, I have already completed the work for the first semester.
Straight away, I noticed that level 2 was more work than level 1. The chapters were longer, and more note-taking was required. Because of this, I decided to use one big Word document to record my notes this year instead of handwriting the notes like I did last year, as typing is faster for me and makes my notes more straightforward to read! If you have read my article Day School, you might remember me talking about a lovely lady from Inverness. Well, we got on so well that it was arranged for her to be my tutor for this year. Last year, I didn’t attend any of the German lectures because I didn’t feel comfortable with my first tutor, and by the time I got my second tutor, I was finished with the work for the year, so there was no point in going to any of her lectures. However, my tutor for level 2 German (L223) is much more welcoming and nicer that I have been going to her lectures, even though I am always weeks ahead of what is being discussed and I feel like they are helping me with my skills.
By some insane coincidence, my tutor is also on the team that manages peer mentors! I wasn’t planning on being a mentor, but after the day school in March, someone with influence in the School of Languages and Applied Linguistics asked me to join the peer mentoring project. I have chosen only to be responsible for one person as I didn’t want to overwhelm myself by taking on too many people alongside my studies and the buddying job I am also doing. That and I feel like by having only one mentee I can focus on fully meeting her individual mentoring needs rather than having to divide my time equally between multiple people. I didn’t know if I would enjoy this role, but I have to say that it feels good being there for someone through the first year of their studies.
I am also a buddy, a paid role for which I had been waiting my entire first year to apply. I am responsible for the pastoral care of all students studying Level 1 intermediate German (L113). It entails sharing my own journey through the module, reminding the students about assignment deadlines and giving practical tips for life on the module, as well as answering any questions that students might post on the module forum. It is a bit of a thankless job because the amount of forum posts I write significantly outweighs the number of forum posts I have to answer, but it is my first German-related job, so I am proud of that!
Although I have not made any new friends on my own module yet, my friendships with Aoife and Chloe are still going strong. In fact, I believe that I hang out with Chloe more than I have ever hung out with a friend in my life! She has practically joined my band, Stride, and we have even written a song together! I’m at the point now where I can’t even imagine life without her! As for Aoife, even though she is focusing on her French this year, she still has time to crack me up with a hilarious video pretty much weekly!
In conclusion, even though I had a significant wobble at the start of term, I have now regained my German mojo, and I am back to enjoying German, and I’m having a great time again! The university has even written an article about my gift! I did find losing interest in the very thing that I had been studying for four years very disconcerting and this made it a huge relief when I found out that this was just caused by something medical! I have been The Non Verbal Linguist since 2021 and it is now part of my identity so I will be The Non Verbal Linguist forever!
Eilidh Elizabeth Molly McGrath 💜
The Non Verbal Linguist 