SCOTS Project - www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk Document : 1574 Title : Conversation 39: Two female students on student halls, university, philosophy and religion Author(s): N/A Copyright holder(s): SCOTS Project Audio transcription F1150: I thought you were from the Western Isles so I figured we would be talking about like the woes of growing up in Cromor or something. //but you're from Glasgow, so.// F1151: //Oh right, yeah.// I've just found myself thinking there "Oh I wonder if I told her I was from the Western Isles". [laugh] //[laugh] As if I would have done that! [laugh]// F1150: //[laugh]// //Have you ever been there, or have you always lived in Glasgow?// F1151: //Eh. [cough]// No, I've always lived in Glasgow. F1150: Yeah. F1151: Yeah. Erm I've I've not lived anywhere else. I've erm I've visited places and erm had f- family that stayed up north and stuff, and I've got friends from Orkney. F1150: Oh right. //Yeah.// F1151: //Erm,// but no, I've always lived in Glasgow. F1150: I've never been to Orkney actually, despite the fact that it's about twenty minutes' away, I think, //on the ferry.// F1151: //Is it?// F1150: Yeah, it's quite nearby. F1151: Yeah. F1150: Er, my landlord's actually from Orkney. //But I've never been there.// F1151: //Oh right.// //You don't sound like you're from the Western Isles.// F1150: //So are yo-?// I know, I've got quite, like everyone I know from home, basically who's of my age, doesn't really have a Western Isles accent, //like my boyfriend's got a// F1151: //Really?// F1150: really strong English accent. Erm, one of my friends is meant to be coming in on Monday to do this and she's got almost a Geordie accent. F1151: Really? F1150: Cause her mother's accent never sort of loosened, the time that she's been in Lewis, //so.// F1151: //That's strange, cause// the people that I know from Orkney, I think the same could be said of them, //but I know// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: see five or six people from Orkney and they've all got different //accents.// F1150: //Mmhm.// F1151: Er, one of my friends just sounds Welsh. //But it's// F1150: //Yeah? [laugh]// F1151: strange cause on the one hand it, yo- you think, "Oh that's a really thick Welsh accent", but it could almost pass for just a really really heavy Orcadian accent. //But// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: it's strange, it's like you wouldn't think they would be so similar, but his dad's Welsh. F1150: I think the Lewis accent is like what most people think of as a classic Lewis accent is actually the accent of someone who's learnt Gaelic //from a young child and then learnt English.// F1151: //Yeah.// //Uh-huh.// F1150: //And// cause there are so many people now who don't do that and who only ever speak English, exclusively, F1151: Mmhm. F1150: then maybe what people think of as "The Western Isles Accent" is kind of dying out. //But you don't have// F1151: //Yeah.// F1150: a sort of really pronounced Glasgow //accent either.// F1151: //No, I don't I I// I think probably similarly I've got my mother's accent. But she i- she's Glaswegian as well, //but erm// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: I think the way my er my cousin's girlfriend, who's from Manchester, she describes, she says that all the women in our family have posh Glasgow accents. //[laugh]// F1150: //You think?// F1151: But I don't think it's posh, it's just like, erm I gl- I grew up in Govan, //and I// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: I definitely don't have a Govanite accent, but F1150: No. F1151: I think that's probably because I grew up in a pretty rough part of it, //so// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: I didn't really go out that much, //didn't really sort of socialise with, yeah.// F1150: //Yeah, so you were more confined to like a family circle?// F1151: Yeah, would have been more erm, my accent's probably more influenced by my mum than my peers. //So,// F1150: //Yeah, so do you still live in Govan?// F1151: er no, I live in Maryhill. //Well, it's// F1150: //Oh right.// F1151: don't know if it's technically Maryhill, it's er just beside Ruchill Park. Do you know where the student village is? //At Murano Street, yeah?// F1150: //Murano Street, yeah, yeah.// F1151: I live on that street. F1150: Oh right, but y- you don't live in //Murano Street itself.// F1151: //I don't live in the halls, no, I stay with my dad.// F1150: No, I think you're kind of fortunate to have escaped Murano Street. //Yeah.// F1151: //Yeah.// F1150: I never stayed there, but like a lot of people from home were living there, and the year, I'm in third year now, the year I was in first year, it was quite bad with sort of heating problems and water problems and stuff like that. I was down in QM, which is kind of the nice halls. //Like my friends// F1151: //[laugh]// F1150: would come round and say, "My shower's not working again, I need to wash", //which was less than ideal.// F1151: //[laugh] I-// I have noticed that the fire brigade are there pretty much every //day time. [laugh]// F1150: //Every single day.// F1151: [laugh] Every day at five o'clock. F1150: Yeah, the fire alarms up there are like, I don't know, I remember someone telling me once that they're not like focused on one erm like flat, so if a fire alarm goes off anywhere on the floor it goes off for like //the whole floor, so it// F1151: //I- the whole building, or the whole// F1150: the fire brigade think that like there's a much bigger fire //than there actually is. Yeah.// F1151: //Yeah, yeah.// Erm, cause w- I've been to this Uni before, erm a few years ago, I stayed for less than a year though, and I was good friends with a girl that stayed on Murano Street. F1150: Yeah. So are you a bit older then? F1151: Yeah, I'm twenty-six. F1150: Right. F1151: Erm, I came to Uni straight from school F1150: Yeah, cause when you said you were in first year I thought, she doesn't look like she's seventeen. //[laugh]// F1151: //No I know, I'm not.// Erm no I did, I tried it once before, I just wasn't quite ready for it, //with// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: hindsight, it was just a bit, it was all a bit overwhelming for me and I ended up dropping out. //So,// F1150: //Yeah, so did you take// a gap year the first time, or did you just come //straight from school?// F1151: //I came straight from school.// F1150: Yeah. F1151: And I I was in a similar situation I think to a lot of my friends. It was just like a couple of months into the course, we just all looked at each another one day and it was like "What are we doing here?" //You know? [laugh]// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: You just all of a sudden find yourself here and it's //just sort of// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: ge- you get carried along with the tides. Erm, I feel completely different about it this time, and //I am// F1150: //Mmhm.// F1151: actually doing pretty much the same course //that I started off doing, with// F1150: //Really? Yeah.// F1151: the exception of instead of doing English Lit, I'm doing English Language this time, I'm much happier about //it. [laugh]// F1150: //I was so glad to get out of English Lit// //at the end of second year. I was absolutely desperate to get away from it by the end.// F1151: //[laugh]// //Aye, aye, honestly, I feel your pain.// F1150: //I was just,// //it was really.// F1151: //[laugh] I really didn't enjoy it.// F1150: I really liked it in first year actually and then in second year I was just doing my nut and desperate to get out of it. But I mean everyone, like, in Lewis, I don't think the gap year's like as much of a a thing really. My boyfriend took one. But erm all of my friends and I came straight from school. We were all seventeen when we got here. We all pretty much sailed through first year and then second year we just found //really like// F1151: //It's a shock to the system.// F1150: yeah, the killing fields basically. I'm the only one of my group of friends from school who is erm like in third year now. //One of them// F1151: //Yeah.// F1150: is repeating second year, cause she just hated French so much, //and couldn't stand another two years.// F1151: //Yeah. [laugh]// F1150: And another one's dropped out and gone home, so it's kinda. And I've heard medical students say that as well, that second year is absolutely the worst year, F1151: Yeah. F1150: and the one that really challenges them. F1151: Well my friends from school, our group had a a similar erm situation when there was maybe I think five of us that came here together. We all came to Glasgow straight from school and only one of us, my friend Lauren, she was the only one that stuck with it all the way through, she's //the only one that// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: that graduated. Ehm, I think, myself I dropped o- dropped out, and obviously I've I've ended up back here now, //and// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: my friend Natalie, she just dropped out completely, er and is a Civil Servant. [laugh] F1150: [laugh] F1151: Er and my other friend Lucy, she ended up going to a different Uni, just er, I think, not because she particularly hated it here, I think it was just the same sort of situation as me, she just wasn't ready for it, dropped out, took a while out, she just //decided// F1150: //Mmhm.// F1151: to go back sooner than me. But erm //I feel like// F1150: //So what did you do// in the intervening period? F1151: Well I've done, erm, I did two years of a course of er in Primary Education //at Strathclyde Uni.// F1150: //Oh right!// F1151: Er, and I really enjoyed that, to be honest probably the only reason I didn't complete it was cause erm I got really sick in my second year //and I ended up// F1150: //Right.// So you, that wasn't really any- that wasn't your decision. F1151: No, I ended up, I missed the last half of my second year cause I was in hospital. And I was I was gonna have to take a year out, i- that was pretty much //decided for me,// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: just to erm catch up on everything, so my initial plan was to just take the year out and go back, but while I was, while I was in my year out, I started thinking, well, you know, if I get a qualification in teaching, //you know just a// F1150: //Mmhm.// F1151: t- a degree in teaching, then I have to be a teacher, //no matter what.// F1150: //Yeah, you're quite// constrained. F1151: Whereas I thought if I come here just to study something that I'm genuinely interested in at least that way I've got a bit of expertise in something else, //and then// F1150: //Mmhm.// F1151: I can always do teaching as a postgrad, but that way I've got, you know, maybe another avenue open to me, //years down the line, if I decide// F1150: //Yeah, you've got more freedom.// F1151: I need a change, so it's gonna take much longer and everything, but I just, I think it will be worth it in the long run. F1150: It's funny you say that actually, cause that's what I think I'm probably gonna do, a PGCE, when I'm //finished here.// F1151: //Yeah.// F1150: But, I don't know and like as you say, at least you've got the option, whereas if you're qualified for teaching //then// F1151: //Yeah.// F1150: if you decide you want to do something else you've effectively wasted the years you've spent in teaching. //So,// F1151: //That's the thing, I mean, erm// at least this way, if I do decide I need a change, I've already got qualifications and //expertise// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: in something else that I could follow up, rather than having to start something else completely from scratch. F1150: You've got something to fall back on. F1151: Yeah, so, but I'm hoping that maybe ehm some of the courses I took at Strathclyde might help my situation here, cause I know that you can get credit for some previous study. //I've not yet been able to make an appointment with// F1150: //Yeah, erm.// F1151: the Chief Advisor to talk about it though. F1150: Yeah, from Strathclyde I think it should be quite easy. //Cause I know// F1151: //Yeah.// F1150: people who've erm, I know one girl who started Anthropology at Edinburgh, and dropped out but she was able to transfer some of her Anthropology credits across here, //I think.// F1151: //Yeah.// I think it just depends obviously, because er different subjects, but //I have studied// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: things like erm English Language and and that in //first year, I did that in// F1150: //Did you do that in Strathclyde?// F1151: first year at Strathclyde, //but it's// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: I would imagine that it's a different, it's a different course structure because obviously it's English language for teaching, //so I don't know, yeah.// F1150: //And don't they do more courses in first year at Strathclyde?// //They do like five, I think.// F1151: //Ehm,// well again I think that it's slightly different because of like the Primary Education course is //slightly different// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: from the rest, so, you know, I was doing, erm [tut] I can't actually remember how many individual subjects. You've got all the individual subjects that you're gonna have to teach, like Religious and Moral Education, //Maths,// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: er Language, Art and Design and then you've got your erm sort of practical classes on top of that, your planning, F1150: Yeah. F1151: classes on erm lesson planning and //and then// F1150: //Mmhm.// F1151: you've got placements, it's really placement-heavy as well, //which made it// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: quite difficult, erm cause I I have to work, if I don't work at least three shifts a week then I starve, [laugh] //cause erm [laugh] it's really// F1150: //[laugh] What do you do?// F1151: I just work in a pub, down on Byres Road. F1150: Oh right, which pub do you work in? F1151: Bonhams. F1150: Oh yeah, I haven't been there for ages, cause I can't afford it, but yeah, //[laugh] it's lovely.// F1151: //[laugh]// //[laugh] Ehm, it's actually reasonable for the West End in there,// F1150: //[laugh]// //Yeah, it's, it is// F1151: //it's er// //it's.// F1150: //reasonable for the West End, but there's reasonable for the West End and there's reasonable for a student budget,// //so it's quite// F1151: //Yeah, I know, no don't worry.// //Totally, erm// F1150: //different, but it's a nice place.// F1151: yeah it is nice, I've been in there for a few years. I was, I worked there full-time, erm, probably about, God I don't know, about four years ago or something now, probably just before I started my course at Strathclyde. F1150: Yeah. F1151: I've had like, obviously in the years, erm over the years since I left school, I've I've worked full-time //a couple of times and I've worked I've// F1150: //Yeah, on and off, yeah.// F1151: continually worked part-time, usually even when I've been working full-time, I'll have a part-time job as well just to //just// F1150: //Just to// F1151: try and get some money saved up, so F1150: Yeah. F1151: erm, I did not bad. //[laugh]// F1150: //[laugh]// F1151: I'm quite bad with money and really bad at saving, but I managed to save up the erm first part of my tuition fees before I came back to Uni, cause obviously //since I've been funded before I have to// F1150: //Yeah, if you're going back then// it's it's quite difficult. //Yeah.// F1151: //Yeah, it's hard. I have to pay my own fees for the next three years, so.// F1150: Wow! //That's// F1151: //Yeah, it's a lot of money but// again the plan is that it's gonna be worth it. //[laugh] Yeah.// F1150: //It's gonna be worth it in the end.// //Yeah, in some ways// F1151: //It's either that or pull pints// for the rest of my life and I don't //really fancy that.// F1150: //Yeah, which isn't// //Yeah.// F1151: //Na.// F1150: I don't know. In some ways the fees system doesn't seem all that fair but then at least you're not in the English system where it's like three times as much every year. F1151: That's true. Although I don't fe-, I don't think that we should have to pay for our education per se, I don't think, I think it's only fair enough, I mean I shouldn't I shouldn't expect to get an u- an unlimited F1150: Yeah. F1151: funding you know, er it's, I do kind of feel like, you know, well, it was my own choice, sort of, my own mistakes or whatever, so //fair enough that I should have to pay. Yeah.// F1150: //Mm. Not the year that you were ill though, I mean that should really be// F1151: No that, that just, well it was just one of those things I suppose. F1150: Yeah. F1151: The really annoying thing about it is that, I was ill for quite a long t-, I was ill for a long time before I even went to Uni, but erm it took so long to get diagnosed that it just was an ongoing thing and went in //to// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: cause it was erm, I had problems with my gall bladder, //and because of my age// F1150: //Oh.// //Then they wouldn't think of that.// F1151: //er I'd end up, they would just, yeah,// //they just// F1150: //Cause// //[laugh]// F1151: //used to send me away. [laugh] I got hospitalised one time and they sent me home with a bottle of Gaviscon.// Erm my doctor, he send me up to the hospital to get an ultrasound //just cause// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: to, he suspected that it was my gall bladder, and I I was sitting outside the room, and I could hear the woman on the phone, point-blank refusing to do it. [laugh] She was like "This patient's only twenty-two. There's no way, //there's no way it can be this." So they sent me home// F1150: //There's no way, but clearly// //[laugh]// F1151: //with a bottle of Gaviscon, [laugh] and I ended up back two weeks later.// So, och, I suppose it's just one of those things that happens, eh? //Yeah, I had it, yeah, that's what// F1150: //Did you end up having your gall bladder sort of removed or? Yeah.// F1151: happened sort of halfway through second year when I was at Strathclyde, I ended up I was in and out of hospital throughout my second placement. They were really really good about it but erm it was just it was getting really really bad at that time. //It was like// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: really really painful all the time. And I was in and out of hospital and then er I finally got properly diagnosed and then I was, and then I went and got, erm I was scheduled for my surgery I think right in the middle of exams. [laugh] //[laugh]// F1150: //Oh no.// F1151: It was, it was just like //[inaudible]. It was a disaster.// F1150: //Perfect timing!// F1151: But erm, unavoidable. F1150: Yeah. I mean there was nothing you could do about it. F1151: No. I'm just glad it's over with! F1150: It probably was one of the more unusual explanations they'd heard for not being able to take //exams, "Well// F1151: //Mm.// F1150: actually I'm having a minor organ removed. //Really sorry about that, but there's nothing I can do".// F1151: //[laugh]// Yeah. F1150: I think the best one anyone from home ever came up with was erm one Christmas a couple of guys erm kind of left it a bit late coming back to Glasgow and then the ferries didn't sail and they got stranded, //and missed their January exams,// F1151: //[laugh] Oh dear! [laugh]// F1150: which went down quite well with the department, but yeah. F1151: Oh no. It's one of these things that always happens just at the most inopportune moment. F1150: Yeah, it's, y- you know, you never get ill during the summer holidays when, okay it would be miserable, but you wouldn't //you know sort of// F1151: //Mmhm.// F1150: miss out on anything that you couldn't reschedule //or anything.// F1151: //Uh-huh, definitely.// Just like I was fit as a fiddle all year this year and then about two days before term was starting I started coming down with the cold, getting, //developing a really// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: horrible cough, and I was like " this is just //totally typical".// F1150: //This is typical.// I don't know, I think the year I came to University first, everyone was talking about Freshers' Flu, and how all these people coming together from all over the country //and then like// F1151: //Mmhm.// F1150: eating really badly and drinking a lot and going out all the time, y- basically everyone got a little bit ill, F1151: Mmhm. F1150: which, I kind of escaped my first year, but one of my flatmates, cause I lived in halls for two years, one of my flatmates was sort of just on her deathbed for about six weeks, and really really miserable, F1151: That's a shame. F1150: which she put down to the fact that she was from quite a small village outside Aberdeen, and then she'd she'd never been in a l- a city before, and suddenly she was in this huge place and erm, like, everyone else we were living with had been travelling //and been in Cambodia and places so// F1151: //Mmhm.// F1150: she put it down to that, rightly or wrongly, F1151: Yeah. F1150: which, I don't know, I suppose there is kind of something in it. F1151: I suppose, I suppose the more re- remote the place you stay is the the less exposure you have //to just// F1150: //Yeah.// //Just germs and things.// F1151: //sort of, even just, not// //particularly from Cambodian [laugh] bugs but you know just// F1150: //No. [laugh]// F1151: everything that //everyone else gets.// F1150: //Well she was going too far, I mean "Rupert, this is all your// //damn fault!" [laugh]// F1151: //[laugh]// F1150: Which he didn't take too well to. And I'm sure it wasn't actually the case but she put it down to just like all these new influences. F1151: Mmhm. Ach no it is, it's really bad timing, it's //cause// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: right at the very start of the term especially if it's er, was that in her first year? //Or her s- yeah.// F1150: //Yeah, it was her first year, yeah.// F1151: it's just it's it's really important just to sort of ease yourself into it and //mm,// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: you know, before the pressure's on to just sort //of// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: be able to just even just wander around and get to know the place and get to know people and stuff. It's actually, it's quite strange for me as well, I thought that this morning, er, cause I've s- lived on Murano Street for ten years, F1150: Yeah. F1151: and when I first came to Uni here, back in ninety-eight, I knew people there so I was always meeting people that I knew and stuff, //but that hasn't// F1150: //Mmhm.// F1151: happened for years and years now, and then it //was like this morning I was like// F1150: //Of course.// F1151: seeing seeing people that I knew from classes and saying hello to them and stuff, I was like this is, it's just like totally different. F1150: Yeah. F1151: It's totally different living across from it when you're not involved with the Uni, F1150: Mmhm. F1151: you know, then they're just a pain! [laugh] //[laugh]// F1150: //So it it really does seem like that when you're not// involved with it, it's more like a nuisance? F1151: Yeah, well, they're just a bit, I get the impression that a lot of the students that are there, they they think they're in the middle of nowhere, //you know, because it's it's a student village and// F1150: //Yeah, it is a bit isolated.// F1151: it is quite big and everything but they forget that, you know, they are like right in the middle of Ruchill //basically, [laugh]// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: ehm, from, just being a wee bit inconsiderate sometimes with the noise. //Ehm,// F1150: //Mmhm.// F1151: cause obviously there's a row of tenements across the road from it, my dad's is one of those, and there's er a, two wee semi-detached houses right beside it as well and it must be a //a pain for them too.// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: But I've also seen them doing really silly things like, during the summer, when er when it's really warm and they might be outside sunbathing and, you know, they're all like lying on the grass and they've got their stereos out and stuff, //and like just// F1150: //Mmhm.// F1151: like things lying about //which is fair enough,// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: it's like being in their garden, but they'll they'll wander off and //leave them.// F1150: //And it is Ruchill.// F1151: Yeah, thinking that, thinking again that they're in the middle of nowhere, //and then you get all the wee// F1150: //And it's not.// F1151: wee bams coming down from Ruchill like that "Oh there a bag", like, you know? So, just a bit silly. F1150: Yeah, I think especially people who've come up from England in particular, and who are maybe, like, I think if you live in Scotland then you've, you know, you've heard of Maryhill and you know that it's maybe, like, although it's quite a nice place, F1151: Mmhm. F1150: it's maybe somewhere you're slightly more careful. But if you don't have any kind of //knowledge of// F1151: //Mmhm.// F1150: Glasgow at all, F1151: I suppose, yeah. //I mean it is it is a nice// F1150: //you can get a bit// F1151: part of Maryhill, and that, it's er sort of if you start going up Maryhill Road away to, like towards the shopping centre, F1150: Yeah. F1151: up there and beyond that and at the back of Ruchill Park and down //down ehm,// F1150: //Mmhm.// F1151: Bilsland Drive and that's going down towards like actual Ruchill and Possil Park and stuff, //it is// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: it's much worse, but I wouldn't leave my bag or my anything lying about anywhere, you know? //You could be in the middle of like// F1150: //No, not in a city.// //You wouldn't, just wouldn't do it.// F1151: //yeah.// F1150: I mean I know cause my boyfriend lives in Aberdeen and erm like he'll sometimes mention areas there that like aren't very good and I've got no idea about them, //but because he's// F1151: //Mmhm.// F1150: been living there for a couple of years now, and just, you know, when you don't know a place you should be kind of careful. I mean we live, erm, on Caird Drive, which is kinda near the Dumbarton Road, //and my// F1151: //Yeah.// F1150: flatmate's really, you know, the windows cannot be opened when we're not in the flat and really careful //about that kind of stuff.// F1151: //Yeah.// Again I'd say, obviously it does depend where you are, but I would just be careful anywhere. //Erm, where my boyfriend// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: stays, he's just moved into a ground-floor flat, and when he was moving in, I went in one day, and he was unpacking his bags, and his windows unfortunately you can't hold them open, //you have to wedge// F1150: //Oh right.// //[laugh]// F1151: //them with something and he had// he had a DVD sitting //and like holding// F1150: //And, yeah.// F1151: his window open and it's like //anyone walking past would just,// F1150: //You would use a stick or something.// F1151: you know, just grab that. F1150: Take it. F1151: Erm I lived in a ground fl- floor flat for sixteen years when I lived in Govan and it's, th- that's one thing I'd say about erm I'm not worried about my boyfriend living, he's living in a really nice area of Yorkhill, it's like, it is //nice, you// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: can tell that it's there's //no like gangs, yeah, he's just right down from// F1150: //Well Yorkhill's mainly like medical staff and everything.// F1151: the hospital, //he's staying right across across from the museum.// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: But erm when we stayed in, when we stayed in Govan we lived in a ground-floor flat and we did have our er windows panned in [laugh] //quite a few times. [laugh]// F1150: //[laugh]// F1151: [laugh] It's just er, it's too easy, and we were broken in, we were broken into as well. Erm by our neighbours, //which is charming.// F1150: //Oh.// Lovely. It's always nice to know who's living next door. F1151: I know, yeah, definitely. //You ask// F1150: //So far,// F1151: them to watch after your, look after your house when you when you go on holiday and they rob it. //[laugh] Yeah.// F1150: //Seriously?// [exhale] I thought, well we were getting kind of annoyed with our downstairs neighbour cause erm he works nightshifts, and he's in the Sunday Times Wine Club so we keep getting, like, he leaves for work about five o'clock, so it's not really a nightshift, but we keep getting his like big deliveries of wine when he's sleeping during the day, //we've got like// F1151: //Excellent! [laugh]// //[laugh]// F1150: //I know, we're thinking of like taxing him a bottle// //per case, for keeping his damn wine.// F1151: //Yeah, I'd say that's fair enough.// //Say "We don't mind looking after your wine// F1150: //But yeah.// //We don't mind looking after your wine but now your wine's going to have to look after us; we're going to keep some of it.// F1151: //for you but I think this is only fair". [laugh]// F1150: But apart from that we've been quite lucky with our neighbours. There's a couple across from us who are quite nice, erm the guy upstairs is a little bit odd but he's //quiet,// F1151: //Mmhm.// F1150: so. F1151: That's the thing, I I take it it's a private landlord you're renting //from?// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: Yeah, that's the thing, it's just such a mix of people, you just, //there's// F1150: //Mmhm.// F1151: there's no patterns of who your neighbours might be, you know? //Som- some// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: of them are //will just be other students, and// F1150: //I was really lucky with my// flatmate because I hadn't met her before I moved in. F1151: Oh. //That's always risky!// F1150: //But we've been getting on really well which is,// it is, and I was really worried about it because my first year in halls, just none of us really got on, //and it became quite// F1151: //Did you not? I've// I've heard that story quite a lot. F1150: unpleasant. //Erm, in Queen Margaret it's five people sharing one kitchen.// F1151: //How many people did you have to live with?// Oh right, that's not, that's not too bad. F1150: No, although I've heard some people say that they think Murano Street's better because when you've got like ten or fifteen people erm there's more chance that, you know, that at least a couple of people you'll get on //with and at// F1151: //Yeah.// F1150: Queen Margaret, if, even if two people dislike each other F1151: Uh-huh. F1150: the whole flat becomes F1151: Tension! //[laugh] Yeah.// F1150: //yeah, there's a really bad atmosphere in the flat and it's not ideal.// //Second year was really good though, so// F1151: //I er I can// see can see the up and downside to both situations. //And// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: th- a- the girl that I was friends with when I was here the first time, who lived in Murano Street, //erm,// F1150: //Mmhm.// F1151: I think her flat for the most part they all got on really really well. Ehm, but as you say there w- there was like the occasional like run-in, //but it was never// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: a big deal because there was enough people there to kind of diffuse it, //you know, or// F1150: //Mmhm.// F1151: you could at least just pretend it wasn't happening because //there was enough people,// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: whereas if there's five people, especially if most of them are women, [laugh], I think [laugh] //it's gonna end [laugh]// F1150: //[laugh]// F1151: it ends up that sort of //"Whose side are you on?" you know?// F1150: //Now that you mention it, the all-girl flat// it's erm, th- one of my friends from home, Heather, was in this all-girls flat, and erm basically most rooms at Queen Margaret are the same size but there are a few kind of bay window rooms, and for some reason they decided that these rooms don't cost any more, and that they're, even though they're like twice the size, //and that they're impor- apportioned like totally randomly.// F1151: //Oh right.// F1150: And of course she ended up with this room and was really chuffed //about it for like// F1151: //Mmhm.// F1150: two days, and then kind of realised [laugh] that her flatmates were all incredibly envious and the fact that she was paying the same rent and getting twice as much space and everything. F1151: Mm. F1150: So she didn't have a very fun time, the rest of that year. //Erm.// F1151: //So it was all girls?// F1150: It was all girls, yeah, which she had, like, at Queen Margaret you can request sort of all male, all female or mixed, //and// F1151: //Oh right.// F1150: just what you've said, cause all-girl environments can be a bit bitchy. F1151: As much as it pains me to admit it, it's true. F1150: Yeah. F1151: It is true. F1150: But then the converse of that is that there was an all-boys flat above from us in first year and apparently at the end of the year there was like maggots and infestations and, F1151: Yes. //I think that's very easy to believe. [laugh]// F1150: //so it can be bitchy and clean or it can be// friendly and infested, and bitchy and clean's probably better. [laugh] //[laugh]// F1151: //Yeah, probably.// I wonder how the mixed situation would go then. You'd probably just have F1150: The mixed flats I think there is in some ways a bit less //tension.// F1151: //Girls going mental cause they// have to clean up after the boys. //[laugh]// F1150: //After the boys, yeah.// //But then you can get them to like take out the bins and stuff.// F1151: //That's one thing I think// I've never lived in in that situation, erm even just flat-sharing with friends, I've always, I've only ever lived with my boyfriend or in //my parents' home.// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: Er, and I know that it would drive me absolutely mental if people didn't clean up //after themselves.// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: I mean it's bad enough if-, living with someone you love and they're not cl-, and they're not washing their dishes, //you know, that.// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: But, living with a bunch of strangers leaving their dirty stuff //lying around I think would just drive me// F1150: //And you're like you're less inclined to give them any kind of leeway.// //I mean y-// F1151: //Yeah.// F1150: I mean you know if your boyfriend's had a bad day at work //or whatever,// F1151: //Mmhm.// F1150: and you know he doesn't want to come home and do the dishes and that's fair enough. But just complete strangers you feel are kind of taking advantage I suppose more. F1151: Yeah, well I know myself that if I was sharing a kitchen with a bunch of strangers, that I, there's no way I would leave it in a mess for them, so I would //only expect them to do the same.// F1150: //No, so you would expect it to be,// //you know, them to be courteous to you as well.// F1151: //Yeah.// Yeah, it's the same, I mean I'm, I'm much cleaner in my work than I am at home, you know, more, much more thorough about the cleaning, //and because// F1150: //Mmhm.// F1151: it's because it's my job, //you know, and it's// F1150: //It's food, and// F1151: yeah, and it's, we're serving food and drink and it really really annoys me when other people don't do their share of the cleaning //when I'm at work.// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: At home it annoys me as long as it doesn't get to ridiculous stages, you know, //peo- they're at home so they can get away, it's me, my dad and my wee brother.// F1150: //Mmhm, is it just you and your dad, or do you have?// Oh right, how old's your wee brother? F1151: He's going to be twenty-two in a couple of weeks. //Yeah, he is my wee brother, but no. He's my// F1150: //So not really like your wee brother, but yeah, [laugh] he is your wee brother.// //Yeah. [laugh]// F1151: //he's my big wee brother. [laugh]// Erm, yeah, I've s-, trying to convince him to come come to Uni at the same time that I was coming back but er, he's just, he's just not sure about what he wants to do. F1150: Has he like started a course before or? F1151: He was at college, er, doing a- an outdoor course, like //outdoor pursuits,// F1150: //Yeah.// //What college was he at, cause my cousin's at// F1151: //cause he's quite active.// F1150: it used to be Building and Printing and now it's the Met, I think, the Glasgow Met. F1151: Oh right. F1150: They kind of merged Building and Printing with Food Tech and stuff, so. F1151: No, he was at erm, [tut], one in Summerston. I can't remember what it's called, that's terrible. I bet it's just called Summerston College. //I don't think it is actually,// F1150: //Probably.// F1151: it's er I can't remember the name of it but it was in Summerston. Erm, and he enjoyed it. But er he's just sort of languishing at the moment. I don't know what he's going to do. //He's like// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: erm well whenever I- I'm studying Philosophy at the moment and whenever I sort of tell him things that I've been learning about he's always sort of, he's always really interested in it, //and er// F1150: //Yeah?// F1151: we end up having like really er like good conversations. I think that he would, that he would really enjoy studying something like that but I think maybe he's got this idea, erm unlike me, that I just want to study things that I enjoy studying for their own sake and then //just see what happens,// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: but I think he's, he would much rather know exactly where it's going to take him. F1150: Yeah. F1151: You know, like have a career in mind first? And and then do whatever you need //to do to// F1150: //Mmhm.// F1151: to go about that but I think that he should just study things that he enjoys. //Just for its own sake.// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: I think that a lot of the time people make the mistake of of doing what they think they ought to, rather than //what they want to.// F1150: //It is quite hard to decide which way,// you know, which way round to see it. F1151: Yeah. //It is.// F1150: //Because, I mean// I don't think anyone really wants to go into something that they know there's no future in, F1151: Yeah. F1150: but on the other hand, you know, people come here and start doing Law or Accountancy because they think "Okay, there's good money in it and it's quite //a definite career path",// F1151: //Yeah, definitely.// F1150: and then realise that they can't stand it and they've, you know, they've then spent maybe two years learning Accountancy and what they //actually want to do is// F1151: //Mmhm.// F1150: you know, train dolphins or //something. Well not train dolphins, but they actually want to do something radically// F1151: //Yeah, definitely. [laugh] s// //Yeah.// F1150: //different, and,// //you know, their time in Accountancy has not been tremendously useful.// F1151: //This is true. I suppose you// I suppose it's true that you do need at least a rough idea, I mean at least I know that whatever I do, want to end up doing that it will involve language, you know, //if if everything goes// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: well for me I will do Honours English Language and German and even if I don't know exactly what I'll do with it I know that I'll be working in those fields. F1150: Yeah. F1151: But it's funny, I was watching TV the other night and I was watching, have you ever seen "That Seventies Show"? //And er// F1150: //Yeah, once or twice.// F1151: the girl in that was telling her dad that she had decided to major in Philosophy and her brother joked, "Oh that's handy cause they've just opened that big philosophy factory down the road", //and I sat there thinking "Oh". [laugh]// F1150: //[laugh]// Yeah, like that other joke, how often do you look in the newspaper and see "Philosopher Wanted"? F1151: I know. But it's, I suppose there's a reason why it's er a pre-requisite for the General Humanities, cause it's, it gives you handy skills. F1150: Yeah. F1151: It's so frustrating, Philosophy, //it's like it's// F1150: //Yeah?// F1151: I find it really really interesting but it's really annoying as well because it's sort of, you can't, you know the the way that you sort of talk and reason with each other in your day-to-day life, you just allow things to be assumed and //implied, but you just can't do that in Philosophy.// F1150: //Yeah, and then you have to start digging at everything, and// F1151: You know, it's like having to spell out things that you really shouldn't have to, //you know?// F1150: //What kind of stuff do you have to?// F1151: Like erm at the moment we've been er s- studying er Descartes erm "Cogito ergo sum", //"I think therefore I am", and it's like// F1150: //"I think therefore I am".// F1151: just "I th-" saying "I think therefore I am", I mean if if you're thinking of course you are, you know, but there you're not allowed to just say "Oh well, you know that's obvious, it follows on from it like implicitly", you have to sort of break it down, //and explain it// F1150: //You have to really dig into it.// F1151: and you're like, I just, I find it really frustrating. //[laugh]// F1150: //[laugh]// F1151: I do enjoy it at the same time, but I just find myself shaking my head like [laugh] "This is nonsense!" //[laugh]// F1150: //[laugh] I was quite lucky cause I did Politics for my first two years,// and there you you do study a lot of people who are considered philosophers like Thomas Hobbes but you're not studying them from that very basic level, you've kind of, you know, you've accepted that they are human beings and that society must be organised //in some way.// F1151: //Mmhm.// F1150: So you sort of skip the really difficult stuff, F1151: Yeah. F1150: and get straight to, you know, voting systems and things, which in some ways makes it easier. F1151: Mmhm. Yeah, I mean I I don't dislike it in any way, I just, I'm actually really enjoying it, but I just find that I suppose that's the whole point, the whole point is to ask questions that might on the surface seem //like they don't really need asked, but erm// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: but the suggestion that you could be deceived into believing that you exist, I just find ridiculous, cause how can you believe anything if you don't exist? F1150: It's like, I think it was Wittgenstein and the stuff about "Is this a table?" and "How do you know that this is a table?" and and he eventually ended up kind of almost losing his own mind //through// F1151: //Mmhm.// F1150: his obsession with "How do I know that this is?" and "How do I know that this isn't //some kind of// F1151: //Yeah.// F1150: fantasy?" and F1151: Yeah, I think quite a lot of the sort of core questions that come up in Philosophy are a lot of the issues that drive people crazy. //I wouldn't be// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: surprised to find lots of people all over the world locked up, //because they couldn't stop thinking about these exact things.// F1150: //[laugh] Locked up because "We couldn't// //stop thinking about the meaning of life".// F1151: //[laugh] Yeah.// F1150: I was watching, I was on YouTube last night and I was watching like this Richard Dawkins, like the atheist //erm// F1151: //Mmhm.// //I've just bought his book.// F1150: //well he's not just an atheist, he's a professor.// //"The God Delusion"?// F1151: //Yeah.// F1150: I really want to buy that but it's only in hardback just now, and therefore can't afford it. [laugh] //[laugh]// F1151: //Oh yeah, I think, erm,// I got it just when [?]they all came in[/?]. I think it was about sixteen, seventeen pounds. F1150: Yeah. //Erm, I've read "The Selfish Gene", I didn't understand "The Selfish Gene", but I've read it.// F1151: //It was, [laugh].// F1150: But yeah, I do really want to read that one, //cause it's apparently// F1151: //Erm I watched his documentary but I// //er, yeah.// F1150: //"The Route of All Evil"? Yeah.// F1151: Erm, erm I actually bought the book for my brother but I plan to read it when he's finished it. F1150: Yeah. F1151: Yeah my brother erm is quite passionate about these things! [laugh] //[laugh]// F1150: //Is he// like toward the Dawkins side of it, //or is he, yeah.// F1151: //Yeah, yeah.// Yeah, he's just, erm, I don't know, whereas I think a lot of people might agree with the points that he makes, they don't feel quite so militantly about it, like, but with my brother, //he thinks that it's really really important for people to// F1150: //He really has, the interview I've watched with him// F1151: turn their backs on religion. F1150: he's really, Dawkins himself, compared to "The Root of All Evil" where he was basically frothing at the mouth, F1151: Mmhm. F1150: a lot of the time, the i- he gave an interview on Newsnight and he had really toned it down, and I kind of wonder if he's making, like, if someone's told him, "Look, people are persuaded by your points, but your manner's really off-putting". F1151: Mmhm. F1150: And he really was very calm and doing the more avunculur kindly professor. //I don't know how much of that's an act,// F1151: //Yeah.// F1150: but i- there was a radical change between "The //Root of All Evil"// F1151: //Mmhm.// F1150: and like the stuff he's doing to promote the book. F1151: And you can see why he gets so emotional, //I mean, but at the same time, when// F1150: //Oh definitely, but// F1151: you know, you're you're trying to persuade someone of something, erm you can't, your mannerism is is is so important, you can't just come across so brutal, because even if people would agree with the things you're saying, if your manner is harsh, they'll, just won't listen to you, you know, their their defences will come up automatically and the things that you're saying just won't get through. F1150: Yeah. I don't know, he said, the interview I saw anyway, that, the aim he has for the new book is that it'll sort of, that he knows there are some people who can't be persuaded, erm one way or another, but that he hopes that people who are sort of in the middle //will read it,// F1151: //Mmhm.// F1150: and erm will kind of, and it, you know, stuff about how you define God as well and that lots of people misinterpret, you know, some of Einstein's writings and erm Stephen Hawking writing "then we shall know the face of God", F1151: Mmhm. F1150: as being a statement of religious belief //when they're actually using// F1151: //Yeah.// F1150: God as a shorthand for sort of physics and the laws of the Universe and things that are unchanging and not this //personal being.// F1151: //Just creation itself.// F1150: Yeah. Just existence rather than F1151: I know, definitely. //I think// F1150: //an interventionist// deity of some kind. F1151: Mmhm. No, I think it's important that, you know, people especially if they are religious or even very deeply religious that, you know, they should read things like that because they should be aware of the questions. F1150: Yeah. F1151: And I always find it quite surprising when people get offended if you ask them a question about their religion, and I always think well, surely this is a question you should have asked yourself, //a long time ago,// F1150: //Yeah.// F1151: you know, before deciding that that you subscribe to this, you should have asked yourself all these questions. F1150: Mm. F1151: You know, it's one thing to have faith in the sense of making those final wee leaps that you can't have the answers for but //it shouldn't just be// F1150: //Mmhm.// F1151: one big massive //leap [inaudible]// F1150: //Yeah. [laugh]// F1151: you know, you haven't you haven't even tried to fi- to figure out any of the answers, you're just going to say "Right, okay, this is what I believe, all the way". I think that they should have at least been able to answer some questions up to a point, and fair enough even if there is wee, wee gaps that need bridged by pure faith, then //then that's up to them.// F1150: //Mm.// F1151: But I, you should always be able to speak to people about these things, I just, I find it quite, it's quite sad when erm cause I I I know people that are like that, that are, you know, erm "I'm a Christian", or, you know, "I'm, I'm devoutly religious", and if you you try and ask them a question about it they just get offended. F1150: Yeah. //And that// F1151: //It's just like that's,// what I'm asking you is not offensive, //I'm just curious, I want to know.// F1150: //that idea about, you know, any kind of// not even necessarily an outright cha- an outright challenge to their religion, but any kind of querying of any part of it, or even asking, "Well, how do you explain", you know, "this scientific fact?" or "How do explain these things that are wrong with the world?" //and that becomes "Oh, that's offensive to me".// F1151: //Mmhm.// //Yeah.// F1150: //And it just// "Why?" It's just, you know, I mean. F1151: I know, I know, totally, erm, cause I was speaking to a girl at a party one time, and she was a a born-again Christian, and she had, you know, it was obvious that she had been through some some pretty bad things //and this was her, like her, almost like a a crutch,// F1150: //And maybe that had// //mm.// F1151: //you know, which// while I was speaking to her and I was asking her questions, I didn't, I wasn't trying to talk her out of it, //or to to point out how she was wrong, all// F1150: //No, or to change what she believed.// F1151: all I was telling her was that I, that I don't believe these things, that, you know, she would maybe say one thing and I'd be like, I just, you know, "No offence but the bottom line is I just don't buy that", F1150: Yeah. //[laugh]// F1151: //you know, and you co- she didn't buy it either, [laugh] we were just like well,// just, I don't know, just a comfort thing, //and you can't// F1150: //Yeah.// //It is quite difficult to to challenge it when it's something// F1151: //I can't argue with people wanting comfort.// F1150: that someone really, especially with older people, F1151: Mmhm. F1150: erm when it's something they really rely on, erm it's quite hard to I mean, my grandparents are very religious, F1151: Mmhm. F1150: and whereas if a younger person said some of the things they say, I would probably, you know, at least question it a little, F1151: Mmhm. F1150: with them I just don't //because if they take some// F1151: //Yeah.// F1150: kind of comfort in it, then, //you know?// F1151: //Yeah.// No, I see I see what you mean, it's, what's the point? //You know, what's the point in taking on- like taking their// F1150: //Yeah, you know, just// //it's not doing anybody any damage, so yeah.// F1151: //comfort away from them, [laugh] yeah.// F1150: And you know people find comfort in different things and in the same way that you don't, like, see smokers and like pull their fags //off them or anything. [laugh]// F1151: //Yeah.// //Yeah, well as much as you might want to. [laugh]// F1150: //Well I know some people who do that. Yeah, much as you might feel like it.// I mean, as long as there's no sort of flammable substances around, you'd probably just leave them to it. F1151: Yeah. This work is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. The SCOTS Project and the University of Glasgow do not necessarily endorse, support or recommend the views expressed in this document. Information about document and author: Audio Audio audience Adults (18+): For gender: Mixed Audience size: 2 Audio awareness & spontaneity Speaker awareness: Aware Degree of spontaneity: Spontaneous Special circumstances surrounding speech: Students asked to chat about interests in common Audio footage information Year of recording: 2006 Recording person id: 718 Size (min): 35 Size (mb): 167 Audio setting Education: Recording venue: University seminar room Geographic location of speech: Glasgow Audio relationship between recorder/interviewer and speakers Professional relationship: Speakers knew each other: Not sure Audio speaker relationships Members of the same group e.g. schoolmates: Audio transcription information Transcriber id: 718 Year of transcription: 2006 Year material recorded: 2006 Word count: 8726 Audio type Conversation: Participant Participant details Participant id: 1150 Gender: Female Decade of birth: 1980 Educational attainment: University Age left school: 17 Upbringing/religious beliefs: Protestantism Occupation: Student Place of birth: Leurbost Region of birth: Western Isles Country of birth: Scotland Place of residence: Glasgow Region of residence: Glasgow Residence CSD dialect area: Gsw Country of residence: Scotland Father's occupation: Council officer Father's place of birth: Glasgow Father's region of birth: Glasgow Father's birthplace CSD dialect area: Gsw Father's country of birth: Scotland Mother's occupation: Maths teacher Mother's place of birth: Glasgow Mother's region of birth: Glasgow Mother's birthplace CSD dialect area: Gsw Mother's country of birth: Scotland Languages: Language: English Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: All circumstances Language: Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic Speak: No Read: No Write: No Understand: Yes Circumstances: With elderly relatives Participant Participant details Participant id: 1151 Gender: Female Decade of birth: 1980 Educational attainment: College Age left school: 17 Upbringing/religious beliefs: Atheist Occupation: Student / Part-time barmaid Place of birth: Glasgow Region of birth: Glasgow Birthplace CSD dialect area: Gsw Country of birth: Scotland Place of residence: Glasgow Region of residence: Glasgow Residence CSD dialect area: Gsw Country of residence: Scotland Father's occupation: Research Scientist Father's place of birth: Glasgow Father's region of birth: Glasgow Father's birthplace CSD dialect area: Gsw Father's country of birth: Scotland Mother's occupation: Nursery Nurse Mother's place of birth: Glasgow Mother's region of birth: Glasgow Mother's birthplace CSD dialect area: Gsw Mother's country of birth: Scotland Languages: Language: English Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: Language: German Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: At university with friends