“Make the most of every
opportunity – university is the time to try new
things, meet new people and broaden your
perspective and Nottingham is the perfect
place for this!”
Marie Paxton
Course: BA French and Politics (fourth year)
“When I came to the open day at Nottingham, I fell in love with the campus immediately. That, combined with how friendly the students were, made me feel at home. Also, Nottingham has links with three of the best politics institutes in France, making it possible for French and politics students to study there during the year abroad. This brought together the two elements of my degree perfectly and set Nottingham apart from other universities.
Having come to Nottingham, I’ve found there’s such a
diverse range of modules that it's possible to study global
issues such as terrorism and weapons of mass destruction,
while at the same time specifically analysing domestic
matters such as the history of the Labour party. Both of my
schools are full of inspirational tutors who really want to
help us achieve our potential and the facilities on campus
are exceptional too.
Terrorism has been one of my favourite modules because it not only informs us about terrorist groups, it also helps our understanding of why terrorists act as they do. It urges us to get inside the minds of both the terrorist and those reacting to terrorism in order to consider resolutions.
Undoubtedly the best year of my degree was my year abroad. I spent the first semester in Strasbourg at the Institute of Political Science and the second semester studying on Reunion Island (a tropical francophone island between Mauritius and Madagascar). Not only did my French improve dramatically, but I met some lifelong friends, learnt to surf and grew immensely as an individual.
I spent my summer doing work experience in local government and it was only then that I realised just how useful transferable skills really are. All the skills I’ve learnt at Nottingham, such as communication, researching and summarising, problem solving and time management, were essential to the work I was given.”