Phew! It is already the second semester and my time here at the university is almost coming to an end. I cannot believe that one semester has already passed, because it doesn’t feel so. Being a Masters student, I only have the opportunity to stay here at the campus for a year, and it feels like a very short time. Second semester started with a bang, with a Statistics Boot camp course during the reading week (the week before a semester officially begins). We had classes Monday through Thursday from 10am to 5pm, with theory and practical sessions. Even though it was exhaustive and a little boring, the classes were quite useful for someone like me, who was ignorant about statistics before coming into this course, as I did Architecture for my under graduation. The initiative the faculty took to help us with this subject and giving us the opportunity to learn this beforehand is highly appreciable.
Most of the people I meet tell me I am crazy to pursue Environmental Psychology after Architecture, which is more of research and theories compared to Architecture which was completely building and design. But, being here at Surrey and learning this amazing course has led me to appreciate Architecture even more and look at it from a completely different perspective. I was not a person who took any risks in life. But deciding to do this course has been a risk, as this field is not flourished in India and very few people are even familiar with it. Being in India, you are taught to study to get a job, at least that’s how I was taught. Being passionate about something and pursuing it is out of the question to many of us Indian students because it means you are wasting your life. Studying Environmental Psychology here at the University of Surrey has opened my eyes and I will recommend this course to anyone who is passionate about human-environment relationships like myself.
Even though this course might not open up a lot of doors like other courses, I am happy that I am studying this wonderful course at this university and will be ever so grateful to the professors who keep inspiring me on a daily basis.
