10 Gifs That Accurately Describe Being A Student At Glasgow Caledonian University
Glasgow Caledonian University sets itself apart by being the quirkiest of the three in Glasgow. You have Strathclyde where everybody seems to be dead serious all the time, and Glasgow University where nobody gets to keep their own accents. I had the pleasure of gaining two degrees from this Uni and here are some GIFS that hopefully all current/former students and alumni can relate to.
When there are no free computers in the Saltire Centre.
Like most Universities one can only assume, there is a heart. That for Glasgow Caledonian University it is the Saltire Centre. It is where the library is, it is where people meet and chill, it is where there are floors of computers and printers for people to use. It is like a great big common room full of comfy sofas and colourful chairs, with cute study nooks, group work space and, most importantly, it is where there is lots of coffee. So this is naturally where a lot of people study, and the closer you get to exams, the more often you will just walk between floors waiting for someone to leave.
When you find a computer lab but there is one person sitting in it.
I don’t really know what it is about computer labs but it is definitely a thing. When there are three or so of you and you decide you are going to stay back after lectures and do work and feel dead good about yourselves but when you look for an empty lab to work in there’s always one person. In every single room. And they are always weird.
When all the good toasties are gone.
It has been a long long day, you probably have eaten already much ealier, probably had a few too many coffees, but you’re on a roll and… Oh. Roll. Mmmmm. Roll. So you nip down to the Café and boom, it’s 4.30pm and there is nothing but a lone toastie, and it always has some random topping that nobody would ever eat like cucumber and horseradish. But why?
When you and everyone else has been told a million times a day you can’t smoke out the back of the Hamish Wood but we do it anyway.
At Caley there exists a job, probably part of campus security, whereby they endeavour to keep the back entrance to the Hamish Wood free of smoking. Honestly nobody means to break the rules, nobody goes out of their way to do it, but when you have looming deadlines and next to no time to meet them, you just don’t care. It’s the closest exit really without going all the way to the front gate. Alas, there was that wee woman, every single time telling us we can’t, to absolutely no avail. I am certain they still smoke there.
When the person who has the only copy off a book renews it instead of returning it.
The library at Glasgow Caledonian University can be infuriating and here’s why. So some books are super rare, and/or super old, and when that is that case you can check it out for two weeks instead of one. How backwards is that? So when there is only one copy of a book, you get to keep it for longer. I KNOW! So, when you have waited that whole two weeks and anonymous book thief decides to renew it instead, your blood literally boils!
When you meet the transfers from University of Glasgow.
I can’t talk for all departments but this happened regularly in Psychology and other Social Science disciplines whereby half way though a year we would get a handful of new students from a similar course transferring from a different university. Even just that accent! Argh.
Anyone in the 24-hour lab.
Under the Uni, in the murky depths of its foundations, there is a lab that never closes. It smells, it radiates a stuffy kind of heat, and you only really go down when you’re at that point of still trying to meet a deadline long after the Saltire Centre closes its doors.
When the Saltire Centre is freezing in winter and they don’t allow hot drinks near the computers.
Most of the time you can actually get away with it, and it’s great. Every now and again however the cleaners just seem to go on a power trip for a week or so and they are like dementors, they suck the happiness from the library and it is always close to exam time. No drinks! No food! No fun!
When you check-out a book on level 4 and the machine beeps.
So for those of you who are not Caley students, level 4 of the Saltire Centre is the quiet floor. Level 3 is kind of quiet too most of the time but there are at least computers and the occasional whisper. Level 4 however is a horse of a different colour. The only Technology up there is people’s personal laptops, and the odd electronic thing you use to check-out books. And when that thing beeps, woe betide you!
When you managed to catch a glimpse of the staff lounge on your way to the refectory.
The refectory is alright. It was a canteen vibe, but as far as Unis go the food is actually decent, and there’s lots of variety. Then you see the “staff lounge” and suddenly the refectory seems like a punishment. Realistically they probably have very similar food, but it just looks so much cooler and less lame to hang about in there.
