Winter is coming!

I know it's getting old, but I really can't say "winter is coming" any more without having Ned Stark's voice in my head or at least thinking about Game of Thrones and house Stark in some kind of way. And I bet I'm not the only one ;)

One of the first things I noticed here in Newcastle is that even in October when it started getting really cold, most Geordies would still run around in t-shirts as if it was still summer and maybe put on a jumper now, when I already bring out my winter coat and leather gloves. Just a few days ago on my way home from university my fingers hurt and started getting red and purple from the cold wind because I forgot my gloves and all of a sudden I saw this guy calmly walking by in shorts and flip flops! I mean, seriously? I still see a lot of people running around in shorts, but flip flops? I really don't know how they do that. 

fan heater

Now that it starts getting really cold outside a whole new problem arises. Our heating is rubbish. It’s either boiling hot or ice cold and can only be managed centrally for the entire flat. The only thing we can regulate individually is to turn the heating in our own rooms off or on, which I’m not sure if it really works, because even when having it turned off it still gets fairly warm if it’s on downstairs. Also, it gets warmer downstairs than upstairs, because the desired temperature is adjusted to the current temperature of the downstairs area where the control is at. This means that when it’s warm for us upstairs, it’s already too hot for the people in the downstairs bedroom and when it’s warm for them it’s still way too cold for us upstairs. It also doesn’t seem to be very accurate. Set the temperature to 22°C and the heating upstairs is still ice cold (colder than the room itself). Set it to 25°C, it gets boiling hot and the air will get even drier than it already is. It’s so bad that we finally decided to buy our own fan heater so we can just ignore the house heating and let the other flat mates fight their heating wars without us.

coffee break between lectures

But at home is not the only place where it gets chilly these days. The lecture theatres on campus tend to be air-conditioned a little too well in my view. I really don’t think it creates a good learning environment when students have to sit in the lecture wearing their coats and still freeze their asses of. I know I can only speak for myself here, but I really can’t focus on a lecture when I constantly have to rub my hands to keep them from getting too stiff and cold to hold a pen... Seriously... what is it with air conditions that people have to overuse them so much? I had the same problem during my high school year in the United States. Except there, they used only heating all winter and only air condition all summer, so I had to actually wear winter clothes in summer and summer clothes in winter to be appropriately dressed according to the temperatures inside the school building. Here in Newcastle it doesn’t feel that bad yet, but there are a few rooms where it’s seriously warmer in the hallway right outside the lecture theatre than it is inside. And I don’t like it. :( I already tried asking the lecturer if there was any way to turn the AC down or off, but it seems like that’s regulated automatically from somewhere else. When I complained at the reception, they told me that although that lecture is basically held by the Business School, since I am not a Business School student I would have to tell my student representative about this who then has to talk to the student committee from my department and they then have to send a formal complaint to the Business School, which would then finally look at it. Stupid bureaucracy. Well, I did talk to my student representative today and if I can get more people who feel the same to complain about this as well, then hopefully something can be done to improve learning and teaching conditions. *fingers crossed* Hoping for the best.