I don't think it's just because I'm a geographer. It's not because I want to show off. I'm not doing it to try to strike up long-term relationships, or use it as a 'chat up' line. But when I see a student looking earnestly at a map of the campus my first instinct is to go over to them and say 'Can I help you?'
With this year's new cohort of students arriving over the last couple of weeks, I've lost count of the number of times I have made that enquiry. So, who have I met?
There was the Lithuanian student and his parents who also wanted a family photograph taken outside Firth Hall. The postgraduate from Turkey who I walked along with since I was going to pass the building she had so far failed to find. I have helped an American student, confused by the practice of floor numbering on this side of the Atlantic, which is different from that in the States (curiously, the lift in the multi-storey car park at Sheffield Station would be more at home in Pittsburgh in that respect). I have directed quite a few Chinese students, as well as a Columbian.
It isn't always plain sailing. One year I offered assistance to a French student and his parents who, when they found out that I had some seniority in the University, wanted a detailed explanation of the marks (les notes) we give in the UK which work on a different scale than in France, and the father needed that explanation in French.
The bit that IS about me as a geographer is that I usually ask where those I am trying to help are from. I have a reasonable mental map of several parts of the world and can often produce some hidden titbit of information about wherever it is that adds to the impression of humanity that assistance gives. Often people will name the city they are from and quite often I know the name of the university there - and often new postgraduates in Sheffield have actually studied in the institution I have named.
But there is one question in my mind about this whole aspect of campus life at the start of the new academic session. Why is it that so many other people in the university - colleagues, established students - walk past the poor individual trying to orientate a map and don't offer to help? It's a simple gesture but one that is always much appreciated and that helps newcomers to feel that the people around them really care.
With this year's new cohort of students arriving over the last couple of weeks, I've lost count of the number of times I have made that enquiry. So, who have I met?
There was the Lithuanian student and his parents who also wanted a family photograph taken outside Firth Hall. The postgraduate from Turkey who I walked along with since I was going to pass the building she had so far failed to find. I have helped an American student, confused by the practice of floor numbering on this side of the Atlantic, which is different from that in the States (curiously, the lift in the multi-storey car park at Sheffield Station would be more at home in Pittsburgh in that respect). I have directed quite a few Chinese students, as well as a Columbian.
It isn't always plain sailing. One year I offered assistance to a French student and his parents who, when they found out that I had some seniority in the University, wanted a detailed explanation of the marks (les notes) we give in the UK which work on a different scale than in France, and the father needed that explanation in French.
The bit that IS about me as a geographer is that I usually ask where those I am trying to help are from. I have a reasonable mental map of several parts of the world and can often produce some hidden titbit of information about wherever it is that adds to the impression of humanity that assistance gives. Often people will name the city they are from and quite often I know the name of the university there - and often new postgraduates in Sheffield have actually studied in the institution I have named.
But there is one question in my mind about this whole aspect of campus life at the start of the new academic session. Why is it that so many other people in the university - colleagues, established students - walk past the poor individual trying to orientate a map and don't offer to help? It's a simple gesture but one that is always much appreciated and that helps newcomers to feel that the people around them really care.
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