A beer with the dissertation students

Shortly after the dissertation presentations were done, I got an email from one of the students in the cohort. It said that he thought it would be a good idea to go for a drink with the entire cohort, and all of the staff involved, after the deadline for handing in the actual dissertation. That would be that Friday at noon. So he suggested a pub in upper Bangor at 1 pm. He asked me if I could send that email out to all involved; the students can’t use the email lists, but we staff can, and I thought it was a noble cause so I did send it on. 

That day I had a Cymraeg + session in Bangor from 1:30, and when it was done, shortly after three, I went to the pub in question. I knew the students would be several drinks ahead of me! And it tends to be a bit boring to be by far the soberest person in a group, but I wanted to show my face anyway.

The pub; pic from its Facebook page

The pub looked quite empty from outside, but when I walked in I saw a familiar face at the bar. One of the students! And he said there was a handful of them further back in the pub. So I bought me a drink and joined them. I was welcomed with enthusiasm! That's always nice. There were only about ten; the entire cohort is 135. I didn't know how many there would have been in the beginning. They did say two more staff had shown up, but had already left. It was good to hear there had been representation, though!

I had a good chat with the bloke whose idea it had been. And with one of the students who had already secured a job just up the road. He also said that if I managed to hit 20 on the dartboard with nine darts he’d buy me a drink. I took the challenge! And won me a drink. I rarely drink more than a pint! And now already had two. Oh well. 

It was really nice I have an informal chat with these people. The strangest topics came up! Amsterdam, God, Isle of man mythology, AI, whatnot. But I wasn't going to drink more than these 2 pints. (Except for one additional alcohol-free beer one of the students offered me.) So when these were coming to an end, and the students were making plans to go somewhere else, our ways parted and I went home. 

I thought this was really nice! Maybe I should mention it to next year’s cohort; maybe they will do the same thing. A nice way to celebrate that milestone!