my first year at queen’s 1964 1965bergmagn/qub.pdf · like uganda and nigeria. i was fascinated...

Bergljot Magnadottir, October 2015

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My first year at Queen’s 1964 – 1965


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My first year at Queen’s 1964 – 1965

It is just over 50 years since I came to Northern Ireland to study zoology at

Queen’s University. Below I will try and write about this experience partly from

memory but also based on letters I wrote home and to friends in Iceland during

this first year. I have surprisingly few photographs from this time. I bought a

cheap camera during my first year but cameras were used sparingly in those

days.

Why zoology, why Queen’s?

I don‘t know really where my

interest in zoology came from. We

did not have an inspiring biology

teacher in my school and I was not a

special „nature lover“. For a while I

had dreamed of becoming a veteran-

arian but was told by the local vet to

forget it – this was definitely not a

job for a woman!

“Student’s” exams finished!

In 1964, the University of Iceland

had no departments of natural

sciences (this came four years later),

so to study zoology I would have to

go abroad. I sought the advice of a

well-known zoologist and ornitho-

logist in Iceland, Dr Finnur

Gudmundsson, who had studied at a

German university, and he strongly

recommended English speaking

universities, in either Great Britain

or Ireland.

Dr Finnur Guðmundsson

According to him not only could you

get a basic university degree in 3 – 4

years, compared to up to 6 years in

Germany but you would also get a

good basic knowledge of English,

which was the language used for

most scientific papers.


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The British councillor at this time

was Brian Holt, who was originally

from Northern Ireland, and he (not

unnaturally) suggested to me the

Queen’s University in Belfast.

Brian Holt

At this time QUB had also the

advantage over Scottish, English and

Irish universities in that its fees were

considerably lower. The outcome

was that I applied for an entry to

QUB to study zoology as the main

subject and was accepted in the early

spring of 1964. I picked as extra

subjects botany, chemistry and

physics (I really wanted to do either

geology or maths rather than physics

but that was not possible).

Coming to Northern Ireland

On the 21st of September 1964 I

flew from Reykjavik to Glasgow and

from there to Belfast (Aldergrove).

This was about 2 or 3 weeks before

the start of term since I reckoned I

would need some time to get settled

in and get used to everything. I came

from a small village in Iceland, I had

never been abroad before and I had

never flown before but I was not

very anxious, just ready for an

adventure and full of optimism.

My English, however, was very

poor. I could read and write English

reasonably well but talking was a

great problem, partly due to shyness,

and I often had problems in under-

standing what was being said to me.

Icelandair time table in 1964

In Glasgow I landed in difficulties

with the immigration office who

asked for my acceptance papers from

QUB. When I finally understood this

I had to dig up the papers which I

had hidden carefully at the bottom of

my trunk!

While I waited for my flight to

Belfast keeping an eye on all the

notice boards since I did not under-

stand a word that was being said on

the loud speakers, a young man

came over and asked me where I was

going. When I told him I was going

to Belfast he said he was going there

too. He was called Noel (I don’t

remember the surname) and he had

been on the plane from Reykjavik

too. He asked me what I was going

to study at QUB and I said zoology –

I said this several times (like

“soology”) but he did not


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understand! Finally I wrote it down

– Oh yes! zoo – ology!

Three girls got small grants from „Women

student association“ – and the third on the list

was studying veterinary science in Denmark!

Noel, who was from England, was

on his way to Belfast to visit his

girlfriend, Margret, and he offered

that they would give me a lift from

the airport to the YWCA (where I

would be staying). This was a stroke

of luck for me because I only had a

vague idea of how I would get from

Aldergrove to the YWCA in Belfast.

Noel and Margret took me first to

Margret’s home where I met her

parents and two sisters and they gave

me an evening meal. They were very

friendly and I remember spending a

while with them before being taken

to the YWCA. The following

Sunday they took me for a drive to

the Mourne Mountains and I was

very impressed by all the greenery,

the heavy traffic (compared to

Iceland) and caravan villages along

the coast, which I had never seen

before.

The Mourne mountains

Noel said that on Sundays everybody

went out for a drive and then sat in

their cars and watched the sea.

Margret’s family gave me their

phone number and told me to phone

any time but I think I was too shy to

contact them again. However, the

following spring Noel and Margret

called on me again which was nice.

The YWCA in 2011 – a restaurant?

The University had got me lodgings

at the YWCA hostel on the Malone

Road, not far from the main QUB

buildings. At this time there were no

halls of residence for students, there

were a few university houses mainly

for postgraduates, but most students


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stayed in lodgings or rented flats

together. At the YWCA Miss Parker,

a very respectable and serious lady,

who was in charge of the hostel,

welcomed me and one of her staff

showed me my room and the main

parts of the house. They were kind

but seemed a bit taken aback by my

poor English. The YWCA was a big

house, and looked very old to me. I

don’t know how many women

lodged there, maybe 20 – 30. These

were not just students but also some

middle aged women that had jobs in

offices or shops in Belfast and even

some old age pensioners. The

students were both from QUB and

from the Stranmillis College.

The University area -here was the YWCA

The first impression, making

friends

To begin with I was put in an

enormous room with a big bay-

window facing the main street

(Malone Road), later I was moved to

another smaller, supposedly warmer,

room. I had been told that the houses

in Britain were cold with no central

heating as we had nearly everywhere

in Iceland. I had therefore brought

my own (genuine) eider-down with

me but discovered now that bed-

making was different here, no

eiderdown covers were used, just

two sheets and blankets so I had to

put my eiderdown between the top

sheet and the blankets. Everybody

seemed to use hot water bottles

which I did not possess. The room

had a small electric heater that you

had to feed with shillings and really

did not do much good. Often I

thought it was warmer outside than

inside the house.

QUB – an old postcard

When I came to the YWCA, only a

few students had arrived but the

following weekend the hostel started

to fill up. Many of the students were

from India. Indonesia and Malaysia

and from various countries in Africa,

like Uganda and Nigeria. I was

fascinated by these exotic looking

girls, especially the colourful outfits

that they wore on Sundays or when

going out. One of the Indian girls


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was asked to show me the house. I

don’t really remember the layout of

it but it was on three or four levels

with an annexed building at the

back, a big sitting room with a grand

piano and several enormous easy

chairs. In the basement there was a

“laundry” where we could wash and

dry our clothes (no washing

machines). This had to be used in the

evenings since there was no hot

water during the day. There was, at

least for the students, only one bath,

you had to book it in advance and

you felt you were expected to use

this sparingly, certainly not every

day.

Double decker bus

I don’t remember how much I paid

in rent, but it was relatively low.

Included in the rent was a breakfast

at 8 o’clock, lunch at 1 o’clock,

although the students mostly had

their lunch at college, and tea or an

evening meal at 6 o’clock. Around 9

o’clock we could also get tea or hot

milk for our own cocoa or instant

coffee, or ovaltine which I had never

tasted before.

The students complained a lot about

how poor the evening meal was. It

consisted perhaps of one tomato or

one egg or a slice of ham or cheese

but plenty of tea, bread and butter. I

was never a big eater and was quite

happy with this meal. I was also

fussy about what I liked and what I

did not like and eggs were “off” at

this time so when an egg was the

“tea” I offered it to the others which

was very popular!

During these two weeks, before the

lectures started, I walked around the

neighbourhood, the Botanic Garden,

the Ulster Museum and the

University grounds.

Botanical Garden

Ulster Museum

There were several things I found

strange and commented on in my


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letters home. For example, that the

shopkeepers spread their

merchandise out on to the street (this

would never do in the Icelandic

climate). I had never seen double

decker buses before, horses pulling

carts were also commonly seen on

the streets at this time. The

architecture was strange too, all

these red-brick houses with bay

windows and I admired the luxurious

growth everywhere, roses and big

trees.

At the end of the first week two girls

from England joined me in my room

at the YWCA, Kathleen and Daphne.

Kathleen was at Stranmillis College

but Daphne at Queen’s, they were

both in their second or third year.

Irish cottage

Kathleen had a grandmother living

in Macosquin. One weekend she

took me to visit her grandmother,

which was especially memorable

because she lived in a genuine

thatched Irish cottage, although I

don’t think I appreciated that it was

unusual at the time.

Three girls at the YWCA, I think

from Derry or Co. Derry, were

especially willing to show me

around Belfast and help me during

these first two weeks. Unfortunately

I don’t remember their names. They

taught me to use the buses and find

my way in the centre of Belfast

(“always look for the City Hall”!).

To me, Belfast was a big city,

Reykjavík was like a village in

comparison.

City Hall

Belfast, the big city!

These girls helped me to set up a

bank account and told me that the

manager “was very friendly when

you put money in but very sour

when you take it out” (they were

quite right!). They also helped me to

register with the immigration

authorities. This took several

attempts. I had to obtain a passport


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photograph from a professional

photographer, and find out which

police station to go to. Finally I had

everything ready and went to the

correct police station to get a permit

and have my passport stamped.

When I started to explain my

business, the policeman at the

reception called out to his

colleagues: “Come and hear this

boys!” - my English was apparently

so entertaining!

The old library at QUB

An English girl, Caroline, took me

one day to look around the

University. Caroline must have had a

very superior English accent (I had

no ear for this) because the girls at

the YWCA used to make fun and

imitate her (to her face and good

naturedly) at tea time.

I was greatly impressed by the

University, all the different

buildings, some of them very old (to

my eye). Caroline showed me where

the zoology, botany and chemistry

departments were in the Kier

building and the physics department

near the main building, she also took

me to the old and new library and

showed me the “girls” common

room on (I think) University Square,

a sewing machine was available

there (!) and the new students’ union

building opposite the main building

which was just being built.

One thing that really surprised me

was the general interest in religion.

Everybody, sooner or later, asked me

about my religion (nobody would

have thought of this or been

interested in Iceland (we were all

Lutheran!)).

Students‘ Union

Every Sunday morning there was a

short service at the YWCA and if

you were a Christian you were

expected to attend (the Hindus and

the Muslims did not have to attend)

and after that you were expected to

go to church. Many even seemed to

go to church twice on a Sunday.

Another thing I took note of was

how people dressed up to go to

church and all the women wore hats.

Caroline told me that it was quite

scandalous not to wear a hat to


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church but I might get away with

wearing a head scarf.

St. Ann‘s Cathedral in Belfast

Another new thing was that the

congregation joined in the singing, at

home only the church choir sang.

Being brought up in a 99% Lutheran

country I also found the variable

church communities confusing,

Presbyterians, Methodist, Church of

Ireland and Catholics etc. The girls

at the hostel always attended “their”

church and invited me to join them

which I did and got familiar with the

three protestant churches without

ever really understanding the

difference between them or how they

differed from the Lutheran church.

And my friends’ understanding of

the Lutheran church was also

obscure, one girl said to me: “Was

Luther not a German monk who

wanted to marry a nun so he started

to fight for the rights of the priests to

get married?”

Another thing that I found strange

was how obsessed everybody was

with food. The girls in the hostel

seemed to be thinking and talking

about food the whole time. If one of

them was invited for a meal

somewhere she had to give a

detailed report of what she had had

to eat and this was then discussed

and sighed over. This was not just at

the YWCA where the food was

maybe a bit limited and simple but

everywhere I went. On the whole I

liked the food I got, although I did

not like chips to begin with. What I

missed most was ordinary real coffee

and soups like my mother made!

I was very ignorant about Ireland, its

political history and the difference

between the south and the north. For

this reason I think I often “put my

foot in it” and was even

unintentionally rude.

Eskimo!

Similarly the people I met were

mostly ignorant about Iceland. They

seemed to think Iceland was near the

North Pole and were surprised that

we were independent and had our

own language. I was even asked

once, maybe as a joke, if I

considered myself an Eskimo.

However, some people knew all

about Iceland, this included several


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students who had worked there in

fish during their holidays (and made

a lot of money!).

The seriousness of life begins

Freshers’ week was at the beginning

of October with various events put

on for the new students. I thought

the students, especially the boys,

were very young at 17 – 18 years

old, I was 21! Many of the boys had

long hair, Beatle-like, this was also

popular in Iceland.

One night we were invited to see

James Bond’s Dr No at the Whitla

Hall.

Freshers‘ entertainment

I was amazed by the audience

participation, I had never

experienced anything like it before -

or indeed since!

I had a meeting with my advisor of

studies during this week and

expressed my worries over my

language difficulties. He advised me

to ask somebody who was doing the

same subjects as I to use carbon

paper when taking notes during

lectures and give me a copy of the

notes. I asked a Scottish girl called

Moira, who was both very willing to

do this for me and kept excellent

notes for zoology, botany and

chemistry but I decided that I knew

enough physics to take the notes

there myself (big mistake!).

Most of my lectures and practical

lessons were in the Kier building on

the Stranmillis Road but physics was

taught near the main building and

this often meant running between the

two areas. The physics lectures were

a strange experience. Over 200 stud-

ents attended these and probably all

of them were only doing physics as

an extra subject, including the first

year medical students. There was

much noise, cat calls, papers, books

and even shoes flying through the

air.

The Kier building

The main lecturer finally had a

nervous breakdown and left but a

new one got through the rest of the

year somehow. It was not just me

who was surprised at this behaviour,

Moira and all the other biologists

were horrified.

In practical physics we worked in

pairs and in the first class I was


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paired off with a boy. This was

quickly “corrected”, they apparently

thought that Magnadottir was a boy.

I loved zoology, especially the

practical classes and described

everything I did in some details in

my letters home! The course

followed a very classical

programme, starting with the

invertebrates.

On a field trip with Dr. Vivian Gotto (one of

my own rare photos!)

Many of the teachers were

memorable but especially Vivian

Gotto, who could be both amusing

and interesting and was also able to

keep the rowdiness of some of the

students at bay. He was actually also

a very significant scientist but we

tended to think that since he was also

a famous tennis player he could not

take science very seriously. A few

years ago Dr. Gotto, then 93 years

old, published a very interesting

autobiography.

The professor of the zoology

department was a Welsh man,

Professor Owen. He appeared from

time to time in our practical classes,

always very friendly and talkative

but after one class test he gave off to

us. He said his young daughter could

have passed this test easily but we

had more or less all failed hopelessly

and really must put in a greater effort

if we didn’t want to fail miserably at

the end of the year. Some of the girls

burst into tears!

Not all work though

There was often something special

on for foreign students, and some-

times I went with Caroline, Daphne

and Esther, an Indian girl from

Malaysia, to an open house at the

British Council. The Presbyterian

community centre was another

popular place where they sometimes

held a “hop” or a Céli, which was

similar to “old dancing” in Iceland.

Céli

As the term progressed I got to know

more girls at the YWCA and got

especially friendly with two girls

from Strabane, Maureen who was

doing physics and Dorothy who was

doing German and French, Monika,


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a German girl doing exchange

teaching in Belfast and Elizabeth

(Liz) from near Ballymena who was

doing Chemistry and therefore often

in the Kier building too, I still keep

in touch with these 4 “girls” and

with Esther.

Esther, Maureen, Dorothy and Monika

42 years later: Dorothy, B., Monika and

Maureen

In 1964 there was quite a community

of Icelanders at Queens and we got

together quite frequently, and

sometimes went to the cinema or

concerts together. Two were doing

zoology, in their 2rd or 3th year, two

were doing Economics also in their

2rd or 3th year and one was doing

Geology, also near the end of his

study. Two of these had their wives

and children with them. One of the

married couples, Alfred and

Margret, lodged with an elderly lady

called Mrs Williams. She invited us

all to her home most Sunday nights

for supper and to play Scrabble or

watch TV, she never seemed to mind

if everybody spoke Icelandic for

most of the evening.

At Christmas most of the Icelanders

went home to Iceland for the

holiday. I had decided to experience

Christmas in Northern Ireland and I

also thought the cost of flying home

was too high. My room mates both

gave me Christmas presents which

came as a surprise to me (I can’t

remember if I gave them anything)

and another surprise was the number

of Christmas cards they sent, my

roommate Kathleen sent 108!

Guðny (wife of Haraldur, geology student) and

their daughter, Bergljót Anna and me.

Christmas Eve is the main

celebration day at Christmas in

Iceland and the Icelandic couple,

Alfred and Margret, invited me to

spend that day with them, eating

traditional Icelandic Christmas food


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that they got sent from home. On

Christmas Day my advisor of studies

invited me to spend the day with him

and his family. They had four young

children and I watched Pantomime

on the TV with them and had turkey

for Christmas dinner with all the

traditional trimmings which I

thought was very good (never tasted

turkey before).

Between Christmas and the New

Year I went with Monika to Dublin

where we spent a few days, looking

around the sights, including Trinity

College.

Melrose Street

Monika had heard of a house for rent

in Melrose Street. She was very keen

to leave the YWCA and persuaded 5

others out of the hostel to go with

her. This was me and Esther, we

shared a room on the top floor,

Maureen and Dorothy shared a room

below and Monika and a friend of

hers, Elisabeth (not “my” Elisabeth

from Ballymena) had single rooms

on each floor. On the ground floor

was a sitting room, dining room and

a small kitchen. This was a peculiar

looking house, like a small tower,

the last remaining house of a

terraced row of houses standing on

its own.

It was decided that we would each

do our own food during the week but

on Sundays one of us would cook a

meal for the rest. This caused me

some anxiety since I felt I did not

know anything about cooking,

especially on gas cooker, which I

had never used. However, I don’t

think the others were any better at

this and we were always very

pleased with each other’s effort.

The Whitla Hall

In February there was a big

international festival in Whitla Hall

which included performances by

various foreign students at Queen’s

and other colleges (none from

Iceland!). Esther performed twice in

a dance with a group of Malasian

students. They danced with candles

and on the second night her hair

which was very long and plentiful,


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caught fire causing a great shock and

panic in the house. Her photograph

appeared on the front page of the

Belfast Telegraph the next day, she

had lost quite a big lock of hair but

in the photograph this was far from

apparent, she had so much hair left.

An ice rink opened up in King’s Hall

in Balmoral in the New Year and I

went there quite often to skate, a

sport I loved at home. I hired the

skates this term but in the autumn I

brought my own skates from home.

Cliff Richard & The Shadows

During the Easter holiday I went

with some of the Icelanders to hear

Ella Fitzgerald and the Oscar Peter-

son band which was great. Ella was

near the end of her carrier then and

nearly blind (she did not walk on

stage but was standing at the piano

when the curtains went up). I also

went with some of the Icelanders to

a concert with Cliff Richard and the

Shadows. This was a strange

experience, the audience was divided

between screaming and fainting

teenage girls and heckling teenage

boys (about Cliff’s dubious sexuality

(according to my Icelandic friends)).

One concert I missed out on this

winter (in November), much to my

regret in later life. This was a

concert given by the Beatles in the

King’s Hall at the beginning of their

world fame. Their concerts were

known for being a complete sell-out

long in advance and a chaos of

shouting, crying and fainting girls. I

was offered tickets to go to this

concert and was greatly tempted

The Beatles

A ticket for the concert – found on the internet!

but at the same time I just hadn’t the

courage to go on my own (none of

my housemates wanted to go)!

Exams, hitch hiking and home

As the year progressed I started to

get more and more panicky about the


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exams, I was sure I would fail every

subject. I looked at the “Inverte-

brates” by Borrodaile, Potts et al.,

which was over 800 pages, and saw

that Professor Owen was right, really

I knew nothing. I spent practically

the whole of the Easter holidays,

which were 5 – 6 weeks, in the

library in the Kier building stewing

away. The older students in the

library said not to worry – it was

enough to read the notes from the

lectures but I did not believe them.

The exam time was nicely spaces out

and at the end of it I had a week or

more to wait for the results, I didn’t

want to go home before I knew the

worst. When the results came out I

discovered that I had passed

everything except physics – the one

subject where I had taken down my

own notes (I passed this in the

autumn). While I waited for the

results, two old school friends from

Iceland came to visit me. They had

been working as au pairs in England

and were on their way home. We

took a trip to Dublin and Cork, hitch

hiking all the time, that seemed to be

the normal way to travel in those

days, and stayed in Youth Hostels.

In Cork we hired bikes and cycled to

Blarney Castle. It was a hot day so

we decided to wear shorts. This

caused some commotion somewhere

on the way with women coming out

of their houses and shouting at us, so

in the end we decided to put our long

trousers back on again.

Valgerdur and Kristin, my friends from Iceland

Actually, the warden in the Youth

Hostel in Dublin had warned us

about wearing shorts, this was not

done in public places, but we did not

believe her.

Once the exam results were out, I

went home where I worked in a local

hotel for the summer to partly

finance my second year at Queen’s,

part of the cost was covered by the

student’s loan system in Iceland. I

finished my B.Sc. honours degree in

1969, a year later than it should have

been since I took a side step in my

third year and changed to micro-

biology. However, I found this was a

mistake and came back to zoology

again after the year.

my first year at queen’s 1964 1965bergmagn/qub.pdf · like uganda and nigeria. i was fascinated...

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