Dana talks through a typical term-time day as a law student at Queen Mary, and how living on campus had a number of great benefits.
I have been thinking for a while now about what I could write to help you better prepare for your university experience. I figured that one thing I wish I was told when I was in your position is what my day-to-day life may be like once I start university.
The mornings I find it’s best to wake up early. I start with a big breakfast and a review of the morning’s news. If I do not have any morning lectures, I like to spend some of the time watching TV (mostly the old episodes of Jane The Virgin). When times are rough, I skip this and go straight to my desk to do the reading for the upcoming tutorials. When I lived on campus, I went about my morning routine smugly, knowing that I have all the time in the world because I could literally see the building my lecture was held in from my bedroom window. Now that I reside off campus, I have to take into account the commute time and the possibility of not-so-rare severe delays on our beloved tube.
One thing I found very difficult to get used to was that the structure of my day largely depends on my academic timetable. On some days, I am forced to kill time on campus because I have a two or three hour gap between my classes. In this case, I use the gap to grab a bite to eat and do some more reading in the library. On other days, I have everything squashed into a chaotic block of back-to-back classes. On these days, I make sure to eat something immediately before and immediately after my block of classes, as keeping my hunger at bay and keeping my energy levels up are essential to surviving such busy days.
Once the academic part of the day is over, I either go home to get a well-deserved rest or I attend different societies’ meetings and events, which are more often than not hosted in the evenings to avoid clashing with classes. These can be a great way to meet new people, to talk about something other than academia, and to unwind after an intense day full of lectures and tutorials.
So there you have it, the typical day of a university student, at least from my experience.
Dana Drožina