Term 1, Year 1

At the end of Michaelmas, I can certainly appreciate why they have eight week terms here! It's not so much the amount of work (although there is a lot), but rather that the intensity of the way they teach here really gets to you. Having three lectures a day four out of five days a week immediately removes a good chunk of the day from you being able to do anything else, and in weeks where you have supervisions in the afternoon, you often only have an hour or two hours in the middle to do some work.

The toughest part is finding the time to review what you've learnt in lectures whilst also preparing for your supervisions. Even though they're on a fortnightly basis, it's a balancing act between trying to get the work done well in advance, and then risking forgetting it, or frantically doing something the night before. I tend to err on the side of the former, as I'm certainly not one of those people who stays awake until 2am writing an essay (although there are certainly some here!)

Sometimes it can be difficult to find time to do extra-curricular things, but you have to make sure that you do have some time to yourself. I certainly appreciate the weekends, as it means I can have a lie-in!

I think everyone is glad to be getting away from here for the break, as it's an extremely pressurised environment. We'll obviously all be busy over the holidays, but sometimes you just need to physically remove yourself from a place in order to get away from its 'atmosphere'. Even so, it'll be lovely to go home for a while.

Merry Christmas!