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A Day in the Life of an English Student at the University of Exeter

Hi there, my name is Sophie and I am a 3rd year English student at the University of Exeter. In this post I want to take you through a typical day in my life to give you a taste of what it is like to study at one of the best universities in the world (not that I am biased…). Whether you’re looking to study English, heading to Exeter this September, or are just curious about student life, I hope you enjoy this post. (more…)

   May 7th, 2021    Life on Campus, Miscellaneous, The city of Exeter, Undergraduate     , , , , ,

5 most common worries about going to university… and why you don’t need to be

Coming to university can often be a scary and unfamiliar journey…but fear not you have nothing to worry about – you’ll absolutely love it! Here are 5 common worries that you need not fret about: (more…)

   March 1st, 2021    Careers, Food and eating, Higher Education, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Studying, Undergraduate

How do I prepare for starting university? Five top tips!

By Hannah, studying BA English with Study Abroad

Preparing to start university is simultaneously an incredibly exciting and nerve-wracking time. As a student in my final year in Exeter, I want to give you my five tried and tested top tips for preparing for starting university. (more…)

   February 24th, 2021    Miscellaneous

5 things I wish I knew before coming to university

Studying

Contact Hours
Despite being a university student, and told that you should become more independent and not rely on your lecturers and tutors to spoon feed you your learning materials, don’t forget that you can always seek help from your tutors during contact hours.

If I had a chance to repeat year one, I would better utilise contact hours because tutors are so helpful to answer any of your questions to prepare you for your assignments and exams. I had a few assignments which I thought I did not do well enough, and after approaching academics during contact hours for feedback, I actually made significant improvements in my next assignment because I had a very clear understanding of what I had to improve on.

(more…)

   August 24th, 2020    Freshers Week, Higher Education, International, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Preparing for University, Undergraduate

Going to a Virtual Open Day

Hi! I’m Annie, and I’m studying for a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering.

Choosing which universities you want to apply for at the moment may be daunting for some. Without being able to visit the cities and get a feel for the place you might find it difficult to picture yourself living there. HOWEVER… many universities are adapting to offer online open days!

You may be hesitant to attend as you feel it won’t be the same experience and you won’t be able to get the information that you need. BUT… fear not I am going to explain all the resources you have available on an online open day and what you can get out of it! (more…)

   August 19th, 2020    Miscellaneous

Life in Lockdown – How I Survived and Thrived

At first, I was afraid… I was petrified… then life somehow returned to a slightly updated version of ‘normal’. It’s nigh on impossible to write a blog in the ‘mid-covids’, (if that’s what we can call it?) without referring to the ‘C’ word. What an extraordinary time we live in, and for all of us, almost nothing will be as it was for the near future at least.  As I was thinking about writing this blog, I was wondering what to focus on, apart from the obvious.  But I made a quick list of achievements, even the little things, that I had got done amongst, not going to lie, many weeks of uncertainty, and sheer panic at times. It was an impressive list.

The foremost ‘problem’ I tried to solve, was – and I think I wasn’t  the only one – how on earth to keep studying and working towards a goal, when the global goalposts have shifted out of all recognition? Keep calm and carry on was NOT top of my list!

So, this blog will highlight something about my life as a (very) mature student, (!), what I have been doing to keep myself sane, and most importantly what I have learned as a student and now as a post-grad at Exeter, not only academically, but the life skills which have come in very useful indeed! (more…)

   July 16th, 2020    Health and wellbeing, Higher Education, Miscellaneous, Preparing for University, Studying

7 things lockdown makes me miss about Exeter: Thoughts from a 2nd Year

Hi, I’m Prutha! I’m a second year Economics and Finance student from Dubai, and this quarantine really got me reflecting on the many plans my friends and I had once term ended, exams were over and the good times began. Instead , I’m 7 seas away from them and the only thing on my mind is how much I miss my time at university. So whether you’re enjoying quarantine, just graduated, or a fresher looking to study here, here’s 7 things I miss about Exeter.

  1. The good times with all my pals:

Late night talks, nights out, trying to keep up with the British drinking games, 8:30 AM lectures, board games, disastrous cooking sessions and all the other everyday adventures I had with my friends and all the hours I spent laughing with them (or at them).

(more…)

   May 29th, 2020    Exploring Devon and Cornwall, Health and wellbeing, Higher Education, International, Life in the South West, Life on Campus, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Studying, The city of Exeter, Undergraduate

The Postgraduate life: Managing study and managing your routine

When I made the choice to carry on with my studies by taking on a postgraduate degree, I was left contemplating how an MA schedule would affect by routine. I also questioned how it would fit in around my current job. Funding for an MA can be covered by a government loan, but maintenance loans were scraped for postgraduate students about a year ago. I decided to work part-time and study part-time to remedy this. This way I could ensure that I would have the time to do my MA justice. However, many of my friends have managed to work part-time and study an MA full-time under more stressful time restraints. Still, I was pleased with the choice I made to go part-time while studying an MA in Creativity. An MA offers so many routes for growth and expansion that are not part of the required reading list or contact hours. In this blog, I hope to explain what life is like for a part-time MA student so that others might better be able to decide what pace they want to work at during further study. (more…)

   May 18th, 2020    Miscellaneous, Postgraduate, Studying, The city of Exeter

Staying positive and productive during COVID-19

For many of us, we have never experienced a time quite like the present. We are unable to leave our homes other than for essential shopping or one exercise per day, leaving many unable to see family and friends for long periods of time.

Despite the lockdown presenting us with many physical barriers that have to be followed to ensure everyone’s safety, we should not let the current climate create barriers to positivity and productivity in our minds. It is important to be positive and productive in order to remain on track to achieving all our hopes and dreams in a world post COVID-19, as one day we really will overcome this. (more…)

   May 15th, 2020    Health and wellbeing, Miscellaneous

Freshers’ Week and Term One: What NOT To Worry About

The days leading up to your first week of university can be emotional. I remember feeling a bizarre mixture of excitement and anxiety. My mum grew tearful over nearly everything I did, and I was permanently torn over how much I should take with me. I’m now a postgraduate student at the University of Exeter and I’ve moved five times since moving into halls nearly four academic years ago. I found that adapting to change became easier with that first step of attending Freshers’ week. To remedy those Freshers’ fears, I’ve compiled this list of things NOT to worry about as a new undergraduate. (more…)

   May 4th, 2020    Freshers Week, Higher Education, Life on Campus, Miscellaneous, Preparing for University, Undergraduate

My lockdown experience

 My name is Maddy and I am a third year BSc Biological Sciences student. I recently saw the University of Exeter International Facebook page post about international students and their experiences in lockdown, and I would love to share mine with you.

I am from Seattle in the United States and I had planned to fly home at the end of March to revise over the break. As the situation worsened at the beginning of March, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to fly home or not. I didn’t know if it was the best idea to fly home if the borders were shut while I was home and I wouldn’t be able to get back for my final year exams. In the end, I decided that I would move my flight home to the beginning of June and that I would stay in England while I assessed how the outbreak would play out.  (more…)

   April 30th, 2020    Miscellaneous, Undergraduate

A Day Trip to WeTheCurious: The MA Creativity Students Play Around with Ideation

MA Creativity students interact and think at WeTheCurious.

According to trends in business and innovation studies learning to play again is the way to unlocking creative potential within one’s mind. To let go of what you think you know, strip everything back, and re-learn the basics can spark creative solutions to real life business problems. The MA Creativity: Innovation and Business Strategy students went to WeTheCurious in Bristol to test this theory for themselves. This is my record of the events of the day as one of these students. (more…)

   April 8th, 2020    Life in the South West, Miscellaneous, Postgraduate

MA Creativity Pop-up Event: The Exeter Happinesst

As part of their term two assessment for module EAFM003, the MA Creativity students were asked to create a pop-up event in just twelve weeks. With £250 at the disposal of each group the students went about producing an event to remember. Team Happinesst were one of the lucky few able to open their event before Covid19 prevented the execution of events going forward. The Exeter Happinesst was an interactive pop-up experience celebrating happiness. As one of the team members of The Exeter Happinesst this is my journaling of the process leading up to the event and the event itself. (more…)

   April 3rd, 2020    Miscellaneous, Postgraduate

Musings of a mature student – Eating well and staying healthy

Musings of a mature student

I have to budget (like all of us do!) as a student, so I have been looking at ways to eat well and save pounds….and lose pounds too! My food bill is around £25-£30 per week, although a lot of that is on things that take a long time to use up, like oil, salt, mayo… store cupboard essentials. Although there are many great (and heavily discounted) eateries around campus, and it’s great to eat out with friends, there is something satisfying about cooking and having friends round to dinner. Even better if you club together to buy the ingredients or have different hosts even once a week.

The important thing is to strike a balance – it would be great to have dedicated ‘eat out together’ nights and some eat-in dinner parties too and think what you could do with the money you save! (more…)

   March 20th, 2020    Food and eating, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous

Musings of a Mature Student – Coping with the Holidays!

These deadlines come around fast, don’t they? So, with the industrial action, I find I have more time at home, so being super-organised is more important than ever. The temptation to have a break (as no seminars for a few weeks) is strong, hey, why not ditch the coursework and carry on with the research report/essay/ or whatever needs handing in next?

Well, as tempting as it is, I found a lot more useful information in this week’s reading that will improve my writing no end. After all, good writing depends on good reading…

So, there are several ways to approach writing an essay; in fact, the LSE have some great tips on their website.  (more…)

   March 10th, 2020    Miscellaneous

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