A day in the life of a Classics student

Good morning!

This morning, I woke up at 7 a.m. to prepare for what was shaping up to be a very busy day. I made a gingerbread latte and walked to our 9am lecture on Ovid’s Metamorphoses with my housemate.

This module is one of my favourites; the lecturer is so passionate and the content is so engaging, I love that this year I was able to choose all but one of my modules, and really do have a great passion for them all. Most of my modules are on ancient literature or theatre, which I am interested in looking into for my dissertation!

After the 9am lecture, I had a 10am tutorial on the same module; we looked at and analysed past exam papers and discussed our thoughts.

Early afternoon

My housemate and I then went for a walk to the Racecourse after the tutorial before going home for lunch. One of best parts of living out this year has been being able to cook for myself and have a space away from the immediate centre of Durham. After living in the main college of Chads last year, my current house is a lot quieter, and I enjoy the 15 minute walk home after lectures and classes. The weather today has been so sunny and warm, the bright clear skies really made my day feel so much more enjoyable.

Following lunch, I walked back to Elvet Riverside to attend a seminar for my Theatre and Spectacle in Ancient Rome module. I love this module, it is perhaps my favourite. We discussed definitions of ‘theatre’ and ‘spectacle’ and how the two can overlap or intertwine, and it was so fascinating.

Break at St Chad’s College

I then had an hour’s break between my seminar and the next lecture, so I went to St. Chads College where I met up with some of my college friends. I love Chad’s as a college, and am so glad I was allocated into a small college that is so tightly knit. We meet here multiple times a week in-between lectures to work in one of the libraries, go for coffee, or chat in the common room. ‘Chad’s Day’ is this Saturday, so I helped out very briefly with handing out the T-Shirts and goodie bags people bought for the day- it’s one of the biggest events on our social calendar, so it’s very important everyone is decked out!

Final lecture

After this I had my final contact hour of the day, the Emperors and Dynasties lecture at 3pm. I am much more interested in the Roman side of classics, so this module is a firm favourite (I’m starting to realise I’ve said this for every single module today…). Today we started looking at the Gallic empire, which was a really content heavy but engaging topic.

Evening plans

Finally, I went home and spent some time working on my summatives due in the next few weeks, as well as having a rest before getting ready for my college formal tonight. The formal is  ‘Ladies and Friends’, always held in Epiphany term, for the female identifying students to have a night together- there is a ‘Gentlemen and Friends’ formal next week. This formal was great – I’ve been unwell over the last two weeks and have missed seeing my friends so much, so it was wonderful to see them all again.

Goodnight!

Around 11pm I came home and got ready for bed- after such a long day I was so grateful to be in bed and get some well-deserved rest, especially ahead of Chads Day this weekend. Formal was a really lovely way to spend the evening, talking and laughing with my friends. Today has been busier than most, but so so worth it!

Discover more

Feeling inspired? Take a look at our Department of Classics and Ancient History

Download our latest prospectus and college guide here.

Follow our students on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

Olivia Shelley

Hiya! My name is Liv (she / her) and I am a second year Classical Civilisation student from Birmingham! I am in St. Chad’s College, and am currently Junior Common Rep on the Chads Representative Committee, Treasurer of DU Swiftsoc, and a member of the Durham Theatre society!

Related Posts