Hi! My name is Erin and I’m in the first year of my maths degree here at Durham, and I currently live in Josephine Butler College. Today is Tuesday, which means 5 contact hours – one of my busier days!
Morning
My alarm goes off at 7 am, and I get showered and dressed. Durham in February means lots of layers! I set off at 8.30 for my tutorial – I like to leave early for tutorials so I can enjoy a walk through the beautiful Botanic Gardens – it’s the quickest way to the Maths and Computer Science building from college! Living in Josephine Butler means there is an entrance just for students 2 minutes from my room, and all Durham students get free entry with their campus cards.
Tutorial
When I arrive at 9 am, I head to my tutorial room and the work quickly gets started. This morning, I have Statistics, which is undoubtedly my favourite module! The lectures are interesting, and it’s a very useful module in terms of what it allows you to take in future years. This morning, we were working on disease-testing problems in our small tutorial groups (15-20 people).
Coffee
After statistics, I have a free hour, so I head down to the Chemistry building where my next lecture is. There’s a café there, so I grab a coffee and start working on my Calculus homework. I typically get between 3-5 questions (depending on difficulty) per week per module, so I do have to stay on top of things, but the work is by no means unmanageable!
Lecture and lunch
Next up is my Linear Algebra lecture – the hour flies by as my lecturer teaches us about vectors. It’s just hit noon, and I’m fancying some lunch, so I walk up to the maths building and grab a sandwich from the café there.
Another tutorial
Once there, my friends and I find a nice spot to work and I finish off my calculus homework, then head upstairs for my second tutorial of the day! This time it’s Analysis, which, while absolutely fascinating, is my most challenging module. As soon as that’s finished, I head down to my last two lectures of the day: Calculus, and Discrete maths. Both fly by and before I know it, it’s home time!
Home
I get home, make a snack, and sit down to do another hour of work. I aim to work 9-5 on weekdays, which, for the most part, gives me evenings and weekends completely free!
College dinner
Tonight at college is our mentor dinner – we have fortnightly meetings with a senior member of the college, and we get a free hot meal too! At 6 pm my flat head down to this, which is in the college bar, and enjoy catching up with our mentor.
Theatre
After this, I’ve got a Teams meeting with the production team of a theatre show I’m stage-managing in a couple of weeks. We talk about the set and marketing, and when we’re done it’s after 10. I make a cup of tea and sit chatting to my flatmates in the kitchen for a bit, then decide to head to bed. It’s late, so I read a few pages of my book and get the lights off for 11. It’s another early start tomorrow!
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