Interested in studying anthropology at university? Well, let me take you through my typical Friday as an Anthropology and Sociology student at Durham University.
Morning
My alarm typically goes off around 7am, giving me plenty of time to get dressed and everything prepared for my day ahead. Today I have 4 ‘contact’ hours (which include a lecture, a tutorial, and a seminar), one of my busier days. Also, a key part of my morning routine before my classes start is travel. As a local student, I have chosen to commute to university, which allows me to get the best part of university life and home life. Typically, it takes me 20-30 minutes to arrive on campus.
Lecture
My first class of the day is a 2 hour ‘Human Evolution and Diversity’ lecture – one of my favourite modules! Today’s lecture was focused on the living primates, I find all of these lectures really interesting as they discuss elements of evolutionary anthropology. The anthropology department here at Durham prides itself on being interdisciplinary, teaching social, evolutionary, and medical anthropology, this is also one of the main reasons why I wanted to study at Durham.
Coffee and study
After my lecture, I walked to get myself a well-earned coffee and lunch. The coffee shop atmosphere is also great to get some of my independent work done. Outside of my contact hours, I also have assigned readings for my classes, typically that are discussed within seminar tutorials, and mentioned in lectures.
Tutorial
After a few hours, it’s then time for the next class, a tutorial for my ‘People and Cultures’ module. We went over our latest lecture topics, economic anthropology and agriculture in society, in more depth. I love how much variety is in the content that the anthropology course covers, allowing me to go from learning about evolution in one hour to talking about economics and the domestic domain in another.
Seminar
Immediately following my tutorial, I go to my final class of the day, a ‘Classical Sociological Theory’ seminar. Although it is later in the day, I really enjoy this seminar as we cover some really interesting topics along with having a friendly and engaging lecturer leading it, it’s a great way to finish off the academic week.
My evening
Now all of my classes have finished, it’s 6pm and time to travel home. I love to spend my evenings relaxing, spending a bit of time with my family, and reading a book.
There you have it! My typical day as an anthropology student at Durham University. I hope that this has given you a good glimpse of university life, although it can seem daunting at first, it is actually really fun and flexible.
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