The life of a student moves quickly, even when the rest of the world is at a standstill. This week, Danielle speaks about how she's adjusting to the challenges of 2021.
This week has been a busy one with term two underway and lectures starting again. Here’s week two of my lockdown student diaries:
The January Blues
It’s that time of year, pandemic or not, when everyone gets a little demotivated. While there is a sense of routine slowly returning, I’m still grappling with the supposedly simple things, like waking up at a ‘normal’ time and finding the energy to get on with my studies before midday. What makes things worse is the terrible weather we’ve been having in London. There was some snow on Sunday which raised my spirits, but most days have been grey and gloomy. It makes me want to curl up and sleep and not write the essay I’ve been avoiding all month!
The January blues can be tough to manage, and it is important to figure out whether you need to reach out for help. I’ve found that talking to friends and family is the best way to improve my state of mind. The other day, I’m not ashamed to admit, I had a bad morning. I was feeling mentally drained from spending hours finishing my essay and attending lectures the day before, it was dark outside, and I couldn’t start the day as I’d intended to.
I’m sure many of you have faced issues like this during the pandemic when opportunities are few and stress is high. It’s so frustrating when you have the desire to be productive but no energy. Fortunately, I had someone there to talk to and tell me that I still had the whole day ahead to improve my mood. In the end, I went for a walk, got a hot chocolate, read for a bit and watched a movie. Fortunately, that was enough to pull me out of my slump!
Introductions to New Modules
A new term means new modules. This can cause anxiety and tension for students. Sometimes it feels like you’ve just got the hang of one topic before another is thrown towards you at one hundred miles per hour. Nevertheless, I find the prospect of new modules exciting and refreshing.
One of my modules is assessed by my first presentation of the year and involves a lot of group work which should be interesting, given the circumstances. Another new module involves interviewing participants, which should help me develop a range of new skills. My other new module is structured to promote flexible learning and lectures can be viewed as and when I please. This is great for me as I’m the type of person who will have a random burst of inspiration one night and want to watch all ten lectures in the space of a day.
With online learning, technology is another barrier to reaching your true potential, and I have felt the impact of that this week. My timetable wasn’t showing until a day before my lectures started, so I had to plan in a rush and move my day around. This meant having to free up a few hours on Friday, a time I had already dedicated to proofreading an essay. Stress, stress, stress.
Dissertation Difficulties
Lockdown has been a big obstacle for all modules, but my dissertation project has taken the biggest hit! Dissertations (and placements) are very daunting and everyone who’s completed, or is in the process of completing their dissertation, can agree that they are not comparable to any other project or piece of work you will complete during your time at university.
Way back in September, I had to submit a dissertation proposal which was a big mess of ideas I threw together based on my chosen topic. At this point, writing my dissertation draft seemed miles off. I was mistaken; it comes around so fast!
I have since written about three thousand words (almost a third…yay), but there is so much to do before I can write anymore. I have started sourcing participants for interviews. Finding potential participants is something I wasn’t prepared for and it has proven difficult to say the least. This week I have been trying alternate methods, like reaching out through LinkedIn or sending multiple emails, and it has opened a few doors for me. There is still a long, long way to go, but at least things are starting to come together.
Downtime
As much as I have had a very busy working week, I have also endeavoured to make time for myself. Self-care is empowering and should be a top priority, especially during these difficult times.
I’m missing my family and friends a lot. It’s hard knowing people are physically close but so far out of reach. Everyone has different ways of coping with this strange situation. Most weeks a group of our family friends will get together on Zoom to catch up with a drink (or few) in hand. I’ve also been making sure I reach out to friends as I know how much a message can mean.
I’ve found the time to crack on with my reading too, which is great. If any of you are like me and suffer from ‘tsundoku’ (the Japanese phrase for acquiring too many books and not getting around to reading them), then you’ll know the satisfaction of getting around to reading the books at the top of your list.
On the topic of gifts, I got an early anniversary present from my partner at the beginning of the week: A reMarkable! It’s a tablet which has a real paper-like feel when you write on it! As someone who has always preferred books to electronics, it was the most thoughtful present ever.
Final Thoughts
This has been a week of hard work, stress and perseverance. Thankfully, I’ve still managed to enjoy it. I’m trying to take each day as it comes and focus on small victories rather than big goals. Once you get the ball rolling, nothing can stop you, but you can’t get it rolling if it’s too heavy!
How have your studies been affected by lockdown? Join our panel today and let us know; you’ll get 1000 reward pointds when you sign up.
