A Day in Life

On a regular day, my morning starts around 9:30 – that is when I am lucky and I am not woken up by the sound of construction work right outside my window. Somehow, the construction company cannot take a break even on Saturdays, so you can imagine how much I am always looking forward to Sundays. Anyway, back to the point; my day starts with checking all my social media, BBC News to see what outrages thing Donald Trump did overnight and then downloading all my lecture slides for the day. Every student at the University of Edinburgh has an automatic access to a school software called MyEd, which contains all information that a person could need. It is used to keep track of your finances, considering everything from accommodation fees and tuition to print balance.

Almost all my lectures are on the central campus – George Square – which is only a 15-minute walk from my accommodation. Walking to school is rather relaxing for me since I walk through a big park, The Meadows, which looks absolutely gorgeous, especially when it is sunny. University campuses and buildings are, however, scattered all over Edinburgh, which I personally find is a really great way to engage with the city and explore its different parts.

Depending on the day of the week, I have from one to three classes in one day. Overall, I have nine 50-minute classes per week, which are divided into six lectures (two for each subject) and three tutorials. Lectures are usually in big lecture theatres as they often need to accommodate more than 300 students. Tutorials, however, are held in smaller rooms because students are divided into smaller groups of up to 14 people to discuss lectures from the previous weeks as well as lecture readings. There is a great emphasis on individual learning, therefore, we do not have a lot of contact hours per week but our lectures and tutors are always approachable either in their office hours or via university email. Moreover, every student is assigned a Personal Tutor, who is their first point of contact is students encounter any kind of academic (or personal) struggles.

When not in school or at home, I have a few spots where you can usually find me hanging out. One of them is one of the universities gyms in Pleasance Sports Centre, for which you can buy a membership for and your university card grants you an entry. Similarly, the university card is used to access the school library and several different university buildings around the city. Of course, I wouldn’t be living a proper student life if I did not have my go-to coffee place. Just after Christmas, I found a small (but always busy) café called Brew Lab, which is your typical hipster place with really good coffee, all sorts of tea and delicious pastry; not to mention it is only a few minutes away from George Square! If you ever visit Edinburgh, I recommend to try their white jasmine tea – you won’t be disappointed. Another go-to for me and my friends has become a small and cosy burger place called BRGR, conveniently just another few steps away from Brew Lab. What is even more convenient though, is their all-year-long offer, with all burgers for £4 on weekdays and £5 during weekends. Their blue cheese and bacon burger is something you definitely want to try!  

I hope this short overview has been helpful to get to know a little more about the university and the city of Edinburgh! Though as every day has to end, I am bidding you my farewell as I am about to do my lecture readings and go to sleep to be ready for another day of a university student!