Get The Most Of It

However, it is worth to stay at the campus after your lectures and explore the enriching non-obligatory activities provided by your university. As a final year undergraduate student at University College London, I propose you some of the extracurricular activities I have discovered.

            Especially as a European student, I struggled at the beginning of my studies with the academic English. The Writing Lab runs workshops about essay writing. They vary from specific courses about writing an introduction to advice on quoting. Furthermore, you can attend a one-to-one tutorial with a specific essay in hand. Therefore, a tutor will answer your specific questions and give you feedback on your writing, structuring and argumentation in your essay. Equally, I it was important for me to gain confidence in speaking in the academic context. The Language + Writing Support Programme offers workshops, one-to-one sessions and ‘Coffee and Conversation’, which are tailored to help non-native English speaking students with their academic writing and speaking. I attended ‘Coffee and Conversation’, which is an informal weekly meeting lead by a PhD student who prepares a discussion topic. Nowadays, I attend Lunch Hour Lectures and talks organised by the Institute of Advanced Studies to either broaden my knowledge on the topics of my study or to get an insight into a research irrelevant to my focus on foreign languages and politics. Not only is it a vital break from the self-study in the library, it is equally very useful to grasp the presentation style and speech structuring of established scholars. Many talks are as well organised within student societies.

            Even if you wish to take a break from your studies, UCL offers you a plenty of opportunities for your free time. Alongside the activities organised by student societies, varying from cooking, film screening to doing yoga, Student’s Union of UCL organises Project Active. These are professionally lead sports classes from fitness to rugby. I have attended courses and talks provided by the aforementioned organisations. However, I have not yet engaged with the Institute of Making, which is a multidisciplinary research club opened to UCL students. You can visit their Materials Library - a collection of materials such as freeze-dried ice cream, breathable coffee or a cube made of recycled bottles. Interestingly, you can become a member and join their classes, for example a masterclass during which you are going to create your own silver ring within two hours. The membership is free of charge, but you need to bring your own material. If you wonder where are you going to get silver, they complied a handy list of possibilities where to buy the required materials. Would you say that your academic experience involves jewellery making? And yet, it can because UCL is a vibrant community.