A question which I have been asked a few times, by prospective university students and my younger sister who is approaching the end of her time at school is: what do you actually do at university?

In this post I hope to show a bit of what a typical week is like for me. As a disclaimer: there is no such thing as a typical week at LSE – either for one student or one subject etc. LSE has such diverse community and with such a wide range of student interests, people’s weeks will vary wildly! I just want to give a taster of what the realities of studying at LSE is actually like.

Monday

9.30am Walk down to LSE from Passfield Hall, where I live, for a 10am class. The walk takes about 25 mins, and is quite nice if you avoid walking down the incredibly busy Kingsway!

10am History class on the Cuban missile crisis.

11am Coffee and a bit of early lunch in the Saw Swee Hock cafe with a friend from class

11.45am – 1.45pm Studying in the library – finishing up on my reading for later in the day – a book chapter about the rise of tourism in early modern Europe.

2pm – 4pm Lecture immediately followed by a class on Travel and Tourism in Early Modern Europe, focussing on the Exploration of the pacific.

5pm – 6pm Basketball team training in Dalston.

7pm – 8pm Dinner back in Passfield – Passfield is a catered hall, so dinner is served Sunday – Friday, and the food is pretty good.

8pm Reading for my class on Tuesday afternoon.

Tuesday

10.30am – 12pm Reading in the library and preparing some portfolio questions for LSE100 on the meaning of nationalism and cosmopolitanism

12pm – 1pm History class on the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Classes usually entail general class discussion and/or splitting into groups to answer a subtopic before feeding back to the class.

1pm – 4pm Working on my essay about the causes of violence in colonial Algeria in the 1950s.

4pm – 5pm Lecture on the historiographical approaches to the Vietnam War. This lecture is my biggest one of about 200 or so people, but some of my others are a lot smaller, somewhere around 40 people.

Evening: Dinner in Passfield and then my friend’s 21st birthday celebration!

Wednesday

Morning: Wednesday is one of my days off, so I tend to spend it catching up on reading or chilling out with some catch up TV!

Afternoon: Often we have a BUCS basketball game in the afternoon. If not, Wednesday tends to be a day with other society activities. One of these is the Baking Society, which I am also a member of, who held a bake and share in aid of The Eve Appeal – delicious cakes and all for a good cause.

Evening: Fencing training in North Greenwich. I try to train at the club as much as I can, but there are 4 nights of the week to choose from, so I can be flexible around my workload!

Thursday

11am – 2pm Reading for my anthropology class. This week I am preparing a short presentation on about questions from the key readings: What happens when people migrate? Anthropology is my outside option, which can be taken on some degree courses, chosen from a selection of options outside of your own degree courses.

2pm-5pm: Classes and Lectures, which include a history lecture on the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, and and anthropology lecture on migration and its cultural implications.

Evening: On Thursdays I actually have a late class ending at 7, so I don’t get back until late for dinner in Passfield Hall. After this I worked on my Algeria essay until going to bed. Some Thursdays I train at my fencing club again until later instead.

Friday

Morning: I also have no lectures or classes on a Friday, so I have a more variable schedule. However, I do go to the gym in the morning leaving at 8.05am (!) for a strength and conditioning session with my trainer. This is part of the support the SU gives me as part of the LSE Sports Ambassador Programme.

Afternoon: I spend the early afternoon working on some session materials to deliver in my tutoring session later that day. I am involved in the LSE Widening Participation project, meaning I get to tutor kids in underprivileged areas in school subjects to help them aim towards university. I have really enjoyed the project – it has been very rewarding to be a part of.

Evening: Friday tends to be a pretty exciting night in halls – the Student Union’s student night is a Friday, and this usually draws a crowd… However, this week I am doing something a bit different, heading over to the Copper Box in Stratford to watch a London Lions basketball game with my team!

Weekend

Every weekend has been different so far at LSE! Typically though, Saturdays start late with brunch from 11-1 in Passfield. Often the day is spent working or maybe exploring. Last week we spent the afternoon at Borough Market trying amazing samples of tea, cheese, bread and other delicacies! Before that I spent the day in the library! Saturday dinner is usually an excuse to eat out somewhere cheap, or cooking for ourselves, before chilling out with a movie or something similar.

Sunday: for me, Sundays are also a mixed bag. Some are spent working, but sometimes I am away competing at a fencing competition, and occasionally I visit my family back in Kent.

I hope this has given you a taste of what university life is like, but as I said earlier, no week is the same – every one brings its own excitement and last minute plans!