The 'week in the life' project was co-created with 11 students currently studying at Cambridge from different disciplines and with different interests. The students created this content in their own voice to represent their own experiences of navigating the Cambridge 'week'.
[Beginning of transcript]
Cambridge University has a reputation for pushing students to work hard. Students are also encouraged to take part in the many extracurricular activities available. Believe it or not, you will have time to work and join in with activities outside of your studies!
I am going to talk you through a week in my life as an English student who does many extracurricular activities. These include: creating and watching theatre and film, gaming, creative writing, and video editing. I’ll show you how I divide my time between my studies and interests.
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Image: Photo by Bonham Bax on Facebook.
Overlay: LIQUID OVERLAYS by almyg 3 on YouTube. (Copyright free, free to use)
Overlay: Free Clock Green Screen animation by 4K GREEN SCREEN on YouTube. (Copyright free, free to use)
Cambridge weeks start on a Thursday (I don’t know why; Cambridge is weird). So Thursday is my reset day. I list my extracurricular responsibilities for the week in Google Keep. As a producer and publicist in the theatre, my responsibilities usually include: reading scripts, emailing organisations who will promote the show I'm producing, or communicating with the production team to help them with their own responsibilities.
My creative writing responsibilities include jotting down new ideas, editing drafts or posting what I have written.
I don't usually add gaming, video editing and watching theatre or films to my list because I do them in my spare time. Whereas there are deadlines I have to meet as a producer, publicist and writer. By listing my responsibilities, I can break-down big, daunting tasks into small ones. These small tasks are the quick and easy steps that I take towards the completion of my big tasks.
I start these small tasks on Friday, when I have lots of studying to do and little free time. This may include drafting the emails I need to send, booking rehearsal spaces, or reading a script before bed. As for creative writing, I play around with the drafts I’ve written.
It's OK if things don't go to plan; I often stray from mine. Some tasks take longer than expected, sometimes I give myself too much to do, sometimes I don't want to do anything! I may spend Friday playing video games instead, or chatting with friends, and that's OK.
If there's a task that I have to do but don't want to, I'll listen to some music or watch one of my favourite films at the same time. That way, I feel less anxious and can enjoy completing the task a little more.
On Saturday and Sunday I can tackle the big tasks because I have no lectures or supervisions. In the morning and afternoon, I try to study and complete more of my theatre-related tasks. I also attend social events and spend time with friends.
How I spend Saturday and Sunday evenings is completely up to me! Gaming, video editing, watching films and theatre are all activities that I become absorbed in and find difficult to stop. Waking up late the following day allows me to dedicate as much time as I want to these activities!
On Monday I become super busy again. I have lectures in the morning and I finish-up work for the coming days. If I'm lucky, I'll also have the time to finish my list of tasks.
On Tuesday, I catch-up with the other members of the production team to ask how they're getting on and offer my support. In the evening, I usually go to St Andrew The Great church for a social.
On Wednesday I have an early-morning supervision, and afterwards I try to do some work. The rest of the day I relax and prepare for the week ahead!
There will be difficult moments, and moments when you will have to tackle those big tasks, but you will always find the time to do the fun things. Your experience at Cambridge is all about you: exploring your extracurricular interests, becoming attuned to how, when and where you work best, or need to relax. 9 times out of 10 things turn out OK. 9 of those 10 times you’ll find the opportunity to engage in the academic and extracurricular parts of your university life, and you will have fun doing it! Some days will be bad days, and bad days will look wildly different for each individual, and that’s OK too. You will be OK.