A day in the life of a history student

Hi, I’m Dan, a first year History and American Studies student at Nottingham. University has been such a rewarding experience, both academically and socially. Here’s a brief look into what a day in my life looks like!

8-9am: Wake up

Living on campus means I have a fairly relaxed start to my day. I tend to wake up between 8 and 9, just in time to catch breakfast before heading to my first session of the day.

10am: 'American Freedom? Empire, Rights, and Capitalism in Modern US History' lecture 

Mondays start in the Sir Clive Granger Building with an American History lecture – a particular area of interest for me!

Though run by the American Studies Department, this module is offered as a subsidiary module for single honours history students: this being one you can take outside of history, allowing you to broaden your range of study. 

Lectures involve being spoken to about a topic, but these ones especially are very interactive, with lecturers asking us questions and involving us in the areas of discussion, as a precursor to the respective seminar. Today I had one on the Cold War, which we looked at both in the US and outside, not just in the USSR but the East more generally, which I greatly enjoyed.

After the lecture, I went back to my room to finalise notes for my seminar. I prefer working in a quieter location, so love working in my own space. However, Hallward Library has separated study cubicles which are also ideal for silent study, so I recommend those too!

12pm: 'The Contemporary World' history seminar 

After finishing my notes, I headed to the iconic Trent Building for my 'Contemporary History' seminar, where we discuss various topics post-1945 that we were introduced to in lectures and discovered more on through reading.

This week we were talking about the Women’s Movement and feminism, with a particular focus on Simone de Beauvoir’s work – something I have been excited to study for weeks! The seminar was really productive. I learnt a lot from the discussions we had and considered ideas from different angles.

Following the seminar, I went for a coffee and a bite to eat at Portland Coffee in the Student Union with my friends Liv and Eve, where we talked about our thoughts on the seminar and potential module choices for next year!

2pm: 'Themes in Early Modern History' lecture 

Then it was time for my Early Modern History lecture in the Law and Social Sciences Building. Rather than being concerned with events, this module looks at overarching themes across the early modern period, from c.1485-c.1800.

Today we had a lecture on medicine across the period, and looked at the question of whether the change can be declared a ‘medical revolution’. This is an area I hadn’t studied before, so it was great to be opened up to a new facet of history!

3pm: 'Learning History' seminar

For my final activity of the day, I was in Lenton Grove – the history building – for my 'Learning History' seminar. This is a compulsory module that all those who study history past first year take. It introduces historiographical approaches, such as economic and feminist history, and also looks at the role of history in a public setting. 

Led by your personal tutor (mine is Peter Russell, who is amazing), it means we always have support easily accessable and we get to know them well through contact time.

Today we were discussing ideas for our assessment, a group poster designed for a public audience, and settled on the moon landings. We have a lot of freedom in this module on what we do for assessed pieces, which is ideal as you can cater it to your interests!

Done for the day, I walked across campus back to my room, and was able to capture a lovely picture of the Downs – my favourite area of campus.

5pm onwards: Part-time work, dinner, and free time  

Once back from campus, I chilled for a little before doing a Maths GCSE tutoring session online. Part-time work like this is ideal, as it is flexible to my schedule and allows me to finance my hobbies – for example skiing, for which I attend sessions biweekly with the Snowsports Society, as well as clubbing with friends in town.

My evening then consists of dinner and free time. Today I got smoothies with my friend Georgia from our hall bar, and then spent time with two of my housemates for next year, Emily and Jess, so it was very chilled.

Last Monday I saw Dylan in concert in the town centre, which was incredible. Nottingham has a good music scene so artists tour here regularly which is great!

Thank you so much for reading and following along with my day. Good luck for the rest of your studies, and I hope to see some of you here in September!