Isobel Pereira Garcez
For many of us, or at least those not taking a STEM degree, our reading weeks, or ‘Directed Studies Week’, are upon us, coming up, (or for the odd few) happened and now waiting on their next. For many, it is the most necessary week of the semester, whether that is to catch up on reading, plan formative assessments or to go home and detach yourself from university, all of which are equally important. However, if you find yourself with a spare minute or the desire to do something different, Impact’s Isobel Pereira-Garcez has your back with this perfectly curated list of activities you could do this reading week.
With reading week coming up, lecturers will be telling you to ‘do some work’, ‘catch up on notes and reading’ but also to ‘relax!’, and I always find myself wondering, how am I meant to ‘relax’ when I’ve got formative assessments (and actual assessments that count towards my degree) due the Monday I get back from reading week, or as School of Arts calls it, ‘Directed Studies Week’.
Well, here I’ve compiled some ideas of how to get the most out of your reading week whilst also allowing yourself that much needed time so you can de-stress from the trials of academics.
[IT] IS VERY HELPFUL TO BOTH YOUR PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH TO TAKE THOSE BREAKS FROM INTENSE STUDYING, ESPECIALLY WHEN MOST OF IT IS DONE ON SOME SORT OF DEVICE
Firstly, if you have a plan for the things that you would like to complete during the break based on previous lectures and seminars, this makes achieving them much more manageable by making clear what you will or won’t be able to do with the time. I like to make a short list of things for each module I do and then plan what day and how much time I’ll allocate to each thing. Meaning I have scheduled in time to do my work whilst outside of those planned hours I can aim to not do too much studying – for this is meant to be a break after all. I understand that this is significantly easier said than done (I struggle to stick to my plans sometimes), however, this can be very helpful to both your physical and mental health to take those breaks from intense studying, especially when most of it is done on some sort of device.
Leading on from that, try at some point to take something of a break from your devices, as both the blue light and the doomscrolling habits from social media will not help you catch up on restful sleep in the one week where you have no 9am’s! Even if you’re ‘just doing some work before bed’ on your computer, you’re still being exposed to the blue light that will ruin your sleep. Try to have an hour of no devices before bed. You could read that book that’s been sitting on your shelf waiting to be read for the past month and a half, spend time catching up with your siblings or friends who you’ve not seen since you moved to (or back to) university, or you could even play a quick game of cards with your family.
Now, some students will not have a complete reading week if they’re joint honours, for example, where one half of their degree doesn’t have a reading week or they don’t coincide with each other. However, there are things you could do to destress and take a break even if you only have a reduced timetable, not a completely empty one. For one, you could take a day trip to the peaks if you’re up for a nice walk and some beautiful scenery away from Nottingham, especially for those students who live far from the peaks at home. From Nottingham you can get the train taking somewhere between one hour and a half to two hours. But if you don’t want to travel too far or you don’t even have enough time for that, you can take a trip to Wollaton Park and enjoy some time in nature, away from the stresses of academics and essays.
TAKE A BREAK FROM STUDYING BY HANDING OUT WITH THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE YOU AND APPRECIATE THAT YOU DON’T HAVE ANY LECTURES FOR ONE WHOLE WEEK.
Coming back to those who will be going home, spend time with family and friends from home, perhaps plan a trip around your hometown with some friends you haven’t seen in a while, or go shopping with your parents and beg them to take you out for lunch somewhere you’ve been craving. Take a break from studying by hanging out with the people who love you and appreciate that you don’t have any lectures for one whole week. I know I will be hearing the complaints of my sister saying I haven’t been gone long enough!
Whether you’re going to be hopping on a train or bus back home, or if you’re just taking a break from studying in Nottingham and hanging out with your housemates, it’s always refreshing to be able to have a few days where you don’t wake up to your phone alarm blaring at you to wake up. So, take some time off, make a plan of a reasonable amount of work to do (don’t plan too much, the whole point is you’re taking a break) and spend some time doing the things you love to do, for me that will be reading a book I’ve not been told to read by my lecturers.
Isobel Pereira Garcez
Feature image courtesy of Bonnie Kittle on Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 1 courtesy of Bonnie Kittle on Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 2 courtesy of Mike Smith via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
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