Week 6: Reading Week

Reading week is the equivalent of 'half term' but not in every sense. You are off timetable for the whole week, unless a lecturer rearranges a class or lecture which is likely but not common, and are expected to take the name of the week very seriously. In sixth form and college, half terms are a bit of a break to catch up on small pieces of work or do one or two hours of work that was given. Mainly, I used half terms as sleeping time and as a break. My first reading week at Birmingham was very different. I'd love to say I haven't stopped working but I did give myself, stupidly, a day or three off. I've still got most of my to-do list not crossed off. To be fair, I did have a few PC issues that distracted my attention away from the role of the chorus and audience in Greek Theatre and suchlike.

Following on from last week about my essay preparation, Monday wasn't necessarily a huge success with library findings. I did find similar books but not the ones I was after. That wasn't an issue, though, because as I mentioned the library has over 2 million volumes so even though I didn't find the exact titles I did find several useful books that I did use in my essay. That said, it was my first visit to the library (I do advise going to the library tutorials in Welcome Week or whenever your subject timetables them - I didn't because I was ill so I had to teach myself how to use the library... it's not difficult at all and you can teach yourself fairly easily but I can't help wondering if I might be able to find things less intimidating having gone to the tutorials) so I didn't expect to be an expert.

Having done an epic day of research, eventually finishing all my highlighting and note taking at 11.30pm, I was well prepared for Tuesday's essay writing day. Casually but carefully writing the essay, with perhaps one stop for a meal, 1500 words took me about four hours to type which isn't bad going. Nathan, a flatmate who just so happens to be awesome at proof-reading, had gone home for reading week so he agreed to proof-read from home through email. While I was waiting for him to get to that, I read through it myself (a printed copy, not on screen) and noted each mistake and phrase I needed to re-write. In my opinion, the tell of a good proof-reader is if they notice the same things as yourself if not more. I wouldn't advise getting a friend on the same course to proof-read unless they're in a different year because they'll have a set view in their head having done the same or similar essay. As the saying goes, the spectator sees more of the sport.

Perhaps something that may be of importance to people living away from home is computer trouble. A PC or laptop is an essential piece of equipment for university unless you want to rely on the library. When yours decides to die, it isn't a pleasant feeling. At least, it wasn't for me. Having bought all the parts for my PC (its a desktop) myself and let my PC genius brother build it for me, I have a bond with my tower that rivals the bond between me and my boyfriend. On Wednesday, when I came back from my first costume call, Mr Tower decided not to turn on. If I hadn't already done my essay, I may have panicked a little more than I did. I did (and still do), however, have an essay due for Tuesday 17th so a dead PC was not ideal at all. I'd been having issues with Mr Tower since Monday evening but it'd been nice to me so I spent about an hour leaving and returning to it to see if it would continue niceties. Apparently not. I didn't know who to contact about this because I hadn't paid the £60 for PC support, started this year by a company located in the refurbished area of the Guild, so I phoned the Vale reception (4040, free from your room phone) to ask if they knew who to contact. They told me to phone the main library and ask about their laptop surgery to see if they extended to desktop computers. I did that and the epically cool guy on the end of the phone said that the laptop surgery was, in fact, a trial thing that didn't quite work out so they weren't doing that any more. He did, however, shift me in the right direction to finding a company nearby who would help me out. I won't say the name of the company because though they got my tower to work again, they did manage to break something else then break the whole thing when trying to fix that, then when my boyfriend had a look he fixed it in under 20 minutes. In between trips to the shop and Oli being a legend, I did visit the Dell website and order a laptop. It's okay, though, because I got awarded a scholarship from University for getting AAB and when that money comes through in January I can replace it in my bank account. I was planning on buying a laptop, anyway, because it's far more convenient for library work and lecture (though being a Drama single honours student I only have one sit down lecture per week, not counting the lecture for my MOMD). So when my laptop comes through I'll have a desktop for work to be done in the flat as well as for procrastination with music and Facebook - and various other websites I'm addicted to like lolcats, Blogger, Youtube, Twitter, and the list goes on - and I'll have a laptop for work to be done at home and away from the flat in general. It also means I can test out the free Wifi in the library and various other hotspots on campus. And on trains. I've always wanted to do that.

Well I'd love to stay but I have reading group at 6pm at the Guild so I have reading to do!

Main Library