Janpreet Khabra
Janpreet Khabra, Second Year at New College, studying Maths and Computer Science.
I expect my description of a day in the life of an undergraduate will differ slightly from the days of other students, as I don't study just maths. I am a second year studying Maths and Computer Science.
That is possibly the most common sentence I speak when I'm in Oxford: name, subject, college. The formation of the ideal standard introduction. And there are many introductions because there are so many new things to experience and new people to meet no matter how long you've been here.
It's hard to describe just one day without thinking about how much it differs from all the other days. For example today I had no tutorials, but I did have two lectures. But before I could get stuck into all the riveting new content, I had a meeting with the Head of my college. At Oxford you get involved in so many different things, even if you don't go seeking them out. So I am on our JCR committee - which is basically a school council for my college - which is why I had this meeting to attend at 8:15am. The meeting finished at 9am, about 5 minutes before my first lecture was due to begin. So I rushed through the rain to the Computer Science department, alongside my friend doing Physics who was also at the meeting. We were both late. But only a bit.
After two lectures on computery things, I headed over to the Maths Institute to eat some cake and drink some tea. I do this every Wednesday as I help to organise this free event which we put on to support women in STEM subjects, giving them a space to work together on problem sheets (and snack on free cake). Although I rarely get work done during this time, it's always good to see new faces and catch up with the girls I don't often see outside of this event as they're in different years and colleges. It is also so helpful to get advice from girls in older years on questions I'm stuck on.
Once we've cleared up I head back to college where the rest of my time is spent making/breaking plans with friends, getting on with problem sheets, and eating. After dinner I go to the salsa class which my friend organises in college every week. If I wasn't tired before, once it finishes and we've finally got back to our rooms at around 9:30pm, I'm definitely ready to waste time on the Internet before going to bed, hoping to get a bit more work done tomorrow.