Monday

10am - my first lecture of the week, Maths! Living in Elms BT9, it only takes about 15 minutes to walk to the Physics building, which is where the majority of my lectures are held. Personally, I find it easiest to make notes by hand, as lecturers can cover content very quickly! However, the ten-minute transition period between classes is a good time to ask the lecturer any questions before they leave.

At 11.05am, the Physics lecture begins, which is conveniently usually in the same theatre. The Physics lectures tend to apply the concept we’re covering in Maths, so I’m never left wondering whether it will ever come in handy.

When the lecture ends, I head down to the McClay Library, where my Spanish class is held from 12-1pm. Each Monday, we study a text and discuss answers to the prep work set on it, which I usually do the evening before so it’s fresh in my mind.

Once class ends, I head back to my flat to make lunch, and spend a few hours at the desk in my room working on my first assignment of the week, which is a set of problems based on last week’s Maths lectures, and is due by 1pm on Friday. 

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Tuesday

On Tuesday, I have both my Maths and Physics tutorials, which happen between 11am and 1pm. In Maths tutorials, a PhD student helps a group of around 12 of us to go through last week’s assignment, which they’ve marked for us. This entails taking it in turns to put up our own worked solutions onto the whiteboard for the rest of the class to compare with – which is not as terrifying as it sounds!

I can see which questions I got 100% on, so I’ll volunteer to write up one of those, meaning I can then make notes on another student’s method for a question I didn’t get right. Anything that none of us did well on gets a proper explanation by the tutor.

Physics tutorials are held by lecturers and are even smaller groups, about half the size of a Maths tutorial. Again, we receive back our marked work for the week, which our tutor then goes through, explaining the science behind it and clarifying any problems we have with the content. Our assignments always contain both exam-style questions and one conceptual one designed to showcase our understanding.

There’s an hour break for lunch before my next class, so my friend (one of the five or so people I’ve met doing the same course) and I head to the Students' Union, where we sit on the steps to eat lunch overlooking the Lanyon building. Then it’s back to the McClay for our Spanish class, where we learn skills to prepare us for the translation and composition assignments, which we get one of per semester. 

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Wednesday

Wednesday is an early start, as I have a 9am class on grammar before my usual Maths and Physics lecture slots. However, the pay-off is that everyone’s classes across all subjects (including Medicine!) finish early on Wednesday, giving my friends and I the chance to do group activities.

Some of the highlights from our Wednesdays have been taking the train from Botanic Station to Helen’s Bay to swim in the (freezing cold!) Irish sea in late January, going ice skating, visiting Lisburn leisure centre to try out the slides at their swimming pool, and hiking up Cavehill to watch the sun set over Belfast. Even closer to home, there’s the music quiz which is hosted every Wednesday evening in the Students' Union Bar - we’re sadly still yet to win it…!

Cavehill Country Park

Thursday

On Thursday, my flatmates and I occasionally enjoy renting a pitch at 9am in the PEC so we can play an hour of football before class. It’s very cheap split between the eight of us who go, and it’s easy enough to make it to lectures on time when all I have to do is a brisk walk through the Botanic Gardens up to the Physics building.

Afterwards, I grab lunch with a friend in one of the many local cafés, and then we head to the McClay to finish off our weekly assignments until 3pm, when we then have to head to University Square for our speaking class. Speaking class was pretty daunting at the start of the year, but I’ve since become much less reliant on prep work to come up with things to say.

Helen's Bay beach

Friday

I just have Maths and Physics until noon, so after lectures I like to stop by the shop outside Elms BT9 to grab lunch. Weather permitting, I then like to take a stroll down to Lagan Meadows and Belvoir Park Forest, which is a gorgeous nature spot just twenty minutes away.

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BSc Physics with Spanish

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Amy Furlonger Physics with Spanish | Undergraduate Student | England, UK Hi, I’m Amy and I’m a student from England in my second year at Queen’s studying Physics with Spanish. It’s been an adventure so far – I hope you’ll have as much fun here as I do!