A Day in the Life of a Greek and Latin Student | UCL Arts & Humanities

UCL Greek and Latin student Polly Chan, shares what a typical day in her life looks like studying the Classics and the Ancient World BA.

As a second year BA classics student with a 10-hour contact week, I therefore have quite a bit of time on my hands. Although there is a lot of reading and translating to do, I still have time to do many other things and sometimes even fun things! It’s very important to fill up your time as best as you can at university, especially if you’re an Arts and Humanities student with lower contact hours, it can be easy to feel unmotivated. Whether that’s studying with friends or joining a society, it’s good to keep yourself busy and, you’re in London, the world is your oyster! There are so many opportunities and things to do, make the most of it! 

My alarm goes off at 9am but I lay in bed for 10 minutes before I eventually get up and face the day.  

At 10am I have a 2-hour Latin Palaeography lesson. Today we are learning about Latin abbreviations so we can decipher the exact Latin which monks speedily copied over. 

I meet up with my friends at around 12pm to study in UCL’s building on Bernard Street. It is what I like to think of as my hidden study spot. There are a mixture of study spaces and classrooms and if you’re lucky you can find an empty classroom and use the whiteboard and talk as loud as you want! I prefer studying here during the day as the student centre gets rather busy. It’s also conveniently sandwiched between a Pret and a Tesco, so I tend to pop down and get myself a sweet treat to help study. 

I pick up a ‘Too Good to Go’ for lunch around 2pm. Today’s lunch is some baguettes from a store inside Kings Cross station. This app is great especially for uni students as it allows you to get good food for a much cheaper price.  

At 4pm I have an hour-long Ancient Greek seminar, where we go through the grammar and translations we had to complete for this week.   

I head to a Classics Society meeting at 5pm in our department’s common room. We typically organise both social and careers-related events in these meetings. It is fun to be on a society committee because you get to meet new people who have the same interests as you and create fun events for your peers to attend.  

I dash home around 6pm to quickly cook myself dinner. Lately I really enjoy making orzo as it’s super quick and easy with a rice cooker. I tend to make a big batch so I can eat the rest for lunch tomorrow.  

At 7pm I have a jazz big band rehearsal. This year I wanted to pick up the trumpet again, so I decided to join Jazz big band. I really enjoy it because it is quite chill, it doesn’t matter what level you are, so everyone is welcome.  

After rehearsal I head over to the IOE bar to meet up for drinks with some friends. The UCL student bars are very handy as drinks in central London tend to be quite expensive. Student bars are a great way to meet up with friends without spending all your life savings!  

Living in London comes with a lot of different opportunities, but it can also be expensive. To manage this, I have a part time job, luckily my workplace is quite accommodating and is willing to fit around my uni schedule. UCL does not only offer you your degree, it also offers many jobs and extracurricular activities and the chance for you to develop yourself as a person. It is important to maintain a balance at university, keep your days filled but don’t push yourself too hard. But most importantly of all, make sure you enjoy yourself! 

Find out more about UCL Greek and Latin and the programmes they offer.

Instagram @polchan 

This blog is an example of one day in the life of a student at UCL. Each day looks different for each student depending on the programme, department, year of study, timetable and modules chosen. Head to our online prospectus to find out more about our programmes.