Finals are Approaching… A Typical Day of Studying at TCD

While the December chill brings a warm Christmas glow to high-spirited Dublin, Trinity College students are busy motivating themselves to make it through their last week of classes before finals. Trinity’s course structure includes a Study Week between the last week of classes and before Finals Week. In my case, out of my five courses, I have four final essay assignments due and one biology exam during Finals Week. At the same time, I will be on Drexel Co-op during the Spring/Summer quarters of next year, so I am active in scheduling and completing interviews for the A-round cycle during this time as well.

So, like pretty much all students during this time… I’m swamped! The great benefit of the Study Week is the amount of time that it gives students to work on essays and study for exams, without having to also attend lectures/classes at the same time.

Here is a look at a typical day during the last week of classes at Trinity!

• I wake up around 8:30am and get ready to walk to campus before my 10 am lecture. Living at Kavanaugh Court Student Accommodation has been a very lucky housing situation! As the closest off-campus student accommodation, it is only a 15-20 min walk away from campus. With Dublin’s current housing crisis, students have been scrambling for accommodations, including many Study Abroad students like me.
• Arriving at the Trinity Arts Block building for my course on the Psychology of the Climate Crisis, my professor surprises us with a raffle for Greta Thunberg’s The Climate Book for anyone who shows up to this last lecture. At the end of the class, she picked my name out of the paper slips! YAY, good thing I attended this morning’s lecture!
• Some of the usual lunch options for Trinity students include:
  • The Buttery – Trinity’s dining hall, where you can load money onto your student ID to pay for food and receive a student discount
  • The Perch Café – located in Trinity’s arts block. With sandwiches, snacks, and coffee, the Perch provides everything for an average college student looking to grab a quick lunch while studying.
  • KC Peaches – popular student lunch spot located right off campus on Nassau Street, with a student discount and variety of hot lunch meals and festive cupcakes
  • Costa – coffee spot right next to Arts Block on Dawson Street. Popular spot for sitting down with a coffee and studying. I love the Christmas themed Gingerbread Latte! Usually my go-to spot for a coffeeshop to study in!
• Since I don’t have any lectures until 4pm today, I find a spot in one of Trinity’s Libraries to work. As the quietest spots on campus, the libraries do not allow food and are usually the best for getting work done individually.
  • My favorite spot: Ussher Library – 4^th Floor. It overlooks the football field and has large windows with surrounding trees. Throughout the autumn months, I saw the beautiful leaves color transition, while working on my course assignments.
  • Other libraries: Berkley Library (can book group study rooms), Lecky Library, Hamilton Library
• After sitting in Ussher for a couple hours, I headed back to the Arts Block for my Sociology lecture, detailing the requirements for our final essay.
  • Most courses are based on 1 or 2 assignments/exams throughout the semester. For example, this course required a group presentation due after Reading Week (worth 30% of the final grade) and a final essay (worth 70%).
• In scheduling Co-op interviews, I must account for the 5-hour time difference between EST in Philadelphia and the UK/Ireland time. This has been working out in my favor since I have been able to schedule interviews in the late afternoon/evening, after my classes for the day. On this day, I have a Zoom interview scheduled at 6pm, which is 1pm EST.
• After a (hopefully!) successful interview, I make dinner and watch the day’s FIFA World Cup group stage match on in my flat’s kitchen with my flat mates.
  • As a huge soccer (sorry, football!) fan, being in Ireland during the world’s biggest football event, engaging with students from around the world, has been the greatest experience!
• With a busy, but productive, day of studying and attending classes, I wind down and get ready for bed, looking forward to tomorrow’s day at Trinity College!