// Archives

Enjoying a topic that I did not expect to enjoy

As someone who loved English Literature A’ Level, I couldn’t wait to get started on my English BA degree at the University of Nottingham back in 2018. There was just one small thing niggling at the back of my mind. While all the other universities that I’d applied to were for an “English Literature” course, …

How to survive exam stress

We all know that handful of people who breeze through revision and coursework deadlines. But for most of us, getting through exams, coursework, and group projects can be exceptionally stressful. Below, I have put together my top four tips for coping with and conquering exam stress! FIND WHERE YOU WORK BEST Finding the perfect place …

Thinking about the future when time has lost all shape and predictability

English degrees don’t outline a select career path. We’ve all heard the jokes with that central gist, that the only thing to do with an English degree is to become a teacher (no shade implied; I have nothing but respect for the profession!). Of course, there are plenty of other jobs available to us too. …

Fighting Covid-19 in the time of assessments

Three modules, three assessments, all due on the same day. The Autumn term ended, and students dispersed for the upcoming Christmas season. I work as hard as I could in between the festivities we were allowed to have among the current climate. I took a break for Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and let’s be real, …

Review: Chinglish by Sue Cheung

As the new year unfolds, to ‘read more’ is undoubtedly many of our new year’s resolution, mine included. However, for us English students this goal becomes far greater since we aim to read more content not related to our course. My personal challenge of this year being to read more works by BAME authors. Having …

Rethinking the World with Chick Lit

This Christmas, I was gifted Cecelia Ahern’s One Hundred Names from a family member – with their flawed logic being that if I like the Bridget Jones movies, then romance fiction should be right up my street. But when I accidentally packed it to bring back to Uni alongside all my other books, giving it …

Being Kind To Yourself – Coping With Normality In Changing Times

‘Coping with normality’ seems like an odd phrase, but it is one that is needed in these unprecedented times as tasks which seemed simple pre-2020 now seem like a challenge. Everybody knows that 2020 was a year like no other, and going into 2021 I do believe that we need to be kinder to ourselves …

Pandemics and Prejudice: How to combat toxic productivity during lockdown

It is a truth universally acknowledged that an individual, experiencing the third lockdown of the year, must make the most of it, Right? I disagree. Whilst it appears that everyone according to your Instagram is learning new skills, getting ALL their university work done and maintaining a strict home workout schedule, I can state this …

Review: Someone Who Will Love You In All Your Damaged Glory by Raphael Bob-Waksberg

Few things pack an emotional punch the way Bojack Horseman, the animated TV show about a depressed talking horse, does. When it ended at the beginning of the year, I was looking for something to fill the void; luckily, creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg had written a new short story collection published last year. Someone Who Will …

How did it all start for you?

Mae govannen, mellon nín!* Without contest, one of the most exciting discoveries in my journey as a language enthusiast was the world created by J.R.R. Tolkien, brought to life in no small part by the native tongues of each of the characters. A philologist, Tolkien delighted in crafting these in great detail, and there are …