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Hello, my name is Sheila Lord and I study Creative Writing with English Literature.
There are a few particular reasons why I decided to study at Kingston; one, the area is just
lovely. Two, at the open day the lecturer that came to talk to us was just inspiring,
I pretty much hung off his every word and it’s been pretty much the same since I’ve
been here; like most of the lecturers I can just really connect with.
The thing I enjoy most about studying and living in Kingston is that you’ve got the
best of both worlds; I’m not a very clubby person but you’ve got loads of clubs, loads
of night life but at the same time you’ve got a little market and there’s a little
river, which is really nice to just like read by. And studying, it’s the same really.
It’s nice to kind of have two different places.
There are many different aspects of the course that I enjoy; it’s nice doing English and
Creative Writing because you get to study two different subjects and your brain is not
totally focused on one. It’s also nice because you normally get like a workshop time where
you will just work on your own work or you will read your own work out, but you will
also get like an hour of a lecture by the lecturer. So it’s nice to kind of have a
break and you’re not constantly working or constantly listening to someone.
I did English literature at school but I didn’t do creative writing; I kind of wish they did
Creative Writing at A Level, but English literature is quite different at university. It’s nicer
I think really. It doesn’t feel like you are being so much kind of taught at by a teacher,
it’s a lot more kind of to and fro, your kind of comments and asking questions.
The hours of teaching can vary. It depends if you are majoring or minoring if you are
doing like a joint two subject course. It also depends how long your lectures are, sometimes
they are two hours or one hour and you always get a one hour seminar as well. So it varies
but it’s never too much work. I’ve also had modules where I’ve only had a lecture
and not a seminar, but if you ever do need to see your lecturers outside of your timetable
they are always available; they have office hours and you can always go and see them and
email them and they will always come and talk to you – they are very helpful.
Kingston University is really good because on campus they also have lots of jobs too,
so when you are not studying there are lots of jobs you can be doing, so there’s a little
Student Union shop that you can work at; it’s just like a little corner shop that sells
drinks and food. There’s also a Student Union bar, there’s also the Library, so
they are really good if you need a job but something in the Uni is obviously going to
be more understanding of your timetable and work around it. But there’s also – it’s
a really bustling town so you will quite easily get a job in town as well I think. But it’s
always better, I think, to get a job in the university.
I found working and studying manageable until about my third year; I’m in my third year
now and I think I could have continued but I did quit my job at the Student Union shop
just because I really wanted to focus on my studying, but when I worked there last year
there were third years who were doing it so I guess it just depends how easily you can
manage your time and what you want to focus on at the time. But for my first and second
years it was brilliant and a great way of earning some income while I was studying.
I’m not sure what my plans are for when I graduate. I’ve kind of just taken every
opportunity that comes, which is really great advice for when you come to university, just
get stuck into everything and add it to your CV and transferrable skills gets put round
a lot, but it is really good to just get like loads of skills in different things and then
when you go out into the big wide world of work, hopefully I can put all those skills
into lots of different varied jobs.