Blogs

This month, I have been working up to dealing with something that I hate more than anything else – moving.

I’m not moving yet but I’m probably going to need to leave my lovely apartment next year. The third year in the doctor of veterinary medicine programme is at the Camden campus, about 90 minutes west of Sydney. I was planning on staying put and sharing transport but that isn’t looking likely so I’m starting to investigate moving closer.

It's important when you are booking student accommodation that you get a place that meets as many of your needs as possible.

It's always worth checking whether your prospective halls have lifts, provide parking spaces and whether the room has separate quarters for your maid. Now, that last one may sound like a joke, but it was, in fact, a question asked on the student accommodation booking service Student.com.

Eleni Smitham is double-majoring in international studies and Spanish and minoring in health studies at Haverford College, Pennsylvania

“And where will you begin?”

This question, which my two supervisors asked me at the beginning of the month, filled me with dread. It’s a good question, but I had no idea how to answer it. And instead of trying to decide for myself, I would rather they had told me where they thought I should begin. Where do you start a research project that will last three or four years and will culminate in a thesis of something like 90,000 words?

Student accommodation is slowly shaking off its reputation for being grotty and cramped. Gone are the days of tiny, drab rooms, freezing communal bathrooms and kitchens stocked with outdated appliances.

Student halls are becoming more luxurious, with some even boasting their own swimming pools, cinemas and gyms. These are a far cry from the dingy, crumbling establishments that were once a normal feature of student life. 

Ten years ago, I finished my undergraduate studies in international relations in my home country, Mexico.

I’ve been in New York for just over a month now and I'm continuously finding new things that surprise me. 

The heavy workload of each of my classes has meant that sometimes it is difficult to explore the city. It’s easy to be caught up in the bubble of university life but I try to get off campus at least once a week. 

It can be easy to think that mental health provision in universities is failing students and that little progress has been made, but in reality, universities around the world are beginning to understand that early intervention is the best tool in tackling mental health conditions in students. Universities are introducing innovative ways to help students identify and understand mental health symptoms and are improving access to services in ways that make students feel more comfortable. 

I have earned myself an undergraduate degree after three years of pretty exhausting work. I treated myself to a month’s holiday in Germany, explored new destinations, picked up extra work shifts and am now writing job applications.

In this period after graduation I've also experienced these seven moments that I feel are common to the graduate experience. You know you’re a university graduate when...

1. You realise you may never have to study again

I now know why Harvard has its reputation as one of the top universities in the world. It is not because Harvard is an elitist institution, or because it is one of the oldest colleges in the US. It is because every single student here works incredibly hard, spending long nights studying and taking multiple extracurricular activities. Time is the currency here, with students valuing it more than anything else.