First Year History of Art – Week 4!

So we’re into Week 4 at Warwick now and things are really starting to get interesting and more challenging!

The first 2 weeks you’re still settling in to university life and making friends with the people on your course, in your kitchen and in your block. They go easy on you at first with Art History with introductory lectures of the modules you’ve chosen so you really understand what you’ll be learning on the course and the reading and study that’s required. I had to do a presentation for the 2nd week but some courses don’t start seminars until weeks 4 and 5 so this was a bit of a shock! I also have one for this Friday while we go to The Herbert Gallery and Museum and Coventry Cathedral so that will be fun.

You soon learn that napping is a neccessity, as are doing your seminar readings and eating at weird times of the day because you’re constantly going back and forth from lectures, seminars and your kitchen! I’ve been very lucky in that my flatmates are all lovely and we get on really well, we even have kitchen scrabble, monopoly and beer pong every now and then! Sometimes you just want to stay in the kitchen and procrastinate but you really do have to keep on top of things or you soon become swamped with reading, essays, notes and presentations. I’m currently doing Classicism as a core module and I chose to study Sculptures and Prints. I will be studying painting techniques in the Spring which I’m really looking forward to!

My week at the moment is fairly balanced, I have Mondays off becuase none of the modules I picked have seminars on that day so I can catch up on work from the weekend which is really handy or I can just have an extra day relaxing before my week properly starts. I have a Study Skills lecture for 2 hours at 10am on Tuesday and these are really useful, they tell you how to write and structure your essays properly, how to reference and do your bibliographies and outline what plagiarism is and how to avoid it so these are really important! Some courses don’t seem to offer these lectures and I really think everyone should be taught this properly from the beginning so that you don’t develop bad habits or just end up feeling like you have no idea what you’re doing. I then have a Prints seminar from 3pm until 5pm and that’s the latest I finish a day which is pretty good. On Wednesdays we have a class lecture from 10am until 11am and I’m done for the day, Thursdays are my busy day, I have a Classicism lecture at 10am until 11am then we have to walk from central campus to Millburn House for the seminar until 1pm. On Friday I have a Sculpture seminar at 1pm until 3pm.

The departmental staff are all really helpful and informative, if ever you’re struggling you can email your personal tutor for a time slot to talk things over or we can email our mentors (in 2nd year) for advice. Don’t ever be afraid to tell someone if you’re struggling because the faster you tell someone the faster they can help you sort things out and you’ll only get more and more stressed if you wait! Everyone struggles at some point so don’t be afraid, it’s all a learning curve of understanding how to manage your time, prioritise, study and have fun so you’ll soon pick it up. Also, the departmental website is your best friend, here you can find all your module info, reading for each week, any presentations or trips you’ll have to do and general information that is a life saver.

You have to make time for yourself too so go to as many fairs, socials and parties as you can! It’s sometimes difficult to make time for these things but it’s really important that you’re also having fun or you’ll lose interest in your work too. There are events every week, loads of societies and you can always spend time with friends you’ve made in your kitchen or on your course if you don’t want to spend money going out!

So, I hope that this has given you all a general gist of the History of Art course and my day to day life. I’m still finding my feet and balancing my work with my free time but I’m really enjoying things so far!

Thanks for reading!

Kristie