Hi there everyone!
Exams are over yay! I celebrated my freedom with nights out over the weekend with friends before jetting off to Prague for 4 nights over the Reading week (it’s like half-term which is meant for studying). I shall be updating you all on my trip to Prague in next week’s post.
Today, I’d like to share with you some of the many ways Surrey University provides support to its students during the revision and exam season. First and foremost, Surrey University library is open 24/7, 365 days of the year. This is amazing considering many other university libraries in the UK do close at some point during the week and over holiday periods (Christmas and Easter). Our library boasts 5 levels, each offering different study environments such as Silent Study, Group Study, Quiet Study and Individual study. Students can access the library online beforehand to see if there are computer spaces available. Mind you, the library has over 1000 computer work spaces and more on the way! On top of that, the library provides laptops for loan purposes for free of charge as long as it is returned on time, just like textbooks. It can get quite busy during exam season in the library. Thus, to help with limited work spaces, students can use other buildings across the university campus which is equipped with computers such as the labs for class purposes.
Just below the library is SimplyFresh which is the on-campus grocery and open from 7am till 11pm Monday-Friday and reduced hours over the weekend. During revision/exam season, eating can become a secondary concern: cue the junk food! But the fact that there is a grocery on campus which sells hot food, sandwiches, etc does help with maintaining a relatively healthy diet whilst enduring exam stress. Side note: Deliveroo, a food delivery service, has lots of restaurants (Wagamama, TGIF, Jamie’s Italian, etc) signed up to it, making it super accessible to get healthy take-out right to our campus accommodation!
To help deal with the stress, the university holds an event called Happiness Café every Wednesday from 1-3pm. It is located in the Front Room; a space for students to hang out which is equipped with board games, a pool table, lots of sitting space as well as a microwave. The Happiness Café aims to create a warm welcoming environment for students who are feeling stressed, homesick or would just like to speak to a student volunteer. There is free tea, coffee and cakes available as well as lots of colouring books which has been proven to relief stress 🙂
Besides that, the University organised a PATS Therapy Dog Session during the second week of exams. A dog lover myself, I found it very therapeutic to just pet the many dogs that were there during the event. Research has shown that playing with or petting an animal can increase levels of stress-reducing hormone Oxytocin and decrease production of the stress hormone cortisol- which is exactly what I needed during my exams! PATS stands for Pets as Therapy which is a charity which provides therapeutic visits to a variety of venues. Best of all, the event was free!
The Students Union’s VP Support also had a very positive message for Surrey students to keep us motivated during the exam season. The video can be found here. All in all, I do really feel that Surrey University does cater to it’s students needs in helping us cope, especially during the exam season:)
Till next time: Selamat tinggal x
