Magdalena, a third-year student on our Architecture BA course, takes us through her week from design studio sessions, field trips, part-time work and more.

Monday

My Mondays start with me heading onto campus for 10.30am. Living in outer London with my parents, I take the train from my local station into Central London. My trains are frequent, which makes it a verv quick and easy commute.

As an Architecture student, my timetable dedicates two days a week to my chosen Design Studio. These are either spent in the Architecture studios at our Marylebone campus or out on site visits and trips. Our Design Studio modules make up most of our final grade, so I like that I have two days dedicated to this module. The Design work we produce is used to form our portfolios.

Tuesday

There is nothing scheduled in my timetable for Tuesdays so I tend to use it as a day to catch-up or continue with my academic work.

I work part-time as a Student Ambassador for the University, offering advice and support to prospective students at a range of events. This Tuesday I used my availability to work at Create Your Future, a UCAS Fair at the London ExCel.

Wednesday

Wednesdays are also a free day in my timetable, which I usually use to study from home.

This week, I used it to attend another event as a Student Ambassador. I typically wouldn’t work two days in a row however this was a much quieter event as it was based within a college aimed at their students, for a few hours. l also chose to work this shift as the college was close to the location used in A Clockwork Orange, a film I am currently writing about for my dissertation.

Thursday

Thursday is the second day of the week dedicated to mv Design Studio. This Thursday, all members of my studio and tutors visited Stevenage, a town which is the site for our project this semester. We explored the town in the morning, followed by an afternoon visiting buildings of interest. We also used this visit to observe the infrastructure and urban landscape of the area, the inhabitants and how they interact with the spaces around them.

Friday

On Fridays I have a seminar for my dissertation from 10am-1pm. I was able to show my tutor the images I had taken that week on the film’s location and continue to work with my tutors guidance.

In the break between my seminar and lecture, I had lunch with my friends, and we used the opportunity to catch up. At 2pm we headed together to our lecture for our Technical Studies module, where we were informed about various materials and their uses. After the lecture, I had a quick meeting with some of my classmates for a group project. We organised ourselves, dividing up roles and tasks to complete before our next meeting. After our meeting I headed home and had a quiet evening reading a book, which was well needed after a busy week.

Saturday

My weeks are usually very busy, so I enjoy chilled laid-back weekends.

I tend to meet up with friends and attend social events during the week as l am already in Central London for uni and spend time at home on the weekends. Saturday I watched and analysed the movie Akira as research for my dissertation and spent the rest of the day with my family playing card and board games. Personally, I think it’s very important to have a good university, work and personal life balance to avoid becoming overwhelmed.

Sunday

On Sunday, I did a few hours of university work.

One of our tasks after our visit to Stevenage was to put together a tabloid about the neighbourhoods we visited and think of wavs to implement a new means of transport to the town. I spent the morning designing and brainstorming ideas to show my tutor.

l enjoy baking, so I spent the rest of the day baking for my family. I made a Pasta Frola a sweet tart that is common in Argentina, where l am originally from.

About Westminster

As one of the most diverse universities in the UK, we are a global university with London energy, with more than 19,000 students from 169 countries. To find out more about our Architecture BA, visit our website.