A typical workweek for me begins on Monday morning, around 8:30. After hitting the snooze button a few times, I drag myself out of bed, hop into the shower, and make my way down to the kitchen for coffee and some breakfast.  Collecting my belongings, I walk to Heslington West around 9:30 and make my way to my shared desk (also called a nest) at the Berrick Saul Building. Settling myself in, I begin to re-read through my latest supervision notes. Here, I take care to consider all of the points that my supervisors have made as I prepare a draft of 5,000 words for my meeting with them this upcoming week. As a first year PhD student, I usually meet with them every 4-6 weeks to discuss my latest work, what I’m reading, where my thoughts are heading, etc. Leading up to lunch, I write the last 500 words, editing as I go along. Lunch consists of a packed salad, fruit, and yogurt. I eat in the foyer at café tables with other PhD students, sharing about our research and discussing the nuances of our separate projects. After lunch, I make myself another mug of coffee and get back to work. Before digging into my latest draft, I catch up on some administrative correspondence. I’m the co-chair of the CECS Postgrad Forum, which means that Mondays are typically the days when I send out Email, Twitter, and Facebook updates about upcoming events and speakers. Tomorrow, we have a speaker from the University of Manchester and I need to coordinate her train schedule. When that’s all sorted, I make a final round of edits to my draft and send it off to my supervisors in an email. After clearing my inbox, I settle down with a few articles that I’ve printed from our library resources. Annotating and reading them carefully, I consider the different ways that they relate to my larger thesis topic. They spark a few great ideas that I’d like to bring up in my supervision meeting, so I jot them down in a notebook.  It’s now 6pm and I decide to call it a day. Heading home, I stop at Morrisons and grab some ingredients for dinner. 

Tuesday begins very much like Monday, except I make my way to King’s Manor. In order to do so, I walk through town. Passing by the Shambles and the Minster, I notice that there’s a food festival on. Throngs of happy tourists fill the streets, taking photos and shopping. Eventually, I reach King’s Manor. Nestled next to Museum Gardens, King’s Manor is a lovely stone building. I walk up three flights of stairs to the CECS student workroom and pull out a book to read. Again, I make careful annotations and observations about the argument, thinking of how I can pull these texts into my thesis topic. Breaking for lunch, I move to the café located in the building. Enjoying a jacket potato and cup of tea, I run into a member of CECS staff and we chat for a while about an upcoming conference that she’s helping to organise. From there, I return to the workroom and continue to read. At 3:45, I move downstairs, making sure that room KG/07 is unlocked and I set up the laptop for our visiting speaker. She arrives shortly thereafter and begins to organise her notes and PowerPoint for the Postgrad Forum. At 4pm, PhD and MA students begin to filter in. I introduce the speaker and the title of her paper. The forum goes on about 30-40 minutes, with time added on at the end for questions from the audience. The atmosphere is informal, convivial, and supportive. After the paper is given and the room is locked up again, we all make our way across the road to the Lamb and Lion pub, where we have a round of drinks, enjoy some food, and socialise. We reconvene in KG07 at 8pm for the Research Seminar, where an invited guest speaker will give a lecture. At 8 o’clock, the room is full with staff, students, and some members of the public. After an hour of intellectual engagement and a fascinating lecture about Romantic poetry, we open the floor for questions. Again, the atmosphere is light, friendly, and enjoyable. Breaking for another trip to the pub, we enjoy each other’s company late into the night.

 Wednesday is another research-heavy day for me. But instead of working on campus or at King’s Manor, I make my way to the Minster Library. Here, I peruse some sources related to my dissertation topic and enjoy the beautiful building. It’s located right in the middle of town, next to the formidable York Minster. After finding a source that would perfectly compliment an argument for another paper, I walk to a local cafe for some sandwiches and salad with a friend. After lunch, I make my way back to King’s Manor, a short ten-minute walk, to meet with a fellow PhD student. We’re discussing an upcoming conference, located in Venice, in which we’re both speaking and have to make travel arrangements. I’m still working on my paper for this event and in the next few weeks, I’ll be finishing my draft. After booking our flights and train tickets, I head back towards home. Here, I sit at my kitchen table for the next few hours, reading a few journal articles and book reviews over a cup of coffee. In the evening, I walk to the pub down the road and meet my fiancé for dinner.

Thursday means that I am working at the Berrick Saul Building again. In the morning, I look over the abstract of the paper that I’m due to give at the Venice conference. My work isn’t finished and this paper needs a lot of work. I pull up a few more relevant journal articles and begin to peruse for textual support. Failing to find the pieces that I need, I turn to some online sources for help. Accessing the ECCO archive, officially titled the “Eighteenth-Century Collections Online” and a database of original documents and sources, I eventually come across a few pamphlets and letters that strengthen my argument. Once again, I break for lunch with my colleagues in the foyer. After lunch, I return back to work. This time, I look over my draft for my supervision meeting tomorrow. I take a few notes and jot a couple of questions down in my notebook. At 4:15, all of us take a break and enjoy “Cake Thursday”, a weekly event at the Berrick Saul Building where all of the postgraduates enjoy a yummy slice of cake. After enjoying some chocolate cake, I return back to my desk and continue working on the research for my conference paper until 7:00, when I pack my things and return home to relax with some dinner and Breaking Bad on Netflix.

On Friday, I make my back way to King’s Manor for a supervision meeting. My supervisor kindly offers me a cup of tea and invites me to sit down in her office. We talk for about an hour, discussing the piece that I emailed her on Monday, different possible directions for my research, and upcoming speaking engagements. She gives me helpful feedback and thorough comments, which are instrumental to my progress at this early stage in the program. After I meet with her, I enjoy a packed lunch up in the workroom with a few colleagues. Afterwards, I make my way over to the King’s Manor Library and pick up a few more sources for my upcoming conference paper. After picking up a cup of coffee, I return to the workroom and read for a few more hours. Since it’s Friday, I decide to leave work early. From there, I walk around town a bit, eventually meeting friends for dinner at a local restaurant.