Christmas Confessions of a GTA

Christmas at Imperial as an undergrad quite literally sucks. All I can remember was all my friends from alternative universities having a fantastic time with mulled wine, carols, slightly questionable decisions at the Christmas dinners, and retiring home to make snowmen with all their lovely family. Meanwhile I had more than five peices of coursework on the go, numerous tests, and ‘fun’ end of term activities on my course, that were hideously weighted so you could not pass if you were slightly the worse for wear in the morning. Instead of acting out the Christmas dream, I was struggling to get out of the department, at all. I often found myself wondering what halls actually looked like at this time of year, or whether it was light outside (there’s an app for that). I was at my most excited on the last day of term, at my joyful reunion with my bed.

The low point had to be fourth year. My course was such that I had finals in January, and not mid to late January, but starting on the 5th. That holiday, I took one day off for Christmas. It always baffled me why Imperial was confused about the low satisfaction ratings. Tests on a Friday afternoon on the last day of term are not exactly a positive influence on our mood levels. This year, looking at it from the other side, the undergrads look as ill as I felt. I have three invigilations booked in the next two weeks and still more for the first week of January. So I’m afraid it is not looking bright for a change in the future. So for all of you who are suffering this I wanted to instil a bit of Christmas hope; It really does get better.

I’ve always thought I hated Christmas. All the pressure to be happy and thrilled about life, but actually it is pretty great when you don’t think you are going to fail anything if you take the weekend to go shopping. Suddenly I was helping with a carol concert, putting up decorations, enjoying a mulled cider, and chatting about the possibility of snow. I have two weeks off! This has not happened since mock GCSEs over 7 years ago.

So my confession for this week, though not as cheery as I would like is: if this rings a bell with you, keep going. There will be Christmases around the corner where you can get completely drunk at a party and hit on someone you’ll never talk to again, but right now enjoy the little things like half price mince pies or finishing that stupid coursework. If we made it through you can too.