Welcome to the Homeschool Column, where we have a look at QUT students and how they’re managing working from home. Today we’ve got Cameron Mackie from the Law Faculty giving you a look in at her home study set up.
What is your name and what do you study?
My name is Cameron Mackie and I am a second-year law student. Before starting my law degree, I studied history and archaeology which I loved. I always wanted to study law afterwards so I’m having an amazing time pursuing this. This semester I’ve dropped down to a part-time study load to compensate for the stress of self-isolation and working full time from home.
What does a typical day at home look like for you?
I try, sometimes unsuccessfully, to wake up at around 7:30 AM to have breakfast and start the day. I start work around 9:00 AM and work through to early afternoon to have lunch with my partner and dogs. Throughout the day I seem to spend most of my time on Zoom or emailing, but I have lots of largescale projects I’m slowly chipping away at. At the beginning or end of my day I get to chat with the colleagues I work the closest with via zoom which is nice to be able to keep that connection, and in the late afternoon, I try to take my dogs for a walk to finish my workday before getting in a few hours of study or assignment work at night.
Tell Glass about what’s going well with home study.
I’ve found that since I’ve transitioned to working and studying from home and have had to put serious effort into making myself a functional space to work, I’m a lot more motivated to sit down and complete my tasks. I’m weirdly on top of my university work since isolation began as not spending hours in traffic a day driving to and from work has given me a ridiculous amount of extra time.
What are you struggling with?
I’m struggling with working full time and studying in the same space. This usually means that I’m spending most of my day sitting in the same chair and staring at the same screen. It’s quite draining emotionally, but I try my best to break it up by hanging out with my dogs, going for a run, eating and reading. It’s a strange time trying to get accustomed to a new way of living and working so I’m slowly getting there.
Are you working on a hobby or interest while in isolation?
Throughout high school, I used to speed through novels like nothing else, but since starting university however many years ago I haven’t been able to find the time to read as much as I used to. I’ve had a growing pile of terrible historical fiction and true crime books that I’ve been looking forward to reading so I’ve started to make my way through these. I’ve also gotten back into knitting which I used to do a lot growing up. I have a goal to make significant progress on a blanket I started and ignored a year ago, so we’ll see how far I get!
What are you listening to right now?
I love true crime podcasts so have been binge-listening to Casefile and Crime Junkie. I used to listen to these podcasts driving to work so I keep up that routine by listening to these the second they get released during the week. I’m a huge fan of John Mayer, Kodaline, Hozier and The Avett Brothers so I’ve spent a lot of time listening to them over the past few weeks. You can’t go wrong with the soundtracks to Hamilton, anything composed by John Williams or Les Misérables (a non-exhaustive list of fantastic soundtracks), too.
If you were going to give students one piece of advice, what would it be?
Take care of yourself and your mental health as best you can during this time. Studying and working from home is completely different to what we’ve been used to so make sure to keep in regular contact with people.
Thanks so much, Cameron!
If you’re interested in submitting your own Homeschool Column, please fill out the questions above and add some photos of your day at home and send your column to media@qutguild.com to be featured.
