6 Websites For Michaelmas Survival

Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome PIPPA CALVIN as the Tab’s new I.T. correspondent. In her debut piece, she takes you through 6 websites intrinsic to your Michaelmas survival.

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Congratulations. You’ve made it through the first week of Michelmas, and survived an endless scheduling nightmare of meetings, supervisions, lectures, classes, seminars, bonding-sessions and tutor drinks events. Now your mission, should you choose to accept it: make it out of the next seven weeks alive and (if possible) with sanity in tact.

But fear not my children! I am here to help you through the only means I know how: the wonders of the world wide web. I’m here to provide you with an Internet smorgasboard to get you through the sluggish and painful seven weeks ahead.

I’m going to go for an eclectic mix: a plethora of the procrastinatory, giggle-inducing, stress-relieving and (dare I say it) something that might even help you with your next assignment. So hold on to your hats for the magical journey we’re going to take together.

(Click the pictures to be linked to the sites)

1. The Calmer

http://calmingmanatee.com/ is a calming site that skillfully juxtaposes the soothing image of a manatee with mantras, advice, or kind words of encouragement you would usually hope to get from that friend who is currently indisposed with a work thing. Cos when you can’t find a friend’s shoulder to cry on, an underwater-themed animal meme will do just as well.

A sea mammal to be taken seriously…

2. The Laugher

http://whenincambridge.tumblr.com will provide you with a daily dose of Cambridge, academia and stress-related humor. As good old Mother Calvin always said, if you don’t laugh at these things, you’d probably burst into tears instead: in fact, nothing could be more true of my Cambridge experience thus far and the dark sense of humour I have subsequently developed. So here’s to chortling through the pain, giggling in the face of imminent breakdown, and laughing in the face of the impossible mound of work assembling itself in an unruly pile on your desk.

When in Cambridge: drunk and wearing a gown

3. The Academic (ooh er)

www.academicearth.org is pretty much the best place for lecture videos from some of the most renowned institutions in the world (take note, Cambridge), for those days (increasingly common as Autumn moves in) when you’d rather feel like you’re doing something productive, whilst sat in bed, defiantly pyjama-clad, with a cup of tea in hand and some kind of blanked wrapped around you. Isn’t that how you’d much rather learn?

Because apparently the internet’s not only about manatees…

4. The Self-Improver

www.lifehacker.com is a sight pretty much guaranteed to upgrade your life from awkward to awesome. Whether you want to do something impressive (like improve your CV and negotiate a pay raise) or just learn how to deal with life better, including how to get a ketchup stain out of a white top, and what to do if you get pulled over by the police. We all need some help in life, and there’s absolutely no shame in asking.

You’ve been meaning to pimp that hard drive for weeks…

5. The Bookworm

www.bookseer.com recommends you your next book, based on your previous reads. It’s basically like Amazon’s suggestions, but without the erie insight into your 3am mid-all-nighter internet shopping history (remember when you thought you’d explore Erotic Ebooks out of ‘academic curiosity’?). Well anyway, Bookseer is a bookworm’s best friend. Y’know, just in case you want some extra reading to fill all that spare time you have.

Because The Bell Jar left you wanting more…

6. The Doodler

www.lefthandedtoons.com is a repository of silly doodles, cartoons and drawings, lest your brain explode from academic information-overload (and let’s be honest, that’s a likely possibility). My personal favorite: No. 147: ‘I like my women how I like my packets of instant oatmeal: quick, easy, and covered in facts about dinosaurs.)

Tindr isn’t the only way to boost your ego…

So there you have it my wonderful friends. Who would have thought the internet would reach so many and do so much, whilst bringing us such a wide range of sites such as Kitten Cam  and Marvellous Manboobs?!

So scurry off into the Internet! Enjoy the wonders it will bring, and find your life enlightened from here on out!