No one actually reads in reading week

Reading week is supposedly a week where we actually do some reading and write an essay or two for once, but actually it is the highlight of every term. It’s prime time to go on holiday or go home. Let’s be honest, no one actually reads in reading week, do they?

Completely off-season everywhere, it’s the only time when we can travel cheaply, knowing there won’t be screaming kids ruining your holiday, without missing classes. You could get £30 return tickets to Europe or you could spend the week sobbing into your soggy pasta salad in the library, up to you.

Take cringe tourist pics in Barcelona or finally have a one-to-one essay session?

As loads of unis have the same reading week dates, it’s clearly the best time to visit your mate at a different uni, as they’ll actually have the time to show you around their city and you can go out without feeling guilty about missing quality reading time. Or the squad will be reunited in your hometown, where you can lounge on the sofa eating home cooked food, watching OITNB on your parents’ Netflix. It’s either that or feeling lonely at uni because all your mates have gone away.

Spa weekend in Manchester or colour-coordinate your essay plan?

When you spend every other week at university, head down in a pile of books, why would you spend the one week you have off doing the exact same thing?

Classes scheduled in reading week are a total pisstake, and no one ever turns up. We’ve all received that email from our course coordinator telling us that it’s essential to our studies that we stay at uni for reading week, just incase any last minute lectures, seminars or meetings pop up. We already booked our holiday way back when reading week dates were released, soz Pam.

Visit your friend abroad or finish that 500 page novel you were supposed to have read three weeks ago?

Yeah, you will have at least one essay to hand in after reading week, and you should probably have read more than one thing on your reading list, but when else will you get the chance to travel this cheaply without commitments? The essay can be done around your travelling, right?