An Average Day in the Life
7:30 Alarm clock goes off
7:40 Get out of bed
Walk around in half conscious daze trying to find exercise pants, second rate shirt, clean socks, and running shoes. Brush teeth, put on deodorant, put hair in ponytail. Put keys, student ID, iPhone, headphones, water bottle and gloves in jacket pocket. Regretfully head out into the cold outdoors for the gym.
8:00-9:30 Nearly kill self from over exertion (or "work out" as others may call it), on bike (always) elliptical (most days), or treadmill (almost never).
My gym membership is paid for as part of school fees. The gym is literally one minute from my room, and has really nice equipment. They also have tvs, which is nice, but I wish they would stop playing sports all the time.
9:30-10:00 Eat breakfast at dining hall
Usually sucks. Hard bacon or disgusting sausages. If I'm lucky, there'll be a carrot muffin or maybe some cooked ham. I am rarely lucky. So, most days, I have peanut butter on brown bread.
10:00-10:30 Go back to room.
Shower, get dressed in clean, not gross clothes, put laundry in, quickly check internet, pack bag for library.
10:30-12:30 Study with friend at library (well, talk, study, talk, study...)
This monday, I had literary theory work, where I had to read a story and analyze it from a Freudian perspective. Woohoo.
12:30-1:00 Walk back to room, exchange some stuff, switch laundry to dryer, read Sarah Tregay's Love and Leftovers for a few minutes, headed back out.
1:00-1:30 Have lunch with my friend, discussing our plans to learn ASL, our classes that day, and her exchange in Japan.
1:30-3:00 Literary Theory class
This is actually a good class. I like learning about all the different ways to analyze texts. The class is 50% lecture, 50% analysis/application/discussion, which I like. It's a very straightforward, interesting class.
3:00-4:30 Uh...random break. Read more Love and Leftovers...I think. Check laundry. Not dry, which is ridiculous, since I used two dryers. Ahhh. Put laundry back on for another cycle. In the end, one load of laundry costs me $4. Ridiculous.
4:30-6:00 Philosophy of Education class
I like this class too. This week we watched The Lottery, about charter schools, which was really interesting. And sad.
6:00-7:00 Eat dinner with my friend
7:00-9:30 Finish Love and Leftovers, call home, mess around online. Fold laundry from earlier.
9:30-11:00 Dance class
Oh man. I am terrible at dance. But I believe it is important to struggle. I just wish it weren't so humiliating.
11:00-12:30ish Mess around on internet some more probably.
12:30ish Sleep
Rinse and repeat tuesday, wednesday, and thursday. I don't have class on friday and I usually spend the day at the library finishing essays/having lunch/going to the gym/going to stupid seminars. On the weekends, I go to the mall, volunteer at various things around campus, do homework (usually essays/studying. I leave the small stuff for the weekdays), and generally hang out with my friends.
In terms of weekdays (excluding friday, since that's essentially a third weekend day because of my lack of class), mondays and wednesdays are usually the best, since I have the best classes then. Thursdays are the worst, because I have British Lit (the worst thing ever), plus two other classes, totalling six hours of class in ten hours. To any high school kids, this probably seems like not that bad. But, at my university, it's a lot. And my day doesn't end until 10:00 at night. So, you know, it's long.
Besides dance, I also tutor on tuesday mornings (at the local high school) and wednesday nights (ESL on campus). I also write for the school paper and help out in the drama department. I'm also looking to join more clubs.
I typically talk to each of my parents once or twice week on the phone. I talk to my best friend over Skype once a week for 2-3 hours. I email/text/facebook message my other friends intermittently.
That's my routine. I like it. The routine gives me something of a structure, but there's always a certain freedom. I have three hours of class most days, and I get to decide how I spend the rest of my time. I really like that. I get to hang out with my friends when I want. My time isn't accountable to anyone. I don't have to ask permission to have people over or tell someone if I'm going to miss dinner. Ah, the freedom.
Part of me fears this has been a terribly boring post. Sorry if that's true. I just thought it might help, if you were thinking and wondering and worrying about university. If anyone has any particular topics they want me to post about relating to university (or, you know, anything else in the world), please comment.
Okay to be honest, not your most interesting post. But i'm just glad you're posting so often lately! I loved your honesty in the sex thing/the first boy posts, the one about university wasn't too bad either, but since I go to university in europe where everything is completely different, I couldn't really relate.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I miss about your blog lately are the tv reviews which is how I discovered it in the first place. But other than that: I love your blog! Keep up the nice work.
In one of your earlier posts, I think you mentioned something about making 'new adult' happen (was that you??). In any event, university/college life is something not very often talked about (in the blogosphere and YA)! Which is why it's so great that you talk about it! I remember really enjoying season 4 of Gilmore Girls which was when Rory went of to university- something that I could relate to beyond the walls high school!
ReplyDeleteAlso- your posts on sex and relationships are so no holds barred (and really well-written). I think it's pretty brave of you to have written about things so frankly!
I think I probably mentioned something about New Adult. University is such a scary, unknown, uncertain, exciting time, with so much change. I can't believe there aren't more people wanting to write about it! It needs to be a genre! I know I would certainly appreciate books like that right now.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny you should mention Gilmore Girls, since I actually rewatched a bunch of the season 4 episodes before I started school. I particularly liked the episode where Lorelai had to come back to Rory's dorm again and again. Rory was always so perfect on that show (at least up until that point). I find that to be a nice, vulnerable, relatable moment for her and for the show. Most shows don't get entangled with university and if they do, it's silly, like in Gossip Girl (do those people really go to school?). I suppose Felicity would be an example of a real university show. In terms of books, I've read The Off Year by Claire Zulkey and Psych Major Syndrome by Alicia Thompson, both set in the college years, and both quite good.
Also, thanks for the feedback on the relationship posts. They are a little scary to write, but also really helpful for me. They help me make sense of my emotions. Thanks for the encouragement.