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A day in the life

Fall classes ended today. Tomorrow and Friday are reading days (studying days), and then it’s finals week. In fact, I got a package a few days ago from Romina, who I used to work with for the last two months or so before I had to quit my job, which is really something. What’s really something else is that I only worked one day a week, so I really didn’t know her all that well. But she was fresh out of college, and she wanted to make sure I (and my sister, who also worked there) would do well and have fun. Hence the package that came the other day with pens, giant notecards, Post-It notes, a highlighter, a marker, cough drops, Advil, some food, etc. It was really nice, and I thanked all my old friends from the office for putting it together.

I really can’t believe the fall semester has gone by just like that. I thought it would drag along like my first semester of high school. But nope. Does this mean that the second semester will go by even faster? And the next faster than that? Is this how life ends up passing you by? Because things just go by so fast? I’ve tried to make the most of my time, and I think I’m getting better at it in some ways. But I won’t worry about it too much right now. I have exams to study for plus a paper to finish, and I’m looking forward to sleeping in.

As a high school student, I probably thought about what being in college would be like. Actually, I probably didn’t because I didn’t want to think about college. (In fact, when I was in eighth grade, I couldn’t even bring myself to hear it mentioned.) But I’m sure some of my younger readers are wondering what the daily life of a typical college student is like. So I’ll tell you. It’s quite simple, really. Let’s take a typical… Tuesday… from my schedule. And let’s run with it.

At 9:20, I would wake up (courtesy of my cell phone’s alarm clock feature), do 14 minutes of shovelgloving, get changed, eat some breakfast (banana bread made and mailed by my mom), brush my teeth and all that stuff, and get out the door. I’d usually be out by 10:00. My roommate would still be asleep, for which I envy him. (I particularly liked Tuesdays because I could sleep in the most. On MWF I’d wake up at 6:20, and on R — Thursday — I’d wake up at 8:20.)

I’d set out on foot to the chemistry building and get there around 10:20 or so. The class would start at 10:40, but I like to be at least 10 minutes early to class, and earlier if there’s a quiz I needed to study for, as I often did. This was my chemistry discussion class, where I’d be quizzed on topics from the lecture on MWF. The quizzes were pretty easy. They were given by a teacher’s aide (or teaching assistant, or however you can expand “TA”) who would go through the problems on the quiz before we took it.

After that single period (50 minutes), I’d go back to the dorm for a little downtime (oxymoronically, on the Internet) until about 1:10 P.M. or so, when I’d head to the dining hall (cafeteria) for lunch. They have some pretty good food there sometimes. It’s hit or miss. But I have a meal plan that consists of 150 prepaid dining hall meals as well as $300 to spend at other campus eating locations, including a Taco Bell (a criterion, incidentally, that helped UF secure the number two spot in CollegeHumor’s annual Power Rankings of colleges and universities this year).

After that, I’d have one period of America in the Fifties — a class of about 12 people with lectures and the occasional class discussion — and then, immediately after, a two-period lecture for Social Geography. The professor for that one was cool because he wouldn’t lecture for the whole two periods. He would wrap up about half an hour early, leaving me done for the day at around 4:30.

So I’d mosey back to my dorm room, chillax some more, do my online chemistry homework that would be due most Tuesdays, maybe hang out in the common room where people would be studying or playing cards, go back to the dining hall with some people for dinner, and sleep… only to do it again the next day. On Tuesdays I’d have to go to sleep pretty early because of how early I had to wake up on Wednesdays. But it was all good.

So that’s what a day in the life of this new college student has been like this semester. In about a month, I’ll be getting ready to get into a new routine.

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