If you’ve been wondering what an average day actually looks like for a university student, then this is the post for you!
7am
Time to wake up – I could definitely get up later but I like to take my mornings slow. One of my friends literally gets up at 8:40 and still gets to 9am classes on time, so its doable.
8:45am
I aim to leave Huia by 08:35 but 08:45 is the norm by the time I leave my room, realise I’ve forgotten something & have to go back again. Walking downstairs this morning I noticed someone has left all these little positive notes in the stairwell – nice bit of positivity to start the day off.
9:05am
“Pick whatever photo is best, I trust your judgement” – Alex
Time for French.
I have 9am French four times a week, which is honestly not as bad as it sounds. Especially with Alex there to brighten my day. One of the many advantages of language classes is their small size, making it easy to get to know people.
10am
Now for a quick Kath & Kim power walk over to the General Library for Stats.
Last semester I had zero back-to-back classes but this semester I have them most days, so I’ve gotten used to having to quickly get from one side of campus to another – you soon figure out the fastest routes. Lectures are supposed to finish at X:55 and start at X:05, which is mostly true but sometimes lecturers will push it as close to the hour as possible. Like today.
11am
With Stats over, I’m ready for lunch.
Time to meet up with my friend Cristina and hang out at the Quad Café for a bit.
Also, if you’re fully catered then you can actually get lunch here instead of going back to your hall!
12pm
Cristina has to go to class, but I still have another hour before Economics, so time to get some study done. Usually the 4th floor is my go-to, but today it was pretty packed – there are still a few mid-sem tests and assignments for people, so I went down to the Mezzanine and found a spot down there where it was much less busy.
1pm
As much as skipping may be tempting, when you’re so close to campus or here for the day anyway – you may as well go to class.
2pm
At this point, I’ve got no more classes today, so I could go back to Huia, but I will usually find somewhere to study for another hour or two before giving in to the temptation of going back.
3:30pm
The problem with going back to the hall too early, is usually I’ll then get nothing productive done until after dinner. So glad I squeezed out a little extra productivity before starting the trek back up Grafton Road (in the wet 😒)
Flame Tree providing the goods (honestly the chocolate cake is the best)
5pm
As has been mentioned many times before, living in the halls really shifts your meal times around. We usually go to dinner as close to 5 pm as possible, which leaves you with so much time in the evenings.
5:30pm
Back in my room, and I’ll usually laze around for a while here, thinking about the work that I should be doing but am not.
7pm
If there’s still homework to be done for tomorrow – then now’s the time to get it done in the common room. I find it’s pretty motivating to study with other people, so a couple of us are usually sitting in here, working away.
9pm
By this point, if not earlier, we’ve given up on work and just end up chatting.
Far too late 💤
And eventually, it’s time for bed.
Definitely not a staged photo…
Side note: I’ve done this in a busier part of the semester, so not every day is like this – you certainly get some weeks where it’s fine to just go to class and do nothing else all day. It’s all about managing your time and workload. Also, how much time you spend studying will depend on your programme and ambitions.
So I hope this has been at least somewhat insightful, it was interesting to do something a bit different 😊