A week in the life of a University of St Andrews student
I documented my normal life for a week, and how everything changed from normal to self-isolation
Monday: I wake up early at 8am, ready to start the week on the right note. After some difficulty getting up from the bed and eating breakfast, I started working on the day’s goal at 9am: programming my personal website! I’ve been wanting a simple website for myself, and today seemed a good day to finish it.
I work on the website until 10:30am. I would normally have a lecture at 11am, but this week it was cancelled thanks to the strikes that are currently affecting UK universities. I decide to use the free time to go to the gym — no more excuses! I choose a relatively quick muscle work-out routine, eat at a simple lunch after coming back and rest, until it’s time for the day’s only lecture at 1pm.
I cycle to the science buildings, thanking the nice weather outside. It seems like spring has finally begun in Scotland. After the lecture, I work on my programming practical on school machines until 3:30pm. Not the most exciting work, but it needs to be finished before the deadline on Friday. Without the strikes my next stop would again be a lecture hall, but today I decide to head grocery shopping instead. I cycle through the rain (yes, Scottish weather…) to Aldi. After getting back I take a well-deserved break before continuing my work on the website at five.
Besides a dinner break, I spend the whole evening working on my website. At 10:45pm, it’s finally finished and accessible from the web! I finish the day by listening my girlfriend practice her school presentation, which is tomorrow — hopefully it goes well! I finally get to bed around 12:30am, ending another Monday.
Tuesday: A tired Ville took until 8:30am to get up. After eating breakfast, it was time to do some housework. I head to the hall’s communal launderette. Once the machines have run their course, I discover a terrible mistake: I had forgotten a tissue or some other paper inside the pockets! After taking way too long to brush its remnants off the clothes, I take some time to relax and write parts of this post. Then it’s already 11:45am and time to have lunch: a healthy Greek salad.
Next, I head to a campus event: a second-hand clothing fair to promote sustainable fashion! It sounds great, but the reality is (often) disappointing — the fair has barely any men’s clothing. Perhaps better this way, buying nothing is better for the wallet anyway. I head to the computing labs to work on my practicals for a few hours before getting home around 3pm. Since all lectures are cancelled during the strikes, I use the excuse to waste time for another hour and half. Afterwards (and feeling very guilty for time wasted) I continue writing parts of my dissertation, an effort that never seems to get closer to finishing. My dissertation is not due until next month, but the 15’000 words it will need to cover won’t write themselves.
I stop at 6:45pm to eat some fish and chips (to balance all the health I gained with my lunch) and think about the way I spend my free time. So much time wasted, on Facebook, Reddit, Youtube, anywhere. Is it time to get another hobby? But I don’t find enough time to really focus on the ones I have either. I continue writing this article and put these thoughts away for now.
Wednesday: I get up at 8am, ready for a productive day! Since Wednesdays have no scheduled lectures, I’ve usually used them for working on my programming projects. As I will today. At 9am, I start working on a React.js project that’s not yet public and do so until 12:30pm when it’s time for lunch. Next, I decide to dedicate some time to a hobby I’ve neglected this semester — playing guitar! I play until 2:30pm, when it’s time to get more programming done. I manage to finish a significant amount of work before 4:30pm, when I decide to go jogging.
I like jogging in the beaches of the town, so this time I head for West Sands. Since I’m recording this week for the future, I wanted to do something a bit special. West Sands is a very long beach, and I decided to jog all the way to the end! After tiring 5 kilometers, I finally made it! This part of the beach really is the most beautiful: windy and desolate, with the sun shining bright.
However, the trip is far from over. I need to run another 5 kilometers to get back home! On the way back I run into my girlfriend, and we get to walk back home together! Quite nice :)
With a lot of work done, the evening is for relaxing. I watch favorite football team Liverpool play against Atlético Madrid in the Champions League, and unfortunately lose the game. But that’s life.
Thursday: I’m woken up by beautiful sunlight. That’s a sign that a) I forgot to set up an alarm and b) I’m probably late. Indeed, it’s almost 9am, and I was meant to have a productive morning. Ugh. I don’t get to labs until 10am when I start working on analysing data for my dissertation. Stats is hard, and the school software doesn’t run on Linux for some reason. I need to stop at 11:15am, as I promised to participate in a classmate’s user study for her dissertation. I play with their VR application for a while and walk out with £5 richer! You gotta celebrate the small victories in these dire times.
At 12pm it’s time for the week’s second and final lecture. This one is extra special since my group must give a 10-minute presentation on a practical we finished some time ago. I never liked public speaking, but this time everything goes smoothly. My trick is to pre-write a script and use simple language — that way I don’t tumble with my words or worry about forgetting what to say!
Next, I head out for a lunch date with my girlfriend. We first head out for a local fish restaurant but leave the place after seeing their newly increased prices — I’m not paying £10 for fish and chips! We settle for my girlfriend’s favourite: a little French restaurant that also happens to be one of the town’s cheapest eats. She goes for her favourite lasagne, while I choose the mozzarella panini.
I head back to labs, and at 2pm start working on my programming practical. This is the final deadline until the dissertation, which is due a month from now. After a few hours of hard work I’m ready submit, and enjoy a little piece of freedom in my mind! I head home around 4:30pm, and relax until 6pm, when it’s time to start cooking. I cook my usual, a tomato pasta with mushrooms (this week I’ve been eating almost entirely vegetarian meals!). After dinner I spend time writing out Wednesday and Thursday of this article and planning out my to-do lists for the remaining week (the method I use is outlined in a previous post).
Friday: The last day of the week is here! I wake up at 8:30am, and start working from home at 9:30am. My Friday is largely uneventful: Besides a long lunch and relax break, I work on a programming project until dinner time. Today is also the time the coronavirus outbreak started to really get serious here. The university had its first confirmed case, and governments around Europe have started to introduce big measures to reduce its spread. We were supposed to celebrate the start of spring break with friends in the evening, but decided to cancel it. A little deflated, at least me and my girlfriend can spend a cozy night in.
Saturday: When starting this post, I expected my weekend to feature interesting activities, or at least socialising with friends. But with the coronavirus outbreak, nobody including me wants to go anywhere outside their room. I wake up at 9am, and spend the morning playing video games. My gaming laptop is on its last legs, so I can only play older games. Right now, I’m playing Tropico 5. Perhaps counter-intuitively, the university has made all meals in dormitory cafeterias free, so I eat lunch there. I personally don’t understand why they want to bring more people under the same roof, but FREE FOOD! That’s university students’ dream!
After lunch, I work on my dissertation on the computer room of my dorm. I need to use specific statistical software to analyse the results of my study, so this is one of the few jobs I can’t complete remotely. I hate statistics! But luckily it doesn’t take long, and I can go back to gaming. At 5pm I start working on my personal programming project again. After a short dinner break and more working it’s time for movie night! I watch the classic My Neighbor Totoro with my girlfriend. Even though I’m not a fan of anime in general, I have to say it’s a beautiful movie.
Sunday: There isn’t much to be said about Sunday, to be honest. Confined in our room, we barely go out except for the free lunch and breakfast. I spend most of the day working, gaming and browsing the internet. The school also confirmed that all teaching and exams will be conducted remotely so there’s no end for this in sight, and based on the news it will only get worse from now on.
This week was a wild ride. What seemed like just another week with some strikes sprinkled in on Monday turned into a coronavirus self-isolation. This is my final year in university, so it all feels a bit disheartening: I don’t feel ready to give up the academic life yet. But you can’t help it — such is life. I’ll try and find ways to enjoy my final months here, no matter what.
