A Day in the Life
As fall semester continues on, I wanted to update you all on my life as of late. And what better way to do that than to walk you through a day in my life. So, without further ado, here’s how I spent my Monday this week!
I wake up in the morning around 7:30, then head to work. As many of you know, I work at the university’s medical center, where I do a lot of work with data from studies on diet and nutrition. I work on Mondays and Wednesdays, usually for 4 to 5 hours each. I have most of my classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I don’t work on either of those days, and Friday is my “me” day (I still have a class but I figured I’d let myself have off from work so that I can enjoy the eve of the weekend with friends and getting a head start on the next week’s work). I have a kitchen in my dorm this year, so I make breakfast and lunch and bring them to work with me.
After work on Mondays, I head to my only Monday/Wednesday/Friday class, Biochemistry. This is one of my larger, lecture-style courses, but I find that by sitting with friends with whom I can discuss questions or things I may have missed taking notes and towards the front of the classroom, I get the most out of my course. The course lasts 50 minutes, and then I’m done with class for the day! I will often head to the lab where I do research for a bit afterwards so that I can start working at the 12-15 hours a week I commit to being there.
After a while in the lab, I usually grab dinner with friends, then walk over to my sorority house, where chapter meetings take place once a week. I’m on the executive board, which means I present weekly at chapter, so I often go a bit early to help set up and make sure everything is in order. Chapter lasts anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half depending on what sort of speakers or events we have. After that, I study at our house for a bit, walk to my dorm and hang out with my roommates, and try (“try” is the operative word here) to head to bed around 11:30 or so.
Every day is a little different, but that’s the gist of things for me. I like to be busy, but personally need to carve out time each day to spend time with people I care about, even if just during dinner or for a little while at night. If you have any specific questions about life at Vanderbilt, feel free to contact me at alex.rains@vanderbilt.edu.