0730
Alarm clock goes off. Radio starts singing, in counter-point falsetto, some heinous opera in German. In the semi-conscious haze, with a hint of disbelief that it’s morning already, I wonder why they always play that stuff so early in the morning. Is it someone’s twisted idea of a joke? Is it too much to ask for a GENTLE wakeup call from a CLASSICAL station? Grudgingly, I slam the snooze button. I slam again and having not missed this time, the Radio shuts up.
0800
The battle with the Radio has always been a lost cause. After several bloody skirmishes I concede defeat. I toss my doona aside, blindly feel for my glasses from the nightstand, and reach for my towel.
0801
Standing in the bathtub, hot water massaging my back at 41.2 degrees Celsius (I like it hot), I plan my big Tuesday’s schedule in my head. What should I have for lunch? I feel like Pad-Thai, but I’ve had it yesterday… such a dilemma. I should clean that bathroom floor too…
0830
Having cleansed, dressed and tarted-up (putting hair wax on my hair), I pour four cups of nutri-grain and cut up one banana. I pour in approximately 250 ml of milk and add two teaspoons of Milo and stir three times anti-clockwise. My flatmate is now awake and I say hi as he walks out from the shower. I take the scrumptious bowl of carbohydrate goodness to my desk and turn on my computer. I wonder if I need to format the lazy bugger so it starts up quicker than I wake up? I open Internet Explorer and my three homepage tabs open up. The primary tab is MyUni, the comprehensive, personalised USYD intranet account. I sort out an average of 7.5 new emails, some them random newsletters I subscribe to, others important communiqués*. I then quickly click on the link to WebCT** to triple check no assignments due today have slipped past my radar (no, phew), and I close off the first tab.
I then proceed to the second tab, homepage for the Economist. I skim through the financial chaos in Country X, the economic reforms of country Y, and the latest coup-d’état in Country Z. Not a good week again, incidentally. I close off the second tab and the last web page tab pops up- FACEBOOK. Wow, only two new notifications in seven hours? It’s been seven hours!!! Do I really have to stay awake for ANYTHING to happen?
Still engrossed in incredulity and outrage, I realise it’s already 0850. I gobble down the rest of my breakfast and pick up my bag. Simultaneously, my flatmate turns off his Facebook and joins me. We rush to the elevator, I check my pockets. Phone, wallet, keys. Oh No. I quickly run back, grab my phone and wallet, and rush off to uni.
0905
I arrive at my Fluids Engineering lecture. I’m not late, everyone’s just early- and my omniscient lecturer agrees. Factoring all the on-time students arriving at 0905, the lecturer begins her lecture at 0910. I carefully jot down the strings of hieroglyphics (read: vector calculus equations), headings in black, key equations in bold blue, highlighted by red box. I wonder if I could attach some physical meaning to the three-line formulas. I look to my left, to Janice, my brilliant classmate and then to my right, to my flatmate, who is also brilliant, and received two blank faces. Thankfully, the lecturer shows interactive clips and everything begins to make more sense.
1055
With five minutes to spare, I dash to the Economic and Business precinct across the road for my Mathematical Economics tutorial. I laugh at the triviality of the half-line equations in light of my last class. Then I realise everything is in terms of p, q, w, r instead of w, x, y, z… very confusing, I know. Quickly sobering up, I battle through barricades of quantified economic problems. I quickly glance at my watch. Only 11:30am?!
So that’s the first 4 hours of my day, and it’s not even midday yet. Stay tuned for the Part Two!
*All official communications, especially from lecturers are sent in the form of email.sexcept for exam results and enrolment details.
**WebCT: Most subjects at Uni have online resources, like lecture notes, (sometimes even recordings), supplementary materials, tutorial questions and solutions, etc. They are all listed under a personalised WebCT domain.