A Day in the Life: Winter Edition

Here is a Tuesday in my life as a second-year. This time, it’s Winter Edition! As the temperature changes, so does my day and my joy (or lack thereof) in traveling between my classes. At the end, I rate my day and give it a TBH.

9:00 — Wake

I woke up 30 minutes before my morning class. Before I went to class at King Building, I stopped by Pyle Co-Op for fresh bread and butter croissants. I found a few of my friends already there, and we ate some of the warm bread before leaving for class.

9:30 — Abnormal Psychology

It was pre-finals week at Oberlin. In Abnormal Psychology, our professor set aside time for us to work on the final. I was enormously grateful for this, and we used the 1 hour and 15 minutes to focus on drafting our final. This was my only class for the day, and finishing my classes at 10:45 am was nice. 

11:00 – Peer Career Advisor Drop-In Hours

I work as a Peer Career Advisor at Career Exploration and Development. I provide feedback and support to students working on job searches, resumes, cover letters, and interviews. Today was a slow day because it was finals week. After completing research for my boss, Kyle, I wrote comments and feedback for my Creative Writing class’s workshop pieces. I also began to read a romance book.

1:15 – Lunch

After work, I walked over to Pyle for lunch. They saved me a plate of lentils, rice, and roasted cucumber. It was warm, delicious, and healed me from the cold walk to Asia House. While I ate, I read some more of the romance book. 

After eating, I returned to French House and worked on writing my book in the lounge (affectionately, Frounge). I also finished writing the pilot episode of my TV show for my Screenwriting class. 

3:00 – Five Guys

Last night, my roommate Julia and I were craving fries intensely. We swore to eat them today. We invited our friend Ethan, whom we met while living in Kahn together last year, and I drove us to Five Guys. I have a car on campus, which is useful for picking my friends up from the airport and grabbing fries. 20 minutes later, Five Guys was empty, as it was a Tuesday afternoon. We ate fries and milkshakes and worshipped how many fries they put in a large order.

4:30 – Career Workshop

I was late after Five Guys. I drove back to Oberlin, parked my car illegally, and led a workshop on resumes and cover letters. It was my second time leading such an event. Kyle trusted me with co-leading the Junior Runway series, and I was grateful for the support. I recognized a few friendly faces in the crowd, which made leading the seminar easier.

5:30 – Barefoot Dialogue

Barefoot Dialogue is an Oberlin-unique program on campus that allows students to share personal stories, play with ideas, and engage vulnerably with one another over a homemade meal. Tonight, the meal was chicken ‘n waffles (incl v/gf waffles & veg sausage options)! It was delicious, and as we ate, we discussed the decline of CDs, iCarly, and growing up in a cableless household. I attend the Jewish Barefoot Dialogue group. Because we are all friends, we always get sidetracked.

6:20 – Pyle

After dinner at Barefoot Dialogue, I went to dinner at Pyle. It looked delicious, but I ate at Barefoot Dialogue, so I didn’t eat anything. My Pyle friends and I hung out at Pyle for 3 hours. We talked about fan fiction and the books that we were writing. I shared with them some details about my fantasy romance book. It can be hard to talk about my book being romance because it is such an unappreciated genre, but all of my Pyle friends appreciated it. I also explained my brief 13-year-old stardom as a Harry Potter fanfiction writer. They were all very impressed. #FanFiction.NetForTheWin

Anna and Elyssa went into the kitchen to make cookie dough, and I returned to Frouse (French House).

9:00 – Hang and Work

As always at Frouse, I hung out with my friends and attempted work. I finished my Creative Writing and Computer Science assignments, wrote my weekly Obie Pole email, and wrote my book. Inevitably, Travis, Bradley, Arthur, and Jason, the French House couch clique, were watching a TV show. Rafa, Eliza, and I watched the show briefly but mostly talked.

At 12 am, I showered, stretched, and meditated, as I do every night. Because my roommate was not there, I could play low-fi music as I watered my plants and prepared my outfit for the next day.

12:30 – Bed

Sweet, sweet sleep.

Rate: 9/10. 

TBH...

Winter at Oberlin can be grueling. There is nothing like 20-degree weather to test your status as a Wisconsinite. Still, we Obies find ways to stay warm, and I love Oberlin all the more for it.

I am becoming closer with my Pyle friends, which makes me really happy. I love to make new friends; it is such an enjoyable and fun experience. I am sorry that I missed making cookie dough with them, but Computer Science homework awaits!