A typical day of my life: Masters’ student in Animal Science

This article is from a chain of articles started by my fellow blogger Õnne. Unlike her, I believe that there is a great difference in a typical day for students of different specialization, barring a few boring similarities. I also feel that there is a bit of a difference between students of different backgrounds. I would like to elaborate this by describing a typical day in my life.

7:00 AM

The alarm from my phone blares with a Linkin Park song “HEAVY” precisely at 7:00AM. But, I must follow my routine practise of putting it off on snooze. Only after it shows “8 o’clock”, do I endeavour to leave my comfy bed.

8:00 AM

This is the busiest time of my day. I wake up from my bed and stretch for a few minutes. After that, I scamper about in my little room like an industrious hamster. From my breakfast to taking a shower to donning whatever shirt that reaches my grasp (despite its condition), I am ready to go to college in no time. But, before I leave, I make a note of what I have to do for the rest of the day. I have a mental list of the things I will be working on once I reach college and the things I will have to buy from the supermarket before I return to my abode.

I set off for the university around 8:45 AM (±10min). I live in the Earthhouse on Haarweg, which is right on the South-Western border of Wageningen. The University is on the Northern border. So, I have to bicycle for roughly 15 minutes before I reach the University. This bike ride is a great day-starter for me.

 

9:30 AM

After I reach the University, I usually spend around 10 minutes having a cup of coffee. I do not take a morning coffee break at 10:30 like most people do. Since, I am in middle of my thesis, I have the luxury of setting a timetable that suits me. After the coffee retreat, I enter Radix, which is where the chair group of Animal Breeding and Genetics is situated. Like me, all students who are doing a thesis with ABG group have a place allocated deep in the belly of Radix. I start my work by switching on a PC terminal and by hammering the mental list that I have made in the morning into a notepad file that remains open for reference throughout the remainder of my day.

I work on statistical models where I write program code, modify it, test it and rewrite code, scrap the whole idea, get frustrated, test again, get happy with results. This may continue for the rest of my professional day (Ouch!!!).

12:45 PM

Around this time, since I had an early breakfast, I can no longer work without putting my hunger to rest. I usually call up a friend or two to have lunch. There are a wide variety of places to have lunch including the campus plaza square and different canteen restaurants in the University building. I don’t have much of a preference but I usually end up near the campus plaza where there is a string of cafes and restaurants.

1:30 PM

By this time, I am done with my lunch and return back to Radix with renewed energy. Quite frequently, this is the time I am most productive and get my work done.

3:30 PM

I accompany a colleague of mine to the Radix coffee corner for a spot of conversation about how our respective projects are progressing over a cup of coffee. This is a total “Nerd-Talk” zone.

6:00 PM

I usually leave the university by 5:30 or 6 PM depending on how much I had to struggle with my thesis. On my way back to my room, like most students, I stop by the supermarket to buy stuff for dinner. When I return back to my room, I usually ring up folks or sometimes friends from back home, in India. I spend at least an hour lazing on my couch, drinking “Chai” (Chai Latte for Europeans) while calling up people.

8:00 PM

This is the favourite time of my day. I love to cook dinner. Since, we Indians eat around 8:30 or 9 PM in the evening, I start cooking around 8. I like to cook with a lot of spices and vegetables. Cooking Indian cuisine is a long and very detailed process, but totally worth it.

9:00 PM

I have dinner during this time (this may come as a surprise to most Europeans, but 9 PM is quite a common hour to have dinner in India). I put up some Series on Netflix while having my dinner. Currently, I am watching “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” on Netflix.

11:00 PM

This is the time that my Fiancée calls me. She is currently studying in the US, and due to the time difference, she gets free around this time from her part-time job and University. Both of us like to talk about stuff other than work, but we usually end up discussing work. She also shares my “nerdy” passion for science and loves to talk about new developments on scientific frontiers.

12:00 AM

Midnight! Finally, it’s time to sleep. Nothing of particular excitement happens at this hour of the day, so I simply put on some soothing piano singles and chase the dreamland.