The Typical Day Of A University Of South Australia Student

"I'm just your typical 18 year old wanna be journo!!!!…

A typical day for a University of South Australia student can vary depending on what campus you’re at and what you’re studying. My day may not be like yours or it may be all too familiar. Everyone has different hobbies and these are what will shape each persons day at university. Allow me to share a day in the life of a student at any one of Uni SA’s six campuses.

6 AM – WAKE UP!

You will probably wake up to the piercing sound of your fourth alarm for the morning and seriously contemplate hitting snooze and skipping your 9am lecture. After much consideration, you will get up and tell yourself you’re going to be a HD student from now on. After slowly getting yourself ready for the day, you will leave at the very last minute, most likely starving and badly dressed. If you’re lucky enough to be travelling to Mawson Lakes or even Magill you might drive and later complain about the price of parking. Students attending either city campuses or the rural ones may need to catch public transport where they will be crowded amongst many another grumpy, morning commuters.

8:50 AM – Probably stuck in traffic.

If you’re having a good day you might already be waiting out the front of the lecture theatre. Lets be real though, you will probably be stuck in traffic, waiting at the parking machine because you don’t trust the app or you will be at Aroma Café indulging in an average tasting cappuccino. Eventually, you will make it to the 9am lecture.

9:45 AM – First lecture!

Your first lecture of the day is almost over and you’ve spent the whole time looking at the ceiling or drawing funny faces on your notebook. You decide you better start paying attention, so you sit up and write the date in the right hand corner of the page. You’re now so proud of yourself for making an effort that you reward yourself with a quick look at the Snapchat feed. By this time, you’ve probably just reassured yourself that you will go home and watch the lecture online so you don’t fall behind. Now, the lecture is over and you feel as though you’ve regained all your freedom.

10:15 AM – Break time!

With your new found freedom in hand you may use your two hour break to make the most of the cheap gym membership we all swore we’d use, relax by the lake or visit any of the multiple burger restaurants surrounding the campuses. You realize you should be using this time to write that essay or catch up on the weeks readings but procrastination never hurt anybody right? With deadlines looming, you feel guilty but you end up at the pool table or the hub mucking around with your squad anyway. You and your friends will say several time to each other, “We should be doing work right now” but will continue to sit there watching the girls lose a game of pool to the boys.

12 PM – Tutorials

You leave your friends and your freedom as you head to your midday tutorial. By the end of semester you will have learnt to bring snacks with you because these two hours will feel like a lifetime. You arrive and sit in your unofficial designated seat and wait for the tutor to get there dead on 10 past. The next couple of hours will be spent engaging in discussion and trying your best to hide the fact you didn’t do the readings. If you’re lucky, you may be given an early minute, which will make you feel like you’re in primary school again. Typically, you will feel like you deserve a nap after all the work you’ve achieved in class but unfortunately your day isn’t over yet. You’ve got one more lecture to go.

2:15 PM – Last lecture of the day!

The lecture starts and you’re in attendance under protest after your goody two shoes friend advised, “It wont be as bad as last week.” You’re making the effort to retain all the boring jargon the lecturer is throwing at you but you end up in the same slouched position you were in at 9AM, drawing circles in the margin of your page. You begin to plan dinner or what you’re going to wear to The London on the weekend where you will proceed to blow all your cash on cheap skittle bombs. The hour lecture is over but the lecturer concludes with, “Remember your papers are due next week. I am expecting very good stuff…” and you suddenly find yourself in panic mode, realizing you’ve been too busy playing pool with your friends to even choose a topic. No need to fear, you will go home tonight and do it…right?

3:10 PM – Finally home.

Home time!!! All your hard work today has you starving so you head to Aroma, again, and treat yourself to an overpriced chicken focaccia and iced chocolate. You don’t even need to tell the girls behind the counter a name for your order anymore and you start to question if you really eat there a lot or the staff just have a really good memory. You grab your food and hurry to the car before your parking expires. If you’re catching the bus, you will reach for your headphones and brace yourself for the long, possibly smelly ride home.

5 PM – Relaxing, when you should be working.

You’re finally home and none of the homework you promised yourself you’d get done is getting done. You are, however, enjoying your new-relaxed state as you lay on the couch doing nothing. You may also promise yourself an early night – knowing deep down you will be up at 1AM talking in the group chat, dreading tomorrows 6AM wake up.

There you have it, the typical day of a student at The University of South Australia student. My advice to you is to know your timetable and work out a balance between study and procrastination. Stays fed, hydrated and make some great friends!