Hi, friends! In hopes of getting back into posting a little more regularly, I thought I’d do a type of post that I always enjoy reading when other bloggers do them: a day-in-the-life post! I think it’s fascinating to see exactly how other people spend their 24 hours each day, although as I type, I realize this could sound creepy. I prefer to think of it as maybe just a little bit nosy. ?
I’ve received a couple of comments and emails asking how I balance RA responsibilities, schoolwork, friends, etc. or even requesting this type of post, so a day-in-the-life post been on my to-do list for a while. I could never decide which day to use, though, because it feels like there’s no such thing as a “typical” day. Some of my days (or even entire weeks) are full of meetings, fun social things, etc. and some days/weeks, I spend 70% of my time in the library. Luckily, after the exam and massive (15 pages SINGLE-SPACED) paper I had last week, this week is much lighter. I decided to chronicle two days in the life since the first day was more schoolwork-heavy and the second day was more fun, so hopefully you’ll get a fuller picture of what life currently looks like for me.
Monday
7:15 My alarm goes off. I get dressed, make up my bed, and journal for a few minutes. I usually have some fruit before I run, so I eat a few pieces of pineapple.
8:00-9:00 I meet my running girlfriends, Kristen and Riley, outside of my dorm. We cover 5 miles in a little over 40 minutes, and then stop by Walgreens toward the end so I could pick up some allergy medicine.
9:00-10:00 I foam roll and stretch, shower, get ready, and pack my lunch. I also make oatmeal by microwaving 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats with 1 cup for water for 1 1/2 minutes and then stirring in cinnamon apples, raisins, and almond milk at the end.
10:00 I leave for my first class of the day a couple of minutes late. Class starts at 10:10 and it takes about 10 minutes to walk there. Luckily, my very on-time friend, Clara, always saves me a seat.
10:10-12:30 I have two classes back-to-back: Econ 101 and then Public Relations & Advertising. I discretely snack on this super delicious popcorn from Trader Joe’s during class #2, naturally. 
12:45-5:45 I do schoolwork in one of the campus libraries. This is the part where you get to see what a party animal I truly am (not). My biggest chunk of free time during the week is on Monday afternoon, so I block off that time from any other commitments and get a lot of uninterrupted schoolwork done. On most days, I stay on the more social first or second floor of the library, but since this is is my productive time to work really efficiently, I’ll go up a few floors in the library (there are 8 floors!) and even turn off my phone. I really like this system because it allows me start the week off by getting ahead and then I always feel a little bit more relaxed and available to do more social things during the rest of the week.
Usually I’d grab lunch with someone before hitting the library, but on this particular Monday, I packed food to work through lunch. I had an avocado chicken salad sandwich and an unpictured granny smith apple. 
A few hours later, I had a peanut butter chocolate chip Larabar, one of my new favorites. 
5:45 I leave the library and walk back to my dorm. After having a really productive Saturday afternoon, Sunday night, and Monday afternoon, I’ve gotten all my work done through Thursday, a nice change after last week when I was struggling to get it all done in time!
6:00-6:20 I eat dinner while answering emails. For a really easy and quick meal, I heated up black bean pasta with a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese on top.
6:20-8:30 I do lots of little things like washing dishes, tidying my room, vacuuming, putting up new flyers in the hallway, catching up with some of my residents, and starting to write this blog post. I also put three sweet potatoes in the oven in my hall’s kitchen to have for lunch or dinner later in the week and I don’t set a timer because I’m sure I’ll remember to take them out, but of course, I forget. I leave them in the oven for about 20 minutes extra, but luckily, they turn out fine– just a little on the softer side!
8:30-10:30 Our RA staff has our weekly meeting, which I typically enjoy since our team is a lot of fun. (Next week, our 2-hour meeting is going to start at 10:15 pm since UNC is playing Syracuse at 7 p.m. that day. Only in college…) Apparently, it’s RA Appreciation Week, so my boss brought us Insomnia cookies. I had a really awesome peanut butter chip cookie and I’m already craving another one. We share our highs and lows from the past week, plan events for the upcoming month, and do a type of cultural awareness training. 
10:30-11:45 I go back to my room and finish up an assignment, respond to some of the comments on Monday’s blog post, lay out my running clothes for the next morning, and get ready for bed. I also put a few drops of rosemary essential oil in my diffuser because it’s supposed to help with congestion.
At this point, I need all the help I can get because my voice is totally raspy and breathing takes some effort. 
11:45 Lights out. Fortunately, I was able to catch up on sleep some this weekend, but after getting 4-6 hours of sleep most nights last week, I’m motivated to get in bed at a decent time.
Tuesday
6:45 When my alarm goes off, I wake up feeling much better than I did the day before! I’m wondering if the rosemary might’ve really worked? I get ready for my run, make up my bed, and journal for a few minutes.
7:20-8:00 I run 5 miles in the drizzly rain. Campus looks a little bit dreary, but the run is still a great start to my day.
8:00-9:10 I foam roll and stretch, shower, get ready for the day, and pack my lunch.
9:10 I leave for class since it’s about a 15 minute walk. I forget both my umbrella and my rain jacket, so I cross my fingers that the rain doesn’t pick up later on in the day!
9:30-10:45 I go to my first class of the day, Politics of Public Policy. One of my good friends is in the class and the professor is entertaining, so the time always flies by.
11:00-12:15 I have my second class of the day with my sister, which is the Politics and Economics of Food. It’s about global food supply, agriculture in the developing world, GMOs, etc.
12:30-1:45 I catch up with my sister during our weekly lunch date.
I packed leftover grilled chicken (from my freezer), black beans, avocado, and half of a Japanese sweet potato. Japanese sweet potatoes aren’t very pretty once they’re cooked, but they’re delicious. I also had a granny smith apple. 
2-3:15 I go to my third and final class of the day, Legislative Politics, with my favorite professor, and we talk about campaign financing.
3:30-5:00 A good friend comes over to my dorm room to catch up since we haven’t spent much quality time together in a couple of weeks.
5:00-6:30 I have dinner with another one of my best friends, whom some of you may recognize as my freshman roommate! We walk about half a mile off campus to redeem our free Chipotle coupons (WHICH INCLUDED FREE GUAC!) from the day that it closed for a few hours for its food safety training. I honestly never really stopped going to Chipotle, but I’m glad it seems to have moved past its food safety scares. We have fun talking about the details of the upcoming spring break beach trip we’re planning for our group of friends.
I eat about half of my brown rice bowl with chicken, black beans, fajita veggies, tomato salsa, and guac. Afterwards, I walked back to my room to drop my leftovers off while talking to my mom on the phone. At my dorm, I spend some time catching up with a few residents about how their day was.
7:30-9:30 I study with my boyfriend at one of the campus libraries for a couple of hours and then he walks me back to my dorm. No Tuesday picture for this one, but I’ll include a picture from Sunday because I think he’s a cutie.
9:30-12:00 I work on a summer internship application, start studying for an upcoming midterm, have a banana with almond butter for a snack, finish writing this blog post, and then go to bed a little after midnight.
And that’s it! This has been a relatively stress-free week for me, but hopefully, you’ve gotten a little glimpse of what my daily life is like. And bless you if you made it all the way through this long post.
So tell me…
Are you a morning person or a night owl?
I prefer to be a morning person because I love my morning runs, but I think in college, I’ve had to learn to be both, often on the same days!
Do you enjoy hearing stories about other people’s lives or hearing about their days?
I honestly LOVE it, which I think is part of the reason I love reading other blogs.
What’s your favorite type of cookie?
Typically white chocolate macadamia nut, but I’ve been craving peanut butter recently, so monster cookies sound awesome right now.
I’m a night owl in the sense that I have a really hard time falling asleep but I really don’t enjoy going out. I’m such a morning person though.. like by 12 I’ve done everything I need to do throughout the day!
I actually do enjoy reading about other’s lives.. it’s quite interesting! and cookie… oh boy, gotta be peanut butter!
YES, I love the feeling of getting lots of things done really early in the day!
I ABSOLUTELY love these post so you are not alone in the nosiness stakes 😉
Morning has always been my preference but often with work and other things scheduled later, I have had to adapt a bit and like you, fluctuate between the two depending on the day…
I am truly not a biscuit/ cookie fan (too many bad memories of dry custard creams!) but love making energy balls with nut butters (which I given up for Lent so the cravings are real at the moment!) fruits and protein powders.
You and your boyfriend are so cute 🙂 xx
Ahhh, sorry for reminding you of nut butters! I love those energy balls, too. And I’m glad I’m not alone with enjoying these trips of posts- it seems like people do usually enjoy them, so I think we’re all very curious haha.
Yay! I love these posts! Gosh, but it makes me realize how long ago college was for me. A 10:15 PM meeting?! I’m asleep my then:) It’s also fun to see a pic of you and your bf. Thanks for sharing!
Haha glad I’m not the only one who loves these posts! And I know– it’s a little crazy, but what can you do? Basketball games are a big deal here! 😀
Wow – you sure do keep busy. You are so diligent and amsrt to get your work done on a Monday afternoon! I’m a night owl really trying to turn into an early bird 🙂 Just curious: do you like your diffuser/think it helps?
I love my diffuser! I really do feel more relaxed, too, when I put a few drops of say, lavender, in the diffuser. And after yesterday morning and now this morning, I think the rosemary essential oil helped clear some of my allergy congestion, too. And even if it’s all just a placebo effect…it makes my room smell great without all of the chemicals from a wall plug-in. I’m a believer!
You know I love day in the life posts 🙂 I really like hearing people’s stories, both in real life and in blog world. And I’m definitely a morning person, but lately I’ve been staying up a little too late as well so I’m feeling a teeny bit sleep-deprived. But that’s college – and life! So glad this week is a little slower for you!
I love your day-in-the-life posts because I always feel like we have such similar days! Even with waking up early and staying up a litttttle too late, we’re on the same page (although I’m definitely not quite on your level of waking up early haha). But you’re right- that’s college and probably life haha.
Great email. I enjoyed hearing about your days and seeing Gray’s picture.
Yay, very glad you enjoyed it!
Oatmeal raisin chocolate chip!
I am definitely a morning person. By night time all I want to do is sit on the couch and watch TV. I have a work-filled afternoon today and honestly, I kind of love it! Getting stuff done feels so good!
You and your boyfriend are the cutest!
Being really productive always feels so good once I get in the groove! Hope your work-filled afternoon went well yesterday. And thanks Kate- I think he’s the cutest!
Always love day in the life posts 🙂 I think we’re all nosy!
I’m such a morning person it’s not funny. Living in the dorms was rough because everyone was on the opposite schedule. But I made do!
I’ll bet that was rough! In my dorm, it feels like people are up at every hour of the day except the early morning. Even at 9 or 10 on a weekend morning, it’s like a ghost town!
Holy busy girl! You’ve got quite the schedule there! And here I thought I was slammed 😉
I am DEFINIETLY a morning owl. I’m up by 6am and in bed by 9-10pm every night, even the weekends. I just function better in the mornings!
Kat, it sounds like you rock at getting a good amount of sleep! I’m super impressed!
I always love these day in the life posts 🙂 I am most definitely an early bird and hate when I have to stay up late getting stuff done for classes the next day, but sometimes that is the case. I find that I focus a lot better in the morning so sometimes if I am having a hard time studying at night I’ll just head to bed and wake up extra early to study — not my favorite thing to do but sometimes I just have to. And I loooove seeing you and your bf together — so cute!!
Haha thanks, Brie! I agree- sometimes, when I can’t possibly stay up any longer, I’ll just head to bed and wake up extra early to finish my work. And glad I’m not alone in my love for day in the life posts 🙂
Even through college I’ve always been a morning person. I was always asleep before 11 and awake by 6 am. Now with work I am even more of a morning person/grandma, always in bed at 9 haha
Hey, you sound well rested and VERY productive!
Wow, your amount of discipline is amazing Liv! Keep it up! I know that the Lord will and does give you strength sufficient for each day. Day in the life posts are some of my favorite too, because they remind me that everybody has real, everyday ups and downs, and they give me a bigger appreciation for all the people that God has created.
You’re so sweet, Emily! And I agree, day in the life posts can sometimes give a little insight into the good, the bad, the hard, etc.!
I JUST typed up the exact same post yesterday, and it’s going up next week. Hahah it’s seriously all about the RA life too (down to the highs and lows… ah the life of an RA)! Great minds think alike! I love that you have running friends that you work out with. I’m always trying to convince someone to go on a run with me but it never works out. Love that post workout selfie too!
Also, is it weird that I didn’t know you had a boyfriend? I swear I read every blog post!! I totally missed this info!
So fun, I’m excited to read your day in the life post! And you actually didn’t miss a thing- I hadn’t mentioned him on the blog before 🙂
Wow kudos to you for hunkering down and getting all that work done at the beginning of the week. It must feel sooo nice to then have more time and relaxation during the weekdays. We’ll done at the library!
I feel like most of the semester, I’ve been constantly scrambling to catch up, so getting ahead at the beginning of the week is such a nice, freeing feeling!
You and your boyfriend are such a good looking couple 🙂 I am totally a morning person and like to be awake when it’s light out. Your college days remind me of mine except I worked at the library instead of doing RA stuff. I’d say my favorite cookies are Oreos or these ones by the ABC company (if they are packaged). Homemade monster cookies are great as well. Anything with mix-ins satisfies my palate.
I also enjoy people who blog about their life over “Healthy tips” and such. That’s kind of boring to me. I just like to see how other people live. It’s fun and not creepy at all 😉
Thanks, Ellie! I think he’s super good looking 🙂
And working at the library kind of sounds like my dream job (except maybe for the fact that I already spend so much time there haha!
And I agree that daily life blog posts are more fun to me, too, even if they’re not necessarily “helpful” haha.
I love Day in the Life posts too – you’re definitely not alone! Whenever I miss college I remember when I had those really late meetings and be glad I don’t have those now. I do miss being able to crank out work for the week to have free time on weekdays though.
I love making my weekends productive to ether catch up or even occasionally get ahead (as long as there are a few fun things in there, too!) so I can scatter in some fun extra things and some free time throughout the week, too!
I love reading these kinds of posts! That is so fun that you have a class with your sister- I would have loved to go to the same school as my siblings. My favorite kind of cookie is something with chewy oats, dark chocolate, sea salt & maybe some dried cranberries or cherries- yum! Also, I’m a morning person all the way. I’m up at 6:45 every day and asleep before 11 every night- not sure if that makes me old, or just well rested-ha!
Woah, that sounds like the best cookie combo in the world! And good for you for getting such great sleep- I know it must make all the difference!
15 page SINGLE-SPACED? Who assigns something like that!? I’m so happy for you now that you’re done with that.
Hope you catch up on rest, girl! ♥︎ It was fun looking into your life lately 🙂
I was SO relieved to turn that thing in! And fortunately, I’m feeling much more rested now…just in time for my 3 exams next week!
I bow down to you for that single-spaced paper. ? ? ? That sounds crazy. Like you, I love to read the a-day-in-the-life posts of other bloggers. I’ve been meaning to do my own but can never pick the “right” day to do one! And total GMTA moment–my friend & I redeemed our Chipotle coupons last Monday. I hadn’t had it in forever and it was just darn delicious.
Picking a “typical” day was so tricky because out of the ordinary things kept happening every single day (like staying up till 3 am finishing a paper!) so I just decided to pick two days haha and call it even. YES! I’d gone probably a month without Chipotle and it was so good.
I love reading these types of posts! I think I am probably more of a morning person. And my favorite type of cookie is chocolate chip!
I always forget how good chocolate chip cookies are since I usually end up adding tons of mix-ins, but sometimes, I think simple really is best!
Omg insomnia cookies AND Chipotle? College in a nutshell 🙂 Feel better!
Right?! It was a good few days of eats! 🙂
I’m a morning person…always have been. I never pulled an all-nighter in college! I love the black bean/avo/sweet potato/chicken lunch. I’m going to have to recreate that one!
It’s such a good combo! I’d been using all of those ingredients in my salads, so when I ran out of lettuce, I figured I’d turn it into a lunch bowl 🙂
One of my housemates back in college was an RA and I do not envy that at all. Your days both sound interesting and it makes me miss college.
I love hearing about others days/lives! My favorite cookie is the Lenny and Larry’s Chocolate Chip Protein Cookie <3
Blessings,
Edye // Gracefulcoffee
I loved reading your day in the life post Liv! It totally brought me back to my dorm days, those were some fun (and busy!) times 🙂 I also have the issue of choosing a day because my schedule is ALL over the place (tomorrow I have a class from 9-5 :s ) so I liked how you chose two days 🙂 also you and your bf are TOO cute!!!! xxx
I love that days as a student are all over the place…but it does make it a little harder to figure out what a “typical” day is! And thanks so much, Jessica!
Yay! I love your day in life post, and I love the schedule, although I didn’t have such during my dorm days 🙂 Yours is more organized, I must say and you seem to eat more healthier than I did.
Thanks and keep up the great work.
Cindy