Hey again! For this blog I thought it would be interesting if I outlined a typical day for me here at UC Berkeley so you can get a feel of the daily life.

My Tuesday normally begins with my alarm going off at 6:45am and me snoozing for the next half hour or so. After managing to finally roll out of bed, I grab my toiletries and head to the bathroom to get freshened up. Once I have gotten ready, I take the elevator down to the dining hall, where I grab a quick breakfast.

After I have finished eating, I walk to the gym which is approximately ten-minutes away from the international house (i-house). The Berkeley gym is large recreational facility with all sorts of fitness machines, weights, basketball courts and work-out rooms. The gym is almost always packed during the mornings and nights so I only go there for the cardio classes which also tend to be full, but enjoyable nonetheless. On Tuesday mornings, I attend a BollyX class which is essentially dance cardio with Indian music. I really enjoy this class because the instructor is super energetic so it’s a great way to have a fresh start to the morning. Oh, and did I mention all of this is free for Berkeley students?!

By the time I get back to i-house and take a shower, it is almost 10am. So, for the next hour and a half I usually review my notes or do my homework. When lunch rolls around, my friends and I are normally starved so we head down to the dining hall and catch up over a delicious meal.

Now it’s time for class. On Tuesday’s I have two back to back classes from 12:30 to 3:30. Both my classes are in small lecture rooms, in Haas, with approximately 25 students in each lecture. I really enjoy the small class size because it creates an interactive environment which is really nice compared to my other class which has 200 students in one lecture theatre.

Now that I am done with classes for the day, I usually head to the Haas library which is one of the 29 libraries here at UC Berkeley. This library only contains business textbooks which are available for a free two-hour loan. The majority of the library consists of tables and chairs for studying; in fact, they also have cycling machines called FitDesks which can be used while studying. Although they aren’t very popular, I still think it’s a great addition to the library.

After a few hours of studying, I head back to the i-house dining hall for dinner. During this time, my friends and I fill each other in on our days and anything interesting we encountered that day. Depending on our schedules, this normally lasts an hour, so by the end of it I am ready to unwind. I head up to my room at around 8:30 and spend the rest of the night catching up with friends and family back home or simply just watching some Netflix.

All in all, my weekdays are quite simple and somewhat similar to those back home. However, I do feel like I have a lot more time on my hands here since I don’t have to commute to and from university.

I hope this blog helped you gain an insight of daily life here at Berkeley. If you are interested in finding out more about the particular classes I am taking this semester, feel free to shoot me an email at tkap973@aucklanduni.ac.nz.

Thanks for reading 🙂