Emily Duff shares her day in the life as a Sheffield fresher in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
9:00 AM
Wake up, or rather, have myself scared by my ridiculously loud alarm but let it go off three more times before I roll out of bed to press snooze. Then bring the phone to my bed so I can close my eyes again for five minutes.
9:37 AM
Wake up from the ‘five-minute’ nap and proceed to sit in bed on my phone for another half an hour.
10:05 AM
Procrastinate by making multiple To-Do lists. I have the memory of a goldfish and I want to use the 100 highlighters and gel pens I ordered during lockdown - it’s also fun to make stressful things look pretty.
10:15AM
Get dressed into a different set of pyjamas and find the largest mug in my cupboard to make a coffee. While the kettle is boiling, I try to remember why I bothered packing any other mugs when I’ve used the same one every day since I moved here.
11:30AM
Read an essay on the meaning of voice in poetic texts and have to physically hide my phone from myself.
12:00AM
Make another coffee, this time with syrup because I just got my student finance, and watch a pre-recorded lecture on John Donne at 1.5x speed.
12:30AM
I realise that despite doing food shopping pretty much every day, I need to run to Tesco again because I need more milk, bread and fruit. I trade my pyjama pants for jeans and then end up spending ten minutes deciding between raspberries and blueberries.
12:45 AM
When I finally get home after making my tough decision (Sophie, eat your heart out. Also, I picked blueberries), I remember I still haven’t eaten anything yet, so I put some toaster waffles in the toaster and somehow managed to burn one and undercook the other.
13:00 PM
I realise I have no underwear to wear tomorrow because I have postponed washing my clothes for so long. I decide to do it in the morning because a 2-hour wash usually takes 3 hours and I don’t have time for that. I convince myself that I can just go in my pyjamas because after only three weeks I’ve already realised I can’t continue to pretend to be a fashionista.
13:10PM
More uni work.
15:30PM
Procrastinate by making multiple To Do lists. I have the memory of a goldfish and I want to use the 100 highlighters and gel pens I ordered during lockdown - it’s also fun to make stressful things look pretty.
15:55PM
Join my seminar that moved from being at The Diamond to being online less than 24 hours ago. I have my first breakout group where we spend more than half the time with our cameras off and only half of us have actually read the work.
17:15PM
I allow myself to watch one episode of Parks and Recreation (end up watching three) and fall asleep on my desk for 10 mins.
18:30PM
Make a start on the book I’m studying in contemporary lit next week and get distracted when I realise that the photos from freshers at The Leadmill have been posted and spend a good ten minutes laughing at our drunk eyes.
19:00PM
Go through to the kitchen for the third night of Come Dine with Flat Seventeen. Tonight, it’s sweet and sour curry and ice cream (anything is better than last night's uncooked spaghetti and burnt pancakes).
21:00PM
Since the pubs shut in an hour, I crack out the Monopoly and watch everyone's competitiveness creep out - it really is a game that can break anyone.
23:00PM
Realise that I am going bankrupt quickly so while everyone is distracted, I take the opportunity to rearrange the fridge magnets to an illegible message.
01:00AM
Despite the ups and downs of the game I end up coming third. I also remember that I have a 40 page essay I need to read for tomorrow and freak out my whole flat who have also forgotten about their work.
01:45AM
Despite the ups and downs of the game, I end up coming third. I also remember that I have a 40 page essay I need to read for tomorrow and freak out my whole flat who have also forgotten about their work.
Edited by Victoria Sales
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