A Day in My Life: Yesterday
Here’s a look at my usual schedule during the busy times of grad school:
6:30-7:30am
Awake repeatedly to multiple alarms (needed from lack of sleep).
8am
Leave for school
8:30am
Begin prep for the lab I TA (Microbiology)
9:05-11am
Teach the lab and handle the 20 things that will unexpectedly go wrong
11:10am-11:50
Grab some lunch at the food court (while tasty and filling, not too nutritious)
12-3:30pm
Work in the lab doing a number of protocols including enzyme digests, PCR, bacterial cell culture, and numerous gels (did most of those)
3:30-4pm
Chat with other grads waiting for class to start
4-6pm
Take graduate Genetics (looking at gene expression in detail)
6:15pm
Head home in medium traffic on Rt. 1
The rest of my evening involves a combination of dinner, grading papers/project/exams, reading several journal articles (avg. length 10 pages), and diverting myself with Hulu. It should be noted that Twitter and podcasts permeate the whole day.
At about midnight (hopefully) I get to bed and wake up around 6am for the first time, clocking in about 5 hours of total sleep…starting the whole saga over again.
Overall, a very stressful way to be…part teacher, part student, part experimental scientist. At least it’s never the same two days in a row!
