A Week in the Life

Weekend (April 19-20)

Saturday was quite a busy day for me. In the morning, I visited Kendal, a retirement community in Oberlin, for a former classmate’s project about the role of music in liberation movements. We talked with the residents about music during the Civil Rights Movement, but what was really unique about the experience is that most (if not all) of the residents were highly involved in the movement, and each shared their stories about organizing with SNCC in the 60s, singing freedom songs, and attending marches.

I planned to eat and get homework done as soon as I returned to campus, but got derailed chatting for probably at least an hour with a classmate who spotted me finishing up lunch at Stevie. (The dangers of a small campus….) I barely got anything done (I was playing sudoku) before I had to get ready for a fundraising banquet hosted by the African Students Association that evening. In a few words: the food was incredible, my friend Lekan gave a fantastic speech, and the dancing was wildly impressive.

Monday (April 21)

See, it’s kind of a problem that I didn’t get much work done over the weekend, because I have a 9 AM on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. And trust that I will not be getting up even earlier to do the reading before class. So perhaps I was slightly unprepared…

I would call the latter half of the day highly productive though. I gossiped with my friend from home on FaceTime for nearly 2 hours, did laundry and finally hemmed my jeans (which I’ve been putting off doing for over a month now), and went to an outdoor event in Wilder Bowl hosted by my Chinese teacher for UN Chinese Language Day with my classmates, which was a great way to enjoy the increasingly warm weather. I finished off the day with a screening of The Battle of Algiers for my Empire and Political Thought class, and my teacher even brought us chips, soda, and pita with hummus and baba ganoush from Aladdin’s in town. (I love you Professor Awan!!!!!)

Tuesday (April 22)

I had lots of great, though unplanned, conversations on Tuesday. After International Security, which is my favorite class this term, I talked to one of my classmates about the reading and declaring majors as we both walked to Wilder. We hadn’t properly talked since our shared class last term, so it was a nice catch-up. 

As I was camping out in Wilder, waiting for it to be 5, which is when the Umami dinner special becomes available for order (Tuesday is curry chicken!), Lekan snuck up on me hunched over my computer stressing over summer storage options, because storage companies are so evil and know they can get away with charging desperate college students hundreds of dollars. We talked for maybe an hour and a half, which meant my food was cold and we were both behind schedule on our work, but you know, work/life balance or whatever.

Wednesday (April 23)

I’m happy to say that my storage conundrum was resolved Wednesday morning. Lekan assured me that Oberlin students were nice and would be more than willing to help me move out (as opposed to a company), and luckily he was right, because I got offers to help from not one, but two new friends I made during my study abroad trip in Egypt (you can read about my experience here!).

The other standout of the day was attending the final information session before my Oberlin June Block trip to Beijing this summer. I didn’t anticipate doing so much studying abroad in college (or any, actually), but the opportunities keep arising!

Thursday (April 24)

After my storage dilemma had been sorted, my next biggest stressor was next year’s housing. I think the general sentiment at Oberlin, and probably most colleges, is that singles are the best rooming situation, but as registration rolled around, I was kind of dreading the idea of living alone. I enjoyed my privacy when I had a single freshman year (read about it here), but I surprisingly enjoyed having a roommate this year (and read about that here) even more. Thank god for Mary, because she also agreed that she’d rather be roommates again than have a single next year.

In the afternoon, I attended office hours with Professor Awan to discuss my thesis for an upcoming essay. I told myself I’d go to more office hours this term, and while I dreaded it at first, having conversations with your teachers really does get easier, and it makes class less intimidating too. Since attending office hours, I’ve definitely gotten the sense that Oberlin professors are “on your side.” My professors have gone really out of their way to support my specific research interests, even restructuring their classes and assignments to be accommodating of them, and making time to meet with me outside their normal office hours, which I so greatly appreciate.

Friday (April 25)

My Friday schedule this term is nice because my last class, Chinese, ends at 10:50, and I’m technically commitment-free for the rest of the day. Still, I love going to Chinese Table at 12, which is where all the Chinese language students and teachers have lunch together and chat in Chinese. It also meets on Tuesday, but I usually have to spend that hour doing homework, so Friday is when I get to be the most engaged. It’s genuinely one of the highlights of my week. Yesterday (Tuesday), we talked about attractive Chinese Olympic swimmers.

For dinner, I enjoyed the best Umami special of the week, tomato eggs, and worked on my essay for Professor Awan’s class. Since I’m writing this in the future, I’m pleased to report that I got an A+!