[Guest Post] A day in my life! by Ellie F. '28

Hi everyone! I’m Callie T, and Ellie invited me to share what my day looks like as a junior studying physics!

11:15 — I ignore my alarm.

11:20 — My second alarm. I ignore this one too.

11:25 — I roll over at this alarm.

11:28 — This alarm is louder. I start blinking.

11:29 — Another alarm. 

11:30 — I slowly get up while cursing at the world.

This term, I promised myself that I’d attend all my lectures to avoid a repeat of last term, and the term before that, and also everything that’s happened since the second term of freshman year. Of course, I have by now missed my 10 am physics lecture. All my sets are terrifying, and I’ve been totally lost in that class for weeks. The current plan is to work on it with some friends after dinner.

12:00 — I grab a sandwich and a large black tea for lunch, and then I take a caffeine pill because a large black tea will not cut it for today. It’s a pretty quick meal, and I run into a few friends that have also just woken up. 

12:30 — I try to watch the physics lecture recording from today, but I give up halfway when I realize I don’t know what half the variables mean.

1:00 — I go to economics class. It’s more comprehensible than physics, but I’ve still got a set due tomorrow morning that I need to finish.

2:00 — I write some emails. Then, I preemptively draft an email requesting an extension on the physics set. 

2:30 — I try watching the physics lecture again. Doesn’t work the second time either.

3:14 — I work on that econ set. I keep confusing the econ variables with physics variables

4:23 — I dread grad school applications while watching the turtles at the pond where I’m working. I am jealous of those turtles. They don’t have grad school applications. I get another large black tea from Red Door.

4:30 — I continue working on the econ set. I’m nearly halfway through!

5:24 — I take another caffeine pill when I realize I’m blinking extremely slowly.

5:25 — I keep working on that econ set and actually manage to finish it!

5:58 — I head back to Dabney House and doomscroll on LinkedIn while waiting for dinner to start. It’s definitely a good thing that I’ve finished econ, so that I can focus on physics tonight.

6:15 — Dinner begins with the ringing of the bell. Announcements are made while we eat, and I think about my Google Calendar, which I commit to memory every week. At the table, a few of us talk about sleep schedule optimization. I learn that Jason believes in microdosing sleep by taking 1 to 2 hours naps several times a day. On the other hand, Sherry sleeps for 18 hours straight once every few days. Tomas gets a full 6 hours a night but they’re still a frosh so they don’t count.

7:45 — And now the physics grind begins. The other physics majors and I convene and start lamenting our naive choice in major years ago.

9:00 —  I have a shift guarding the school cannon for an hour, to make sure it doesn’t get stolen. In the darkness, I hear whispering sounds. Is it just the wind, or tortured souls whispering integrals?

10:00 — Back to physics! But first, I get a medium black tea.

11:42 — I pass out for fourteen minutes and dream that our beaver mascot is speaking to me. He says, “Callie, what have you become? I am worried about you. Today you were talking to the turtles. They cannot understand you. They don’t even need to apply to grad school. Your life is so much more than sets and lectures and caffeine pills. Do not waste these years. And please get some sleep. Christ.” Then, Bernoulli the Beaver morphs into three turtles that talk in my mom’s voice, asking me when I’ll settle down with a nice boy and also telling me to call her more often. The turtles disappear and are replaced with a large black tea. It says the answer to problem seven is 15.7π m*J/(C*s).

I wake up. My friends are unfazed. I tell them what the black tea told me and Carlos gently informs me that problem seven is supposed to be a proof. I take another caffeine pill. And another one for good measure.

1:15 — my alarm that tells me to get a snack from Red Door goes off. I decide to get a green tea this time, as well as an avocado toast.

1:42 — no progress has been made on physics since the Red Door trip. We do affirmations and pass around a can of Monster for morale.

3:00 — It is now 3 am. Two people have passed out. We have finished two more problems.

4:14 — lpfyhssics /sso hard

4:47— hgfffmmmmghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh fjgjjjjjjjjjhhhhhhjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj

And that’s what my average day at Caltech is like! Thanks for reading :) I think I need some caffeine.