This past weekend, I had the pleasure of showing my family friends and their daughter, who is a junior in high school, around Conn and New London. The experience helped me reflect on what I love about Conn, and how I find that love in my day-to-day routine as a college student. After reflecting, I thought it might be helpful to prospective Conn students to share a day in my life and highlight the parts in my day that make Conn special to me.
6:00am – 6:30am – Wake up and get ready
I get up bright and early so I can be ready for morning conditioning for water polo. While it’s not the easiest to roll out of bed, I usually get to watch a beautiful sunrise over Tempel Green.
6:30am – 6:45am – Head down to the Athletic Center
One of my favorite aspects of Conn is the closeness of campus—nothing is ever more than a 15-minute walk away. Three of my teammates live in the dorm right next to mine. I live in JA and they live in Harkness, which are both on South campus. I make the quick journey to Harkness, and then we drive down to the Athletic Center, usually blasting music to help wake us up.
6:45am – 8:00am – Morning conditioning
My car likes to get to morning conditioning just a little early so we can chat and stretch out. Conditioning actually starts at 7:00am, and, this morning, our coach had us spin on the stationary bikes and do some core strength exercises. Despite being early, I like morning conditioning because I get to start off the day with a feeling of accomplishment, having completed a workout featuring a sense of community with my teammates.
8:00am – 8:45am – Breakfast and get ready for class
After conditioning, I head back to JA which conveniently has a dining hall on the first floor. I grab a quick breakfast, and then head up to my room on the 4th floor to get ready for class.
9:00am – 10:15am – Class
It is a quick turnaround to get to my first (and only) class of the day, Research Methods, but luckily it’s only across the green at Bill Hall. Research Methods is a psychology course that is centered around a semester-long project in which students design, execute, and present their own research project. This class is one of my favorites because of the hands-on approach to learning about research. While not unique to this class, I also love the small class size—there are less than 25 students in the class.
10:30am – 11:30am – Extra one-on-one practice
Following class, I head back down to the Athletic Center, but this time to the pool for one-on-one coaching. Last year, I walked on to the water polo team after being a swimmer for most of my life, and it has been so fun! This year, I’ve been pushing myself hard to improve as a player, and I’m lucky to have coaches that are supportive of me. Today, I asked my assistant coach for extra help and got to work on him one-on-one. The people are a huge part of why I love Conn—there is a culture of mutual care and everyone is more than happy to help a fellow Camel.
11:45am – 12:00pm – Grab lunch
Before going to work, I grab lunch to-go from the Harris dining hall. During COVID, Conn has allowed students to either do sit-down or to-go dining which has been helpful for the days where I’m running from activity to activity.
12:00pm – 3:30pm – Work
My on-campus job is one of my favorite parts of life at Conn. I’m passionate about disability justice, and working as the Student Programming Coordinator at Conn has taught me more about this topic and a potential career in higher education. I’ve gotten to plan events, run poster campaigns, and work in collaboration with other offices in the Division of Institutional Equity and Inclusion like Gender and Sexuality Programs.
3:30pm – 4:00pm – Head down to the pool
After work, I head down to the Athletic Center, yet again with my carpool group. My car group likes to get to practice early so we have time to hangout with our coaches. Having strong and close relationships with my coaches has been a highlight of my Conn experience. It makes working hard at practice all the more worth it because I know how much my coaches care about me as an athlete and person.
4:15pm – 6:30pm – Water polo practice
Practice goes for about two hours, usually starting with a swim set, then going into drills, and ending with a team scrimmage. Being on a sports team has allowed me to make friends across class years and be a part of something bigger than myself—both things that have created a solid sense of belonging for me at Conn.
7:00pm – 7:45pm – Dinner at Harris
We get dinner as a team after practice, and by 7:00pm, the dining hall isn’t too crowded. I appreciate how accommodating Conn is for students with dietary restrictions—I am gluten-free and I always have multiple food options to choose from, plus a gluten-free section with gluten-free toasters to use.
8:00pm – 9:30pm – Philosophy book club
After dinner, I say goodbye to my teammates and head back to my room to get ready to host some friends for our philosophy book club. I’m majoring in Philosophy, one of the smaller majors at Conn, which has allowed me to get close with my classmates. Having intimate conversations about philosophy has definitely made me a better and more active student of philosophy, and I found how fun the subject can be.
9:30pm – 10:00pm – Shower
Before studying, I like to wash off all the chlorine from the day. Communal bathrooms aren’t the most exciting, but I find myself having little conversations with my floormates most often in the bathroom. I live on a floor with several other girls in my grade, most of which are fellow Her Campus members, and so it’s fun to chat with them in passing.
10:00pm – 11:30pm – Study
Right now water polo season is in full swing, so I have to be proactive to stay on top of my homework. I try to be at least a few days ahead of studying in preparation for busy days like this one, so I only had to review my notes for class tomorrow and do a small reading for another class in two days.
11:30pm – Go to bed
After a busy day, it’s time to go to sleep so I can get up and do it all again tomorrow!