Whether you’re manifesting a UC Santa Barbara acceptance letter next month, reminiscing on your own Isla Vista days or are curious about the life of a current UCSB student, welcome to a random Tuesday in my life. On brand with the quarter system, my daily routine isn’t much of a routine at all — subject to impromptu changes and impending due dates — giving every day its own unique quirks and encounters.
The morning of Feb. 11 started at 8 a.m. sharp with a piece of plain sourdough toast and a cup of bitter coffee. I’m still not sure how I used to wake up at 6:45 every day in high school, because anything before 9:30 has started to feel like a battle in college. Today especially, however, I was at war. My Tuesdays and Thursdays consist of what Charli XCX would call three “back to, back to, back” classes, the first of which consisted of a midterm.
I threw on a T-shirt, a pair of black cargo pants and a zip-up jacket to get me through the brisk commute to the Interactive Learning Pavilion (ILP), which is located near the heart of campus. A few quick passes through my hair with a brush, speedy work with an eyelash curler and mascara, and after a swipe of tinted chapstick I was out the door by 9:05.
With my headphones on and a queue full of Bon Iver and Blood Orange, I made it to the ILP by 9:20, sat and ready (or, in hindsight, maybe not) for my ENVS 115 (Energy and the Environment) midterm. My friend Chloé and I wished each other good luck and braced ourselves for the next 70 minutes.
I’ll be honest — it was bad. As an Environmental Studies student interested in the humanities and writing side of things, fuel conversions and combustion calculations aren’t exactly my forte. I worked right up to the end of the exam at 10:45, leaving a pile of eraser shavings in my wake and a trail of incorrect calculations on the calculator I borrowed from my roommate Lily — I haven’t had to use a calculator in so long that mine died.
With no time to waste, however, I turned my exam in, shoved my notes into my backpack and hurried down the ILP stairs. I met up with my friend Fiona outside of the library, which is adjacent to the ILP, to head to our next class: ASAM 152 (Environmental Entanglements in Asian America). Despite a brisk morning, the Santa Barbara sun was finally out, making for a pleasant walk between classes.
Although I originally enrolled in this class because it fulfills UCSB’s ethnicity general education requirement, its focus on the Asian American experience with environmental justice is incredibly relevant to my background as well as personal interest. Instead of our usual weekly reading discussion or lecture, we watched a film in class, which was much appreciated by my post-midterm self. The film, Ann Kaneko’s “Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust,” captured generations of Indigenous and Asian American communities in the Owens Valley. It explained the role and control of water in the valley and at the Manzanar concentration camp, as well as local demands for water justice.
At 12:15 p.m., Fiona walked with me to my final class of the day, WRIT 105SW (Science Writing for the Public). On the way, I preordered lunch from Ortega Dining Commons, UCSB’s takeout-style dining hall. Although I live off campus, I’m a self-proclaimed shoddy cook with a busy schedule, so I pay for a plan that allows me five meals per week. On a side note, if you’re considering an off-campus meal plan and are in a similar situation, I would definitely recommend it — I typically use all five swipes on weekday lunches, and find it really nice to not worry about getting a solid meal in between classes or after a long day.
As someone interested in environmental communication and writing, WRIT 105SW is an incredibly challenging but exciting course. My class is currently in the process of creating a memo-style scientific article proposal, and today’s lecture focused on editing and organizing for fluidity.
After class, I walked to Ortega and I bagged my delicious feast —a bacon breakfast burrito (sans bacon) with potato chips, a chocolate chip cookie and a banana. Hungry and exhausted, I carried my lunch off campus to KOZY Coffee, where I settled down with a hot vanilla latte and stacked to-do list.
During my study session from 2-6 p.m., I saw several friends, who — along with the caffeine — rejuvenated me after a draining day. I saw my friends Kiana and Kenneth first, the former of whom is one of my future roommates! Next, my coworker, friend, second future roommate and fellow Her Camper Kendra made an appearance, swinging by on her way to cover the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF)! Tonight, she got to see Timothée Chalamet on the carpet before he received the Arlington Artist of the Year Award. Finally, Lily showed up, and we locked in together until I eventually retired to our apartment for a quick nap before work.
At 7 p.m., I peeled myself out of bed and warmed up fried rice for dinner. By 7:40, I had traded in my zip-up for a puffer jacket, said goodbye to my roommates and was out the door, en route to the charming dungeon that is the Daily Nexus office.
Tuesday nights are called print nights at the newsroom, where we finalize article edits, put the newspaper pages together and send it to our printers to be ready for its release on Thursday. As a chief copy editor, Tuesday nights have the busiest shifts — I clock in at 8 p.m. and stay until the paper is fully done, typically between midnight and 2 a.m.
Thanks to the hard work of our editorial staff, it was a good day at the office and our incredible production team was able to export our Valentine’s Day issue soon after midnight. By 12:30 a.m., I was walking home alongside the editors in chief, managing editor and Kendra, who appeared at the office to finish the Artsweek pages after attending SBIFF.
While it might sound like a struggle, I rationalize Nexus nights with the knowledge that I’d probably still be awake anyway. At home, I showered, got myself a little sourdough snack, wrote up a summary of my day (for this article, of course) and started some readings for tomorrow’s class: ENVS 130C (Aquatic Food Systems Management).
All things considered, Feb. 11 was a mixed bag. While my midterm isn’t looking particularly hopeful for me, at least I was able to steer clear of a few unfortunately common occurrences: awkward eye contact with my professors when nobody is answering their questions, bumping into old classmates on campus, extremely treacherous nights at work or, worst of all, when Ortega runs out of bananas.
That’s college life — for me, at least. No matter how many times my friends hear me threatening to quit my job (don’t worry, I would never) or drop a class (again, I would never, I need these credits desperately), I’m so grateful that I was able to choose the UCSB life of fascinating courses and brilliant friends. I wouldn’t trade this experience — even these Tuesdays — for anything else.