A day in the life of an architecture student

8:38 am

Wake up in someone else's room.

Just joking, this is an entirely platonic sleepover, because I'm from Girton and like to force my central college pals to take me in.

9:00 am
Go to Mainsburys to pick up food for breakfast – holy moly y'all central college people are privileged. Hands down I have never been into town this early.

9:23am

Made pancakes for actual breakfast! We love third year architecture and no 9am lectures. I had a photo of my artistic, photo perfect pancakes but it would've given this article too many photos.

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS A LUXURY DAY IN THE LIFE – in a normal day in my life I have one single banana before dashing to the bike shed

10:40am

Finally drag myself to department – the mysterious location that no one seems to know. It's a long way from Girton, ensuring that I get my full workout every morning.

11:00am

Hanging out in the studio and pretending to be productive anytime we don't have a lecture. Trust me, the studio has never been tidier (see cover photo).

12:00pm
Lecture time – or when architects "multitask" and continue to do their studio work, only away from the studio.

1:00pm

Lunch at the architects' favourite haunt, Judge Business School, or as we endearingly call it, J Biz. Who doesn't love sitting next to people with real, financially-sustainable future careers.

2:45pm

Cycling to Hobbycraft to get materials for a model (but really just to procrastinate). I bet you didn't know where Homebase, Screwfix, B&Q or Hobbycraft are in Cambridge! This is an educational post. (It's a 10 minute cycle past Anglia Ruskin)

5:30pm

Start realising that your work will never get done in time for tomorrow and begin to panic. Time to cancel plans and say goodbye to everything you love.

6:20pm

Start getting hungry and regret every irresponsible decision to procrastinate I've made that led me here tonight. Thankfully, the architecture department is blessed with a corner shop opposite us! It's open till 7pm! What a life hack! (also for engineers and art historians in our ends!).

6:50pm

The duty of passing down the unhealthy working legacy to the young freshers is bestowed upon me – I extend studio opening hours past 7 as a duty student, and therefore commit to being imprisoned until 10pm.

7:00pm

Furiously working on a model that I need to get done by tomorrow, and only started at 4pm. 3 hours ago. Time and space become irrelevant as you sit at the same desk from 10am in the morning. At least someone has taken over the aux now.

8:00pm
Self doubt creeps in and I start to regret all the hours I've put in so far today. If I were any less calm, the day's work would have ended up in the bin. I decide to stroll around the studio and distract myself by distracting everyone else.

8:40pm
All Star by Smash Mouth starts blaring out the speakers. I don't have earphones in and kind of want to cease to exist. Reality is non-existent anymore. I just want to leave.

9:58pm

Someone takes over my duty shift and extends studio opening hours till 11. My model is done (enough for me to come back to it tomorrow), and I flee. I'm starving. I say I'm never coming back to this cursed space ever again, but proceed to turn up punctually at the studio in 12 hours anyway.

10:05pm

Here's another life hack! Half price at Wasabi half an hour before closing (you're welcome everyone). I would cycle home and cook usually, but making dinner at midnight in Girton is perhaps the most depressing activity for a Monday night. A group of architects are already there, and we feast after a long day of work.

11:10pm

I finally arrive in college, after a workout of a commute, and am met with the dilemma of procrastinating, doing some work that is not modelling, or to stop deceiving myself and just go to bed.

12:30pm

I finish procrastinating and at least attempt to produce some new work. I probably can do this tomorrow, but all rational reasoning has left my brain. Silly production mode: activated.

1:45am

I officially resign from my efforts to battle the guilt of unproductivity after an undrawn drawing and a scrappy infographic that can be easily interpreted as a weirdly formatted meme. I'm ready for bed and will remain there for the foreseeable few hours. Sleeping before 3am is a blessing for an architecture student.

2:15am

Okay I lied, I'm still awake. Because, though I have no life and cherish sleep above all else; not making time for mindlessly scrolling through social media is too much of a sacrifice for me. I will regret this tomorrow, and repeat it anyway for every night to come.

I love architecture (a little bit) I swear, architecture just doesn't love me back. Hopefully, at the end of this degree, I'll only be left with the fond memories of dancing to bad playlists in the studio on a Saturday afternoon and lit ARCSOC ents.