The Busiest Day of My Busiest Semester: Classes, Cafes, & Telescope Views
As a UC Berkeley student double-majoring and minoring in vastly different fields (political science and astrophysics double major, creative writing minor), hardly any of my classes overlap, which caused this monster of a schedule. The classes I’m taking this semester all apply to different prerequisites to my majors, which means that this semester I’m taking on a 21-unit course load consisting of five classes and a DeCal. After this semester, I am not expecting to take anywhere near this amount of units, which is why I chose to do it now—get it over with!
On this particular day, I had a discussion and/or lecture for four classes, those being History 7B (History of the United States from Civil War to Present—one of my favorite subjects!), Political Science 2 (Introduction to Comparative Politics), Math 54 (Linear Algebra and Differential Equations), and Physics 7A (Physics for Scientists and Engineers). I want to emphasize that this is an atypical course load, but manageable personally for me and my schedule. This schedule is not always the case and is not expected of all students. This is the path I’m choosing, and I’m excited!
If you wonder what the busiest day of my busiest semester looks like, let’s go!
6:45 a.m. – Wake Up & Get Ready
I get up at 6:45 on days when I have my 8 a.m. Physics 7A Discussion and Lab. This might seem a bit early, but I like to have time to eat breakfast in my room, get dressed, and do my makeup if I’m up for it.
Breakfast is usually some snacks that I pick up over the weekend from the Trader Joe’s on College Avenue or University Avenue, both of which are about a 20-minute bus ride from my residence hall in Unit 2 (buses in Berkeley are free to Cal Students using their Clipper Card plan! Our blog Urban Travel 101 has some more information on getting around in Berkeley).
Sometimes, if I am ready early enough, I also stop by the Peet’s Coffee next door to Crossroads Dining Hall. I order ahead using GrubHub, which now lets students with meal plans pre-order food for pick-up to most on-campus dining hubs using meal swipes and flex dollars.
8 a.m. – Physics Discussion
I like to get to class a little bit ahead of time so I can talk for a bit with my lab mates before we start working on worksheets and homework. We start at Berkeley time (10 minutes after class *officially* starts, so 8:10 a.m.), so I usually get to this class in the Physics Building right around 8 a.m. (it’s a 15-minute walk from Unit 2).
Discussion section is not a part of my grade for this particular class, but having time to work things out in person with my classmates is really useful when we focus, so I am and will continue to be one of the few who gets up for their optional 8 a.m. class. My lab mates and I meet outside of class to work on homework as well, so sometimes these discussion sections turn into bonding sessions of solving online crosswords and all of the New York Times puzzles.
This discussion ends at 10 a.m., so I make my way immediately to…
10 a.m. – Math 54 Lecture
I was really lucky this semester to have a friend who has my exact morning schedule on Monday/Wednesday/Friday, which makes showing up to lectures much easier, and honestly enjoyable because we get to trek from class to class together (the Physics Building to Wheeler Hall walk is approximately five minutes).
I have to do a lot of work outside of this class to stay on track since I’m completely new to this area of math, so keeping up with the notes is a challenge! I take notes on my iPad using Notability, but I like to have a small notepad on the side that I pre-populate with notes from the textbook so I can quickly flip to pages with alternatives to my professor’s wording if needed.
11 a.m. – Physics 7A Lecture
This class is held in Pimentel Hall, about a seven-minute uphill walk from Wheeler Hall.
My professor for this class asks that we complete lectures asynchronously before the start of the week so that in-class time can be used for cementing understanding and demonstrations. We usually get a problem, have some time to try to work it out with the people sitting around us (my labmates in my case!), and then he shows us how he would approach the problem. He tests our understanding using iClicker, which he also uses for attendance.
This way of running the class has been a bit of an adjustment for me, but the professor’s grading policies include replacing certain exam scores with in-class poll scores, so I definitely take advantage of being able to work with peers in this setting.
12 p.m. – Math 54 Discussion
Wednesdays are quiz days in my math class, so I always have to rush to get from Pimentel Hall down to Genetics and Plant Biology, which is a 13-minute walk on average, but I make it in about 10 minutes when I rush.
My Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) takes five minutes before each quiz to answer some questions, and then we take the 30-minute quiz! After we turn in the quizzes, our GSIs go over the correct ways of tackling the problems so we immediately know if we did something wrong and can understand the correct way of doing the problems.
Since we can only have our phones out after the quiz, I use a couple minutes of the quiz correction time to order lunch from Brown’s on GrubHub since I like to go to my GSI’s office hours back to back with discussion and get hungry around this time.
1 p.m. – Lunch & Office Hours
Brown’s is right outside of my classroom for my previous discussion, so I just pop in, grab my food, and head up to Evans Hall with my GSI for his office hours (which is about a 15-minute uphill walk if you take it easy). My personal go-to from Brown’s is the chicken breast or salmon, vegetable medley, garlic fries, and whatever funky flavor of Bubly they have that day (Brown’s has a weirdly large array of Bubly flavors, and I’m a curious cat so I like to sample).
I use office hours to ask questions, ask for clarification on the quiz we just took, and address any other gaps in my knowledge. I got really lucky with my GSI—he’s very understanding and sometimes even stays overtime when my peers and I have a lot of questions.
2 p.m. – Work-Study
From 2-4 p.m., I do this—write! I’m a part of the Work-Study program here at Cal, and I got lucky with a job that I love. It also happens to be remote, so I can do it from anywhere! I usually cross the street from Evans Hall to Campbell Hall (about a two-minute walk) and head up to the third-floor Cosmology Commons to work for my two-hour work shift.
If I finish my tasks early or am particularly ahead, I can use part of my shift to review readings for my evening discussions, which is especially useful for my Political Science class because we sometimes have debates!
My work setup in the Cosmology Commons of Campbell Hall as I work on this blog! Including my water bottle, journal, math notebook, planner, and of course, my computer.
4 p.m. – History 7B Discussion
This discussion is held in Cory Hall, which is about a four-minute walk from Campbell Hall.
Discussion time is usually to share findings from the previous week’s project and to gain a deeper understanding of the readings. This class’ discussion style is really reminiscent of my high school classes where we work in random groups every week, and in turn, learn and meet new people every time—something I haven’t experienced much in my other large-scale classes! My professor really emphasizes understanding over memorization, and it’s become something that’s helped me retain more from this class than any of the other classes I’m taking this semester.
My evening walk from Cory Hall (History 7B Discussion) to Social Sciences (Political Science 2 Discussion), where I pass by a partially lit Evans Hall.
6 p.m. – Political Science 2 Discussion
Getting from Cory Hall to the Social Sciences Building is always a bit of a rush, but I can usually make it with a couple of minutes to spare before Berkeley time (approximately a seven-minute walk). This discussion is mostly about cementing our understanding of the readings for the week before we take the weekly quiz in class the following day. This process usually consists of some sort of full class discussion, whether it’s just a question-and-answer format or an informal, timed debate.
This discussion is technically scheduled to end at 8 p.m., but we usually only go to 7:30, which gives me time to kill afterward. This means…
8 p.m. – Cafe Study Time!
Cafe Milano is conveniently located just a few minutes from the Social Sciences Building and is open until 9 p.m. most days, so my roommate and I make our way to their cozy little space after our discussion. I usually order a hot chocolate in the evenings to keep me warm, and we grind away at our leftover homework until closing… However, this is not the end of my night!
On some lucky Wednesdays, I have the opportunity to get trained on some astronomy equipment!
9 p.m. – Telescope Training
I part with my roommate, travel back to Campbell Hall, and wait to be let into the building (since it automatically locks at 6 p.m. and I don’t have key card access). Luckily, the student body of the astronomy and earth and planetary sciences departments are proponents of minor instances of nepotism… In my case, this means I get a chance to learn how to use the telescopes after hours with my friend, Isabella Star (Star), who also happens to be the President of the Undergraduate Astronomy Society (UAS).
They train students all throughout the year, but only a small number of students are able to be trained on the Richard Treffers Telescope per year through UAS, and I was one of those lucky people this year. If the night is clear, telescope training is on!
Some photos of the night, including the view of the sky from inside of the dome, Alexandra Lu and I practicing using the telescope controls, and a mirror selfie of Alexandra, Star, and I in the telescope’s mirror.
11 p.m. – Back Home
After these late-night sessions, I usually get back to my room anywhere from 10:30-11 p.m. I take routes back to my residence hall that I know will still have students around—especially since it’s dark and late—which typically means avoiding Telegraph Avenue and walking past Caffe Strada and Unit 1 where I know the lighting is reliable! If you’re also a student who has late nights on campus, consider using Safewalk if you feel unsafe!
When I get back, my friends are sometimes in my room, so we take a little bit of time to recap and get ready for bed—shower, skincare, etc. If I didn’t grab dinner at the cafe, this is usually when I microwave a Trader Joe’s meal that I keep in my room’s freezer (my favorites are the chicken soup dumplings, mac n’ cheese, chicken tikka masala, and japchae!). I always make sure to have a few backup meals for when dining commons are closed (since they close at 9 p.m.).
Since Wednesday is my busiest day, it almost feels like the end of the week instead of the middle, meaning I also don’t usually have any homework to finish or things to catch up on, so I just unwind! Lately, this has been a circle of watching Abbott Elementary and crocheting, listening to The Remembrance of Earth’s Past series by Cixin Liu on Audible and scrolling Pinterest, journaling, or reading a book.
Recap
My schedule is abnormal and busy, to say the least, but not all of my days look like this! While this might be the reality for some students for most of their week, most of my school days start around 9 a.m. and end anywhere from 2-5 p.m., which is significantly shorter than this! As I previously mentioned, this is my busiest day, and therefore the hardest to get through… but it’s a fun challenge! At the end of the day, I feel proud of the work I’ve done, which is probably one of the most important things to consider when designing a schedule—will you feel accomplished or exhausted?
For me, it’s sometimes a bit of both, but I make sure to get plenty of rest on Thursday morning, and keep tackling the days!
Milana Berhe, Class of 2028, is majoring in astrophysics and political science and minoring in creative writing.
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