What most days in university look like for me
School is stressful. Not in a dramatic, one-bad-week way, but in a quiet way that stays with you. The early lectures, eating mostly once a day, and watching students run after lecturers to correct mistakes in their results. I go through it again and again, and it still feels like something that is here to stay.
I have been thinking about this for a while, and I wanted to write it down. Not to complain, but because I think many students live like this and do not say it out loud.
What most of my days look like
Not every day is the same, but most of them go like this.
I wake up around 5:30, especially when I have an 8am class. On many mornings I go for a jog and do some other exercises. Then I brush my teeth, take my bath, and pack my notes into my bag. I iron my clothes, dress up, and eat if time permits. Most days, time does not permit, which is why I mostly eat once a day.
In class, I settle in and wait for the lecturers taking the courses of the day. Lectures usually end by 4pm, and I get home by 5 at the latest. Before I think about anything else, I lie on my bed and sleep.
When I wake up, I prepare what I am going to eat. After eating, I check the messages I have not replied to. Then, on most nights, I start revising and doing some research on the next day’s courses. I do this because you never know when a lecturer will set a test, so I try to prepare my mind in advance. Then I fall asleep, and the next day begins again.
Reading it back, nothing in that day looks dramatic. There is no single moment that breaks me. That is the strange part. The stress does not come from one big thing. It comes from everything happening one after the other, with very little space in between. By the time I get home, I am too tired to even think, so I sleep first and only then start living the rest of my evening.
The results
Then there are the results. At the start of a new session, the results are about to be uploaded, and for many students this is a tense time. Mistakes sometimes show up in results, and when they do, students end up running after lecturers to get them corrected.
I have not been affected by this before, and I pray I never am. But I have seen how many students go through it, and I know it can happen to anyone. That is part of the stress too. Even when nothing is wrong, you wait for the results knowing that something could be.
It grows as I move up
What bothers me most is that the stress grows as I move up in level. You would think the courses would reduce as you get closer to the end. Instead, they increase, and everything becomes more overwhelming.
When I started, I believed there would be a point where it would ease up. Now I am no longer sure that point exists. Each level adds more, and I keep preparing for tests that may or may not come, because it is safer to be ready than to be caught off guard.
What helps
What helps is the people. I try to find time to talk to my mum, my siblings, and any friend who checks on me, especially when everything feels like too much.
Those conversations are not long, and they do not remove the stress. But they remind me that I am not doing this alone, and that someone out there cares how my day went, not just how my results look.
Why I keep going
I do not think this stress is going to end anytime soon. But I have to stand on my own two feet and go again. I know what I came to this university for, and I am not leaving until I get it.
If you are a student reading this and you are tired too, I want you to know that you are not the only one. The days look the same, the pressure keeps building, and it still feels like it is here to stay. But we keep showing up anyway. And maybe that is the part that matters.
