A Day in the Life: Ariel Roberts

Hello! My name is Ariel Roberts, I’m a second-year new media marketing student here at RIT, and I’m going to walk you through a typical day in my life. To be specific, this is going to reflect my typical Monday because, dare I say it... I love Mondays! To me, they’re a chance to start fresh and set the tone for the week. Is that a geeky thing to say? Maybe! If you couldn’t already tell, I’m the type of person that’s into self-help, business podcasts, and other nerdy things that you’ll see as my day unfolds throughout this post!

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Getting up

6:30 AM
I like to start my day slowly by watching some youtube videos, TV shows, or just scrolling through instagram. Sometimes this backfires and I end up laying in bed for an extra hour but I try to curb this time to 30 minutes.

7:00 AM
I roll out of bed, brush my teeth, and jump in the shower. The best part of this little section of my day is choosing what podcast I’ll be listening to in the shower and for the rest of the day! I find business podcasts so interesting and insightful and they put me in a productive mindset for tackling my work. My all-time favorites are “Start Up” by Gimlet media and “Call Me Candid” by Haley Pham and LillyAnn.

8:30 AM
Once I’m out of the shower, I get dressed for the Rochester cold. My blueprint outfit is a sweatshirt or hoodie, leggings, and thick socks. Then go to Midnight Oil (one of the coffee shops on campus that serves Starbucks) to grab breakfast. My go to is a tall chai latte and a toasted bagel.

Morning Work

9:45 AM
Once I’ve eaten, I settle down at my desk and get cracking on with my work. First, I make a to-do list in my planner as well as check my calendar to see what my week looks like. Then, I usually start off with miscellaneous work that I want to get done for the clubs that I’m on the e-board of (the Organization of African Students and Caribbean Student Association). This is usually checking emails, asking other board members about tasks for the week, putting together presentations for our zoom meetings, working on upcoming events etc. This is also something that I tend to get carried away with sometimes but by 11 I usually switch over to my schoolwork.

11:00 AM
My Principles of Marketing class is scheduled to meet on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. However due to the pandemic and the new modality of classes, we only meet via zoom on Wednesday. This means that on Mondays and Fridays I use our scheduled class time to do the classwork on my own. Specifically, on Mondays I watch our recorded lectures and take notes on that week’s chapters.

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Class and Lunch

1:30 PM
At 1:30 I have my Computer Based Analysis class where we learn about excel functions. We only meet on Mondays but we’re on zoom every other week.

2:15 PM
After my Computer Based Analysis class, I get my go to sub from Crossroads for lunch. This is usually also my time to take a break. I have a hard time focusing while doing work in my room, so a long break is necessary for me to feel relaxed. During my break, I usually eat while watching TV with my roommates in our living room, or I’ll watch youtube videos in my room.

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Afternoon/Evening Work

3:00 PM
After my lunch break I start work for my favorite class which is Sociology of Work. I wish this class was in person so that I could talk face to face with my professor and my classmates about our readings, but I still enjoy our coursework very much. Last week we read about the nature of Unions in America which was surprisingly very entertaining! Our readings can be long so getting through them and taking notes usually takes me a while. Compared to the readings I was assigned in high school, the length of these are probably similar to what you would be assigned in an AP class. If you pace yourself, they’re no problem! And again, it helps that I really enjoy this subject.

6:00 PM
By 6 pm, my productivity has left the building. Although I try my best to finish as much work as I can, this is usually my cue that I’m done doing schoolwork for the day. I’ve realized this semester that to avoid burnout, I need to give myself time in the evenings to wind down if I feel like it.

7:00 PM
I have a very bad habit of snacking instead of eating an actual meal for dinner. So I usually snack while watching tv. The evening is also a time when I tend to work on more personal projects like my blog and my co-op search. At RIT most majors are required to compete at least one co-op, which is a paid full time internship, before they graduate. I’m currently looking for a co-op for summer 2021. I also always end up on the phone chatting away with my family or a friend.

11:30
By this time my Monday is over! Most nights I fall asleep curled up in bed watching a light TV show or reading a book.