First Years' Feed

A day in the life of an international offshore student

First Years' Feed

STUDENT INTERVIEWS

By Akhil Nair, International Student (offshore) – 3rd Year, Bachelor of Commerce

As an offshore international student, a typical day in my life starts off with a lot of “what-ifs” and “if-only’s”- an emotion that truly portrays my disappointment of having to further my studies online for an indefinite period. However, after a brief spell of over-thinking, I convince myself that certain things are beyond my control, thereby making it imperative for me to solely focus on the controllable factors. A typical day in my university life includes different activities, which can be categorised into various phases: 

7am

I am a firm believer of the fact that an upbeat morning can set the tone for the rest of the day! After snoozing my alarm at 6:30 am, I finally manage to convince myself to get out of bed by 6:45 am! A quick session of light stretching, and I am ready to go for a brisk morning jog. This truly is the highlight of my entire day, because this is when I get to interact with people from all age groups be it young or old- as we enjoy the fresh, cool air and jog a few rounds around the perimeter of our residential complex, often talking about work, university, or other general topics. This widens my perspective on life and helps me destress as I feel connected to nature, thereby enabling me to have a productive day ahead!

9am

This is when most of my lectures start, so on a typical day I am at my study table, tuned in to my lecture- my mind imagining different situations of how it would be like if I was attending my lectures in person amidst all my lovely classmates and professors. A short mental detour precedes a frantic scurry of taking notes, making me return to the present-day scenario, which also serves as a realisation to not get distracted. A lecture generally runs for a duration of 2 hours, which can be tiring (with all the information overload), so my way of relaxing after a lecture is by listening to my favourite artists as this serves as a much needed ‘escape’ away from the university workload!

12pm

It’s lunchtime!! On some days, I try to make my lunch hour productive by scheduling my team meetings and other interviews during this time, however on a normal day, I use this time to catch up on my favourite shows, or highlights of sporting events that I may have missed from the previous night! This is probably the best part about attending university online ( :P) as I get to relish the delicious dishes prepared by my mum as opposed to having to cook my own meals if I was on campus!

2:30pm

After getting in a productive morning session under my belt, I take some time off to refresh and relax. I usually do this by taking a short nap and this enables me to have a productive evening session. However, on some days I have tutorials at this time, and I find myself actively interacting with my tutors and fellow peers. This helps me to socialise and gain plenty of knowledge even when I am miles away from university!

5pm

It is essential to strike a balance between work and leisure, so on some days I catch up for a quick meal with my friends and on other days I try to work-out at the gym. This can be a little tough given the current COVID rules and restrictions so a good substitute to the gym can be home workouts, yoga, Zumba, Tabata etc.

7pm

This is a nice time to recap everything that I have studied during the day. I generally spend around 2 hours doing this, by making summary notes and a mind map of all the key concepts as this helps me to visualize all the content on one page. It also helps me identify weak concepts/concepts that I may have missed out on during the lectures and tutorials. Most importantly, these daily revisions help me to stay on top of my work and have my notes in place before the exams!

9pm

To close out the day, my friends at University and I have a Zoom call (as we are all based in different parts of the world). This helps us to reconnect, despite being away from each other. We talk about our subjects at university, social lives, and other fun topics. Forging strong bonds at university is an absolute must as it helps you build your network, share tips and knowledge and most importantly, have additional support systems to back you during your lows and highs!

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