The Alternative EEE Freshers Guide: A Day in the Life of...
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8:00 am
The sound of the bleeping alarm clock, growing ever louder, finally penetrated Dave's subconscious and his eyes flicked open. "What day is it?", he wondered, and immediately closed his eyes again, reaching for the clock and shutting off the annoying ring. It was Friday - "I've survived nearly a full week of lectures" Dave thought to himself. Homesickness had been replaced by just 'sickness'. Two weeks of excessive alcohol, fast food, and late nights meant Dave had caught the inevitable freshers flu - though not as badly as some, for Dave it was more like freshers severe-cold, but it didn't make it any easier to get out of bed.
The sound of traffic outside and the smell of someone cooking bacon and eggs in the opposite kitchen finally persuaded Dave to get up. He rolled out of bed and waded through the jumble of dirty washing and the odd set of lecture notes which were strewn around his small room. Dave looked in the mirror - "Still alive…" he thought, wondering where he had left his electric razor, and also whether anyone would really care if he went another day without shaving.
8:30 am
Breakfast - or lack thereof. Dave frustratedly shook the empty cereal packet, and eventually settled for a cup of tea. - "Morning!" said a friendly voice. Dave looked round - it was the re-app guy from down the hall whose name Dave couldn't remember, but was too embarrassed to admit. "Oh Hi", replied Dave, and went back to making tea. What was left of the milk was on the turn - "but not badly enough to notice in a cuppa" thought Dave. Worries about shopping and how he had to now go at some point bounced around in Dave's head. Hopefully someone would be going from halls who he could tag along with.
8:45 am
Dave hurriedly cleaned his teeth, and picked up what he thought were the correct set of lecture and lab notes for the day. Someone was knocking at his door - "You ready yet mate?" came a voice. It was Mike and John - Mike was another fresher on the same course, and John was a Medic. Dave had met Mike and John on his first day in London, and they had become good friends.
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All three were residents of Fisher Hall, situated approximately 20 min walk from College. They knew that they would be late if they didn't get on with it, and so walked briskly up towards Brompton Road, before turning right, and then left along Queensgate towards College. As with every lad at Imperial it hadn't escaped the notice of the trio that there were very few girls around. For Dave it was strange to be sat in lectures in Electrical Engineering, and to be able to spot only 3 or 4 girls at most. He had heard the rumours, but surely it couldn't be as bad as this? The conversation shifted to the evening ahead and what the three were going to do with their Friday night. It was agreed that the union seemed like a good idea. For one, they had all been there before and knew how to get there, and how to get home, and at least the drink was cheap. All three felt that they had spent far too much money on going out over the previous two weeks, and a night at the union was a safe bet. It was a school disco evening with cheesy music, which didn't appeal to Dave, but the other two seemed eager to go and Dave hoped that at least he would see some pretty girls in fishnet stockings. |
9:05 am
Dave and Mike stood in the Electrical Engineering building foyer desperately trying to recall where the first lecture was being held, and for that matter what subject it was. "Room 408 - that seems like a safe bet", Dave thought to himself as he and Mike climbed the stairs from level 2 to level 4. Peering through the door to the theatre, Dave could make out Professor Bob Spence gesticulating in front of the assembled freshers. "Doesn't he look like Father Christmas" Dave mused. Opening the door he and Mike both crept in.
9:30 am
The lecture theatre was hot and stuffy - and smelled of bad breath and body odour. Dave had sat down at the back of the room and having missed the beginning of the lecture was now fighting to take in any of the information written on the board. Dave's eyelids closed for a second. He wished that he was still in bed, and that he was back at home with parents to feed him hot cooked meals. Its not that he was homesick anymore - in fact university life was great. However the extra responsibility of feeding yourself, doing your own laundry and shopping was a real pain and Dave wasn't used to it.
9:50 am
With the lecture over Dave wondered if not paying much attention to lectures was going to be a problem further down the line. "That seemed pretty easy", Mike piped up - "mostly A-level physics". Dave was relieved that at least someone was paying attention, and felt a bit better now they were out of the stuffy lecture room. Shuffling across the hallway to Room 406 for a study group though was the last thing Dave wanted to do - images of girls in school uniform wandered into his mind as he sat down at a table.
Dave hadn't looked at the material for this particular study group yet. As the term was still very new there wasn't much to discuss about the particular topic involved, though a few keen students came up with several questions for the supervising PhD student to answer. Time ticked on and Dave was beginning to wake up - and to feel very hungry. The rest of the morning went by rapidly and lunch was the usual - meet with friends in the University's Main Dining Hall (MDH).
12:15 am
Lunch was a burger and chips from 'Quicks' (The fast food section of the MDH). Dave had thought about queuing up for some proper food but still wasn't feeling great and had lost his appetite somewhat. Oblivious to the fact that there were many other (and arguably better/cheaper) places to eat in and around campus, Dave and his mates paid for their meals and sat down to eat.
2:00 pm
Dave and three other students who he barely knew entered Dr. Keith Leaver's office for their first tutorial, all wondering what exactly a tutorial was all about. Dr. Leaver introduced himself, and made sure no-one was in the wrong tutor group before asking the freshers if they had any concerns about the course, and more importantly questions about the lectures so far. The uncomfortable silence was broken by a question from the small bespectacled student who Dave was sitting next to.
The rest of the tutorial went quickly with Dave being asked to draw a few circuits on the whiteboard and the group analysing them. Dave wondered if he had remembered to pack his cheesy school tie before leaving for university…
3:00-6:00 pm
Labs. Dave had had his first lab session on Wednesday and hadn't yet become used to working with his lab partner - "Perhaps this time it will be better" he reasoned, remembering how on Wednesday he had had to do the entire lab almost single headedly while his lab partner had played with his mobile phone, picked his nose, spoken to everyone but him in a foreign language and gone the toilet 12 times. Dave was not looking forward to another 3 hours of experiments on a transistor, in the freezing and unsightly coloured purple basement lab but the afternoon went reasonably swiftly and Dave managed to persuade his lab partner to do some work so perhaps things weren't going to be so bad after all. And he was now really looking forward to that well deserved drink at the union.
8:00 pm
Dave, John and Mike walked into the union building after showing their hand-stamps to the steward on the door. "It's not as busy as it was last Friday" said John, trying to rub the large amount of permanent ink from his hand unaware that it was already too late and that he would be wearing his stamp for the next few days anyway. In fact the Freshers carnival the previous Friday had been very busy, and the union that evening seemed quiet in comparison. "It'll get busier later" was Mikes answer, "It's still early yet".
The three made their way to the bar and spent the next couple of hours in conversation about life, university, why they had chosen to come to Imperial and of course which girls in their hall they fancied.
10:00 pm
Feeling the warm halo of alcohol around them Dave and his friends wandered into DB's, and spent the rest of the evening dancing the Macarena, drinking, and generally annoying any females present with their drunken chat-up lines.
2:30 pm
Dave opened the door to his room, and fell into bed. "Perhaps next week we can find a different club to go to" he wondered as he closed his eyes. And with thoughts of the past evening's entertainment flitting through his mind Dave fell asleep.
