Tufts Blogs

Yesterday when I was giving my weekly Tufts tour, I received an interesting question: “What do you do on, like, a Tuesday night?”

I think this is a really great question. College schedules are very different from high school schedules. Instead of sitting in class for 7 hours a day, and then going home to do homework, you may only have class for an hour and fifteen minutes a day, or even not at all. Out of my five semesters at Tufts so far, I’ve only had class on a Friday for one semester!

With less class time comes more flexibility for jobs, research, clubs, socialization opportunities, etc. So what do I do on weekday nights? I try to build in a bit of productive work time (either academic or extra-curricular) and socialization time every night. Here’s an example of my weeknight schedule from this past week (for the purposes of this blog, let’s call “night” 5 pm and later).

Monday- On Monday, I picked up a quick to-go meal from Dewick dining hall right when the meal period started at 5 pm. Then, I went to tap class from 5:30-8 pm, where I learned new material and taught my own choreography. After that, I went to chapter, which is when my sorority meets and discusses our events for the week. I stayed after to meet with our executive board, and then went home and did a bit of work before bed.

Tuesday- Normally, I get dinner with a friend on Tuesdays, but this week I cancelled because I was sick, so I only did masked activities. I got dinner to-go again, and then after dinner in my room, I joined some of my Theta sisters in painting canvases to give to our littles for big/little reveal next week. Then, I went to the Tufts History Society meeting, at which Professor Bowser, one of my favorite professors from last semester, presented on how the British tried to contain decolonization in Burma (now Myanmar) to make sure that the country would not end up with a communist government. History society meetings take on a variety of formats, but especially with course selection coming up, it was awesome to see a sneak peak of Professor Bowser’s Spring semester Decolonization in Asia class.

Wednesday- Wednesday, I painted more canvases for my little, and then I went to a weekly dinner with my friends, Meghan and Kaycee. After, I met up with my big, Hannah, and her big (my grandbig) Kathryn, and we made a cringy tik-tok. I finished the night up by doing some readings for my Modern Germany class.

Thursday- I went to Carmichael Dining Hall for the annual Asian Food Night with my friend Naomi. After enjoying lemongrass tofu, scallion pancakes, and stir-fried vegetables, we parted ways and I went to Tisch Roof to watch the Freshman 15, one of our jazz groups, perform (picture of the Freshman 15 featured above). The event was hosted in collaboration with the Tufts University Social Collective (TUSC), so there was hot chocolate and food as well, and they even set up space heaters on the roof to keep us warm. After the performance, I went home to do some work, and then I ended the night with a Tufts Tap bonding in my friend James’ suite.

Friday- I finished up my week by painting one last canvas to give to my little. My friend and housemate Hannah, who was painting for her little, kept me company. Then I got dinner with two friends from freshman year, and attended the sQ! show, entitled "Tufts sQ! presents: Wii sQ!orts." sQ! is one of our all-gender a capella groups here, and one of my tap friends is in it, so a bunch of the Tufts Tap members went together to support him. To keep in line with the Wii sQ!orts theme, the group also included a very amusing Wii-sports themed skit.

All in all, it was a great week! My Emma’s advice for today is something I’ve been trying to follow more myself—balance your work and fun time. When you get to college, whether it is Tufts or another school, go to free music events and support your friends, hit the themed food nights, even when they are at the less convenient dining hall, and make activities you need to do, like crafting for your little, social events with friends. Building and maintaining relationships, getting involved in extracurriculars, and just experiencing college in general are equally productive and important to your academic work, so strike a balance!