A Day In My Life As A Phd Student

Recently, I’m so interested to record how I spend my 24 hours from the Phd student point of view. So here’s this blog entry. 

7.00 am Wake Up Naturally 

Around 7.00 am every day, I wake up naturally without relying on alarm clock because I’ve strong sense of timing that allows me to guess the times accurately. 

7.15 am Checking Email, Facebook and Instagram

I spend 15 minutes to read email, whatsapp, facebook, instagram, twitter, dayre.  I regularly texting good morning to my family chat group. Sometimes, I overspend if the contents are too interesting. 

7.20 am Wash My Face & Brush My Teeth

this is where I clean my face & brush teeth

I pull myself out from the bed and go to the bathroom which is few steps away from my room for washing face and brushing teeth. Normally, I use cold water instead of warm water to wash my face. I also spend very short seconds to brush my teeth because no proper skills in teeth brushing. 

7.40 am Quiet time with the Buddha

Buddha, candles and a cup of water

While I still in my pajamas, I offer holly sticks for Buddha and communicate with Buddha. I light a candle and practice mantra chanting on my study table. Other than that, I feed the wild birds with uncook rice in front of my dorm room. The praying really strengthen my spirit and ease my future challenges ahead. 

7.50 am I Do my Laundry Everyday.

Because I hold the principle “don’t put off what I can do today for tomorrow” (今日事，今日毕). I never ever left any single unwashed cloth in a day because I insist to wash it no matter how late night it is.

8.05 am Making Simple Breakfast

It's simple like ABC

Roti telur for breakfast is my main option when I'm in Nasi Kandar Cafeteria

For breakfast, I make very simple one which I really know such as spread peanut on the breads, hard boiled eggs, instant noodles. If I got energy I will go to cafeteria, far a bit to “tapau” nasi lemak, fried beehon, roti canai.  

8.15 am Taking Shower

The bathroom looks very clean. Cleaner clean it almost every day

8.30 am-11.30 am Doing Research Works

I get on to my desk of my dorm room, turn on my computer and start reading articles or writing. I love to do my research works in my dorm room. It’s quite and easy to concentrate. Reading a lot of articles is part of the research process for my Phd journey (business management field). But different fields have different research methods.

Some are doing experiments in laboratory, collecting data and analyzing data. Others are writing codes and building machines. Or some are like me, read a lot of articles, figure out the research problem and recommend solutions. 

11.30 am Lunch

Don't be surprise, all are Malay foods. 

What I've everyday (within RM 3.00-RM 4.00). Mostly are vegetables rather than meats 

I go for lunch at the cafeteria near my university dorm room, called as “Proton”. This cafeteria wins my heart in fact because its foods like my taste followed by the fresh fruits. It seemed like “one stop center” for me.

12.00 noon Back to Dorm Room & Bathing

I back to my dorm room and then I take shower as I almost sweat like buckets if I outing.

12.30 pm Continue reading, understanding, thinking and writing my theses

3.00 pm Leave Research Works

I tidy up my writings to put aside, off the laptop and go for afternoon nap. At that moment, the bright afternoon sun shines stretch across dorm room. It causes the room incredible hot and kills my mood to read the articles.  

4.00 pm Room Cleaning

My messy room 

It considers as my daily exercise. I’m so lazy to go to university’s sport center for workouts.

4.45 pm Making Dinner

my own version of simple dry noodles

partially cook by me because I bought ready made Tomyam soup and add spiral spaghetti  

Sometimes, I bought spaghetti (less oil) too 

I cook my own dinner instead of cafeteria foods. I really enjoy cooking my own dinner. At least the foods not burning my stomach. The fried-related foods such as fried noodles, kueh teow are too heaty and oily for me. But once in a blue moon, I indulge myself in those foods too.

6.00 pm Shower & Relax

I usually online watch Hong Kong latest drama. Thanks to university dorms’ WIFI is very good. Either way, I write the blog and read other blog.

9.30 pm Get Ready for Bed

After several hours of watching and reading, I close the laptop and get ready to bed. Usually, I off the lights on 10.00 pm. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

So, that’s my life as a Phd student from Monday to Sunday. It becomes exciting when I travel or back to my hometown.

I explore the new attractions, foods and people during traveling. When in hometown, I got parents and siblings to share with. It sounds like more “colorful” life.

Even that way, I still enjoy as a Phd student. I manage my own working hours as long as I meet the dateline. I able to prioritize my tasks.

Finally, how does your life? It’s quite fun I chronically list down my mundane daily life. Maybe now it’s not interesting but I belief few years later when I look back it is so awesome.