Contact the WSA 2008-2009 Board A Day in the Life
Aaliyah Shafiq | Karla Berman | Winnie Ma
A Day in the Life of Aaliyah Shafiq
A First Year Student Perspective
6:25 a.m. – Alarm goes off. It’s Monday morning. I hop out of the bed and power on my laptop to check weather.com to see what Boston weather has in store for me today. I then decide what to wear, iron my clothes, and hop in the shower.
7:15 a.m. – I briefly check my email to see if there are any urgent messages requiring my immediate response.
7:23 a.m. – I leave my dorm (Morris) for a 7-minute walk across campus to Spangler (yes, it’s exactly seven minutes from my door to the Spangler dining hall)
7:30 a.m. – Meet with my learning team in the dining hall to discuss the day’s three cases. Eat my standard breakfast of two fruit cups and a granola bar.
8:30 a.m. – Head to Aldrich 111, home of Section J
8:40 a.m. – Strategy class (we’re now focusing on international strategy). Before the discussion starts, we enthusiastically welcome a sectionmate’s mother, who is visiting from California.
10:00 a.m. – Class is over, and I chat with friends from other sections during the 20-minute break.
10:20 a.m. – BGIE class (Argentina’s debt crisis)
11:40 a.m. – Class is over, and the section President announces that it’s someone’s birthday. The other 91 of us loudly sing “Happy Birthday” to her. I then head to Spangler to grab a lunch to go. Ten of us from my section are having an informal lunch with our Negotiations professor. It’s a nice day, so we sit at one of the tables outside of Spangler.
1:10 p.m. – The Entrepreneurial Manager class (ING Direct U.S.)
2:30 p.m. – Class is over, and the Social Chair and Ed Rep both make announcements regarding the week’s social and academic activities. I rush back to Morris to change clothes.
3:00 p.m. – And 5, 6, 7, 8! I get my groove on in the hip hop dance class at Shad taught by another first-year woman.
4:00 p.m. – Back to Morris to shower and change. I quickly check my email.
5:00 p.m. – AASU leadership team meeting in an Aldrich classroom (I am the Education Committee co-chairperson). Over the next 90 minutes, we discuss the club’s strategy for the upcoming year. I’m glad that dinner is provided.
6:30 p.m. – Off to the Grille for a frozen yogurt treat. Chat with my sister, who calls me from Atlanta.
7:00 p.m. – Still in the Grille. Meet with my negotiations team (two other sectionmates) as we prepare for our 3-on-3 negotiation with members of Section B tomorrow. We’re planning our strategy for the 4-hour simulation of an actual contract negotiation that took place in 1983. I am one of the union leaders, and our counterparts in Section B will represent plant management.
8:00 p.m. – Back to Morris to read and prep for my two cases for tomorrow.
12:00 a.m. – I check email one last time and then prepare for bed. Well, I won’t get my desired 8 hours of sleep, but six will have to do…
