A lot of people hate Mondays, but I don't, and every time I hear someone describe theirs and lament how it's the worst day of the week, I'm rather glad I don't have to say the same about by Mondays because I would really hate to have a bad start to the week. So, I'm going to describe a typical Monday in my life here at the University of Glasgow and I'm going to guess at the end as to why I absolutely cannot hate it. 

Morning

My Mondays start early, well actually everday starts early for me. I wake up at 5:00am regardless of what time I have my first activity for the day. Usually on Mondays I have lectures at 10:00am, so from 5:00am to about 7:00am, I say my prayers and read a few devotionals. 

I cannot start my day without this, it's where I get all the energy and peace I need to dive into the day and it works, every single time. From 7:00am to 7:30am I do some stretching and home exercise. Honestly, I'm not so consistent with this but I'm getting there because it does help to get me mentally prepared. After sweating out I jump right into the shower. Now about this I would say the amount of time it takes me to shower depends on my mood for the morning but I am typically out of the shower around 7:50am. It takes me another couple of minutes to get dressed and I go into the kitchen to have breakfast. Having breakfast also hevaily depends on how I feel, I dislike eating this early but sometimes I just throw some healthy oats in.

Once breakfast is done, I head out into the cold and windy city of Glasgow with the usual hopes it won't get any colder than it already is. It takes me two buses and roughly an hour to get from my faraway apartment to campus so I usually target leaving between 8:30am and 8:50am to arrive before 10:00am. By taxi it's just around 20 minutes. On some days I pull out a book to read on the bus, on other days I simply plug in my AirPods and gaze out the window, and on good days I find someone to chat to along the way. 

Lectures last two hours, so I am usually done by 12:00pm with nothing else to do around campus for the rest of the day. This is the best part of my day, I don't have any other day in the week like this and I like to use this time to do whatever I want such as doing some work in the library, meeting up with friends and colleagues, or visit somewhere interesting. 

On most Mondays I stay around to study or do some personal work, either in the University library, the James McCune Smith (JMS) Learning Hub or any common rooms or lobbies that are not too noisy. When I need to, I do grocery shopping on Mondays too, so I take a bus to the city centre and walk over to the Lidl store at Glasgow Central Station or the Aldi store in my area to get whatever I need before getting on the bus back home. 

I'm usually back home by around 2:30pm. I take out my groceries and prepare lunch which takes me around an hour depending on what I'm preparing. I like to have my lunch heavy because it's usually my last meal of the day on Mondays.

While eating I respond to important messages on my phone and just after that I like to take a short nap for around 30 to 40 minutes. I also work at the university as a Student Fundraiser which I need to leave for again at 5:15pm to arrive for my evening shift between 6:15 to 9:30pm. 

Work is usually fun, and our office is cosy and super comfortable. There are 20 of us per shift and we play interesting games like bingo whilst working however sadly I've never won any. After a 15-minute pep talk we get on cracking with our role which is to telephone our alumni community. It's one of the most interesting parts of my day, hearing alumni stories and getting all that motivation to keep going.

You can tell that I would be completely exhausted after this and yes, I usually am because I get home around 10:40pm from work. I have a shower, eat some fruits and go straight to bed. The most demanding parts of my day are the travel times and the fatigure I get from that, however I always feel mentally energetic after a Monday like this because I think that it helps to throw some positivity my way for the rest of the week. 

So this is what a typical Monday in my life looks like it. I think I love it because even thought it starts early and ends late, the long break in the middle of the day makes it worth it and of course all the people I get to meet and talk to at work help me end this day beautifully. 

First published: 18 March 2025

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