Week in the life of a 23-year old 5th year architecture student studying in Barcelona, Spain
Written by Calin-Bogdan Maier, Edited by Aliya @archistudentnotes
Today we have a week in the life submission from a 23 year old 5th year architecture student and LinkedIn writer living and studying in Barcelona, Spain.
Calin-Bogdan Maier is, in his own words - ‘an architecture student on a quest to find out if personal branding is useful during university’. He shares helpful posts on productivity, building a personal brand, networking and growing on LinkedIn everyday sharing with 3000 LinkedIn followers.
Definitely worth a follow, but for now lets get into the week!
Would you have tackled the week any differently?
Monday
New week commencing.
I wake up at 7 in the morning, prepare my breakfast, drink my tea and head out to uni. In 45 minutes, I'm ready to roll.
At 9 I start my classes. I have a few hours to kill before I start again with the 13:00 class, where I help students who are struggling with the structures class, as I am a teaching assistant.
I also post my LinkedIn post at around 15:00. This has already been written during the weekend, so I don't have to think about it too much.
Note from Aliya @archistudentnotes: As a content creator, content batching or writing is very helpful to keep on top of things, this can also be good for architecture students too. Where you can, choose a time/day/week and batch render for example. Get it all done and then you’re free to work on other things!
At 15:00 I finish helping the students and I head to my 5-hour construction workshop, where me and my team are prepared to share our progress on the pavilion that we have to build. It's a pavilion for the Light Festival in Barcelona, so we have to think carefully about the construction methods, budget and overall experience, since we might end up building this in real life.
Tuesday
Tuesday comes and I wake up at 7 once again.
I do some work at home before I head to my 11 am class of representation systems. There, I typically work with my teammate to create amazing visuals and presentations and get some feedback from the teacher.
At 13:00 I start helping students again until 15:00, then I leave home to continue working on various subjects so I don't fall behind and I can bring good work to be reviewed. Then I post my LinkedIn post once again.
At 19:00 I start my Spanish classes, as I'm on my way to reach native fluency by the end of next year (I used a SMART goal framework for this particular objective).
Note from Aliya @archistudentnotes: Incredibly commitment to additional learning from Calin, the SMART goal framework is a very well known, tried and tested technique that every architecture student should use.
Wednesday
On Wednesday I have the same routine as on Monday, waking up at 7, preparing breakfast and arriving to uni by 9 am to start my first class.
At 11am I finish and I typically continue working in uni until my 4pm urbanism workshop starts. Around 15:00 I post once again my LinkedIn post of the day.
I work in teams for the urbanism class, so, with our presentation prepared, we have our correction then we assess our progress and divide up the workload so that each of us knows how to continue throughout the week. By 20:00 I finish my workshop and I head back home.
Mid Week Plug
Enjoying this weeks ArchiWeek? Interested in sharing your own week?
Thursday
Same as with Wednesday and Thursday, I wake up at 7, breakfast, arrive at uni at 9 AM for my other class of representation.
In a similar manner, I work with my teammate for our project and by 11am we finish class. I work in uni until 13:00 when I help students once again for 2 hours. Meanwhile I schedule my LinkedIn post for the day.
At 15:00 I start my last class of the day and I leave home at 17:00, feeling prepared for the final day of the week.
Friday
Lastly, on Friday I wake up at 7am, do chores around the house before I start my Catalan class. Once again, I have my SMART objective to reach fluency by September 2024 and become native fluent by September 2025.
I finish my language class at 10am and I continue working on different uni projects. At 14:00 I head out to my last workshop of the week: 5-hour design workshop where me and my teammate have to present our progress for the week. We have our correction, we divide up the workload once again and we leave uni by 20:00.
In the evening I make a list of what I should be doing throughout the weekend and the following week, to be prepared for what's coming and not stress about forgetting anything.
Note from Aliya @archistudentnotes: An excellent way to end the week! It feel like too much effort after a long week but don’t put it off! Organise yourself as soon as you can to make the most of your time off over the weekend and look ahead to the next week!
NOTE FROM THE WRITER
I hope whoever reads this is not feeling demotivated by my busy schedule. The way I stay on top of everything is being very organised with my time and focusing on deep work and effective team communication, as there lies the secret to a productive and successful week. I wish you all good luck!
And that’s the week!
Thank you so much to Calin for this ArchiWeek submission, especially considering his very busy schedule. It was great to read how Calin organises his time and has clear goals for the future which he is actively working on.
Remember, Calin posts everyday on LinkedIn so check his page out! @Calin-Bogdan Maier
If you’re interested in sharing your own ArchiWeek, your own reflection - click here!
