My Daily Beat

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Every weekday morning I drive from Springvale Rd (A) to the UMD campus (B). I walk up to the GIS lab (C) on the 3rd floor of Cina, and have all my classes (C) in Cina and Humanities. Then I walk down to bb court in SpHC (D) and to the fieldhouse (D). On certain days after practice I drive to Cub Foods (E) for any shopping, and then home (F).

The beat that is so easy to notice in my life is my daily beat. Anyone who might spend a day with me could easily notice the monotony in the path I travel every day. It has become so regular and predictable that any slight disruption along my beat sometimes affects my entire day simply because I am accustomed to my pattern. I have always wondered how people can deal with the same daily commutes, but now realize that they might not notice it until it has been pointed out to them.

Every weekday morning I wake up around the same time. I drive to campus from the west hillside and arrive well before classes start. I always go up into the GIS lab to take care of a few things prior to any classes and make sure I have everything in order. This may be projects I stated the night before or simply checking my emails. It's interesting how Techno$chaft can start off someone's day. If I have any extra time available, I skim through any books in the lab that look interesting or that might help me with my career path.

The reason I am in Duluth is for my degree. I have classes anywhere from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day, all within a few steps of each other. I see some of the same students in a few of the classes, so I see familiar faces. However, I don't yet know them. Sure I know some names and a couple things about them, but I don't yet have that connection. Gesellschaft is going to be seen in most college classes. Lecture classes of 100+ students dominate the first 2 years of college. However, a trace of Gemeinschaft does exist in those chance meetings when students share similar goals and create a friendship.

After classes, I walk down 3 flights of stairs and head towards the SpHC building. Many athletes will gather around the commons area in front of the Romano Gym to study, talk, and even sleep. This is the best place to catch up on how others are doing. I see a lot of Gemeinschaft here, where athletes get to know each other and talk about their day or how their last event went.


At 4 p.m. sharp comes practice time down in the fieldhouse. Even though we all compete in different events, we support every other athlete on the team. Gemeinschaft is easy to recognize among our team. Several teammates may be competing for the same spot on the team, but we never have negativity towards anyone. Supporting each other makes us better athletes, and a stronger team.


Stopping at the grocery store isn't a rigid part of my daily beat, but once or twice a week I need to pick up groceries so Cub Foods silently falls into my routine here and there. This particular grocery store is open 24 hours, so Gesselschaft is easily seen. People can shop at any hour of the day, so chances of running into anyone you know are low. Many stores have shifted towards Techno$chaft with the use of electronic payment and even self checkout counters. Most of the time I only purchase a few commodities, so I can be spotted a lot at these counters.


When I arrive home it's unusually hard not to bump into a roommate, since I have four. While I prepare my dinner we will chat in the kitchen about how our day went or recent events in the news. We try to set up a few game nights a week so we can relax and have fun together. This is something we have been doing for the last 2 years. Even though we have only recently lived together, we have strong bonds that we hope will last for years to come.