The Life of an Engineering Student :: Engineer Education Papers

The Life of an Engineering Student I'm drinking cocktails out of a coconut on the beach when the Ocean begins to beep. It's 7:00am, Monday morning. I throw the alarm clock across the room and it crashes on the opposite wall. Subconsciously, I drag myself out of bed. Blind without my contacts and still lying on the beach sipping cocktails in a far off land, I don't realize the bedroom door is closed until my nose impacts it. My nose gives, the door doesn't. I stagger into the bathroom, start the shower, and plop in my contacts. I massage my chin, which is sporting two days of scruffy growth. I tell myself that I'll shave tomorrow. The shower's hot for the first two minutes and then it turns cold. My eyes fire open for the first time. I wonder why a building designed for twenty people can only handle one person taking a shower. I towel off and drag a comb across my head. The deodorant is there, but it seems my toothbrush has walked off. A finger has to act as a substitute. I slip on a pair of flannel boxers. They have a tear down the leg from fatigue due to heavy wear. It takes months for a new pair of boxers to become comfortable, hence, no man ever throws his shorts away. Dissolved by the cyclic loading of the wash machine, boxers just don't make it out of the laundry one day. It's a mystery that men still ponder while sipping a beer at the bar on a Friday night. My jeans haven't been cleaned in days, but that doesn't matter. A T-shirt and shoes add the finishing touches. I check my watch. It's 7:35am and there's no way I'm going to make it for my 7:45 mechanics of materials lab. I jump on my mountain bike in full stride and blow four red lights on the way to Engineering Hall. I nearly knock over a poor frosh who carelessly steps into the bike lane on University Avenue. Clipping his backpack, I turn my head to see if I knocked him over. I don't fret it because freshmen are pretty ductile when it comes to things like that. Besides, I'm sure I didn't cause any permanent trauma. The Professor has started the pre-lab lecture when I enter the room. "This is a common stress-strain diagram for low carbon steel.