8:56 AM-  I wake up to the annoyingly twinkly alarm from my SleepCycle app, signaling that, scientifically, my body is ready to get up and start its day.  Feeling the freezing, overly air-conditioned room beyond my bed and analyzing my 62% sleep quality chart (unfortunately one of my top scores), I decide that my app is wrong and go back to bed until 9:10.
 
9:30 AM- After taking a shot of apple cider vinegar and grabbing a pack of almonds, I head downstairs to wait for Vinit to walk to the QLine together.  However, halfway down the elevator, I check my phone to see a text from him saying that he’s already downtown for one of his many top-secret operations.  I use my solo QLine trip to catch up on the news and read emails.
 
10 AM- I get to the office, say hi to those who are not already out giving a tour or at a meeting, settle in at my usual spot at the countertop and get to work.  A few weeks ago, we implemented a new public feedback survey as well as an automated distribution system, so I’ve made it a routine to check that every morning to make sure that it is still not broken.  Then, Vinit and I keep working on the calculations and creating slides for our economic impact report, eventually moving to the couch in the front of the Welcome Center to be more comfortable and for the good people-watching opportunities.   
 
1 PM- We remember we need to eat something.  Vinit heats up his very practical meal-prepped lunch while I go out to get a very non-practical, overpriced, and unfortunately underwhelming acai bowl from a nearby salad place.
 
2:30 PM- We get a pleasant break from PowerPoint and Excel when one of our coworkers invites us to come shoot a promotional video for an upcoming Belle Isle tour DXF is running.  After a few  hours of watching the drone fly around the island in the sun, we make it back in time to attend DXF’s Small BIZ tour.
 
5 PM- Vinit and I and a group of 10 other people, including Thomas and Pauline who walked over from the DDP office to join the tour, were introduced to a variety of new clothing stores, restaurants, and businesses in Downtown.
 
7 PM- After waiting for at least 30 minutes for what was supposed to be a 9 minute wait for the QLine, we meet up with the rest of DukeEngage for our weekly group dinner at Seva.
 
8 PM- I finally get back to UT and realize how exhausted I am.  The next few hours are spent on a friend’s or my apartment’s couch reading or watching a show—shows involving an angry Gordon Ramsay have been a popular choice recently.
 
12 AM- I come back to my apartment and instead of sleeping, have a second wave of energy usually triggered by the mess that is our kitchen.  Thankfully one of my roommates also does not sleep at normal hours and we deliriously laugh together as we wash dishes.
 
2/3 AM- My body finally gives in and I fall asleep.

 7:30 AM (Fridays)
My alarm goes off, and I get prepared to leave. Leah and I usually sit in for the DTX panelists in the morning on Fridays.

8:35 AM
My alarm goes off, and I get prepared in the morning. Sometimes, I go back to sleep until ~9:15ish. I get dressed, make breakfast, and text Leah to check the time we should leave. Many times, Carly and Aaron would leave with us at 9:40.

10:00 AM:
The four of us arrive at TechTown, and Leah and I set our bags down either in the Junction 440 co-working area with Carly and Aaron or we enter the TechTown office and set up in the back. For much of the summer, we would check our E-mails and schedules to make sure the appointments and interviews are in place for the day. We then go over our to-do list and start there. Currently, Leah and I are finalizing the final report we will be presenting to TechTown. Sometimes we would check in with Betsy, Marlin, or Anne to discuss our project or schedule times we could meet. Other times, we just complete the work on the to-do list.

12:30 PM:
The four of us get lunch together. On days the pop-up soup store is there, I really enjoy a spicy chicken leek soup offered. I eat my packed lunch, and catch up with Aaron and Carly.

1:00 PM:
Leah and I go back to work. At this time, we would usually meet with Marlin to discuss next steps. Otherwise, we continue down our to-do list.

5:00 PM:
The four of us leave work for the dormitory.

5:30 PM (Mondays and Thursdays):
PPrath and I bike to Motor City Street Dance for bboying sessons.

6:00 PM (other days):
The suite and many DukeEngagers hit the gym and cook dinner in our suites after we get back.

9:00 PM:
Prath and I usually arrive back from Street Dance at this time. We sometimes go to the gym, but most other times we make dinner and then prepare for bed.

11:00 PM:
I eat a late night snack before I pack up my lunch for the next day. I then take a shower and go to sleep.

9:00 - 
My alarm goes off. 

9:05 - 
My alarm is still going off. 

9:10 -
I finally wake up! I usually make myself some eggs and eat a banana. Afterwards I get ready by getting dressed, brushing my teeth, and all that good stuff, and then I walk downstairs to meet Leah, Zhao, and Carly.

10 - 
We get to work, we say hello to the lovely people at the front desk — Alissa and Andrea, and start our day! Carly and I both really love having everything laid out for the day. So the first thing we usually do (bar putting our lunchboxes in the fridge) is create an action plan for the upcoming day. It's a good way for us both to plan and focus in on what we need to do for the day. It also eliminates any confusion on what to do when, and keeps us both accountable for our collective and individual duties for the day. At this time we also have our beginning of the week check-in with Jayesh and Charles. Here we just re-cap on how our weekend was, what we need to do and look forward to in the upcoming week, as well as our set-backs and accomplishments of the past week. 

11 - 
On an average day we usually have 2-3 face to face interviews and 1-2 phone interviews. At work we conduct interviews from past clients in order to convince the judges about the importance of the program and to help continue and grow it in the future. We usually have them dispersed throughout the day. In between interviews we'll also be planning for our inaugural event of Policy & Pie (July 25th @ TechTown from 6-8). This will include everything from making flyers, making the press release, and the other kind of technical things that go into event planning. 

12:30 - 
All four of us (Leah, Zhao, Carly, and I) are eager to eat lunch. We usually are eating the things that we scavenged from an event they held at TechTown the other day. 

5 - 
We head back to our dorm after finishing up making calls and updating our database on the information we gathered from our interviewees. I usually like getting out of the dorm to get some fresh air and have some new scenery than our dorm so I usually go to the student center, or if it's not too hot then this outdoor reflecting pool. There I will just relax and maybe get some work done.

8 - 
I usually go to the gym and play basketball with my roommate — Thomas. We always have competitions on who is better. Sometimes we'll get more people to come and have a suite vs. suite competition with the other boys room. 

9 - 
We end the night off with eating dinner and just hanging out in the room. We might watch a movie or hang out on the curb at night and just chill. We usually go to bed super late and regret it every time the morning after. We obviously don't regret it enough because the same usually happens the next night. 

Prath eating a magical burrito from our favorite restaurant: Taqueria El Rey. 

​            At 7:45 my alarm goes off. I reach for my phone and open up my Simple Habit app to set my 5-minute meditation. Today it’s “Cognitive Reframing and Resilience.” I finish my meditation, make myself eggs with vegetables, get dressed, and head downstairs at around 9 to meet Prath. We walk 5 minutes to our Mogo station, bike for 20 minutes—past highways, neighborhoods, and an abandoned train station-- until we eventually arrive at work.
            Prath and I sit down, set up our music, review emails, and set a plan for the day. Today, it’s working through expanding the resources page for entrepreneurs on the ProsperUS website, interviewing and photographing an entrepreneur for our Storytelling project, and then transcribing and editing the post for our storytelling project that we’ll later post on the ProsperUS Facebook page and website. In the afternoon, we’ll head to the learning lab where we’ll be teaching adults (who haven’t yet graduated high school) lessons to help them pass their GED. Oh, and Prath and I will be going to our favorite local Mexican place, Taqueria El Ray, with the best smoked chicken I’ve ever had.
            After work, Prath and I start our 20-minute bike journey home. As we bike we pass a casino, a broken down neighborhood, we ride on bumpy and newly renovated streets, and cross over a highway. We return to Wayne State where I change, walk to the gym, exercise, and then return home to make myself dinner. My roommates and I promptly begin to watch our show, Master of None, and then fall asleep. A day in the life of Ali Frank has been complete.

My roommates and I watching Master of None together!

​8:30
I’m not a morning person. I wake up, walk out of my bedroom, and greet my suitemates happily making breakfast as I fall down on the couch and sleep for another 15 minutes. After I decide to actually wake up, I’ll make coffee for me and Ali. I think we have a problem. But at least she wasn’t the one that made coffee without glasses and contact and accidentally made 12 cups…
 
10:00
Mondays are my favorite at work. Aaron and I settle in on the couches of TechTown and make our ToDo List for the day. It usually includes 2-3 face to face interviews and 1-2 phone interviews with previous clients of Street Democracy. By this time, Jayesh and Charles have walked in and we have our Monday Morning Meetings. We ask each other how our weekends were, what we’re excited about, and if we have any concerns for the upcoming week.
 
11:00
Aaron and I have interviews, update the database with new information, and continue to plan Policy and Pie. (Tuesday, July 25th 6-8 at TechTown!) And yes, there will be pie.
 
12:30 (on the dot)
Aaron, Leah, Zhao, and I all meet for lunch. It’s always extremely humorous to see what we’ve taken from yesterday’s events at TechTown and are currently eating for lunch.
 
5:00
We drive back to University Towers after conducting more interviews and continuing to update the database. As soon as we get back to the apartment, I put on my pajamas and watch The West Wing on the couch. I think I can now do this before Leah even puts her lunchbox away.
 
8:00
After I wake up from my 3-hour nap and Leah telling me that she walked in to my absolutely passed out with The West Wing theme song blasting, we make fun Vegan, Gluten Free dinners and eat together. We quickly shower and get ready for bed because it’s time to have apartment bonding time and watch Master of None. Allora!
 
10:30
Our apartment is a bunch of old souls. Time for bed!
 

​MORNING
 
BLINGG DUNGGG BANNGG
OK, this has to be mine. I’ll get out of my blankets. Kindly regard both the polar bear and the penguin that decided to sleep in my room due to its incredibly low temperature, and get dressed.
 
After the morning classics, I head to the office with Nalini. We usually arrive there at 9, but most of our supervisors arrive at 9:30. In that half an hour we get a cup of coffee and we start planning the day out. We have a meeting at 10, then we need to work on a Gantt chart to improve the making process of Mitten Bites, and later shoot a brief interview to incorporate in the new website.
 
AFTERNOON
After too many cups of the delicious free coffee at Green Garage, it’s time for lunch. I boil some pasta, and I cook a couple of sliced zucchini on the side. While everything is cooking, I’ll get a fork and a dish from the pile and clean it. I mix the zucchini and the pasta together, I sit down with my bowl of pasta, and I talk with Nalini about news and what’s happening in the world.
Being both international students, Me and Nalini sometimes we take this time to call home. Unfortunately, I cannot call after work because it is already night back in Italy.
 
After a few more hours at the office we head back to UT. There, I sit on my bed for ten minutes to check my social media and some news. I quickly change in gym cloths and bike over the gym. After a quick workout I got back, shower, and make myself some dinner. Cooking has become a good way to relax during our busy days.
 
EVENING
In the spare time I have I like to work on a few side projects. Photography, video making and fixing up my website fill up my evenings. I am also reading an interesting book called: “Shoe Dog”. It’s the story of the entrepreneur who founded Nike.
 
NIGHT.
I pat on the head Johnny, the polar bear, and, precise like a clock, I go to bed at 12.
 

​
 
 
                                                                                          

       I decided to use a slightly different format my day in the life post, by focusing on the highlights of each day rather than each individual day to show what stood out to me. 

       Before I even got to Detroit, I knew one of the hardest parts of the summer would be getting up at 8am every day. After taking 8:30 classes freshman year and working a 9-5 for two months, I am starting to believe that my body is simply not built for it…at least not without coffee. Of course, as I write this, I realize how privileged I am to even have the luxury of complaining and how lazy I probably sound.
       Lin and I successfully rode the Q- line to work on our second day. One the first day of work, we rode it all the way to downtown, the opposite direction of where we were supposed to be heading. Although the Q-line was a major breakthrough in the Detroit transportation system, it has a long way to go before it is considered reliable or fast. Over the course of the past two months Lin and I have learned to be more flexible with the Q-line. We realized that even if we got to to Q-line stop at the same time everyday, there could be between a 1-minute wait and a 25-minute wait. We learned to accept the extra wait time because it gave us more opportunities to take in our surroundings anyway.  
       Some of the most interesting encounters I’ve had in Detroit have occurred riding or waiting for the Q-line. I’ve been approached for money. I’ve been approached by people who simply wanted to tell me their story. I’ve seen a 70-year-old man give up his seat to another 70-year-old woman. I’ve even been approached for bodily services, which I ended up taking as a compliment of course.
After attending meetings, researching various things, and working on presentations for most of the day, it was important for us exercise after work. I often chose to MoGo wherever I could, including biking from uptown to downtown for a haircut at Sam’s barber shop. At the beginning of the summer, Zhao, Prath, and I set goals of gaining 5-10 pounds each by working out at the gym. Although I’m not sure if we actually reached our goals, it was cool to see our progress. Though I could only hobble around with a bad ankle, I also loved playing basketball with the other seven guys this summer.
       After returning from the gym everyday, the kitchen turned into chaos (a fun kind of chaos), with everyone trying to cook their dinner at the same time. As for how I got the food to cook with, that is another story. In order to maximize my money and my time, I decided to shop in three week intervals at large stores like Meijer and Target. On the way back from the store, I always carefully laid all of the bags on top of me like a blanket, because there wasn’t enough room in the trunk. With several huge bags of frozen meat and vegetables, I was lucky enough to be able use another room’s freezer to store my extra food. I am sure Carrie, who was gracious enough to drive us, can attest to my unconventional shopping ways. If you can’t already tell from this paragraph, I am a very cheap person. At the end of each day, I make sure to pack my lunch for the next day. This is usually a ham sandwich, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, yogurt, and and apple.
       Room 222 always welcomed the weekend because it meant we got to catch up on our sleep. Unfortunately, most of our suite never made it to brunch with the early risers, but we usually started our day off strong by around 1!
       I included a picture I took of an eight mile street sign in my post, not because it was part of my everyday life in Detroit, but because it provides a perspective of Detroit we never really got to witness face to face. While I did get to experience life in Detroit, I also recognized the importance of noticing that we were in somewhat of a Midtown bubble. While living in midtown and downtown is nice, living in Detroit encompasses much more than that.

​10:00 am - “What’s Up Guys”

Those are always the first words as Jake, our supervisor, comes to say hello. He slides in next to us and we chat about our day. We talk about mix of personal and work and for me it has sort of become a daily planner time. After the chat, Tommaso and I, work to finish the tasks. Excel sheets, google docs, proposals, product photography - its rarely the same thing.


12:30 pm - “Do you wanna cook or go out”

Its time for our lunch break and Tom and I decide what we want to do today. We live 5 minutes away from work so it is a hard decision. Today we decided to cook so we head back home. Either Tom comes over to our kitchen to cook or I go over. He creates some beautiful delicacy, balanced and healthy and I mange to whip myself some food. (Hey I am super proud). We get ready for the next phase of work. We bike to eastern market or Peaches and Greens to shoot videos and interview people or go back to Green Garage.

​5:00 pm - “Let’s Go!”

We have been fidgeting for the last 15 minutes. Its been a tiring day. After working through Quickboooks, Website designing, editing and Gantt Charts we are exhausted and itching to go back home. I am generally the first one back and I get a good 15 minutes of me time. It is spent well laying catatonic on the couch - texting or watching netflix.


8:00 pm - “Eh! I’m too tired to cook”

I groan as I rummage around for a pot to start boiling the pasta in. I am sweaty because Lin and I have just come back from the gym and my legs feel like jelly after my run. If we are lucky then and I decide to cook beans, we have a little can opener drama. After my suite mates and I disfigure the can (we haven't figured out how to use the can opener just yet) I have my meal. Time for Netflix


10:00 pm - “Hey, what’s up?”

Its my phone time. My parents or my friends generally call up around that time and I chat up with them for a bit. I come back to find a peaceful situation. Occasionally Tommaso comes to our apartment to hang out. He and Astha are watching Chef’s kitchen, Lin is working or watching TV and Lucia is in her room. I smile as I take my spot on the couch. It feels like a fam.


2:00 am - “ We really should go to bed”

Astha and I look at each other. We thought we would go to bed earlier but eh. If we are lucky this has been a day where we didn't forget our keys so we didn’t get locked out and didn't have to figure out a way to get in to the apartment. We have been laughing and talking for a bit now. I took a look at the dishes stacked up high. Should I... Nah I'm tired and they aren't all mine anyway. It's time to take a hot shower and get into my bed. I get a text from my mom - “Good night” followed by 3 hearts. I smile. “Good night” followed by three hearts. 

Oh, hey there! Thanks for tagging along for this awesome tour of a typical day for Lúcia in Detroit. Please fasten your seatbelt and keep your feet and arms inside the cart at all times.

​7:00am. I wake up, after hitting snooze for a few times, and quickly realize I am not flying over the Atlantic Ocean or petting a thousand dogs at Hogwarts. I am in my room at University Towers, and I have to be careful to not wake up my roommate with this dream-to-real-life transition. I deactivate airplane mode on my phone, and spend my first 10 minutes of the day scrolling through G1, one of the most well-established Brazilian news websites. The dollar going up, our taxes increasing, some new politician being judged for corruption... During my time in Detroit, it definitely has not been a pretty view, so I decide to waste five minutes randomly scrolling through social media news feeds.

7:15am. I head to the kitchen, being the first person awake in our 4-person apartment for at least an hour (ladies, wake up earlier please). I grab one of the bowls by the sink, some vanilla fat-free greek yogurt from the fridge, and Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds. On top of my work with Build Institute, I've been working as the regional coordinator of BRASA, the Brazilian Student Association, an organization that hosts at least 5 international conferences each year and impacts the lives of thousands of Brazilians in Brazil and across 4 continents. As I eat my cereal with yogurt, I reply to BRASA emails, analyze potential partnerships, and review my schedule for the week. For the next two hours, my life is BRASA. Pro tip: don't try to balance DukeEngage with another internship and your work with BRASA and a startup. Unless you enjoy waking up at 3am to call your sister to tell her about this new amazing idea you just had, or maybe to simply remember you forgot to email your supervisor last night.

9:15am. 45 minutes the time we usually leave to work, I start showering and getting ready. I usually get lost in the middle of work and miss the 9:15am mark, which explains why I am usually 5 minutes late to our bike to work.

10:00am. Actually no, because one of us is usually late, it's more like 10:05am. Marc and I meet at the lobby and walk to the MoGo station on Second Avenue. We pick our bikes, then bike for 30 minutes through Midtown, Michigan Avenue and Corktown, until we reach Build.

10:30am. Marc and I arrive at Build. I'm completely covered in sweat and the AC never seems enough, so I take a couple moments to recover and potentially empty the office water dispenser. After one or two minutes, we go through what we have to do for the day, and try to split the work to complete the tasks more efficiently.

​11:00am – team meeting time! As we work on the table usually used for the team meetings, we don't have to move anywhere. After an icebreaker (each week, a team member is the responsible for coming up with one), each of us goes through what we have accomplished in the past week. Our supervisor, Christianne, talks about what has happened in the Detroit entrepreneurial ecosystem, and April discusses external meetings and key strategic plans. It's incredibly fulfilling to work for an organization that besides holding extremely high standards and having such a great impact, has an incredibly down-to-Earth and friendly team. After the meeting, Marc and I continue our work, which mostly consists of analyzing data and working with spreadsheets, writing company reports, and sending a couple emails here and there.

1:00pm - I don't really know how or why we decided that this was our lunch time, but it works perfectly since it allows us to go to restaurants that were completely full at 12pm. True, we don't ever pack our lunches, but it just seems counterintuitive to do so when there are so many cheap and great places to go to near Build. We might walk for 5 minutes and try $5 Chicken Fajitas at HoneyBee Market, head to our favorite Taqueria Lupita's and get $1.25 tacos, or go a bit farther to the incredible Detroit Kitchen 75 (a 10 minute bike ride, but the fresh BBQ sandwich is 100% worth it) or get some sliders at the always-full but always-great Green Dot Stables.

​After we get back to work, we continue our work. Sometimes, we sit on a couple meetings in the office, mostly related to strategic planning for Build. We've heard about Human Resource Outsourcing, Architecture, took a tour of the Little Caesars arena construction site, and helped staff a couple events, including Detroit Open City. It's always a great time to see the results of our efforts in the organization, and to meet new people! This past Monday, we visited the arena site, and on Tuesday we helped with Detroit Open City, a mostly free forum for Detroit entrepreneurs.

5:00pm. Our day at Build has come to an end, but we usually don't leave until we have finished whatever task we were working on. For me, that is usually writing one last paragraph of a report, or finishing up some calculations for our Economic Impact Report. Once again, we grab MoGo bikes and bike back. There's nothing quite like being able to breathe some fresh air and exercise after a long day in the office, spent mostly sitting in a chair.

5:30pm. I get back to our apartment, and go back to working with BRASA. At least until 8:30pm, I will most likely just work from my room to avoid noise. There's a very high chance I'll be listening to either Lady Gaga, OneRepublic, or Billie Eilish, or in a Google Hangouts call with people from all over the world.

8:00pm. I really love cooking, so I always try to cook myself dinner from scratch whenever I can. I've baked bread, made some pie, and even made some samosas. I almost never use any recipes, I just follow what I remember from the top of my head and try to put together ingredients that I think fit well together. Today, the special is Teriyaki Chicken with Coconut and Quinoa Rice. 
​

From 9pm onwards, I go to Tou & Mai, an Asian mini mart and boba tea shop, to grab some Honey Dew Boba with tapioca pearls, and then head over to the gym. When I come back, I'll work on my startups, Pharos and Sânea, and spend at least an hour talking to my sister and parents on FaceTime, on top of assisting another two Brazilian high schoolers with the US college application system.

​When I feel that I have talked to everyone I wanted to talk to, and finished all the work I can do before passing out on the desk, I go to sleep. I know it's a good day if I remembered to buy some cookies or keep the fridge full of cherries for that late-night snack. Alternatively, there could also be a new Game of Thrones episode or a picture from my dog waiting for me among recent messages. Either way works.