5am: Crawl (I assure you, quite literally) out of bed. It's freezing. Not just cold but so icy my pants are frozen to my ass before I reach my wardrobe. No matter how long the heating is on my room is some sort of perpetual cold spot. I'd look into it more but at 5am all my brain can process are the words "fucking cold....fucking cold" over and over again.

5.15am: I stagger down the stairs. We have a handrail on both sides, thankfully. I'd no doubt be a smear at the bottom without the support.

5.20am: I do bathroom...stuff. Would you believe I need to psych myself up to face the mirror in the morning. Most of the time I've forgotten to remove the makeup the night before and I look like an extra from Dawn of the Dead.

5.35am: I raid the fridge for stuff. Most of the time I'm not even aware of what I'm eating. My brain finds it difficult to comprehend the subtle differences between butter and cheese at this hour. I did actually spend several minutes one morning cursing the butter that wouldn't spread.

5.50am: This is what I usually dub "Emma's panic time". For about 10-15 minutes I run around the house like I've a wasp up my backside. Collecting last minute things I need and looking for the mobile phone that always seems to appear in my pocket low on battery power.

6.00/6.05am: This is the time I leave the house for my 40 minute walk to catch my bus. If you recall me talking about freezing rooms, well, the temp outside is soooo much worse. Minus degrees and snow I can handle. For some reason though Ireland's cold is incredibly damp and it seeps right through you. Let's just say that I walk fast and wear many layers. (Think Ghostbusters' marshmellow man)

7.00am: My bus arrives.

8.00am: The bus driver kicks me in the ankle to "WAKE THE FUCK UP!!!". Unluckily my stop is the last and my brain automatically interprets that as potential nap time.

8.30am: Class starts.

8.30am- 4.30pm: This period of time usually results in a lot of screaming, a lot of computer crashes, me cursing Microsoft to the depths of the Pit and really bad coffee.

5.00pm: My bus comes to take me home.

6.30pm: I arrive home cursing traffic and desperately trying to cram some food into me.

7.30pm: Off to training I go. In case you weren't aware, the training consists of warm ups that make me violently ill, stretching that results in someone sitting on you as you cry and doing drills till your brain is a melted sack of useless organic matter. That is hour one.

9.00pm: The second hour of training. Basically I beat pads up and get beat up in sparring. If I'm going to faint, halfway through this class is about the time it happens.

10.00pm: I start to head home.

10.35pm: I eat like I'm possessed.

10.45pm: I shower and wash my training gear for the next day.

11.45pm: I crawl into bed.

12.30am: This is about the time I actually get to sleep.

This is Monday's schedule. The rest of the week is pretty much the same except on a Thursday I go straight from my IT course to my A,P and M course.

If I've been slow to respond (or not at all in some cases) it's absolutely not intentional.