End of Term

It's absolutely amazing to think that it's the end of the semester. Next year I will be a junior! There are so many exciting things to talk about: an exciting summer job, studying for exams, packing for a return to Virginia.

Due to finals there won't be any more posts until after May 24th, when I return to Virginia. After that, I will return to schedule.

Read more for my thoughts on the end of term and summer plans.

Semester Wrap Up: Academics

To think that I'm half-way through my college career is crazy. I just can't believe it; it feels like the time is flying past me. Truth: college takes a lot of sustained work and concentrated dedication. I've felt the wear down of the year when winter was in its coldest, but as the weather warmed up so did I. Not to mention the lift that my floor mates and friends provided. I'm intensely grateful for the friends that I've made. For them and myself, I want to keep up the effort and the energy for the next two years, staying focused on making myself happy and learning rather than weakly stumbling through.

Finals are something that I start prepping for at the start of May, so I'm not drowning in cramming. However there was a major surprise from MIT about Random Hall going through construction and Bexley being closed for the next couple of years. This threw me off schedule for studying. I have a take home exam, a final, and two papers to write. Most of my things are organized to be packed up. Taking the time to pack up also means taking the time to purge my room of things I don't adore. For the summer, I'm going to be storing my things at a paid storage facility; thankfully, MIT should be covering this cost.

Gratitude: The Year as a Gift

There's so much that I'm grateful for, even as I struggle through finals and packing and all the things that come with the wrap up of the year. The winding down of the year puts so many things into perspective. My low points this year are also a way to get back down to my foundation.

So many opportunities and knowledge have come to me, but through this year my goal has been to acknowledge these opportunities as a gift. No one is owed anything so to be gifted kindness, knowledge, and kinship is something really valuable. Easy to overlook, but difficult to find. I've been focusing on improving myself, reading and breathing to appreciate what I have.

This year, every day of it, has been a gift. Low points and high points are part of the process of living; I want to appreciate them as an opportunity for growth and self-possesion.

Upcoming Summer: Work and Play

My summer job is an internship with the Smithsonian American Art. Link through to read about the summer program internship for SI American Art. I'm so excited for this amazing opportunity. There's no way for me to express how much it means to me to be stepping forward toward my dream of working in a museum, to be working with art and towards the purpose of preservation, outreach, and education. I adore the Smithsonian and can basically guarantee that I'll spend my summer gushing about it. If you're also interested in this type of work: Check out the Smithsonian's page for summer internships. 

I'm thinking of getting a part time work-from-home job since the Smithsonian internship isn't paid. I'd like to have something to give me a little bit of spending money and some savings to start off my junior year.

For play, I'm going to be having some of my college friends over. I've already got the full plans for a friend coming over for Otakon! Link to read about Otakon, an amazing anime convention in Baltimore, Maryland. This summer will be my third year attending. Another friend may be dropping by sometime during the summer since she fell a bit in love with Virginia after visiting for Thanksgiving.Also, I'm considering going to see Motion City Soundtrack for their concert July 9th at Virginia Beach.

Summer Blogging

With an increased amount of free time, I want to work on my blog. I really want to step it up to the next level. My goals are to create a banner, signature, line break, and maybe even  an extra feature for each week. I'd really like to work on my graphic design and art; utilizing that toward the blog would give me a good schedule and motivation.

I would also like to get back into Youtube and creating videos. It's something that I've always enjoyed but don't seem to block out time for.

If there's anything you want to see in the blog or from me in general, please let me know!

End of Term

It's absolutely amazing to think that it's the end of the semester. Next year I will be a junior! There are so many exciting things to talk about: an exciting summer job, studying for exams, packing for a return to Virginia.

Due to finals there won't be any more posts until after May 24th, when I return to Virginia. After that, I will return to schedule.

Read more for my thoughts on the end of term and summer plans.

Vacation sleeping insights

It's amazing how different MIT students approach their long vacations. A lot of my friends spend most of their vacation sleeping. We travelled all the way to Florida, to see sights and enjoy the warm weather. But most of the day was spent sleeping in. To my amusement, there was great anger at my attempts to have an early start so that we could see more of south Florida. I'm really not exaggerating: Waking up at 2pm and going to sleep at 10pm, sometimes with naps in between.

Why do these kids do this? What reasonable explanation could there be for sleeping away a vacation?





The desire to sleep on vacation is great since most of the school year is spent sleep deprived.

During the school week, most students are sleep deprived not just because of course work, but also by choice. Their logic is that with 24 hours a day, there's however long school work takes and 5 hours of fun. The time that's left over is for sleep. Often a 16 hour work day with 5 fun-hours leaves 4 hours for sleep.

Just 4 hours for sleep.

You might think that I'm exaggerating, but there really most students self report 4-6 hours of sleep a day.

You might be catching the logical paradox that I saw.

If their priority is staying awake for fun, why do these kids spend their vacation sleeping?

To me this makes a lot of sense with a slightly closer look. Your body needs 6-9 hours of sleep, whether you try to convince yourself otherwise or not. The body is crying out for sleep.

For long vacations, there's no work hours. It's just 24 hours of "fun". And sleeping is amazingly fun when your body is crying out for it. So amazing, that a disproportionate time is spent sleeping, trying to catch up on all the hours missed during the semester. An impossible task.

The moral: Work sleep into your schedule. 8-9 hours are the ideal for the college age group. If you don't you may spend your Florida vacation napping.

Vacation sleeping insights

It's amazing how different MIT students approach their long vacations. A lot of my friends spend most of their vacation sleeping. We travelled all the way to Florida, to see sights and enjoy the warm weather. But most of the day was spent sleeping in. To my amusement, there was great anger at my attempts to have an early start so that we could see more of south Florida. I'm really not exaggerating: Waking up at 2pm and going to sleep at 10pm, sometimes with naps in between.

Why do these kids do this? What reasonable explanation could there be for sleeping away a vacation?

Over-committing: Classes, Clubs, Career

There's a big shift transitioning from high school to college. You have a lot more independence to pursue what you want when you want but more responsibility follows. Classes in high school were really easy for me; I could skate through lectures and rely on the repetitive style of teaching if I wanted to zone out for a day.

College is not like this.
At all.

The work load is more intense, especially since professors aren't holding your hand through the material. It's up to you to keep up with work and ask for help when you need it. Despite this, a lot of students coming into college try to replicate high school, signing up for tons of clubs and activities. While it's good to have things outside of lecture, the priority of a college student is their classes, in my honest opinion. Well, it's not just my opinion: it's the opinion of the faculty and advisors.

Here's some advice for the times when you've overcommitted in your classes, clubs, and career.

Classes

Coming into college, it's easy to think that classes will be like high school. A lot of high school advisors don't know what you can handle so you may be used to ignoring warnings of too much course work. Working as an Associate Advisor with freshman advising, I see lots of students think that they can handle five challenging technical classes while doing a varsity sport and who knows what else. Most of these students come back, a little bit humbled, hoping to drop their fifth class and transfer into a slower paced class.

My first suggestion would be to listen to your freshman advisor. Challenge yourself but don't overload on your first semester. If certain classes are pre requisites, it's for good reason; don't try to skip around. If the advisor suggests your course load is too much, consider them seriously. Weight what your advisors says with the advice of upperclassmen who have taken the class.

If you've signed up for too many classes, speak to each professor. Ask how you're doing in their class and ask what you can do to keep up with the work from now on. Make sure to email the TA, asking about what tutoring is available and their office hours. Your school may have a Writing Center or Tutoring Office that you can go to for extra help.

Finally, meet with your advisor, reporting back what each professor has said and how you feel about your work load.

If you need to, drop a class. There's no shame in letting go of something that you aren't enjoying or doing well in. Make sure you keep track of drop date and the necessary paperwork.

Extra Curricular and Clubs

If you've signed up for too many extra curricular responsibilities, there's no shame in stepping back. Speak honestly with your club about why you need to re-focus on your school work. Make clear that you want to stay involved with the club, but will be less active until your work is better in hand.

Don't just disappear! Talk to the club, even if it's just an email or a stop by at the next meeting. Having been on both sides of this, I can say that it hurts to worry about a club member who hasn't been seen in a long time and to scramble to take over their responsibility.  It also hurts to feel that you can't come back to the club because there was no clean break or explanation for leaving in the first place.

If you can't drop the commitment, ask another club member to split the work with you. Work something out to share the work, delegating parts of the project to others.

Plan out when things need to get done, organizing your time.

Career

If you're paying your way through college, you may not be able to cut down your work hours. I totally understand that; I'm paying my own way with the generous help of scholarships. But what you can do is make sure that your work is either applicable to your major or allows you to do course work.

For example, I am a desk worker at my dorm. I can do a lot of my school work while sitting at desk, letting people in and out of the building. The pay is decent for the amount of double tasking I can do.

If you are just working for experience or extra spending money, remember that your course work is the priority. Plan out the number of hours you can do in the week. Some labs will let you come in on the weekends so if that works well with your class schedule take advantage of it.

Look at your syllabus at the start of the year and make sure to get time off for your exams. This might sound silly but you may have an evening shift that conflicts with a late evening exam time.

Wrap Up

The moral of the story is that coursework if the main priority of a student. Everyone's heard the story of a wise professor filling a jar with golf balls and then pouring in the small bits of sand to completely fill in the jar.

Block in the class work and let classes, clubs, and career work follow in to fill in your free time. Organize your time and don't sign up for things you can't follow through on.

I hope that this advice helps you. If you  have any suggestions that you want to share comment below!

Over-committing: Classes, Clubs, Career

There's a big shift transitioning from high school to college. You have a lot more independence to pursue what you want when you want but more responsibility follows. Classes in high school were really easy for me; I could skate through lectures and rely on the repetitive style of teaching if I wanted to zone out for a day.

College is not like this.
At all.

The work load is more intense, especially since professors aren't holding your hand through the material. It's up to you to keep up with work and ask for help when you need it. Despite this, a lot of students coming into college try to replicate high school, signing up for tons of clubs and activities. While it's good to have things outside of lecture, the priority of a college student is their classes, in my honest opinion. Well, it's not just my opinion: it's the opinion of the faculty and advisors.

Here's some advice for the times when you've overcommitted in your classes, clubs, and career.

Morning Routine

Let's just say that my routine is very important to me. I think that it's very important to look forward to a routine that can give structure to your day. At the very least, it's very important both for sleep schedules. At the best, routine is a safe thing to fall back on for times of stress. And there is always a lot of stress.

On the other hand, leaving a full amount of time to walk is good for keeping stress down. I've always had said to me to start off the day the way it should go. Starting the day in a stressed running rush keeps the whole day in a state of stress.

Here's a full run down on what I do in the morning before rushing off to class.

• Struggle to wake up for 5 minutes
• Drink water
• Shower
• Dress
• Breakfast with water
• Checking email
• Setting things to boil
• Make Caffeinated Tea for travel mug
• Moisturizer
• To Do List for the day
• Check backpack
• Walk out with enough time to walk

This may sound silly, but one of my priorities is to drink water at the start of my day. Water sometimes feels like the biggest refresh for the mornings. I wouldn't give up my caffeine but I wouldn't give up my water either.

I would like to devote more time to making myself look pretty in the morning. At the very least, exchanging my plain moisturizer for a BB creme. Maybe even add some mascara for adventurous days.

Morning Routine

Let's just say that my routine is very important to me. I think that it's very important to look forward to a routine that can give structure to your day. At the very least, it's very important both for sleep schedules. At the best, routine is a safe thing to fall back on for times of stress. And there is always a lot of stress.

On the other hand, leaving a full amount of time to walk is good for keeping stress down. I've always had said to me to start off the day the way it should go. Starting the day in a stressed running rush keeps the whole day in a state of stress.

Here's a full run down on what I do in the morning before rushing off to class.

Day Planner

After going to the comic book shop with a friend, we wandered around a bit. And being the person that I am, I couldn't resist a little stationary kitsch shop.

It had so many cute things to pick up and explore. I was thinking of getting myself a nice soap but then realized I have enough soap for a small eternity, all of it lavender scented too.

Isn't the planner just lovely? I love that the cover is of vintage Boston. It has a bit of elastic to hold the cover closed along with ribbon to keep the page.

The front page has personal information; the next spread is monthly views and holidays.
I got myself a planner for new year of 2013 so to fully dedicate it in the back are my new year's resolutions. It has a great pocket in the back. I use it to store the letters that I'm about to post.

Set up with with a view of the week on one page and a note sheet for lists, this little planner has been helping me get organized. I use stickers to spark up the pages for my routine events and even for reminders of small inspirations. I put in my plans for IAP. I also put in some surprise plans throughout the year, complete with stickers. I think it's very important to have little things sprinkled throughout the year to keep oneself from losing sight of the small joys.

My one warning would be that it doesn't have a full spread monthly view.  For each week, there is a mini month view. That's alright for me since I have a monthly wall calendar along with a cell phone app calendar.

Hope that this little book can keep me organized throughout the year! I do really hope it does; as you can see I'm trying to improve myself a bit in 2013.
How do you keep organized? I enjoyed reading the Dainty Squid's post about planning blog posts.

Day Planner

After going to the comic book shop with a friend, we wandered around a bit. And being the person that I am, I couldn't resist a little stationary kitsch shop.

It had so many cute things to pick up and explore. I was thinking of getting myself a nice soap but then realized I have enough soap for a small eternity, all of it lavender scented too.

Isn't the planner just lovely? I love that the cover is of vintage Boston. It has a bit of elastic to hold the cover closed along with ribbon to keep the page.

The front page has personal information; the next spread is monthly views and holidays.
I got myself a planner for new year of 2013 so to fully dedicate it in the back are my new year's resolutions. It has a great pocket in the back. I use it to store the letters that I'm about to post.

Set up with with a view of the week on one page and a note sheet for lists, this little planner has been helping me get organized. I use stickers to spark up the pages for my routine events and even for reminders of small inspirations. I put in my plans for IAP. I also put in some surprise plans throughout the year, complete with stickers. I think it's very important to have little things sprinkled throughout the year to keep oneself from losing sight of the small joys.

My one warning would be that it doesn't have a full spread monthly view.  For each week, there is a mini month view. That's alright for me since I have a monthly wall calendar along with a cell phone app calendar.

Hope that this little book can keep me organized throughout the year! I do really hope it does; as you can see I'm trying to improve myself a bit in 2013.
How do you keep organized? I enjoyed reading the Dainty Squid's post about planning blog posts.