I dream of…

BEACH!  But really, I do.  I close my eyes when I’m uber stressed about school and pretend I’m laying on a nice warm beach on some unknown island in the tropics.  The stress seems to melt away.  Also, reading books that are non-school related help, too.  I’ve been carefully carving out time from schedule to do leisure reading that has absolutely nothing to do with any of my studies this semester.  I believe this has allowed me to remain sane during the stress of finals week.

Something I find interesting is that students complain so much about not having enough time to accomplish work or they are really stressed, but so many of them continue to use Facebook or Twitter and waste their time.  Thankfully, I have broken this habit and am able to stay off of Facebook and focus on my work.  So, I certainly lend this out as a suggestion to all those finding that they are limited on time.  Try not getting on the computer at all if possible.  It’s like a time warp, it steals time away from you.

As I have become more time efficient, my grades have improved and I feel less stressed, yey!!

But, I have certainly become more involved with more groups this semester and it is a lot of work to balance.  Between two jobs, 15 credits, and leading two student organizations, I’m happy to find myself enough time to sleep at the end of the day.

As finals week begins and classes come to an end, reflecting upon this semester I must say that I am satisfied.  I think that I have very good grades in all of my classes, but I must be persistent and continue working very diligently through next Tuesday in order to maintain those grades.

I cannot believe that the past 15 weeks have gone by so quickly and the end of the school year is finally here.  I’m happy to say that I will be going home next Wednesday to spend the winter hiatus with my family and dogs.  It will be a nice, relaxing break.  For a week in January I will be going on the UMBC STiVE! Leadership Retreat.  I’m really excited to go out to Western MD for a week to learn about leadership!  It’s a great way to break up the otherwise plan-free winter break that I face.  I hope to self- learn guitar over the break!

I am excited for next semester.  It will be great because I am taking fewer classes and I am resigning my presidency from the Community Action Board.  Hopefully, this will reduce my work load as well as my stress level!

Well… I’m off to finish a paper & study for my first final exam that takes place tomorrow morning at 8:30am.  I’ll be awake, bright and early!

I wish all visitors and readers the best of holidays & winter break  Try and stay warm while you can!

Open Mic

My life has been hectic and crazy beyond belief over the next two weeks.  Thankfully, I have google calendar where my life is planned out in order for me to keep track of all the events and tasks I am supposed to do throughout the week.

Over the past two weeks, I have been focusing on my classes as well as making sure that I am getting enough sleep.  This cuts into my time that I spend on the computer which has been good for my productivity, but bad for my ability to get online things, such as my blog, accomplished.  So I deeply apologize for not updating much more often.

Recently, I became the Alternative Spring Break leader of TEAR (Through the Eyes of a Refugee).  This has consumed so much of my time because I joined the other trip leaders late in the game.  Therefore, I must play catch up and try to get everything accomplished by the end of the semester.  I am really excited for this opportunity!

The Midterm Strech

That’s right…. only one more midterm to go!!

That happens to be microeconomics. I’m really nervous for this exam, but I think it will be okay.

Again, I apologize for not posting more often these past two weeks, but I have barely touched my computer for anything other than writing papers or checking emails. Next week I’ll be back on schedule after I finish my last exam on Tuesday. As for Halloween weekend, it was a good time to take a break from studying and doing homework, but I have a lot of work left to do tonight and tomorrow before my classes on Tuesday (so I’m off to bed to ensure I get all the sleep that I need).

Midterms, schmidterms.

Just kidding, midterms are hard.   This is my first year when I’ve had real midterms, at the same time, and they are all really difficult!  So I apologize for not writing more this week, but I have been working and studying.  Currently, I’m watching a movie with my roommate.  Both of us are relaxing while we have a few spare moments (although we both are doing homework, too, so it’s not really “relaxing”).  I’m doing my best to stay sane and one of the ways I’m doing that this week is attending yoga offered by the yoga club in the Women’s Center.  I am really excited to go because I have never gone before.

So, for the rest of the night I’m off to accomplish some more work.  I’ll do my best to post again soon!  Have a great week!!

Homecoming!

This week has been crazy and went by so quickly between classes, homework, work, and Homecoming events.  Sadly, one of my favorite events was cancelled due to rain: Homecoming Bonfire.  Tear, tear.  But honestly, the Talent Show made up for it because some of the talent that was shown here at UMBC was AMAZING.  Just out of this world, completely awesome!!  This one guy beatboxed and produced inhuman sounds from his vocal chords, another was an great electric violinist, and there were so many great bands and singers!

I’m really excited because in about one hour I’m heading over to tailgate for our Homecoming soccer game!  It’s going to be so much fun!  I really hope that we win this year!  The weather has been down the past few days, but the thunderstorms rolled out this morning and left an afternoon that has clear blue skies and lots of sunshine.  Hopefully our luck with remain through the evening for the game.  Then I’ll be off to Midnight Madness in the gym to welcome the kickoff of Basketball season.  Can I just say that I cannot WAIT!?  I love basketball!!

Well… until I get to enjoy the festivities of the rest of the night, I really need to get some work accomplished.  I’m off to see what I can actually do!

A Standard Saturday Night

Well, not entirely, but it is my standard Saturday night that I have every other weekend.  Tonight, I am working at the front desk of the residential halls checking IDs, giving out toilet paper, and making sure people don’t go crazy in the lobby.  Otherwise, I’ve watched the first two episodes of the show ‘New Girl,’ which by the way is outrageously funny, and now I am about to start some homework.  I am on duty until 12am.  Since this  is a 24 hour desk, I am happy that I do not have any late night/early morning shifts.

Tonight I have to do some reading for my Interdisciplinary Studies class.  I also have a big project coming up for my anthropology class.  It’s a gender observation project where I have to see how women and men act differently (or the same) in a certain situation.  I am really excited to do this project because it will be interesting to see how genders interact in a certain place.

Tomorrow night I have a play for my Sondheim Scholars program in Baltimore City.  It should be a good night, but before then I need to accomplish as much work as possible.  So, I’m off for the night!!

Results

The past two weeks have been a bit stressful as I had several exams and papers due.  Between studying, reading, and cramming, I somehow managed to still have fun with my friends.  Google Calendar has made my life as a college student 5456915219805 million times easier- thank you Google guys!!

The results that I received from my exams/papers have been positive.  An ‘A+’ for my Practice of Management exam.  In fact, I had the best grade on the exam out of all of my professors classes.  I was so proud because I studied really hard for the exam.

My Cultural Anthropology paper received a 100%!!  I really have enjoyed my anthropology class.  It’s so interesting and I am really good at the class.  Although I am an Interdisciplinary studies major, I’m considering adding more anthropology into my degree plan.

Finally, I received my microeconomics test yesterday.  The results weren’t as strong, I got a ‘B’ on the exam, but I am okay with this because the exam was really difficult.  The class average was 62%, so considering this I did really well!  I am going to focus more of my time and energy into economics so that I can get better grades on the future exams.

My best friend Jennie played at Open Mic Night last night and won first place!! She did a duet cover with one of our other friends and they were both so amazing!  I really enjoy Open Mic Nights and I’m even considering performing myself!  I’m not sure yet, though, because I want to be able to play my own music and I don’t yet know how to play the guitar.  Actually, it is my goal to start learning the guitar this winter break when I have a lot of free time.

Well, I’m currently working at the Patapsco front desk until 12p.  My dad is coming after and we are going to lunch.  It’s his birthday, so I’m really happy that I get to see him today!!

 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Wrapping up the weekend

It’s Sunday night, approximately 11:30pm.  Sadly, I am nowhere close to actually going to bed.

I still must continue studying for my economics exam on Thursday and do homework for other classes I have on Thursday.

Happily, my week will be much easier once Tuesday is over.

My weekend was great!  I spent a lot of time with friends and sleeping.  Also, I began decorating my dorm room for Halloween.  I LOVE Halloween so much as well as fall.  The cool weather rolled in on Friday and made me so happy!  Unfortunately, it has made me not want to do my school work.  I really need to end my procrastination.  I have become better at not procrastinating, but sometimes a nice fall walk is too difficult to resist!

TGIF

I am so happy it’s Friday because it means that I survived the week!

Thursday was hard because I had my management exam, but I lived through it- I even think I did pretty well on it too!

Thankfully that is over so now I have to study for my economics exam that is on Tuesday.  I have a lot of homework for my other classes too… but I’m not procrastinating and I’m proud of myself for it!

Tonight I am going to spend time with my friends and do homework after I go to two events on campus: Crepes & Smoothies offered by the Student Events Board (SEB) and Folk You which is a concert held in Flat Tuesdays.  It is folk music (obviously) performed by UMBC and local bands.  I am excited because a lot of the bands are really good.  The music scene on and around UMBC’s campus is always interesting- someone is always playing somewhere so you can go there for a good time.

 

Well… I’m off to eat dinner and then head over to Smoothies & Crepes.  It’s going to be a great night!!

SOOOOO

Proud of myself!!

Why am I proud?  Well… I have officially finished my homework for this Tuesday’s classes and I have begun studying for my management exam that I have on Thursday.  This week is a busy one, but not as busy as others in the past.  I am in the swing of my schedule and very used to everything that I must accomplish.

I currently have a love/hate relationship with an all Tuesday/Thursday schedule.  It’s nice on one hand because I have a lot of time to get my work accomplished, the issue is actually doing that work when I have it instead of procrastinating.  But, I have been much more successful with time management (as shown above with my homework this weekend!!).

I’m hoping to accomplish a lot of work tonight.  As I said, my management exam is on Thursday.  I’m a little nervous about it considering that it’s my first exam this semester!

I’m off for a few hours of studying and then I’m going to get a good night’s sleep!