It's not procrastination if you don't have work to do

The last two weeks of my first semester were tough, but not nearly as bad as I thought they were going to be. The plan I've been following all year of getting my work done promptly and planning out my schedule works perfectly. I had to turn in 6 papers, plus many revisions and other short papers from earlier in the semester, and assemble them all into 4 portfolios for each of my classes. Though that was time consuming, I still found myself with enough time to eat and sleep, which I was worried I would be missing. I'm glad to be done with two of my classes, but I'll definitely miss two of them as well. Having such small class sizes really helps forge a strong bond between everybody in the class, students and instructors alike. I won't be missing my Latin America class, as educating as it was, since it was unquestionably the toughest course I took (a third-year student told me that it was the toughest class she had taken her entire time there) Friday, the last day, was a bit hectic since I had to turn in all my work, return the (overdue) books to the library, and pack three month's worth of clothing for my trip, which was early the next morning.
My uncle and my cousin were visiting schools near me, and so they picked me up at school and brought me to the airport in Boston. Getting through the airport was much less stressful than I had anticipated, as nearly no one else was there. The flight was short, and before I knew it I was back in Minnesota. I met my family at the airport, and then went to my grandparent's house to eat dinner with the rest of my family. Driving back home, I didn't get the feeling that I had been away for a long time. I suppose when you drive around somewhere 1,000+ times in your life, leaving it for 4 months doesn't really change anything. I was one of the first people back home, and many of my friends are yet to return, but I have spent this week hanging out with all my friends and enjoying the fact that I can sit around and do nothing and not have to call it procrastination.

A Feeling of Relief

What is a girl to do when she has no classes, no finals and no work she can do? Most people would say sleeping, hanging out with friends, and getting ready for Christmas. People who know me however, know that I am going to my favorite place: The doctor's office. I have to go get a two hour test done today. I did see several of my friends last night though. I took my last two finals yesterday. Most of my finals were better than I expected. Of course Spanish made up for all of the other exams. It was seventy-five multiple choice questions and three essays in an hour and fifteen minutes. My theatre exam was fifty multiple choice questions and a three to four page essay and we only had fifty minutes to complete the exam. Needless to say my essay was not long enough. 

Grades do not have to be posted until January 2nd and I have a feeling some of my grades will not be posted until the last minute. 

Now that this semester is over I have been looking to next semester. I changed my schedule again. I am taking macroeconomics instead of biomedical ethics because I need to take it for one of the schools I want to transfer to. Also all of the schools I am going to will only accept 66 credits so I cannot double major. That means I will be done after next fall. Enough about the future though I am going to enjoy my time off. I do not go back until January 21st. I am sure I will have many adventures over break because everyday is an adventure! Happy holidays everyone. I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday.  

Coming Down the Home Stretch

This week was full of work, which was pretty much expected. I finish on Wednesday. Between now and then I have four finals and a capstone essay to write. The good news is that only two of those finals are cumulative. My theatre final which I am not worried about because all of the questions come from previous test and my Spanish final. That one is going to be absolutely terrible! I can't even do a test on one chapter I don't know how I am going to do one on three. I guess I better get used to it though because I am taking Spanish again next semester. I have not finalized my schedule yet because I am unsure if I should begin working toward my communications degree this coming semester or next fall. I will have some decisions to make over the break. At least I will have over a month to decide. I can't even feel guilty for not doing work, I don't know what I am going to do with myself.  I am sure I will have some adventures. Speaking of adventures, the fire alarm went off when I was in Spanish on Tuesday and we had to evacuate. Luckily my Spanish class is on the first floor, or it could have been much worse. Thankfully we were able to go back in the building after a short time and the adventure ended there. I was not surprised though because everyday is an adventure! 

Two Weeks of Hibernation

I am sorry that I have not posted in so long. Finals are coming and that means an insane amount of work. I am sure anyone who has been through college can relate. That is why I have decided for the next two weeks I am going into a state of semi-hibernation. I plan on sleeping, studying, showering tutoring in Spanish and writing papers. This week has been so busy in part because I have been tutoring in Spanish at my high school everyday after classes. If I tutor for a minimum of twelve hours I can get up to five points added on my final grade and I will take any points I can get in that class. Also I have two papers to write for my theatre class that are due by the end of the semester, an English department exam that all students in English 101 had to take. I took it today. It was easy ! Unfortunately, my final essay for English, an argumentation essay about who I am does not sound like it will be so easy. The good thing about this essay is that it has sparked debate between my friends and I. We have now decided to pick a topic and debate it weekly. It was one of the most stimulating conversations I have had all semester. That is another difference about college. I feel like I learn more from conversations with my peers than I do from the textbooks. Mr. W they  remind me of our homeroom chats, which I miss very much. My friends and I might cancel our discussion for this coming week due to our workloads.  I have a psychology exam on Monday, but I have missed several classes due to doctor's appointments and tutoring. Thankfully, the professor gets most questions from the book so all I have to do is read the chapter. My friend who is still in high school can not understand why I am always doing work. He says I must procrastinate. Not matter how early I start on assignment I feel like I am always buried in work. This is another major difference between high school and college, one I was not prepared for. In addition to all of the work I have to complete I also have to complete three community service or cultural activities before the end of the semester in order to remain in the honors program. I tried to complete one today. Talk about an adventure. This week was National AIDS week. They were supposed to show the film Angels in America. I went to the room where the film  was supposed to be shown. There was no one there. I talked to a secretary, who set up the movie for me. I watched the beginning of the film by myself. The film was six hours long and difficult to follow. Needless to say I did not watch the whole thing. You have no idea how uncomfortable it is to watch a film by yourself in a huge conference room. What I don't do to fulfill my requirements! That is enough ranting for one entry. I hope everyone had a good week and is enjoying their own adventure because everyday is an adventure. 

Thanksgiving

Sorry about the delay in posts, but I've been away for Thanksgiving break. I was not fortunate enough to go home, but my friend's family was nice enough to let me spend my break with them, and it was great. The drive from Massachusetts to Virginia was long, and we did it very late at night, so we didn't arrive in Virginia until 5 in the morning. I still got plenty of sleep, and my friend and I spent the rest of the day hanging out with his friends, who were all very cool people. Thanksgiving day was great as well, although I'm not too knowledgeable when it comes to football and I spent a lot of time trying to get into it, but ended up eating snacks, and getting too full before actual Thanksgiving dinner. My friend isn't huge on football either, but he had relatives to talk to. We spent the next day in the Washington DC area, and went out for lunch at a fairly popular restaurant, not realizing that it was Black Friday, and lines and traffic were horrible. Against all logic we also found ourselves at a mall later that day, which was just as bad as any mall in Minnesota would get. Saturday was my birthday, and the first time I've ever been away from home for that. I wasn't that bothered though really, since it's never been that big of a deal at home, and I still got to talk to my family on the phone and eat a chocolate cake. Being away from home overall wasn't that tough, since I was having fun the whole time, and my friend's family was more than hospitable. The only thing that stunk was knowing that just about everyone else I know from home was hanging out together. What would have been much worse though would be sitting around campus with relatively no one else around, although I probably would have gotten my share of work done, and I really do need to, since I still have about 3 10+page papers left to write before the semester is over, which is in less than two weeks. I've been working all day today, since my regular Monday class was canceled due to my professor's flight delay, and I'm nearly finished with one paper. The only problem is the 3 that are left I've barely got a start on, and I still have classes to go to this week. If I had full days to myself this wouldn't be much of a problem, but either way I'll get this done. I'll just have to work really hard at staying focused.