Post-Secondary Ramblings

With the sudden subarctic temperatures hitting the Lower Mainland, we finally have our winter. And thanks to that, I’ve caught the sniffles. I woke up in bed this morning with a sore throat and was faced with a dilemma.

Should I even bother waking up and going to my 8AM class?

I was sick, but not sick enough to spend the stay at home. Just a sore throat and nasal congestion. The worst kind of sick, and it was partly my fault for not dressing warmly enough the past few days. In the end, I did drag myself out of bed, pop some pills and head to school. I was definitely not my normal self though, and it was a terribly long day.

How sick do you have to be before you deem yourself too sick for school?

I’m dreading the thought of having to wake up early tomorrow and go to school. One week of Reading Break was definitely not enough for me. How did I spend my Reading Break? As the title suggests, I spent it on catching up on work and taking a much needed break.

I really did take full advantage of this break. Coincidentally, Saturday was the Olympic Anniversary celebration, and thus I spent the day (and night) in Downtown/Yaletown. The next few days were rather fuzzy. I do remember spending at least 2 full days watching TV shows/movies on my laptop though. Another day was spent catching up with my high school friends during a lunch outing. Last but not least, I spent not just one, but two days up on the mountains snowboarding. Snow conditions were amazing and I look forward to another day up there.

Now that I think about it, the numbers don’t really add up as I do remember spending a lot of time studying. Maybe I didn’t do as much “reading” as I thought I did. I did however do 2 weeks worth of suggested problems for math and a bunch of chemistry practice problems. Of course, Starbucks having their Tazo Tea Time promotion definitely helped me.

And to end off my break, well, I’m going to be spending my afternoon/evening/night reading for pleasure (:

Growing up in Vancouver, I still remember waking up when I was in elementary school and seeing white fluffy flakes outside my bedroom window. The first thing that I would do would be to turn on the radio and cross my fingers hoping that school would be closed for a school day. I learned to realize that VSB never closes their schools. Ever snowing day, I would hear the broadcaster list out every single school district, all the private schools, UBC, SFU, but not VSB. I guess you could say I’ve waited 13 years to attend UBC and experience my first school day. Needless to say, I was quite excited this morning! However, I knew from past experience that this was not enough snow for a snow day.

Being a commuter student, the past few days have not been the greatest. I’d have to wake up a bit earlier and put on more layers. However, it was all worth it this morning when I arrived around 7:20 and every step I took on campus was fresh crisp snow. Made my day (:

Here are some ways that I have been dealing with the shivers:

1. A scarf is your best friend. I can’t believe I haven’t had a really warm scarf until recently. It’s unbelievable how much warmer it can be with the addition of a scarf. Not only can it keep your neck warm, you can also tuck your mouth, nose..face in your scarf to keep more parts of your body warm. There are also lots of different ways to wear a scarf so you can experiment with it until you find your favourite style, or try a new one every day!

2. Bring hot tea in a thermos. This serves a dual purpose. First of a hot drink always warms me up on a cold day. There’s nothing better than sipping hot tea inside a frigid lecture hall. The second purpose would be that it keeps your hands warm by holding it. I don’t know about you, but my hands are always cold, thus the warmth of the tea always makes my hand feel great.

3. Wear long underwear. You may be laughing at me and asking who wears that stuff, but hey, it keeps me warm. You probably would not have guessed I wore it either since I wear it under my jeans. Leggings and tights can also work too.

4. Wear a toque! I don’t know if it’s just me, but I find that using an umbrella is just weird. Toque keeps my head really warm too. Like the scarf, it can also be worn fashionably.

I guess that’s all I really have to say for now. I’m really distracted by the white stuff outside. Hopefully I’ll get my long overdue snow day soon!

Don’t you just hate that? I know I do. It’s almost always bad news. Actually, when would you use unfortunately for good news?

I’ve had to deal with rejection on more than one occasion this past week. Of course it wasn’t pleasant, but I can’t say that I felt bad about it either. I’ve been so busy with all my extracurriculars I lost my direction. I found myself applying for everything there was out there that was even remotely interesting to me. Needless to say, a lot of them didn’t turn out as great as they promised to be. That’s why when I received some rejections, I was actually glad I didn’t get the position or I’d end up burning myself out trying to balance everything that I’m involved with. Which kind of makes me wonder why I applied in the first place.

I also tried something new this time around. Instead of getting mad about the rejection email, I actually replied back. I thanked them for their time and asked them for suggestions to make my future applications stronger. I find that having the feedback would not only benefit me by knowing some of my weaker points, but it also shows that I actually cared about my application. Not only that, you kind of get to catch the people off guard, which is kind of fun (:

I noticed that there is a shortage of posts recently, and that’s understandable. It’s midterm season yay! A friend once told me that the time to take a break is when you don’t have time for it. I thought it was really true, and it has stuck with me ever since. Here I am, taking a break from studying for my Chem121 midterm in approximately 3 hours to write up this blog entry. I guess the most logical thing for me to talk about right now would be study tips, so here are a few that I have discovered!

Things that I found really useful while studying:

1. Make a cheat sheet for every exam whether you’re allowed to use it or not. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one out there who isn’t caught up with readings. What I found was that making the cheat sheet forced me to actually go through the material, or at least skim it. It was really good review and I picked out a lot of facts that I missed, which coincidentally happened to be on the midterm.

2. If you’re not good at focusing, head into a library where everyone else is studying. Chances are, when you see other people around you working hard, you’d start working hard too. If you like to study in a group, know which friends you will be productive with and resist the temptation to meet up with those who distract you. Those who know me will know that I am very easily distracted.  However, just by merely sitting in the Bookstacks and noticing that everyone was busy studying, I felt compelled to study too, and ended up studying for 5 hours at times.

3. Just because you’re not a Sauder student doesn’t mean you can’t study in their building. One of my favourite places to study is ironically the BCom lounge at the back of the Henry Angus. In fact, I’m actually sitting there right now. Those who like to work with laptops and find trouble finding an outlet need to worry no more! There are plugs galore in the lounge and I’ve always been able to find a seat here. Sure, I had a few weird looks when I took out my Science notes, but that’s about it. Sauder students are paying $500 each for this building, you can experience it for free.

And finally,

4. Take time to get out and have fun! Yes, I have two midterms this week and homework and other stuff in my life, but that didn’t stop me from playing Ultimate and attending not one, but two Thanksgiving dinners. Chances are, if you’re just going to do nothing but study, you’re going to burn out, and even if you aren’t, your studying won’t be as efficient. Take that much needed break and come back to your studying feeling all refreshed. You’ll thank yourself for it.

Good luck with midterms everyone!