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Yall…

I haven’t really updated this blog in a while, but it was for good reason. This entire month so far has been me writing ten gazillion essays and filling out application forms for days. However, soon that’s going to come to a close! On November 1st, I will… soon be done with quite literally every single tedious study abroad form. The only things that I’d have to do after that are signing up for the residence halls at my host university and officially getting the courses I want. I would have to get some of my backup courses approved in the meantime, but luckily that doesn’t really… have a due date (I can even do it while I’m already there). This is a really exciting time, because instead of being STRESSED, soon I will actually be EXCITED for what I’m about to do.

A main portion of my stress was scholarship essay writing. I applied to… basically all the major ones I was eligible for (FEA, Benjamin Gilman). Along with that, I also have to send in my statement of purpose essay for my home university’s own scholarship (prolly just gonna reuse the one I wrote for Benjamin Gilman) and send in the forms that make me eligible for my program’s own scholarships. Thats… probably like 4-5 possible scholarships? Take a shot every time I mention my queerness in each essay… you’d be dead. Anyways YAY!

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Here’s a mental health reminder!

Sometimes, it can be easy to get into that headspace where you believe that if you don’t get an A on an upcoming exam, your future will be ruined and it will impact you forever. However, this simply isn’t the case. This is typically referred to as impact bias, where we tend to “overestimate the intensity and duration of our emotional reactions to future circumstances” (source). Failing an exam isn’t the end of the world, it just means that there is room for improvement. Think to yourself: is there a better way I can study for this course? What I’ve found is that it helps immensely to e-mail your professor for advice on how to succeed in their class. No matter how late in the semester it is, your professor will be happy to give you tips on how to do well on their next exam.

It can also help to go up to your professor and ask if there’s any extra credit available at the end of a semester (if needed). Typically, they won’t just give you extra credit, but instead turn it into an extra credit opportunity for the rest of the class. This means that, in order to get the best results, you should probably ask when there’s still a decent chunk of the semester left. It never hurts to ask, just don’t make it seem like you are entitled to extra credit. I work closely with a professor that I TA for, and this is typically the best course of action you can take (in their opinion) if you really want that extra push in your grade.

No matter what, though, it’s okay to admit that maybe you put too much work on yourself. Be wary of toxic positivity, but try not to be pessimistic either. Be realistic with your goals, and if you realize ahead of time that maybe you bit off more than you could chew, it’s okay to switch things up and do something different.

Apologies if this seems a bit unorganized, the goal was to just vomit whatever was on my mind. Just try and take care of your mind; you don’t need to be some academic weapon and take 20 credit hours in a semester (lol). Also, friendly reminder that I’m not some expert on the topic, I just have a lot of experience with college struggles, and these tips have helped myself manage through stressful semesters.

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Studying a week in advance for an exam: how do you do it?

If you’ve searched for tips and tricks on how to do well on your exams, you’ve likely heard this tip before. It’s a really great piece of advice, and is the golden rule in study strategies, yet making the most out of this requires some good time management. So a question remains: where do you start?

Step One: Make Your Flashcards

The first portion of your time should be dedicated to making flashcards. It’s important to emphasize that you SHOULDN’T be using flashcards OTHER PEOPLE made. Making flashcards for yourself counts as an active form of studying (unless you are copying and pasting random stuff from your textbook with no thought put into it). For me, exams usually cover, like, 4-6 chapters, so what I do is make 1-2 sets of flashcards a day (depending on how many chapters the exam is going over). This should take up about 4-6 days of the week you have to study before the exam, but realistically you should focus on getting all of your flashcards done at the 4 or 5 day mark.

If you know in advance that your class is rigorous and dedicates a lot of time to making flashcards, I suggest slowly making these flashcards as the semester goes on, not in the week before an exam. Getting a head start here would be extremely beneficial, but only necessary for rigorous classes.

Step Two: Make Detailed Notes From Scratch (Optional)

This step is only recommended if you finish your flashcards pretty early. For example, for my cognitive processes class, I started making flashcards a week before the original exam date. However, since we were behind, the professor moved the exam date 2 days later. This meant that I had some left over time that could be used going into more depth on the course material.

By making your own detailed notes from scratch, I want you to make them as if you were making a youtube video teaching someone else about the topic. Imagine yourself making a script for this video, you’ll then see yourself describing pretty complex topics in simple ways for your invisible viewer. Also, by doing this, you could find things you are specifically confused about for topics you once thought you mastered. I really like this method, but it’s very time consuming. Use this method in moderation, because knowing and remembering the basics should be more of a priority than going into complete depth.

Step 3: Study the Flashcards (duh)

Studying the flashcards should be the last step. Start studying them the day before the test once you have gone over the material multiple times. Use all the time before studying the flashcards to make sure you truly know the concepts you need to know. If needed, simplify definitions using ChatGPT or something. How you study is personal to yourself, but make sure it’s something that’s worked in the past before.

Conclusion

That’s… about it! This is how I personally structure the week before an exam, which means that you may change, add, or remove certain steps to better fit your current situation. It’s completely normal. However, this blueprint has helped me do great on exams, and hopefully it will help you as well!

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Late night study abroad update

Its been sooo stressful trying to get all of my forms in on time. I would consider myself an organized person that doesn’t procrastinate, yet I always found myself scrambling for each deadline. Applications close October first, so the month of September was just scrambling to get my courses approved and my financial aid confirmed.

The FEA scholarship was also due on SEPTEMBER 18TH. I was completely unaware at how little time there was, I got extremely lucky by checking my email and being reminded of a (probably not even) month old email confirming the start of my application process. Nevertheless, I got everything for that in on time.

What they don’t really tell you about signing up to study abroad is that you need to send SO. MANY. FORMS. Its fine for those one and done form things where I just have to sign my name and be done, but for specific schooling information where I have to wait a week for an advisor to approve a form, it’s hell. I also have to apply for a student visa, and if you know anything about that, it usually takes even MORE information, like checking if you have enough money to be staying over there by giving them bank statements. I also need the host university to accept me so I can just start on all my forms and be done with it all. Not to mention how I have to contact my banks to prepare for spending money abroad and figuring out the deal with my phone (need a new phone number I think? Dont know how that stuff works lol)

Obviously this shouldn’t discourage anyone from studying abroad. It will be so worth it when all of this is done and I get to spend time in a completely different country. I see all the paper work I have to do and how even I am behind on some things, then I remember that there had to be so many other people who persevered through this tedious process as well. Besides, it’s important to note that you will almost 100% have an advisor that guides you on what to start on and what you should be doing as the departure date grows closer. Along with that, my program provider has SO many guides and information booklets detailing every single thing I need to do, with little confusion. It makes me happy.

This is a little bit of a vent post. Hope it doesn’t discourage people from wanting to go abroad or anything, but also it’s important to know what you’re getting yourself into and what’s to come. Just make sure you aren’t stupid and make the semester before your semester abroad one of the most busiest semesters ever (like me).

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September 7, 2024

My first exam of the semester is coming up soon! Generally, my policy is to study for one entire week before an exam. I count a lot of things as studying, such as making flashcards and reading the textbook. I figured that I’d make this post to write my study methods for university, and how to use that week wisely!

To preface: study methods are never objective, they are personal to how you want to study and what you think works for you. I think it’s also important to note here that learning styles don’t exist (auditory, visual, textual learners). Just follow your little study heart, and just take these methods as suggestions.

DO NOT DO: HAND WRITTEN NOTES

Honestly, this is a bit of an unpopular opinion. I just don���t see any reason to write hand written notes. I won’t lie, I have written my own notes before, but I only did that so that I could really take in what I was learning. I did this in high school though, in college it seems as if there isn’t really time to do stuff like that. I don’t see a reason to write notes to look back on later though, it makes no sense

DO: MAKE YOUR OWN FLASHCARDS

Normally the best practice is to make your own flashcards. That way, you are kinda knocking two birds with one stone by physically re-reading the content and picking out the important bits. However, sometimes you just don’t have enough time to make your own flashcards, or maybe there’s just an overwhelming amount of information. In that case, you can just look up some flashcards on like quizlet or something, just try to make sure it’s from someone else that probably took the same class/used the same textbook.

DO: SHOW UP TO LECTURES

“Duh!” Says literally every single person reading this probably. But still, even knowing this information, people will lose motivation and stop showing up to lectures because of a few reasons. One reason is that they just don’t think they’re learning anything from the lectures, which I feel as if isn’t as good of a reason. Even if your professor posts slides afterwards, I think you still subconsciously pick up the main points of the lecture, which makes rereading the textbook so much easier. Another reason is probably just fatigue, which is completely reasonable! Just know what to prioritize and how to make the most out of the materials given to you. Granted, these reasons don’t even take into account the psychological disorders that prevent people from getting the most from lectures.

???: THE POMODORO TECHNIQUE

I have a few mixed feelings about this technique…

For one, I just don’t think it’s really that helpful for me personally. I do work when I feel like it, which is usually in long bursts of energy. Five minutes of free time feels like a gateway into just being distracted completely. When I study, I need absolutely no distractions.

However, if this technique works for you, then use it! If you haven’t used it yet, try it out! Experiment with ways you can better the studying process, it’s the only way you’ll get better at studying.

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I think I have a lot more tips up in my noggin’, but those are all the things that just came to mind. Some are probably really obvious, but I think there are some things that I truly think are underrated forms of studying. Feel free to share other methods of studying as well!

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Song of the day — All Mirrors by Angel Olsen

This haunting song reminds me of some great songs from the gothic genre. The way the vocals are arranged makes it sound so ethereal and eerie at the same time. The lyrics match this vibe, as this song mostly deals with the shifting perceptions of our self. More specifically, I think this song touches on how easy it is to develop an unhealthy relationship with your mirror. It’s so easy to see the things wrong with your body when you always look at yourself in the mirror. When she says “at least at times it knew me,” I think she probably refers to herself aging and how, over time, women tend to try and stop this inevitable process of aging. Of course, this isn’t only limited to women, but I think women are definitely more likely to be pressured into looking younger by the media. Overall, it’s a really great song!

“Standing, facing, all mirrors are erasin’

Losing beauty, at least at times it knew me”

(I’m trying something new with these text dividers, I made this one myself :))

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Song of the day — alyosha by Susanne Sundfør

I feel like there is a lot of context to this song that I do not get, so I did do some research. I didn’t come across much though. Either way, this song is so beautiful (as is everything by Sundfør). I really love the way she sings, as it’s a nice break from the sadder songs I listen to. I think this is one of her happier songs, as it is about marriage (or so I’m told) and love! The beginning is a tad slow, but the payoff is so incredible and amazing, and that is a trait of Sundfør’s songs for me! Whenever it randomly comes up in my spotify playlist, I don’t usually pay any special attention to this song until the best part absolutely blows me away. It just randomly reminds me as to why I love her sound!

“It’s you, it’s you, it’s you

Alyosha”

banners by @cafekitsune !

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Today I found a nice place to study after my abnormal psych class, and it seemed like all the conditions were perfect! It was pretty cloudy, which I like because it’s not *too* hot, but it’s hot enough so that I feel comfortable cuz I get cold kinda easily. It also wasn’t windy at all, and there was a cool waterfall / fountain that produced some nice ambient sound. I don’t really like studying in silence, so that extra bit of stimulation is nice. When it’s silent, I usually fill that absent stimulation with phone time, which definitely doesn’t help at all with my studying lol.

While the picture I took shows a textbook for a different class, I was actually studying for my cognitive processes class. I definitely need the extra help from the textbook for that class, as the guy that lectures for this class speaks way too fast for me :/. I might go to his office hours to see if I can pass the exam just by reading the textbook LOL

When I got home, I hopped on a call to discuss some things regarding the lab I’m in. It heavily centers around coding for different variables, which is pretty easy work that can keep me busy when I’m bored. There’s a lot of data to code, though, so I’m going to be in for the long haul until I get it done.

Overall, today was a productive day! I can’t say that for every day, and that’s okay. Some days are fine being mental health days where I do very minimal, if any, studying. The last thing I want to do is burn myself out so early on in the semester.

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Song of the day — Everything is Everything by Andrea Dawn

Andrea Dawn is… probably one of my favorite lesser known artists like ever. The way she is able to make me cry with a song like this is so astounding. Typically I have a critique here and there for a song that could’ve been a bit more emotional or powerful, but I truly have no notes.

This song is about loving someone who “hates everything.” However, Andrea Dawn challenges this idea of course by saying that you cant say this and then say that you love her, because everything is everything. I do think that the meaning of this lyric is a bit more than what can be assumed on the surface, though.

Throughout the song, Dawn makes it very clear that this man is a downer in every aspect of the word. He truly hates everything, and he makes it vocal every single day. It shrouds her world in the darkness he is consumed in, and it leaves her wondering if he even loves her back if he truly hates everything.

This is such an amazing song, and I hope Andrea Dawn gets the recognition she deserves one day. A 10/10 masterpiece.

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Song of the day — Prehistoric by Now, Now

This type of sound and genre is so soothing and comforting. This whole album has that vibe in my opinion, in a way it’s my comfort album. I always go to it when I have no idea what to listen to, but I want to listen to *something*. This song in particular is about that awkward lovers to friends transition that happens, especially when you start getting feelings for the other person again. I love the “prehistoric” metaphor and the little ice age references. It’s definitely worth a listen, along with the entire album, especially if you are into something like Paramore.

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First week of classes! I honestly haven’t come up with a strategy for studying/going over material beforehand, so I’m kinda testing things out to see what works best for me.

Right now, I’m just highlighting things in the books, putting them into flashcards (already so i dont have to worry about that come exam time), and repeat. However, one of my professors took a WHILE to make the textbook public, so I’m kinda behind in that department. But seriously, professors that make a part of the exam stuff they exclusively say during lectures need to be shot-putted to the sun. Right now, I have only three classes I’m doing this strategy for: Abnormal Psychology, Cognitive Processes, and Research Methods.

To be honest, I completely forgot about Research Methods until this weekend. Probably because it’s such a BORING class, I don’t really plan on going into research (despite me being an RA in like two labs) because I hate deciding which tests to use for which study. To me, it’s kinda subjective sometimes.

Also, is it just me, or is taking notes during class such a huge waste of time? I think the best method is sitting there, actually paying attention to the information being said in class so that when I go and review later, I remember which parts are important. It makes skimming through past lectures much easier in my opinion. When i take notes, I am NEVER looking at them again. It makes no sense to, why would I trust myself to pay attention to every single word the professor says while I’m busy writing? If I do take notes, I want them to be neat, and usually it would just be extra annotations to the already-given powerpoint slides. The only ever exception was when i took Gen Chem 2, where there was a big thing of notes we filled out as the lecture went on. It was pretty nice, but only helpful for math-based classes.

I don’t have any cute aesthetic pictures right now, but I’m thinking of some cute spots on campus that have some nice views. Stay tuned.

Song of the day - Boute by Au

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Song of the day — Letter Read by Rachael Yamagata

I’m kinda doing two songs in a row with similar themes, I’ll admit it. But god do I love Rachael Yamagata! I think this is definitely one of her more groovier songs. Essentially this song is about unreciprocated love, but more specifically about how blunt the other person was while relaying this information. This whole song she’s wondering when this person will elaborate or explain why she isn’t good enough for him. She’s essentially been driven mad, I think a similar feeling is when you go over all the possibilities of why you got rejected from your dream school. All you have is a rejection letter, but you can’t help but think WHY they chose to reject you. Am I not interesting enough? And of course, she hates the other person for doing this to her and making her spiral. As the song goes on, it gets a little less intense, like she’s finally accepting her fate. She will simply never know, and she has to accept that fact if she wants to move on.

The way she sings the last part of the song to sound so defeated is so amazing. You can tell that she sings it as if she knows that she *should* still be mad at her lover, but her heart is silently telling her to move on. Besides all that, I love singing along to this song and jamming out to those crazy ass instrumentals. Overall, it’s doubles as both an amazing song to jam out to and something you can connect to so well on an emotional level. It goes to show that a big part of that emotional connection with the singer is how realistic these emotions sound as they sing the song.

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Song of the Day — The Greatest by SASAMI

This was a really fun song to listen to! I think there’s something subtle going on with the vocals which conveys some desperation. I think this song focuses on the feeling you have when you love someone so much, yet they don’t love you back. It isn’t that simple, of course, as the song talks a lot about the *aftermath* of finding out this information. For example:

“And that’s the strangest part

At the bottom of a wasted heart

With all that room to fall

The greatest love of all”

When I listened to this, I was mainly thinking about how it feels like when you are continuously falling. At first, your adrenaline is pumping and you have this anticipation of a big SPLAT. But there’s so much room left, and you realize you really never know when you’re going to hit the ground. I guess hitting the ground here would mean finally moving on from this wasted love that isn’t ever going to happen. Another part of this complicated feeling can be explained with this lyric:

“But you’re the one on the interstate

Leaving me on the roadside now

You drew a line and I licked the paint”

I think this grants some insight on what we’re supposed to envision as the “falling” process here. The lover is drawing a line (obviously) to represent their boundaries. I think by “licking the paint,” there is a lot of intimacy implied here. She can’t get that intimacy from them, as they dont share that love back, so she has to channel it into walking that fine line of perhaps friendship and romance.

I won’t go into too much detail analyzing every single lyric. I don’t necessarily think my personal analysis is “correct” either, it’s personal for a reason. There is soooo much else I want to say, explaining all the other crazy weird theories I have on what she means in these lyrics, but instead I want to focus on what else I like about the song. I wrote earlier about how I really appreciate how SASAMI approached the vocals here. They’re very emotional, I can feel myself listening to this if I was going through a bad breakup. I can sing along to it and kinda sync my feelings with the feelings she expresses in the song, and I think that’s such a deal breaker for me when it comes to songs I love. I really want to feel that emotional connection, it separates a pretty meh song from such a heartbreaking masterpiece.

I feel like there are 50,000 other possible ways you can analyze these lyrics, I want to reiterate that mine is probably not the only one you can get from this song. Analyzing them, however, is so fun, especially when I get in depth and realize how many of these lyrics connect with my own understanding of the song. It’s really great.

I have like 100 songs on the back burner right now for these little “song of the day” things. Some of which are from some criminally underrated artists. I’m excited to get into some more of them.

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Song of the day — Heartstopper by Emilíana Torrini

This song is so beautiful, it kinda lures you in with its coffeeshop-like instrumentals to reveal a kinda sinister meaning/story under it. I believe the song delves a lot into some self-destructive behaviors and unhealthy ways of coping. Of course, the unhealthy way of coping shown in the song is by drinking coffee! Every single bad occurrence described in the song ends with drinking coffee and stopping your own heart. These behaviors are why her lover decided to break up with her, as evident through the beginning of the song

What I love in songs is a reference to how humans are so flawed. It doesn’t always have to be in a super dark and depressing way, I just really like to see a song that references how people REALLY feel, not how they WANT to feel. This song references some real issues that so many people go through, and I just love that so much. Love love love.

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On a different note, I really want my song recommendations to be from artists that aren’t really talked about. My policy will probably be to only do songs from artists with like less than 1 million monthly listeners on spotify.

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The fall semester of my Junior year of college is upon me, and it will probably be the most hectic and busy semester I’ll ever go through.

First of all, I am a research assistant in two labs, which I honestly don’t think will be… terrible… but it ultimately depends on my responsibilities. One of the labs I’m a part of this semester is one I was a part of last spring semester, so I already know what I have to do. From what I’ve heard, we’re just going to have some post-grad workshops and info sessions, and I’ll *maybe* get the chance to run some experiments. I’m a psych major btw. So if this is anything like last semester, it will probably be less stressful than it sounds. The second one I am in is one I got from cold emailing a professor that runs a lab closer to what I want to study in grad school (Social Psychology), and I’m pretty excited about it! However, I have no idea what to expect. I hope there will be some assignments that involve reading research papers; it’s usually pretty fun to see whats going on in the field of academia (especially when I have no idea what the hell they are talking about).

I am also going to be a TA this semester for Statistics in Psychology, which was a class I did pretty well in for the most part. I’m kinda excited, but also nervous because I’m not the best at tutoring and explaining how to do stuff. I just kinda… do it, and I do what makes logical sense in my brain. The thing is, when I try to help someone in, I try to make the concept make sense through my own logical point of view, which normally ends in me spewing a bunch of nonsense that makes sense to me, but not the other person. I feel like I’m being a bit harsh on myself though, as my friends have told me that I’m a good teacher and that I explain things well. Hopefully that manifests in being a TA :P but I also have to do things like grade papers and partake in an undergraduate teaching class (which is supposedly easy).

Of course, I have all of my actual course work, which I surprisingly haven’t mentioned just yet in a post all about my future prospects for this semester. I think I picked a lot of good classes, but they also seem a bit heavy on studying though. As long as I don’t have to take any terrible online tests, I should be fine. My beef with online exams will never be rivaled.

Lastly, I plan on studying abroad for the next semester! While this seems like a really fun thing to look forward to, what comes with it is applying to 10 quintillion scholarships with the hope that I don’t have to worry about going bankrupt while abroad. And that means I have to write 10 quintillion essays. Hooray.

I think I’ll be fine though. All of this will be super duper worth it in the long run, and I won’t regret any of it. I just need to be productive, which is much easier said than done unfortunately.

Unrelated current favorite song of the day: https://open.spotify.com/track/5Q2FUi0fzevbUYzVqy37Cv?si=FDXt2C6NSOaJTVWlDoDQVA