So it has been a whole semester since I starting writing this and I have found myself at finals time again. I have to say this may have been the most stressful finals period yet, but I still have two tests to go.
The fact that this year is over is both relief and a very scary idea. I am halfway done with my college experience.
To be honest, I just got really distracted by the Lehigh 2013 facebook group. They talked about GC which I love since it really is probably one of the best things I could have gotten involved in here. The truth is that my favorite things about these groups are the lies that somehow get spread around about Lehigh. There is nothings bad about these lies, it's just interesting to see the way that these incoming students perceive different things and then seeing how the students like myself who are current students have to redirect them to the reality of the situation. It makes me laugh.
Okay, this has been enough of a distraction, it's time I get back to work for finals. Soooo close to being done, I can taste it!
Friday, May 1, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Tried My Best At Moving On....
It's been a while since I have updated this but sometimes it's rough! School is starting to wind down which makes everything even more stressful since there are tons of projects. I feel that in other semesters, I have had a combination of papers, final projects and final tests but this semester is different. Rather than having group projects to end class, my classes this semester have final group projects as well as a final exam. I like the idea of more available points but it does make for more work.
My first post on this blog was about my love for finals period and the serenity that comes over campus while everyone studies. This semester will be more stressful because of my test schedule but I still look forward to spending more time in the library with my friends and using all of my extra dining dollars. :)
This week will be very very very long. The second to last week of classes marks Greek Week, the most fun week of second semester. First semester, we have Lehigh/Laf and it's second semester equivalent is Greek Week but personally, I am more involved in all of the activities of Greek Week. There are all sorts of competitions throughout the week and everyone is psyched for the ending of classes. The problem with the next week is that it is the last week that non-finals can be administered. Personally, I have a huge test Wednesday and a paper due Friday. I am really going to try to finish all of my paper before Thursday morning which gives me time to study as well as to enjoy the last few days of Greek Week before going into finals mode to make sure that I do well on my finals.
Okay, random note. While I write this, I am watching a show called "Platinum Wedding" and I think it's a little insane that this couple spent 1.2 million dollars just on their wedding. I think that I would rather spend that much on a very nice house instead.
My first post on this blog was about my love for finals period and the serenity that comes over campus while everyone studies. This semester will be more stressful because of my test schedule but I still look forward to spending more time in the library with my friends and using all of my extra dining dollars. :)
This week will be very very very long. The second to last week of classes marks Greek Week, the most fun week of second semester. First semester, we have Lehigh/Laf and it's second semester equivalent is Greek Week but personally, I am more involved in all of the activities of Greek Week. There are all sorts of competitions throughout the week and everyone is psyched for the ending of classes. The problem with the next week is that it is the last week that non-finals can be administered. Personally, I have a huge test Wednesday and a paper due Friday. I am really going to try to finish all of my paper before Thursday morning which gives me time to study as well as to enjoy the last few days of Greek Week before going into finals mode to make sure that I do well on my finals.
Okay, random note. While I write this, I am watching a show called "Platinum Wedding" and I think it's a little insane that this couple spent 1.2 million dollars just on their wedding. I think that I would rather spend that much on a very nice house instead.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
I Need to Find a Place Where I Can Breathe...
I should probably take the time to mention that the titles of all of my blog posts are all song lyrics. Some relate to what I am thinking about and others are just parts of the songs stuck in my head.
So as usual, I am writing here to take a little time to myself while I push off other work that needs to get done. Today, I have to write a paper. I was thinking about where I would write this paper when I realized how much times change when you get older. I have a five to seven page paper due tomorrow. I am not worried and have no doubt in my mind that I will be able to finish it and have it not be the worst thing that I have ever written. One of my favorites? Probably not, but it won't be horrible.
When I was younger and things had to be typed, that was the hardest part for me. I could hand write a page but then the typing was like torture. This was back when rough drafts were written on paper and the final drafts were typed. That was also the formula, one rough draft, one final draft and that is it. You only edited the rough draft to make it the final draft. But back the typing. My mom used to type my papers, but not like other parents that typed the whole paper and would make corrections as they went, no, my mother typed in all of my grammatical and spelling errors so that I would have to learn to correct them.
In the years that followed as I learned to type my own papers, I discovered that each version was different from the others, not just in the grammar but in the way that I wanted to express myself. I realized that each time I sat down to write left me in a different mind frame than every other time. It still tends to be fairly obvious to see that I have stopped working on a paper for a while and then come back to it because the writing is more strained. I could start working on this paper and with the twenty minutes I have right now but the reality is that I will end up rewriting everything I had so it's not worth it. There are countless drafts that started out as one thing and became something different entirely as I gave myself time to think about exactly what I wanted to say and gave myself some idea of the contents of the paper.
I was also never one of this kids who could write off an outline. That was miserable. Making outlines for things that were already written, fine but trying to use them to guide what I wanted to say was impossible and any good essay I ever wrote was never off an outline. Writing is something that requires mechanics and creativity, but early on, we get the mechanics and it's time to just work the creativity, especially in thinking for yourself while analyzing.
The expectations of us changed all the time throughout our schooling. We went from being worried about our spelling and trying to just write a few sentences, to trying to write a whole page skipping lines in cursive to now, where we think about five-ish pages being no big deal. When did this happen?
My seventh grade English teacher may have been the only one to push us with us actually realizing that he was making our writing better. From my class of thirty, he gave about ten of us a separate project. This was a project more like the ones that I have now in college. It was a fairly open ended prompt about xenophobia. It was supposed to be ten pages long. Granted, at that time, we had a few weeks to do this rather then the days we have to do the same type of paper now, but I remember struggling to understand what he wanted from me since it wasn't spelled out exactly but with time, I realize that that forced me to be a better writer. It was a constant battle after that with every English teacher being different, some helped the creative part and wanted us to learn for ourselves. Others were very specific in what they wanted and grades reflected sticking to that.
So, I would love to keep talking about this but alas, I must go and take care of some things before I start my paper.
So as usual, I am writing here to take a little time to myself while I push off other work that needs to get done. Today, I have to write a paper. I was thinking about where I would write this paper when I realized how much times change when you get older. I have a five to seven page paper due tomorrow. I am not worried and have no doubt in my mind that I will be able to finish it and have it not be the worst thing that I have ever written. One of my favorites? Probably not, but it won't be horrible.
When I was younger and things had to be typed, that was the hardest part for me. I could hand write a page but then the typing was like torture. This was back when rough drafts were written on paper and the final drafts were typed. That was also the formula, one rough draft, one final draft and that is it. You only edited the rough draft to make it the final draft. But back the typing. My mom used to type my papers, but not like other parents that typed the whole paper and would make corrections as they went, no, my mother typed in all of my grammatical and spelling errors so that I would have to learn to correct them.
In the years that followed as I learned to type my own papers, I discovered that each version was different from the others, not just in the grammar but in the way that I wanted to express myself. I realized that each time I sat down to write left me in a different mind frame than every other time. It still tends to be fairly obvious to see that I have stopped working on a paper for a while and then come back to it because the writing is more strained. I could start working on this paper and with the twenty minutes I have right now but the reality is that I will end up rewriting everything I had so it's not worth it. There are countless drafts that started out as one thing and became something different entirely as I gave myself time to think about exactly what I wanted to say and gave myself some idea of the contents of the paper.
I was also never one of this kids who could write off an outline. That was miserable. Making outlines for things that were already written, fine but trying to use them to guide what I wanted to say was impossible and any good essay I ever wrote was never off an outline. Writing is something that requires mechanics and creativity, but early on, we get the mechanics and it's time to just work the creativity, especially in thinking for yourself while analyzing.
The expectations of us changed all the time throughout our schooling. We went from being worried about our spelling and trying to just write a few sentences, to trying to write a whole page skipping lines in cursive to now, where we think about five-ish pages being no big deal. When did this happen?
My seventh grade English teacher may have been the only one to push us with us actually realizing that he was making our writing better. From my class of thirty, he gave about ten of us a separate project. This was a project more like the ones that I have now in college. It was a fairly open ended prompt about xenophobia. It was supposed to be ten pages long. Granted, at that time, we had a few weeks to do this rather then the days we have to do the same type of paper now, but I remember struggling to understand what he wanted from me since it wasn't spelled out exactly but with time, I realize that that forced me to be a better writer. It was a constant battle after that with every English teacher being different, some helped the creative part and wanted us to learn for ourselves. Others were very specific in what they wanted and grades reflected sticking to that.
So, I would love to keep talking about this but alas, I must go and take care of some things before I start my paper.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
I Can Take Most Anything
So I have been lacking on the updates lately but I guess I just haven't had anything really good to say lately. Right now, I am using this post to push off studying for my test tomorrow for a little while but it's all good since I worked ahead in my other classes over break to make this week easier. I guess we do learn more from past experiences. Last spring break, I remember coming back from Spring Break and feeling swamped but this year I did more work than I would have liked over break but I am back and more relaxed than I expected to be. I'm glad that I used all the travel time to get ahead. Plus, it gave me time to actually think my homework all the way through. I always have to really think though my reading responses, but this week felt different since I had hours and hours between reading the prompt and then actually writing rather then prompt only being release the day before I have to write the response and not having the time to ponder. So today, the post was a little short, but as I said, I still have a test tomorrow.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
You May Say I'm A Dreamer...
The last few weeks have been insane. My entire house is getting to know our new girls which has been all sorts of fun. Plus, it's the time of the semester where tests start. I honestly think I have a test just about every week of the semester until after finals. I guess it's better this way though because that means that I have more time to focus on each class individually rather than trying to cram information for all of my classes into my head for all sorts of tests in one week and instead I have time to put into really studying to understand the information.
I feel like second semester this year is going by a lot faster than it did last year. I will admit that this time last year, everything was still really overwhelming, trying to balance all of my activities from first semester, and classes and Greek Life. But now, I am so glad I learned to manage everything because I really do love everything I am doing here. I am soo excited for Greek Week and for the weather to get warmer. The more time I spend here, the more I realize that I am a West Coast girl through and through. If given the chance, I would continue to choose Lehigh as the institution at which to further my education, but after this, I will probably head back to the sunshine (I'm not such a fan of the cold) and just come back to visit. Plus, then all of my friends who live in cold places will all have an excuse to come visit.
I now have to get going. I have a paper due tomorrow that I really need to finish up before I can study for my test Friday. I'm excited to have less tests next week but honestly am not that stressed about all of it right now.
I feel like second semester this year is going by a lot faster than it did last year. I will admit that this time last year, everything was still really overwhelming, trying to balance all of my activities from first semester, and classes and Greek Life. But now, I am so glad I learned to manage everything because I really do love everything I am doing here. I am soo excited for Greek Week and for the weather to get warmer. The more time I spend here, the more I realize that I am a West Coast girl through and through. If given the chance, I would continue to choose Lehigh as the institution at which to further my education, but after this, I will probably head back to the sunshine (I'm not such a fan of the cold) and just come back to visit. Plus, then all of my friends who live in cold places will all have an excuse to come visit.
I now have to get going. I have a paper due tomorrow that I really need to finish up before I can study for my test Friday. I'm excited to have less tests next week but honestly am not that stressed about all of it right now.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
I was sitting in the classroom...
So there are things that I really don't understand. Why people wear high heels on cross country flights is one thing, but the one I was thinking about today was how all of the professors I end up loving end up getting chalk all over themselves during class. In high school, my classrooms all had whiteboards so we used the stinky markers rather than chalk. Granted some teachers ended up with marker all over their hands, but it is nothing compared to how covered in chalk my teachers can be now. Last spring, I had one professor who always wore dark colored clothes, she had to jump to reach the string to pull the screen down and by the end of every class, her clothing was covered in chalk. Having her, lead me to finding my major. One of my current professors is even worse. He gets so into his lecture that he will touch his clothing (today a dark colored zip up sweater) or his face. So, yes, he ends up with chalk all over his face and in perfect finger marks across his sweater. I feel like I really going to get a lot out of his class. Maybe that should be how I find professors in the future, based on how much chalk they can accumulate on themselves by the end of class. I really feel like they let it happen without knowing because they get really into what they are saying and trying to explain. These professors are passionate people, if they weren't they wouldn't be teaching.
Monday, January 12, 2009
The Dawn is Breaking
Today is the start of all sorts of things. Today is bid day. Today is the first day of classes of my fourth semester at Lehigh.
Today being bid day is bittersweet. We have some really great girls joining our house but at the same time, we know that others were disappointed. My pledge class is no longer the "newbies" or the babies as the older girls used to call us. I will no longer be the youngest in my family. Our pledge class really realized how far we have come in the last year this week. With recruitment, everyone was in the house working on putting together the various rounds so our house spent a lot of time together. We realized how different we were now both individually and as a collective pledge class from when we joined a year ago. I realized that the Greek system, specifically my house, has altered me in ways that I know I can never truly understand or appreciate. When I started at Lehigh, I felt like a very small part of a very very big place. Campus doesn't feel so big anymore when I always see girls from my house everywhere and am only without them in one of my five classes (and no I did not intentionally plan my schedule to be with them :)) Some of my best friends have come from this last year in the house. I have no idea if these girls have any concept of what they will realize that they are missing. I know I didn't. I didn't have any clue how many fantastic friendships and other opportunities I was missing until I realized this week that I had them already.
On the other hand, today was also the first day of classes. This is the last semester in my first half of college. Scary thought. It's going by so quickly. This semester's classes offer new challenges, the question is, can I meet them? Some are going to be less interesting but unfortunately completely necessary while others are more for fun and maybe filling a random requirement. It will be an interesting semester to say the least.
Now I have to go do my homework that is due for the second day of classes.
Today being bid day is bittersweet. We have some really great girls joining our house but at the same time, we know that others were disappointed. My pledge class is no longer the "newbies" or the babies as the older girls used to call us. I will no longer be the youngest in my family. Our pledge class really realized how far we have come in the last year this week. With recruitment, everyone was in the house working on putting together the various rounds so our house spent a lot of time together. We realized how different we were now both individually and as a collective pledge class from when we joined a year ago. I realized that the Greek system, specifically my house, has altered me in ways that I know I can never truly understand or appreciate. When I started at Lehigh, I felt like a very small part of a very very big place. Campus doesn't feel so big anymore when I always see girls from my house everywhere and am only without them in one of my five classes (and no I did not intentionally plan my schedule to be with them :)) Some of my best friends have come from this last year in the house. I have no idea if these girls have any concept of what they will realize that they are missing. I know I didn't. I didn't have any clue how many fantastic friendships and other opportunities I was missing until I realized this week that I had them already.
On the other hand, today was also the first day of classes. This is the last semester in my first half of college. Scary thought. It's going by so quickly. This semester's classes offer new challenges, the question is, can I meet them? Some are going to be less interesting but unfortunately completely necessary while others are more for fun and maybe filling a random requirement. It will be an interesting semester to say the least.
Now I have to go do my homework that is due for the second day of classes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)