Hello again! I hope you the mysterious and anonymous reader had a nice Thanksgiving. Get any good Black Friday deals? Poke around online for Cyber Monday? What a crazy time of year!
I'm back at school for the final stretch of this semester. I'm counting it down in as many ways as I can think of... 2 weeks, 4 classes, 14 days (at the time I'm writing this), 4 assignments, 2 portfolios, 3 final exams... whew!
I'll probably get more reflective about what it's like to be done with my first semester of college after I'm done... right now, I'm just focused on staying energized and handling the last round of work with a bit of grace.
I did do a bit of that thinking about what you're grateful for last week -- and among the things that seem actually relevant for this blog was my decision to attend CU. I believe it was this time last year that I was just about done with applications (I got all of mine in for the early action deadlines), and I may have even been into a school or two -- maybe that was a little earlier.
Anyway, suffice it to say, I'm glad I decided to come here (Go Buffs!), and I'm glad I decided to stay in Boulder. I was asked recently if it's weird for me being in my hometown -- not having really gone away to college. Weird? I don't know. It's working for me.
I'm starting to think a lot about everything I want to do in my month of freedom (winter break) and what I want to change for next semester. I won't go into all that now, but is anyone else getting that new year/resolution feeling yet?
Driving around Boulder now is great -- a lot of houses have their lights up, and the big star is lit on the mountain! (Don't know what I'm talking about? Go outside at night and look!) It now feels acceptable to me that stores have holiday music playing -- although it does seem like Christmas came early and quickly this year.
Anyway, I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving, I hope you're hanging in there until your next vacation, and I hope you're getting in the holiday spirit!
Cheers :)
This blog is sponsored by the CU Book Store.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Weekend? What weekend?
I have never felt more like a college student.
This weekend was full of one thing: Papers. Lots of papers. The universe decided to play a trick on my calendar, and threw three full academic papers at me at once. Two were due Tuesday, while the third, in progress, is due Thursday. All are somewhere between 5 and 7 pages.
So, whew, did I feel like an academic as I said goodbye to the beautiful snowy world this weekend, locked the door, and faced the blinking cursor on my word program. I guess I don't have a whole lot to say on the subject (in fact, I'm rather talked out), but it felt like a milestone in my freshman year. The first weekend of "oh my goodness I have a lot of thinking to do."
Overall, I guess I'm glad I'm not the kind of person who leaves things to the very last minute. I mean, I could have worked ahead last week to get one of the three papers done before the weekend started, but at least I didn't leave one of the Tuesday papers until Monday night. I honestly don't know how people procrastinate that long -- I'd buckle under that kind of stress. But to each, his own, I guess.
Throughout the process, my mind kept wandering to a time when I wouldn't have to be writing papers non-stop. First it would think "by next week, these three papers are done, then I can relax." But then I'd realize that once these papers are done, I'll have to start the Thanksgiving break workload that comes with the semester ending... the workload which has a significantly high number of papers in it. So then I'd resign myself to the fact that Winter Break is my big countdown deadline... once December 15 hits, then I'll be free.
And so now I'm really looking forward to that glorious month off. (Yes, a month!! I know, I can't believe it either). So, to anyone out there who happens to be reading this... do you have any fun Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanza/Solstice/Winter related plans? Feel free to share!
With that, I think I'll leave you. Cheers :)
This blog is sponsored by the CU Book Store.
This weekend was full of one thing: Papers. Lots of papers. The universe decided to play a trick on my calendar, and threw three full academic papers at me at once. Two were due Tuesday, while the third, in progress, is due Thursday. All are somewhere between 5 and 7 pages.
So, whew, did I feel like an academic as I said goodbye to the beautiful snowy world this weekend, locked the door, and faced the blinking cursor on my word program. I guess I don't have a whole lot to say on the subject (in fact, I'm rather talked out), but it felt like a milestone in my freshman year. The first weekend of "oh my goodness I have a lot of thinking to do."
Overall, I guess I'm glad I'm not the kind of person who leaves things to the very last minute. I mean, I could have worked ahead last week to get one of the three papers done before the weekend started, but at least I didn't leave one of the Tuesday papers until Monday night. I honestly don't know how people procrastinate that long -- I'd buckle under that kind of stress. But to each, his own, I guess.
Throughout the process, my mind kept wandering to a time when I wouldn't have to be writing papers non-stop. First it would think "by next week, these three papers are done, then I can relax." But then I'd realize that once these papers are done, I'll have to start the Thanksgiving break workload that comes with the semester ending... the workload which has a significantly high number of papers in it. So then I'd resign myself to the fact that Winter Break is my big countdown deadline... once December 15 hits, then I'll be free.
And so now I'm really looking forward to that glorious month off. (Yes, a month!! I know, I can't believe it either). So, to anyone out there who happens to be reading this... do you have any fun Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanza/Solstice/Winter related plans? Feel free to share!
With that, I think I'll leave you. Cheers :)
This blog is sponsored by the CU Book Store.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Registration madness
Well, we didn't get that snow day, but such is life.
The past week was spent looking forward, preparing for registering for classes - my registration time was last Thursday. Now that I have everything set up, I'm in a completely different mindset. But I was definitely very wrapped up in all the details last week, worrying about the classes that were filling up already, arranging and rearranging various options in the CU Schedule Planner, and generally worrying about how it would all work out.
A few things I learned:
1. Don't get too attached to one plan/class/schedule: This kept happening to me. I would think I had "the perfect schedule," with all the classes I thought I needed, all arranged in just the right order (not too early - no 8AMs - and not too late - this semester I have a class that goes till 10PM). But again and again, these "perfect schedules" kept falling through, and I'd have to start over.
2. You should prepare: I have no idea how I would have dealt with picking classes if I hadn't already known what I was planning on doing when I signed onto CUConnect at my assigned time. There's plenty you can do to prepare, like making several schedules that would work, or at the very least, choosing classes you're interested in.
3. Keep track of things: both the Schedule Planner and CUConnect itself will list how many people are already enrolled in classes, whether the class is closed or still has room. Several of the classes I wanted filled up or were even canceled before I got there, but I was able to rearrange my plans because I kept checking every few days.
As for my own personal approach, I made goals: I didn't want 8AM classes, I wanted either Friday or Monday off, I wanted to get as many Core credits done as possible, and I wanted to continue moving in my film major. I was ready to acknowledge that some of these goals might not work out, but in the end, I kept working on my schedule until they did.
So that's a little bit about my experience with registering - I'm sure that each semester, it will get easier. I hope it goes well for everyone else in college this semester, or that it went well, if you've already registered.
Cheers :)
The past week was spent looking forward, preparing for registering for classes - my registration time was last Thursday. Now that I have everything set up, I'm in a completely different mindset. But I was definitely very wrapped up in all the details last week, worrying about the classes that were filling up already, arranging and rearranging various options in the CU Schedule Planner, and generally worrying about how it would all work out.
A few things I learned:
1. Don't get too attached to one plan/class/schedule: This kept happening to me. I would think I had "the perfect schedule," with all the classes I thought I needed, all arranged in just the right order (not too early - no 8AMs - and not too late - this semester I have a class that goes till 10PM). But again and again, these "perfect schedules" kept falling through, and I'd have to start over.
2. You should prepare: I have no idea how I would have dealt with picking classes if I hadn't already known what I was planning on doing when I signed onto CUConnect at my assigned time. There's plenty you can do to prepare, like making several schedules that would work, or at the very least, choosing classes you're interested in.
3. Keep track of things: both the Schedule Planner and CUConnect itself will list how many people are already enrolled in classes, whether the class is closed or still has room. Several of the classes I wanted filled up or were even canceled before I got there, but I was able to rearrange my plans because I kept checking every few days.
As for my own personal approach, I made goals: I didn't want 8AM classes, I wanted either Friday or Monday off, I wanted to get as many Core credits done as possible, and I wanted to continue moving in my film major. I was ready to acknowledge that some of these goals might not work out, but in the end, I kept working on my schedule until they did.
So that's a little bit about my experience with registering - I'm sure that each semester, it will get easier. I hope it goes well for everyone else in college this semester, or that it went well, if you've already registered.
Cheers :)
This blog is sponsored by the CU Book Store.
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