When I think of October, grainy vignettes of nights spent in Robarts during extended hours begin cycling through my memory. Moving images in sepia of myself weeping as I struggle to finish multiple essays due the next day; or in grayscale, of myself flustered as I burn my tongue on my second pot of coffee in an attempt to stay lucid while I rush to learn neglected chapters because the midterm is in nine hours, are two of the many depressing images that I automatically associate with this spooky month. Sometimes, for tolerability’s sake, I accompany these memories with a cameo of a sad panda playing a tiny violin. Essentially, October has come to represent an exhaustingly, unhealthy concoction of sleepless nights and excessive stress.
Researching paper #2
Surprisingly, this is where volunteerism has swooped in to save the day.
October is HealthyU month at U of T, an entire month dedicated to celebrating physical and mental health! October 17-21 (starting today!) is Self-Care week, which promotes ways to take care of yourself physically and mentally as well as how to de-stress. Okay, I'll be the first to admit that when I initially thought about self-care, I wondered, "Why do I have to be concerned with how I'm doing?" Well, after some careful consideration, I realized that if I don't care for myself, I get burnt out...easily. I can't always be on the go, go, go (although I do enjoy that) because otherwise all aspects of my life: social, academic, and personal would suffer.
My not-so-secret way (according my friends and family) to de-stress from the enormous amount of midterms I have coming up all in the same week (scary) is to watch some good TV shows and movies. But first, let me explain the source of my stress. I prefer to study in 2 to 3 hour blocks, even though concentrating for that long can sometimes be difficult. Finding time to study for that long can also be difficult, especially with my other commitments. Sometimes I feel stressed out because I feel like I haven't studied enough. However, at the end of my long studying sessions, I mostly feel like I've just come out of a deep slumber, blinking rapidly and looking around wondering "Where am I?" Robarts in the Winter: a building that pulls me in for many hours of studying
I'm getting there with my "To Do:" List making skills, but maybe this one is a little too ambitious!
When I first arrived in London I had a “To Do:” list with EVERYTHING on it: goal setting, student life, experiences, and travel ideas. I also made a pact with myself that during my semester abroad I would be different — I would stop procrastinating and get all my work done during the week so that I could be free to travel All of Europe on my days off. After two weeks of classes, I realized that my expectations were too big the reality and it was time to take a plan of action.
It is easy to get stressed out this time of the year. I had no idea there was such a thing as "midterms" of the midterm before the actual midterm exams in December. These October tests are worth up to 40% of my final year mark. Nervous yet? Well I sure was, once the excitement of the start of a new school year faded and I found myself behind on weeks' worth of lecture readings and notes. One of the things I learned in high school was to take a moment (anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour) to formulate a plan and organise your plan in such a way that you will actually be able to carry out.
I'm think I am an introvert, I probably always have been. I try not to shy away from it anymore because I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. Also, I think a lot of people misunderstand what introversion means. It can mean "a shy person" but I like to think that the psychological definition of introversion is much more relevant:
"a person characterized by concern primarily with his or her own thoughts and feelings"
This makes a lot more sense to me; I'm not a quite person because I have nothing to say or I'm scared to say it but more so because I'm taking everyone's inputs in and assessing my own thoughts first. I'm the kind of person who doesn't need to have other people around in order to feel happy, energized or active. I'm perfectly content spending a weekend with myself, just going about daily life and reading a book or two (or 10). I like listening to my music and staring into space (or simply staring into space).
Chilling in the Sid Smith Lounge and "people-watching" (a fancy term for staring into space)
It’s the middle of October and you know what that means? Pumpkin spiced lattes, a chilly breeze, Halloween décor, and midterms. Around this time of year, students often find their schedules filled with due dates, exams, quizzes, labs, papers, and assignments. During times like these, time is of the essence.
On that note, here is a life-hack to help save time: one of the most effective ways to maximize productivity is to minimize distractions. From personal experience, an hour of distraction-free studying is generally equivalent to 5-6 hours of distracted studying. Therefore, by staying focused, you can actually save a lot of time. So, how can you stay focused when studying?
Hi, my name's Liana and...I'm a member of the Procrastination Nation. It's a magical nation where I go to avoid all of life's responsibilities and PROCRASTINATE. I discovered the Procrastination Nation fatefully in the 9th grade when I said to a friend, "There's a whole group of us that procrastinate. It's like we're in our own world," and thus, the Procrastination Nation was born.
Me when I see that I have too many things to do...
In all seriousness, it was just a silly term that I used to describe moments when I was procrastinating school work and was off to the "Procrastination Nation", meaning that I would do anything to avoid actually working. But the funny thing is...I'm a "planned" procrastinator. I know what you're thinking, "Liana, please stop throwing all these random, weird terms you've come up with at me." Okay, okay, I promise I'm done. But really, I'm a planned procrastinator which means I actually PLAN when and how I'm going to procrastinate, instead of doing what I actually need to do.
Confession time – I'm a third year student at UofT, and up until now, I haven't really used any of the university services that were specifically designed to guide students towards academic success. It’s time to change that.
Growing up, I have always had the “I can do it myself” mentality. This attitude held me back from reaching out to university services. But recently, I came to a realization that I should have taken advantage of these services.
I denied my friend's offer to help me open this carton because "I could do it myself!" Clearly, I couldn't.
Hi, my name is Agustina and I am this year's first-year blogger!
Why start a blog of a journal? One of the most obvious reasons to keep a blog or a journal is to express your thoughts. It helps you create an honest space where you can express and track what is happening in your life, revealing your thoughts on certain subjects. As first-year students or university students, we all go through our student lives with certain expectations. Here are some of the expectations I encountered about having to start university.
My brother, mom, sister and I together at my mom's mandolin orchestra performance.
When I was younger, my parents used to make me a special Vietnamese warm drink any time in the winter. They would spoon sweetened condensed milk into a big mug, then pour hot water into it, stirring all the while. And after adding enough condensed milk as necessary to my preferred taste, they would finish it off by giving me bread to dip as I sipped my drink. While this was definitely before my university years, I still find myself unknowingly craving the drink then ultimately making it any time life (at U of T, especially) gets crazy, gets chaotic, gets stormy, gets sad.
And, well, I also crave the drink when I miss my family.
