Study Tips

First things first, Happy Friday and Happy Halloween!

My bunny is pretty happy it's Friday too :)

Studying is probably the last thing I want to be thinking about today, but I think the celebrating will have to be kept to a minimum. I've got a busy weekend coming up and lots of school work to catch up on. I'll be sure to post a recap with our costumes later this weekend! 

I was thinking about it after yesterday's post and I've realized that writing on the blog is also a nice stress reliever. I spend 100% of time in school reading and writing papers, but somehow this kind of writing feels different. It's a nice way to reflect and unwind, and it helps me refocus. 

Speaking of focus! Since my life currently revolves around school, I figured it would be useful to write out a few things that help me concentrate when it's time to buckle down and study.

5 Study Tips

1. Make a List: This is always the first thing I do when there is a lot to get done. Writing down tasks makes them seem more manageable (visualization always helps me), and it's really satisfying when you can check things off. 

2. Have a study space: As a college student, my bedroom and my "office" are the same place. If I'm going to study at home, I need to minimize distractions. Usually that means taking 10 minutes to make my bed and clean up my desk. Going to one of the libraries on campus is also a good idea. I'm always more productive at the library because I feel guilty if I go and don't use my time wisely. 

3. Unplug: For some people, studying with music is really helpful. For me, it's a major distraction. It is really difficult for me to retain information like important dates and concepts if I'm distracted by music. Although I look like a super dork, I've found that wearing ear plugs is tremendously helpful! 

4. Logout: These days, there are millions of things to get distracted by on the internet. Whether it's social media (Facebook and Instagram are the biggest time suckers for me), blogs, Pinterest etc. LOGOUT. By logging out, I have to make a conscious decision to log back in. This helps prevent mindless scrolling. Often during finals I will deactivate my Facebook temporarily, or have my roommate create a new password so that I can't log back in. 

5. Take breaks: If you know you'll be focusing on dense material, allow yourself time for breaks. I try to focus for 50 minutes and then take a 10 minute break to stretch, get some tea, use the bathroom or chat with my roommate. Taking a step back helps me refocus and stay on track. 

I know these tips are fairly generic, but sometimes it's good to focus on the basics. 

Hope you have a happy and safe Halloween! 

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Balance and Baseball

Holy moly!!! Our team won the World Series for the 3rd time in 5 years! I was born and raised in the SF Bay Area, so the Giants have always been a huge part of the culture in our area. My dad and I went to a game back in September and it was truly one of my favorite memories. Going to the ballpark with my old man, looking out over the Bay on a beautiful sunny afternoon and just enjoying the camaraderie of all the excited fans. The last time I had been at a game was in 2012!

My housemates and I have been watching every game since we all moved in together (two of them are from San Francisco) and it's been something that I look forward to after a long day of school. Plus, our team colors were perfect for getting everyone in the spirit of Halloween!
I didn't actually get to watch the whole game last night as I had a meeting, but my housemate texted me as soon as we won and I announced the win to everyone in the room. We all erupted in excited cheers, it was great! I so wish I could go to the parade tomorrow, but school has priority :(

Other than baseball, things have been a little overwhelming lately. I can't remember if I've mentioned this before, but last year was incredibly difficult for me in terms of finding balance. I was traveling at least 3 weekends a month, babysitting a ton, and trying to keep up with my volunteer position as Lieutenant Governor for Circle K. I had no energy for studying, and keeping up in all my classes was so hard. I felt guilty and ashamed of how awful I was doing and it was nothing short of miraculous when I found out I had passed all of my classes. I used to be 4.0 student, so this was a huge shift for me and it was really hard to digest.

As this summer came to a close, I was getting more and more excited for school. I wanted to use this last year to really focus on my studies while still finding time for the activities that enrich my life. I absolutely love volunteering and I use it as a stress reliever, so I try and attend at least one project per week. It also serves as a great time to socialize and reconnect with the friends I've made in Circle K throughout the years. But it does take time, and with the amount of homework I've had so far this quarter, time has been my biggest enemy.

Things have been a little rough at home (as in home home, I'll spare you the details), so being able to focus on my studies while still getting enough sleep, eating well, exercising and making time to enjoy life, has been really rough. By the time Friday rolls around, I am exhausted and my brain is totally fried. I want to saturate my weekends in "me" time, but right now it's just not possible. Like I said, I still try and carve out a few hours for volunteering, and I would be lying if I said my roommate and I didn't take unplanned study breaks, but for the most part, it's all about the academics right now. Finding balance is tough, but I know that 7 months from now when I'm walking across the stage, it will all have been worth it. As Dori would say, "Just keep swimming!"

Weekend Recap

This weekend was incredibly busy, but quite fun. After class on Friday, Linnea and I went to Ace Hardware to pick up some fertilizer for our winter vegetable patch. Granted, this is mostly Linnea's project, but it's still fun to spend some time outside and learn more about proper fertilization and gardening techniques!

I also managed to snag a ton of paint samples for a little Pinterest project I've been thinking about. 

Our garden, which we affectionately refer to as "The Dirt Patch" 

Saturday started bright and early! Every October the California-Nevada-Hawaii district of Circle K International has two massive fundraisers for the Pediatric Trauma Program. Did you know that 90% of accidents involving children are preventable? This program works to provide training for doctors treating children who have experienced some kind of traumatic accident, and also provides safety equipment and training to help keep as many kids safe as possible. The way the fundraiser works is that members from around the district sign up in teams of six to compete in a series of relay type activities and compete for a spot in the finals. Each team pays a registration fee and all the funds go to supporting PTP. We call it Crazy Kompetition for Infants, a.k.a. CKI North/South.

About 1/3 of the attendees. This is my division, Sunset, and Central Coast division! 

This year I was one of the judges and got to help out at the jump rope station. People don't realize how physically demanding jump roping! Two members of each team are responsible for turning the rope and the other four must jump. The first person must make three jumps before the next team member can join them and we don't start counting jumps until all four members are jumping. It's intense! The highest scoring team made 152 jumps as a team of four in just five minutes! Bonus: My friend's team, The Sexy Six, has competed together for the last three years and they took first place in the finals this year!

Some of my friends who were also judging jump rope wanted to give it a go... It's harder than it looks but they managed 195 jumps in 5 minutes! :) 

I love this event because it brings together a lot of people that I only get to see a few times a year. Plus we usually wind up getting food afterwards and it's so fun to catch up. By the time I got home though, I was totally wiped. I wound up going to bed at 9:30pm and sleeping for almost twelve hours. It was glorious!

Sunday was supposed to be my relaxation/ homework catch up day, but there was far more relaxing involved than there was studying... Oops! Linnea and I went back to the apple orchard and walked away with a complimentary jar of apple butter from the owners in addition to our next ten pound stash of apples!

So many yummy fall treats!

We ran a few errands on the way home, and I walked away from Target with the best purchase I think I've ever made. I have never owned a pair of patterned pants, but I could not leave them behind after trying them on and feeling how soft and comfy they were. I wore them all afternoon yesterday and I didn't want to take them off!

Please ignore the dirty mirror and my lack of a face (I was pretty sunburnt from Saturday)

Overall it was a great weekend, but I'm seriously wishing I had done more homework. I have about 500 pages of reading to finish before Wednesday, so we'll see how that goes. Wish me luck!

Back to School Craziness

Unlike a good majority of college students in the United States, my school runs on the quarter system. Basically, our year is divided into four quarters, three of them being during the academic year and the final one being split into two sessions over the summer. Because each quarter is only ten weeks (plus one week for final exams), we don't start school until late September every year. However, because of the Jewish Holiday falling on the typical first day of school, the UC system decided to push back the start date until the following week which meant I didn't start school until October 2nd this year. Crazy late! 

It's been almost exactly two weeks since the quarter started and I am already swamped. I'm taking a  full course load (two upper division history classes and my last survey class) which makes for tons and tons of reading. I've been to the library a record number of times in the past eight days and I am still not completely up to date in all my classes. I have about 500 pages of reading per week and since there is no time to waste on the quarter system, my first midterm paper is due tomorrow!

In addition to school, I'm also active in a few clubs on campus (Circle K International, Red Cross and Colleges Against Cancer), and I am finally starting my volunteer position at our local hospital. The hospital in our area has a fairly new program for college volunteers that allows us to work in the Emergency Department and take shifts at any hour of the day. There are also opportunities to work in Labor and Delivery as well as the NICU which is what I'm most interested in. I'm super excited to get started, but I'm currently waiting on immunization records from my doctor as well as the TB testing clinic to open next week. I did get to go to UC Davis this past weekend for the 12th Annual PreHealth conference which was very informative, reassuring and motivating in terms of where I am in the process (*ahem* barely starting out, more on that later) 

Anyway, I'm going to try really, really hard to keep writing on a fairly regular basis since it's nice to look back and see what I was up to and how I was feeling at different points in the year. I'm still kind of riding the high of the start of the school year, but the reality of senior year is quickly setting in and I can tell this final year of undergrad is going to be a crazy good one! 

Time to keep working on that midterm paper...

Apple Picking at Clearview Orchards

Growing up on the California Coast means we only really have two seasons. It's sunny and warm/hot about seven months of the year, and then mid October it starts to get chilly. Fall is by far my favorite season, so these last few weeks of Indian Summer have not been popular with me (or my fall wardrobe.) I adore the crisp morning air in November and the smell after it rains. Basically, it's not unusual for me to get really excited about weather. Especially when it involves cooler temps and rain (come on draught, we're done with you!)

Anyway, yesterday felt like a good day to pretend it wasn't 90 degrees outside so after a morning of volunteering for the Homeless Garden Project, Linnea and I headed out to Clearview Orchards in Watsonville to pick some apples. This is actually our third year visiting this particular orchard and we love it because the prices are reasonable, they have great variety, it's certified organic and it's family owned and operated. All kinds of winning!

Last year at the orchard. Las tres amigas!

We got a little carried away and picked those apples like they were going out of style! We got plenty of Granny Smith's for a pie that we'll probably bake up tonight, plus plenty of apples for snacking. They are juicy and crisp, with just the right amount of sweetness. We walked away with about ten pounds of apples, plus a butternut squash.

Missing 1/3 of our trio

Apple picking is definitely one of my very favorite activities and I'm so glad we got to go, even though it doesn't really feel like Fall yet. Bonus: We got apple fritters on the way home AND our local grocery was having a sale on my favorite tea brand. Now if only the weather would get the memo...

I'm planning to spend the rest of the day chipping away at my 200 pages of reading for classes tomorrow. Whoever said the first week of school was low key clearly has never been on the quarter system!

Outtakes (in which I seemingly have no eyes. Ooops!)

Best Concert of My Life

Last Sunday was a crazy special day that I had been looking forward to for months. Way back in March, I heard the acoustic version of Sam Smith's "Latch" and I totally and completely fell in love with his voice. My friend Kayla is also a huge fan, so when we heard he would be touring North America, we freaked out. Kayla lives in Southern California (approximately a 6 hour drive from me, or a 1.5 hour plane ride) so we had to decide whether we wanted to see him in L.A. or in Oakland. We decided on Oakland because that concert was on a Sunday which worked better for both of us, and we were so glad we did. The venue (Fox Theater) was beautiful and it wasn't very big. We were in the absolute last row in the balcony, but we could still see really well and didn't feel like it compromised our experience at all.

Woooo! So excited! 

Inside the Fox Theater in Oakland. So gorgeous! 

During the opening act, my heart was racing with anticipation. I don't think I've ever felt like such a fan girl, even with Maroon 5! The minute he stepped on stage and started singing, I was in HEAVEN. Oh my gosh, I can't even put into words how beautiful his voice sounded! You can really feel the emotion in his voice and his passion for the lyrics really shines through in every song. He played a lot of the songs from his album, "In the Lonely Hour" and also covered a few songs including Whitney Houston's "How Will I Know" which was incredible. He is so charming and charismatic which made the show that much better.

The man himself. I was flipping out. I even cried at one point! 

The thing I love about concerts is the energy and the passion in the crowd. Good fans truly make the experience. The people sitting next to us were equally as excited as we were which made it really fun to sing along and enjoy the show. I am so happy we were able to go and I cannot wait to see him in concert again next time he's in the area. Oh! and I am so glad we didn't see him in L.A. The venue was huge and super crowded, and on a college student's budget, we definitely would have wound up lost in the back somewhere watching his face on a monitor. Bay Area all the way!

So glad Kayla was able to come up for this! <3