ITS PRIDE MONTH YALL

past few days have been HECTIC

we've been preparing for socio club's first event of the year

spent some time out with my friends (saw cute black cat over there)

also went on WAY too many mental health walks in the breaks between lectures. (my schedule is more hectic this week because we have extra lectures EVERY single day ༎ຶ⁠‿⁠༎ຶ

but messages like this one in a bathroom stall are nice reminders to hang in there tbh

haven't done much studying but need to get started for my biological bases mid-sem soon😭

(wish me good luck im def gonna need it)

28.11.2022 || 1/70 DOP

Hello! Starting a productivity challenge because I really need to complete this syllabus and also study for sem end exams. It's my first time and I hope I successfully complete this. Today I watched a maths lecture and solved questions! Studied literature for some time and also started reading Klara and the sun<3

chaotic study sessions and pretty campus walks <3

just finished yet another statistics test and now im preparing for social psych 💪

AND THE FACT that this isn't even finals szn😔🤧

early morning geography study session<⁠(⁠￣⁠︶⁠￣⁠)⁠>

rant coming up because why not

so i feel like im sucking at the whole "college experience" thing

i haven't hit rock bottom in terms of my academics but im so SO scared that i might. istg college level assignments are no joke and I FEEL LIKE IM ALWAYS LACKING UGH

i haven't participated in any clubs or committees or any student activities. either because whenever there's smtg, im tired or because im undermining/second guessing my skills.

LMAO recently ive also been thinking that im just plain talentless like everyone has their 'thing'. what's my thing? nothing. there's nothing that i can confidently say is my thing.

yeah my self esteem has taken a hit after coming here.

i keep comparing myself to one of my friends and honestly im envious of how she's actually experiencing college and how involved in the clubs/activities she is. and she's so funny, bubbly and smart and everyone likes her.

okay that's it for the rant, ill be fine eventually (atleast that's how i pacify myself). maybe others also feel the way i do, maybe my friend feels this way too and i just don't know it🤷

a pleasant day on campus <3

felt like sleeping like the cute doggo in the video

but the work just never ends (⁠T⁠T⁠)

tried to have a eat junk food and study session with besties (we ended up yapping)

AAAAAAAAAA

i have to study for 4 finals in 2 days

and i have two papers on one day

IVE NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE

HOW DO I EVEN GO ABT THIS

hope i make it through

edit: I MADE IT THROUGH IT'S OVER

SO HAPPY FOR WINTER BREAK HAHAHAHAH

STUDY TIPS (note to self):

Sometimes, messy notes work better. Spending years on studyblr and studytwt cemented the idea in my mind that my notes have to be picture-worthy with perfect handwriting and an aesthetically-pleasing color-coding system ALL THE TIME. And while I acknowledge that this works well for others, it simply doesn't for me.

My brain works really quickly when it's trying to understand a topic. So quickly that I often have multiple ideas at a time, and with the addition of my professor's inputs or my classmates' inputs, I really needed to speed up in taking down notes. This meant that my handwriting gets REALLY messy, to the point that only I can decipher it. But the extra time that my messy handwriting buys me (compared to the painstakingly slow neat handwriting) allows me to process the info, jot down the essential points, MAKE IMPORTANT CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THE IDEAS, doodle maps and symbols, and so on.

But what really helped my note taking process is having my own set of notes from the readings in advance (yes I know this isn't groundbreaking at all but for me IT IS). The night before, I wrote down notes + questions and clarifications that I wanted to address during the class. Then, during the class itself, I added my professor's inputs/classmates' inputs in the remaining spaces of my notes near each topic. This left me with pages that are filled with information both from the readings and the class discussion.

Jotting down notes from the discussion also helped greatly with retention. Since the information from the readings are still fresh in my mind, I was able to easily link the related ideas with the inputs from class. As a result, I remembered and understood stuff better.

Again, not groundbreaking stuff. But see, I've been on studyblr since junior high school (I am now a 4th year college student so that's like, a decade ago). I've been on studytwt since my 2nd year in college. Everywhere I look, I see photos of neat handwriting, color-coded notes, and overall aesthetically-pleasing study set-ups. For years, I tried so hard to do all these but I could never maintain them. I got so caught up with making things pretty that I barely remembered anything at all.

My brain is inherently messy. I always worked better on a chaotic desk, with multiple notebooks open for my notes and doodling/free space for writing down. My handwriting is messy when I write quick. My brain operated by firing multiple connected ideas at once. Neat and tidy don't work when I'm still trying to process or iron out my thoughts. Neat and tidy only works later during exam season, when I'm revising my notes so I can see shit better.

Anyway, this is just what works for me.

tl;dr: write notes in advance based on the class readings but leave space for more jotting down so that you can squeeze in info from the class discussion. Messy handwriting sometimes works better when you're still processing stuf. There's plenty of time to make them pretty later on during revision. Also, neat and pretty doesn't work for everyone (don't let studyblr and studytwt fool you).

took a class on the sociology of gender in my last term of first year, it was intimidating because everyone was so knowledgeable but i became more confident towards the end ୧⁠(⁠﹒︠⁠ᴗ⁠﹒︡⁠)⁠୨

these notes are from one of the last units - Gender, Science and Technology

it's barely been a week since the new semester has started and there's SO MUCH work

meetings are endless and workload is piling up im trying to get ahead of tasks but staying motivated is difficult :/

also, happy new year to everyone (⁠◕⁠ᴗ⁠◕⁠✿⁠)