bloop the snoot

November 30th, 2021

11.05.21 - exam period day 2/36

todays agenda: astro research and stat mech lectures.

March 10, 2021

discovered my true passion in life: making diagrams with too many arrows.

I see a lot of posts with study tips for students new and old. A good few of them seem to be pretty good while others also seem to have unrealistic advice and unachievable standards. This is post is more of an exercise for me to acknowledge my weaknesses and strengths, and to figure out which study tips actually work for me. My study tips for myself may not apply to everyone since we’re all individuals with different preferences. Please, keep in mind that these study tips are directed towards myself, though I do hope they help other students.

Although, I do suggest everyone gives this exercise a try. Which study tips would you give yourself to be a better student, based on your previous school year?

Develop a routine

I crave routines, organisation, and structure. It helps me to keep a clear head and feel like I am in control of my choices and my performance.

It doesn’t matter if your class is early in the morning or late in the afternoon. Stick to a morning and evening routine. Develop a routine based on early morning classes and follow through even on weekends. By maintaining a routine adapted to early mornings, it makes it easier for me to wake up early and get stuff done. I have more time to be productive and schedule meetings with friends, doctors, study time, working out, etc. The plus side of having a routine is you get into the habit of doing homework or other tasks immediately. :)

Study full-time ≈ 40h/week

This is actually a tip I got from Jamie from TheStriveToFit on youtube. I don’t remember which video it was, but I’ll just write what I remember her saying. I recommend her youtube channel to all kinds of students, she has great advice whether you’re majoring in med or language or any other field. :)

Studying is a full-time occupation. Ordinarily, you might work 40 h a week, which means you should be studying 40 h a week. If you have a part-time job then you can subtract those hours from the 40 h total. Same thing goes for classes. For example, this week I have 10.5 hours of classes and no part-time job, which means I have 29.5 hours left to study this week. I like to use Google Calendar to schedule my classes and study hours. Having a flexible overview helps me to stay organised. I can even put in homework assignments and tasks in the calendar. Recommend 10/10.

No zero days

This is tip I saw a few years ago on tumblr somewhere and for me the concept works. I don’t remember who posted, but if you are out there, THANKS!!

A zero day is a day where you have done absolutely nothing (zero effort) to work towards your goal, and we want to avoid zero days. If you are just too drained or don’t have time to sit a few hours and study, then just do something small. Read the syllabus, read a page or even just a sentence from your textbook, write down main points/keywords, or even a mind map. Just do something. Anything. It can be small. Sometimes when I really don’t feel like studying, the hardest part is usually getting started. By committing to no zero days, I at least do something, and that usually gets things rolling for me. And whaddya know I can study for hours as long as I just GET STARTED.

Limit your electronic entertainment

Lately, I have been trying to limit my time on Netflix, HBO, and YouTube, in order to have more time to read and study. Yes, I am an adult now, but for me being an adult doesn’t mean binging on TV and not being responsible for my studies.

I decided to limit TV time to Fridays and Saturdays during 17:00-20:00 (5pm-8pm). Once that time is up, I do other things for entertainment. Reading, writing, drawing, studying if I feel like it, yoga, or I might even do a late workout. I also avoid my phone at all costs after 20:00. Staying away from my TV and phone gives my eyes a break and reduces the risk of headaches, (I get headaches when I stare at the screen too long).

Develop the habit of caring for yourself

This is a very generic tip, but also a very undervalued tip. We are creatures of habit. The habits we develop now in our teens and 20′s are what we will be carrying with us for most of our lives. Yes, it is possible to break habits, but it isn’t as common as you think. Focus on habits which will be beneficial to your health now and throughout your life.

When I sleep for 7-8 h I am more focused and motivated to study.

When I eat a healthy meal, I am giving my body the nutrition and energy it needs to take care of my cells.

When I exercise, I am stimulating the production of hormones to keep me happy and healthy, getting stronger, and I am improve my heart health.

You CANNOT live off of energy drinks and fast food. Please, stop glorifying fast food as a staple for a student diet. You can eat healthy on a student budget. Also, the concept of “treat yourself” shouldn’t be something you do everyday. Treating yourself can mean treating yourself to some extra calories one day, it doesn’t have to be a large pepperoni pizza, a hot fudge sundae, and a box of donuts. I have to admit, it sounds delicious, but sometimes it’s best to not have such an epic splurge. I do that only once every three months, but mostly when I treat myself, it’s something small that won’t have a negative impact on my diet focus.

Don’t pull all-nighters and stay up until the early hours cramming for an exam. I usually know when an exam is coming a few weeks in advanced and so do most students. This means you have plenty of time to schedule your  studying so that you learn and understand enough to pass the exam. Failing an exam isn’t everything, but it sure is an inconvenience to arrange a retake exam. Also, the lack of sleep/irregular sleep pattern causes more harm than good.

march 04, 2021

day 4- For my researching fellows, what are you researching on? If you’re not currently researching, what is the topic within your field that you’re most passionate about?

February 8th, 2021

This past weekend there was quite some snowfall in the Netherlands. Yesterday, no public transportation was available at all where my parents live and today more and more lines started running as the day went on. Because of this, I was "trapped" at my parents for the first half of the day and I decided to do some homework using an old laptop and some notebooks of mine that had not seen the light of day in about 8 YEARS (I feel so old now).

When I finally got home, I was reunited with my housemate (hadn't seen her since Oct), I had a semi-school-related call with my friend and did some more homework.

february 8, 2021

january 19 | i had a rough night, and it looks like my moving plans fell trough because one of my friends wasn’t being honest with me about her commitment to the plan...so, I didn’t have any time to take any pictures of study notes. so, here’s the book I’m currently reading 📖

12.1.2021 // winter studying challenge

Just had my Inorganic chemistry class and waiting for my Invertebrates class. I feel tired and scared bc we don't know when our exams are and they have to be in the next 2 weeks before finals in February.. we shall see 🙃 Also this day last year I was at the seaside with my bf and we watched sunset 🌇

12th January - Would you rather have a snowball fight or build a big snowman?

Definitely build a biiiiig snowman ☃️

We are already running the whole Earth, whether we admit it or not. To run it consciously and effectively, we must admit our role and even embrace it. We must temper our romantic notion of untrammeled wilderness and find room next to it for the more nuanced notion of a global, half-wild rambunctious garden, tended by us.

Hey! 

I think a lot of Norwegian learners share your problem unfortunately... It’s hard to find books in Norwegian online that aren’t written in outdated language. 

Really, the only recommendation of places to find free books is Nasjonalbiblioteket (The National Library of Norway). This website contains digitized versions of part of the collection found at Norway’s national library. There are a lot of old documents written in archaic language and much of the collection may be completely uninteresting, but it is a good baseline to find at least some content in Norwegian. You can make specific searches and filter the results based on publishing date, genre, topic and more. For learners, I think the children’s books will be particularly interesting. Tip: Some of the books listed are unavailable as digitized versions. Disable the “Vis alle objekter” option and these will be removed. You need a Norwegian IP address to access most results, but it shouldn’t be a problem if you use a vpn. 

I understand that trying to find suitable reading material among literally thousands of documents can feel a little like looking for a needle in a haystack... Therefore I spent some time scrolling through their selection, and here are some of the books from the collection that I think are suitable to learners of varying levels:

Anne Grete Hollup, Ruby og kjærligheten (Young adult novel)

Arne Svingen, Flekken (Children’s book)

Carolyn Keene, Detektiv Nancy Drew og den mystiske skiløper (Teen crime novel)

Barbie på skøyter (Children’s book)

Disney, Askepott / Cinderella (Children’s book)

Disney, Donald Duck (Children’s book)

Disney, Tigergutt / Tigger (Children’s book)

Gerd Stognar, Ina (Young adult novel)

Helene Uri, Anna på fredag (Young adult fiction)

Ingrid Uebe, Dinosaurfortellinger (Children’s book)

Katarina von Bredow, Søskenkjærlighet (Young adult novel)

Klaus Hagerup, Kristin og Håkon og den olympiske ild (Children’s book)

L. M. Montgomery, Anne som frøken / Anne of Avonlea (Children’s / Young adult novel)

Nick Hornby, Gutter er gutter / About a Boy (Coming-of-age novel)

Roald Dahl, SVK / The BFG (Children’s book)

Robert Louis Stevenson, Skatten på sjørøverøya / Treasure Island (Adventure novel)

Terry Pratchett, Det fantastiske lyset / The Light Fantastic (Fantasy novel)

Unni Lindell, Slangebæreren (Crime novel)

Åse Ombustvedt, Maja og mørket (Children’s book)

The only real alternative I can think of is to order some books from a website like Book Depository, but most of the books available here are classics that are also available through the National library and I don’t recommend Norwegian classics for Norwegian learners... They’re written in archaic language so unfortunately they won’t be much help, and might in fact do more harm than good... Or you can befriend a Norwegian and ask them to send you some books, but that is obviously not the easiest thing to do and might also end up being quite expensive..

06.01.21

day 2/144