#emsterstudy

Exam week Day 1/18

My second exam/test week starts Wednesday the 14th aka to soon.

Today I made my planner and learned that my phone’s camera is dying. I took that picture of the plant and of my planner with the exact same camera…

So I have one more year to go after this one until I can go to uni and study what I really want. Now my school has a mandatory thing we have to do, let's call it pre-studying, which is the concept of following a study for a day at the university in question or follow a part of their curriculum online.

Now my dream used to be that I was gonna study medicine and become a medical examiner afterwards. That would have been 10 years of going to university. So I happily started this pre-study online course, and man how I hate the entire thing that is studying medicine. We had 4 parts, patient contact (we had to interview a family member and use the internet to guess what illness they had), discussions (we got list of symptoms and we had to discuss what this person was dealing with ), research (make your own research with the topic 'the human heart') and the chapter plus questionaires. So essentially everything that you'll do when you study medicine.

I am so glad that I had the chance to sample try this study, because I wouldn't have lasted a year.

The programs are also helpful for if you're not sure about what you want to do yet.

For any dutch or belgium followers, or anyone who speaks dutch, I followed the Online Geneeskunde Module from Universiteit Leiden. You can sign up for the next 'round' which starts in February via their website. Even if you aren't planning to go to Leiden University, you can still sample a study this way. Many other universities have these online and on site 'sample try this study'-programs and they can really save us money. The Leiden ones are 100% free, same goes for TU Delft and Erusmus Universiteit, but you need to send motivational letters to get into their programs, while Leiden doesn't require that.

For my other followers, I can definitly recommend you to check if you can do something similar to this in your country, because it helps to save money and effort. I would't know what the programs could be called in english, so I haven't been able to find anything.

1. Fix your sleep. It’s one of THE most important things you should do. Your brain functions best on 7-8 hours of sleep, so make sure you get that! Tip: don’t use electronics in the half an hour before you go to bed. The light from your phone or laptop will prevent your brain from making melatonin, a hormone that makes you fall asleep.

2. Get unaddicted to the internet. I don’t see a lot of people talk about this, but many people spend a lot of hours on the internet during their holiday and then they suddenly loose all this extra time. Try to get off the internet!

3. Have all your stuff. Make sure you have all your stationery, notebooks and books. Some schools (mine) have you pick up your books at school, so you can’t always have your books early (which sucks) but if you can, make sure that you have all your books in time. (Exept the once that are hella expensive, try to get these cheap later)

Good luck!

We have all had that one test that we were certain we'd get a good grade for(my chemistry test from 2 weeks ago). But then it turns out you didn't do so well and you scored an insufficient mark.

This post is a rundown of how I feel after this and how I deal with it.

Stage 1: denial and isolation.

The first thing I usually say is along the lines of "it won't matter that much for my grade" or "others did bad as well, it was the test, not me." I will deny that the mistakes was mine, instead it was the test or my ""shitty"" teacher.

Stage 2: Anger.

The anger is mostly expressed by me calling myself stupid and being mad at myself for not pushing my studying further, even if I did the most I could.

Stage 3: Bargaining.

I will try to get to redo the test. (This chemistry test is redo-able bc everyone failed, whICH MY TEACHER SAID WOULD HAPPEN). I will also try to make it seem like I don't care.

Stage 4: depression.

Motivationless and just not wanting to open my damn book will be part of the process.

Stage 5: acceptance.

A few days later (aka when I HAVE to open the book and go to said class) I will be over it. A failed test, a bad grade or a shitty presentation will all pass and you'll have chance to get a better grade for that class later anyway.

Tips!

• It is okay to get a bad grade or to fail a project. Failure is part of the learning process, but to accept it is always the first step.

• Check/Cross reference your mistakes. This way you'll learn from them, instead of hate them until the end of your (school) days.

• If you get to redo the test, check if your mistakes were caused because you didn't understand the information that you needed to answer them or if the information was missing from your notes.

• Also, redo the questions you did wrong after you restudied. If you do them right now, you know you improved! (This always makes me feel Powerful And Unstoppable™)

• When you are motivationless try to do someting totally different. You failed math? Write a poem or a short story! Was it economy? Read about ancient egypt! Fluncked your physics? How about trying out sculpting! (The cheap dollar store clay is actually pretty acceptable???) Usually, my motivation comes back after this.

• If you are unsure about your notes, show them to your teacher. They will tell you what's missing when something is missing or what you could do extra. You can also ask for extra exercises/materials.

This challenge focusses on obstacles you might run into this year. It focusses on progression, solving problems and bettering yourself. (Although you are already quite charming.)

It is definitely not limited to being a ‘back to school’ challenge. It’s mainly a pick-up challenge, one that gets you up and running. You can start it on whichever date you want. I think that I’m not the only one who needs a little pick-up at the start of a new school year.

My idea was to have a question each day and then some tips, tricks or motivation below it to help you progress.

This is not a ‘I did all days successfully and I posted about it daily’ challenge. This is a challenge for you. It help you get through two weeks by making you think about the obstacles and offering multiple solutions so you can either chose or mix up your own way of dealing with these obstacles. Not necessarily for a nice tumblr challenge, but because you deserve a nice time. You’re only in high school/college once. Make the best of it!

Tag your posts with ’#back to school 17/18’ if you deside to make posts about it.

Day 1. What are your long term goals this year?

Write them down on a piece of paper and hang it in your room. Don’t forget to make milestones and reward yourself for every milestone you reach, you deserve it, darling!

Day 2. What is your notetaking method?

Do you make mindmaps or summaries? If you colour code, how did you assign the colours? If you don’t colour code, how do you make important things obvious? Looking through your method can get you exited for note-taking again. Everyone has their own unique style, especially you!

Day 3. What is your biggest ‘fear’ for this school year?

Write it down in the middle of a sheet of paper (and add the date when that moment happens if possible). Around your fear, write solutions you can come up with. You can add more solutions later and don’t be afraid to ask others for solutions as well. They have their fears as well. You’re never alone.

Day 4. How do you plan?

What method do you use: a separate planner or do you just use your school diary? Is your planner updated or could you give it a quick update? Updating your planner can give you rest, because it shows that time can be arranged the way you want it and that you do have you-time in between work moments (you deserve some quality binge-watch time)

Day 5. Do you make anti-stress art?

What in the name of anxiety is Anti-stress art? Well honey, lemme tell you. Whenever I get stressed while working, be it during a lesson, be it while studying, I draw that stress. I personify it. This way you visualize it and give it a place, which on it’s own can relieve some of that stress. (Drawing the personified stress in a shitty situation helps best for me. Karma is a bitch, ain’t she?) Why don’t you try it some time?

Day 6. How do you spend your study breaks?

Study breaks are very important. Of course you can skip them once in a while, but please have them. Every 25 minutes you should take a 10 minute break, and every third break should be 30 minutes. I can give you a few tips: Don’t use your phone if it’s not important (so no cat videos, sadly), get up and walk (moving will be refreshing), eat and drink something (stay hydrated bady!) and in your longer break, take a shower or take a walk (clear your head dear, it works) Day 7.

What’s your morning routine before school?

I know some girls who spend 30 minutes doing their make-up and then make a hearty breakfast and I know girls who never wear make up and eat their breakfast while on their way to class. Both of these things are okay! You just have to keep some things in mind: wash your face, it wakes you up (very helpful), eat something to get you going (you need some energy for those first classes, even if all you eat is a handfull of grapes) and brush your teeth and apply deodorant (you will feel way fresher throughout the day).

Day 8. What’s your opinion on group projects?

Group projects can be fun. You get to work with friends on an assignment and you get to split up the work. This way everyone does what they’re good at and you only have to do a small part. Group projects can also suck. You might have to work with people you don’t like or know. If this is the case, make sure you know everyone’s strenghts. This way you can split the work in a more ‘fair’ way. Sometimes people take advantage of someone’s abilities and they end up doing less or nothing. Tell this to your teacher (of course not before asking said person to do some work) if the teacher knows, they will take this into consideration.

Day 9. Do you track your health?

This might seem like a tedious thing to do, but it can be quite helpfull. I’ve seen people track every little thing, but you only have to track what matters to you. You sleep 7-8 hours every night but you always forget to drink something? Track that water consumpion. You drink enough, but you sleep like shit? Track your sleep! How much hours do you sleep and how much do you need? 7-8 hours is THE way to go love.

Day 10. What are your grade goals this year?

It seems like a very easy question: straight A’s, everything 10/10, but sometimes that’s impossible. I used to have this universal goal for my grades: every subject above 8/10 (cum laude at my school) and I would have depressive periodes after a grade dropped to below 8/10. Grade goals are to be set separate for every subject. You are extraordinarily good at math? Aim for that A! But physics has proven to be more difficult? That B is a gorgeous grade! Chemistry is more like cheMystery? Your C is not a fail grade, so don’t worry if that’s your goal. I can guarantee you that setting separate goals for your subjects feels way better. And you deserve that good feeling, honey.

Day 11. What does your sleep schedule look like?

Holidays fuck up my sleep schedule more than I’d like to admit. I fall asleep at 2 am and wake up at 2 pm. I did have some nice sleep, but the timing is kinda very off. You need 7-8 hours of sleep for your brain to function at its best. If you need to get up at 7 am, you should fall asleep between 11 pm and midnight. Another tip is to set a bedtime for yourself and to not use electronics after half an hour prior to your bedtime. This way your brain will properly make melatonin, a hormone that helps you sleep!

Day 12. When do you pack your bag and why?

There are basically 2 options: the day before or in the morning. The most preferred option is the day before. You have more time the day before, which means less stress and a smaller chance that you’ll forget something. You can dubble check in the morning. Maybe a class got cancelled. (I hope your first class honey, for your sake)

Day 13. How do you spend time in free periods?

We all know ‘em: that free period between classes. Whether it’s always there or a class got cancelled, it’s free time. I always see a lot of my classmates making homework… for the upcoming class. Like honey, you could be making tomorrow’s homework if you done did that stuff yesterday. That’s why you are doing tomorrow’s homework, you smartass! You’ll have more free time this afternoon, heck yeah! And of course you can play some games and check social media in your breaks now (it’s an environmental thing, my darling).

Day 14. How do you balance school and hobby?

Everyone has this one thing that they love doing, be it reading, drawing, playing games or doing sports. The balance between your hobby, your passion, and school, sometimes a passion and sometimes hell is very important. You should always have some time for your hobby. Make sure that you can do your hobby for one continuous hour at least once a week. You don’t have to do it one hour long, but make sure that you have the option to do it for an hour. Trust me, you’ll love that hour. It’s a you-time hour. Just don’t let that hour become a day. It will throw off that balance.

Bonus: How’s your mental health doing?

I’ve had and have some problems with my mental health. I have depressive periods and some form of an anxiety disorder that’s yet to be determined. There are a few things that I can highly recommend:

Know what you like. If you feel down/depressed you can focus on that. It brings joy. And joy likes to kick depression’s ass.

If you get stressed easily or get anxious about things, find some grounding exercises that work for you. (I imagine the anxieties as a dark cloud inside me. I can feel it running through my veins. I ‘guide’ it to my lungs and simply exhale it into the air around me where it clashes with the happy vibes from other people and it dissolves.)

Take a mental health day. Once a month you should take a day off just for you. Make sure you have your homework done for the next day and you are good to go. Just make sure it stays a day and it doesn’t become a week.

Sometimes the best option is to seek for help. Of course a psychologist is not necessarily the first option. Talk to friends, teachers or, if there is, to that person at school who is literally there for people who struggle. All you have to remember is: You are not and will never be alone. Everything is going to be alright. You are fierce.

All these tips and options come from my own experiences and from things I’ve run into here on tumblr.

I have a sensitive scalp. Long hair would make it harder for me to maintain my head.

the last time I insinuated that I might grow out my hair, my dad said: ‘oh, did you realise you can be gay without having a pixy cut?’ And I ain’t about shit like that.

My neck gets so sweaty, like, you get me?

My grandpa keeps shaming me for choosing to cut my hair by making jokes and I will not grow out my hair, since he will just be boasting about being the inspiration for me growing it out.

Knots from here to Tokyo. Horrible.