Just decided to drop in and say hi :) Right now is the long 추석 holiday in Korea, so I have a lot more free time than usual to sleep, eat, hang out with my friends, mess around on the internet... and of course, study! Today, I got in a TON of work. I did some studying and such for grad school, and as for languages:

Completed HelloChinese’s course! (What do I do now?? @______@ )

Did a few LingoDeer Japanese levels

Read two chapters in a Korean book

Did some short Korean news article reading

Watched the news for a bit (Korean)

Plus the usual stuff that my daily life entails, like talking to my boyfriend in Korean, but I don’t like to count that as studying >.>

What did you all do today? Get any good studying in? Do something fun lately? Remember, you can feel free to message me whenever if you want to ask me something or chat (some of you do sometimes, and I really appreciate it <3) !

Scheduling-- Ensure you have enough time to get to your next class, eat, and any other obligation you might have throughout the day. Think about the future, too. If you know you’re going to have a build-up of difficult classes, consider taking one of those classes now and saving an easier class (like a gen ed!) for that later semester.

Make a brief financial plan (or a detailed financial plan if you’re that kind of guy). Know what money you’re going to have coming in, and what money you project you will have coming out (for instance, you know how much your tuition is, how much housing costs). Outline what money you will use where (for instance, half of your monthly paycheck to tuition, the other half to groceries, or a quarter to groceries and a quarter to savings). If you want to plan a spring break trip with your friends, brainstorm some ideas of how you will save for it, so you aren’t hit with that problem suddenly in the middle of the semester.

Attend the involvement fair (even if you went last semester). Who knows, maybe there’s a new club that formed, or you missed something last time. Maybe your major changed and you need new connections in your new one, or you were too overwhelmed and scared as a tiny little freshman that you couldn’t go up and talk to anybody (@me). Meet some new people, spark a new interest. At the very least you were social for an hour.

Start thinking about your next year living options early--  I know you don’t want more things to worry about, but if you think of it early, it doesn’t become a sudden stressor in the middle of your semester, and you won’t have to pick up the slack and settle for things you’re not too satisfied with. If your uni is anything like mine, off campus housing is a must, and it is a blood bath this late in the year. 

Meet with your advisor before midterms/before scheduling period so you can have a plan and know what to do before the opening of enrollment-- you’ll once again reduce sudden unneeded stress, and you’ll (hopefully) have a better chance of scheduling the classes you want, when you want them.

Think about future semesters-- this is difficult, you don’t know the future and its not fun to think about, but do you know that you need to take five 200 level courses to get a degree in your major? Consider taking an extra one early and save that general ed art class for that sixth semester when you have to take really demanding courses.

Consider your past semesters if you can-- did you have a hard time keeping up with your coursework? Ask older friends and/or your advisor what they think you should do, maybe you should consider removing one course, or there is a way to rearrange your schedule to allow for better time management. This may take some finagling and a little bit of extra stress for a few days, but you’ll be glad you took the time once you find a fitting solution. Likewise, did you feel like you had too much time on your hands? This could be a sign to change your schedule as well. If your schedule doesn’t seem too packed or demanding, add on that extra 200 level you’ll need to take somewhere along the way, or add another gen ed (don’t worry if you’ve already got the maximum number of credits for this semester, email or meet with your advisor and they should be able to allow you to take on more, as well as give their opinion on what to do). If you don’t think taking another course is quite the answer, this could be an opportunity for a part time job or to find another club/organization to get involved in. If you’re anything like me, if i have too much time on my hands, rather than taking the opportunity to devote more time to homework and studying, i just lay around because “i have plenty of time”.

Welcome to 2017!

I hope I’m finding you all well, and, yes, you say “It’s already the second week of the year, where have you been?”

Yes, I know, I’m slow.

Anyway, without further adieu, the printables! 

I made a whole year’s worth of calendars because it seems when I print a new one each month, there are some months I have difficulty finding a calendar in time, and then I go a whole month not knowing what’s going on.

I kept them simple for maximum customization capabilities (and I apologize for the couple half boxes, I struggled).

Next is an essay planner, formatted for longer essays, though can hopefully suit most needs.

The goal was better organization and readability within the essays, with tips taken straight from my professor. Look forward to a post describing how to use the planner, and some more tips and tricks for essay writing!

Last is something I found useful come exam season when studying for math: a problem correction sheet.

The set up is simple, just write the original problem that you got incorrect on an exam, quiz, homework, etc., then work it out (and hopefully get it correct this time!). If there is a concept that goes along with it or tip to help you remember the solution, write it there. And finally, write the topic (derivatives, trig functions, etc.) so you can determine which concepts you struggle with the most, to help organize when you study for the exam. If anybody would like to see it in action, just ask!

To download all 12 months, click here. (sorry for it not being in all one file, I’m lazy and clueless)

To download the essay planner, click here.

This semester I’m taking a rhetoric course (which I hate ugh) and it is required for us to blog weekly, uploading posts on two blogs: one about an interest and one related to class work. As I began composing my first assignment, I realized how different this assignment was from my prior blogging experience, so in case anybody else ever finds they need to make a sophisticated blog post, or you just want to try out a different style of posting, here are some guidelines I follow.

Start with a creative title.  Or, maybe, end with a creative title, as half the time I can’t think of a relevant title until after I’ve written the bulk of the post. Seriously, I think my professor has complimented my ‘creative titles’ each week, but really I just bullshit some random words together to create a ‘witty, attention grabbing title’.

Have a clear organization. Having clear organization makes your writing (any type really) more sophisticated and adds to your credibility as a writer: if you can organize your ideas coherently, you have a firm grasp on what you’re talking about. It may seem straight forward to you, but remember that the reader can’t read your mind and doesn’t know where you are going with things. If you’re giving a review, divide your paragraphs into one section for each point. It’s important to remember that in a blog especially, shorter paragraphs are more visually appealing and draw the reader more than long winded paragraphs.

It is okay to use lists/numbers/multiple headings. This adds to the coherency of your organization, especially if your topic calls for these types of things, like listing rights of citizens, or characters of a book, listing effects of partial sleep deprivation, or providing tips to write professional blogs. Think of what you would want to see if you were searching the internet for blogs of your topic.

Include visuals. It can be difficult sometimes to find a relevant visual, and an irrelevant visual doesn’t make things better, but if there is a picture or video, even a gif, that highlights or supports your topic, include it. Make sure to format the visual to fit with the rest of your post, both with size and placement.