Eri’s Langblr

I used to think I can't have ADHD because I wasn't hyperactive.

Not everyone can allow themselves to act on their hyperactivity, so we find ways to redirect or hide the understimulation.

(Sneak introduction to the new inattentive Alien! A hommage to a collab I did with René ♥️)

Hi everyone! Now that I’ve (almost) finished my masters and have thus been a history student for four years, I thought this would be the best time to make a post with four tips about how to study history. I studied in the UK, but hopefully these tips will be helpful wherever you are in the world!

1. Do. Your. Damn. Readings.

97% of the work for a history degree is individual. If you ask me to describe my degree in one sentence, it would be “me, alone in a room, reading”. If you study history (but I think this goes for most humanities subjects), you need to do your reading, cause otherwise, you will literally do no work at all. Whether it’s for an essay that’s worth 80% of your final grade or for an optional seminar, always, always do the reading- there have been countless moments when I’ve either been the only person in the seminar who kind of knew what was going on, or when I’ve gotten extra marks during an exam because I knew a random fun fact from some extra reading I had done. So please, please do your reading.

2. Go to all your classes, you won’t have many!

Over the past four years, I’ve had anywhere between 8 and 3 hours of class a week. If you decide not to show up to the few hours you do have to be at uni for, not only will you be extremely unpopular with your lecturers, but it’ll also be such a waste of the time, effort, and money you’re putting into uni. I always calculated at the beginning of the year how much I was paying per hour of class. Trust me, it’s a lot harder to skip when you know you’re wasting £100 every hour you don’t go!

3. Pick essay topics you genuinely like (even if the lecturers hate it)

I vividly remember a lecturer telling the class we shouldn’t write essays about witches because he had read so many that he absolutely despised the topic now. Me being me, I listened to him, and it took me four years to, eventually, write an essay on the topic. Which I loved. If it hadn’t been for that guy, I would’ve discovered this interest so much earlier, and I now wish I’d just trusted my gut and gone with the topic that spoke to me the most. Always pick an essay topic you like, otherwise writing the essay will feel more like a punishment than fun, which is what it should be. This is the time to let your personality shine! I’ve written two essays on Pocahontas because I LOVE the Disney movie and, let me tell you, I enjoyed those way more than when I listened to what the lecturers wanted. You do you boo!

4. Have some fun!

I’m notorious for making up the weirdest essay (sub)titles and/or introductions. The first essay I ever turned in (on the economy of marriage in Pride and Prejudice) contained the lyrics “girls don’t like boys, girls like cars and money” from a song by Good Charlotte. And, to be honest, my jokes haven’t improved much in four years, as is evidenced by the fact all the subtitles in my essay about pirates were quotes from Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Do I love thinking of those things? YES. Do I care whether others (lecturers/students) judge me for it? NO. Again: show your personality! My undergrad dissertation had chapter titles all taken from the song Lady Marmalade (the thesis was about prostitution), and guess what, my supervisor loved it. More importantly, so did I!

although these posts are abundant, i like to have my own collection of study tips/uni thoughts

- i’ve been viewing my studies as an office job, mostly because of the 9 to 5 mentality. i am not one for night studying, i have tried and tried and felt guilty when i heard others talk about their late night study sessions, but it is just not for me. which is fine, because with this 9 to 5 idea i have created working days for myself and i can use my evenings for extracurriculars, books, friends, netflix 

- the train has (weirdly) become one of my favourite study spots. of course this really depends on the public transport you use. i am on a train for two hours a day, no transfer, and i either go to a silent area (have not yet seen this elsewhere, but dutch trains have carriages in which there is complete silence) or i put in my earpods. i love this because when i come home, i have already done so much work, e.g. organized my lecture notes of that day, inserted my professor’s comments into my paper etcetera

- although i’ve also learned to recognize when i am just done. sometimes i have had enough and it is way better to accept that and then i either listen to some music and stare at the passing landscape, or i watch an episode of the crown. when feeling exhausted, there’s no point in pushing and forcing yourself

- this goes for many many aspects: comparison will kill you. it is often still my tendency to compare myself to others on all levels - grades, kindness, clothing, weight, work ethic - but i make the effort to not ‘indulge’ in it. what my therapist told me has really helped: just notice that the urge to compare is there but then leave it be. like it’s a tiny spider crawling on your leg; you don’t have to do something with it

- on the topic of work ethic: don’t listen to your fellow students. don’t listen to what some wonderful academic says (online). don’t even listen to what your professors say regarding study hours. it has often made me feel very uncertain, but i think it is way better to figure it out yourself. to build up a feeling of trust towards yourself, so you can really start to notice, to feel, when you have done enough. that is something only you should be able to judge and not some external source

- sometimes i get overwhelmed with this sensation that i have not done enough, that i am lazy and have accomplished nothing. however, every (every!) time i have noticed this to be untrue. so perhaps i have not studied every chapter, but i have studied other chapters. i found the cliché of looking at what you have done to really be true. it helps me put things into perspective, i think we can really underestimate ourselves in how much work we have done. what you consider to be 20% may actually be 60%

- motivating internal monologues are completely normal and actually very good! give yourself that motivating speech, it’s like a snow track that becomes deeper and clearer everytime you repeat it 

This will be not-so-serious critiques of weird kanji that don’t look a whole lot like kanji I’ve found before. I have provided the main くんよみ for most kanji, but if one has no kun'yomi, the 音読み was listed. Thanks for reading.

凹

What is this… thing. It looks like someone tried to make a blocky smile for a 顔文字 (example: ( ^凹^)ｶﾞﾝﾊﾞｯﾃ! ) It’s stupid but I can use it for that so not terrible. Plus, it does truly embody its meaning of concave. (Read as ぼこ) 6/10

凸

This is an actual tetris block.. wonderful. But like the last kanji, it does capture the pith of its definition, namely convex. Similar 顔文字 potential sooo… (read as でこ) 7/10

兀

Pi but without a funky curved hat, thus it’s worse. (means high/lofty, read as こつ) 4/10

丗

This is a living nightmare. Seems as though someone wrote 甘 but made one stroke vertical instead of horizontal by mistake. (means 30, read as さんじゅう) 2/10

廿

A perfect unorthodox kanji. It looks like a combination of two 十’s and a 二, which is accurate to the meaning of it. Plus, it’s aesthetically appealing. (means 20, read as にじゅう)10/10

卌

The worse of these 3 used to represent groups of ten. I almost feel abd for it but that doesn’t reflect in the rating. (means 40, read as よんじゅう) 1/10

卉

Another character without grass that looks bizarre. It’s alright. Not good, but not great. Sort of shows the meaning, but not super clearly. (means grass, read as くさ) 5/10

熙

The lower half looks normal enough, but what on earth is going on on the top half of this character. I love it. This spunky kanji looks wild and I’m all over it. (means spacious, read as き) (9/10)

匕

Uhh 七 is that you? The offspring of ヒ and 七 isn’t looking so great.. (alternate form of 匙, read as さじ) 3/10

卜

Pitiful excuse for a kanji. Basically resemblesト’s older brother who’s not mentioned at the family dinner. (alternative form of 占, read as うらな(う)) 1/10

朮

This looks kind of like someone just wrote ホ in an unorthodox font and added a dot in the upper right. But I don’t really care. I like it regardless. Simple yet effective. (type of herb, おけら) 8/10

龜

Archaic in appearance yet strangely fun to look at. I love that it so clearly resembles the animal it’s depicting. Truly a piece of art. (旧字体 for 亀) 10/10

巳

Someone fell asleep writing 口 and their hand sort of trailed off, none too impressive of a character. Poor thing. (zodiac sign of a serpent, read as み) 4/10

囘

巳 but trapped in a box. This makes it more visually interesting overall. (means round) 6/10

羋

Discovered this by accident, but it’s lovely. I adore its simple design. (Sound of a sheep, read as め) 7/10

㐧

豆 in and of itself only means a bean. However, when placed in front of some words, it seems 豆 can indicate something small or miniature. I will show off some of these word compounds in this post.

豆知識 (まめ・ち・しき) trivia/ bits of knowledge, formed from 豆 (bean) and 知識 (knowledge, composed in turn of 知 (to know) and 識 (consciousness))

豆台風 (まめ・たい・ふう) mini typhoon, formed from 豆 (bean) and 台風 (knowledge, composed in turn of 台 (pedestal) and 風 (wind)) 

豆電球 (まめ・でん・きゅう) miniature light bulb/ midget lamp, formed from 豆 (bean) and 電球 (light bulb, composed in turn of 電 (electricity) and 球 (ball)) 

豆鉄砲 (まめ・てっ・ぽう) peashooter, formed from 豆 (bean) and 鉄砲 (gun, composed in turn of 鉄 (iron) and 砲 (cannon))

豆本 (まめ・ほん) miniature book, formed from 豆 (bean) and 本 (book)

豆粒 (まめ・つぶ) a speck, formed from 豆 (bean) and 粒 (grain(of rice, etc.))