All Posts Tagged With: "vacation"
How to tackle your winter vacation to-do list
Hint: you’re not going to get all your readings done in two weeks
After surviving a semester crammed with classes, coursework and exams, it’s nearly impossible to stay in work mode over winter vacation.
Every year, many students (myself included) tell themselves that they’re going to be productive with their extra time by getting ahead on readings or assignments. But suddenly it’s January, and they return to return to class with nothing to show for their vacation but a few too many hours watching Netflix.
Though school may be the furthest thing from your mind, you will thank yourself next semester if you do make use of your extra time over winter break. Here are a few tips to tackle that long (or short) winter vacation to-do list:
1. Set realistic goals. Are you really going complete all of your readings and assignments for next semester in two weeks? Probably not.
2. Divide and conquer. Split your list into subsections based on priority. For example, I usually make a list of what I need to get done, what should get done, and what I’d like to get done if I have time. This way, it will be easier to focus on tasks that have early deadlines or that you know are going to take a lot of time and energy next semester. And if you don’t get to your other projects, it’s not as much of a loss.
3. Schedule work hours. When school is in, your schedule tends to revolve around when your classes are, deadlines for assignments and tests. Motivation tends to die out with no concrete schedule or set deadlines during winter vacation, so schedule a couple hours each day when you know you’re most productive to work on projects.
4. Don’t get sucked into being a couch potato. One great thing about winter vacation is having a few extra hours to finish your favourite TV series or catch up on movies your missed, but think back to days or weeks when you were desperate for a few extra hours to work on your coursework. You’ll kick yourself later if you realize you spent your entire vacation on the couch.
5. Relax. Getting ahead on school over winter break is smart, but this time also exists to give students a break from the organized chaos of university life, so that we don’t burn out or make ourselves sick from stress. Remember, it’s called winter vacation, not winter cram session. No one’s going to punish you if you give yourself a break.
The Joy of Reading Week
I would have made this post longer, but, hey, it’s reading week!
One of the more civilized elements of modern university life is reading week.
For those of you unfamiliar with the term, it denotes a week, usually in February, when universities hold no classes. Students have a chance to study for midterms and write their papers, while profs get caught up on grading and look back into that research project neglected since Christmas.
Or you can go on vacation. Or set a new high score on Final Mortal Halo Carjacking VII — or whatever the kids do with their free time these days.
Myself, I’m grading papers and catching up on other tasks. Blogging, for instance. But I have no resentment for those who have toddled off to Cuba or Vancouver or their basements. That’s what’s so grand about reading week. In the darkest, coldest, hardest time of the year comes a week for you to get back on track — however you want.
Still waiting for final marks?
My vacation is going AWOL
Between worrying about my marks and catching up on my sleep, more than a third of my Christmas break has managed to disappear without any warning.
The problem is, I haven’t been doing any of the stuff I fantasized about doing when I was studying for exams. Instead, I’ve developed a new hobby over the past couple days.
I turn on my laptop and load up the webpage where final marks are being released. And when I see that my Molecular Biology mark still hasn’t been posted, I press “refresh.”
Then I press it again.
And again.
-Photo courtesy of amboo who?
Anti-studying: the more you read, the less you know
Everything seems unfamiliar and un-memorizable
When I was studying for exams a little over a week ago, Christmas break seemed impossibly far away.
Normally, the more I study for an upcoming exam, the better I feel. As I read over my notes and review the textbook, the material seems familiar and my impending sense of doom diminishes a little.
But for my Embryology exam, the more I studied, the more I realized I didn’t know anything.
Post exam anxiety? You’re not alone.
Christmas vacation isn’t a vacation yet.
My last exam was almost a week ago, on December 15th, but my Christmas vacation hasn’t even started yet.
When I found out that all five of my exams were in a row, right at the beginning of exam period, I couldn’t decide if I was happy, or on the verge of developing a nervous tic.
On the one hand, writing exams sooner means less time to study. Not to mention, when your exams are literally back-to-back, one day after another, it’s harder to divide up your study time properly. How can you study for Biochemistry when Embryology is the day before? And how can you study for Embryology when Molecular biology is the day before that? And how can you study for Molecular biology when… well, you get the point.
On the other hand, all my exams were over in one shot. And my Christmas vacation started a bit earlier than usual.
Except it didn’t. Until my final marks are released tomorrow, I can’t sit back and enjoy my vacation.
I’m stuck in post-exam purgatory.
-Photo courtesy of alancleaver_2000
Trapped in summer school
…with a five-year-old teacher
My five-year-old brother developed an annoying habit this summer: asking me to ‘play school’ with him.
It’s hard to forget about the upcoming school year and enjoy my last week of summer vacation with Sam asking me, every single day, to ‘play school.’
Even worse, it’s school from the perspective of a five-year-old. Sam’s game involves colouring in pictures and cutting stuff up with scissors.
If we were playing ‘university,’ I could just, well, skip class. And go back to sleep
Exams are over
…but battle scars remain.
Now that Christmas vacation is over, I finally purged all my notes and lab books from last semester.
For classes like physics, the process of a Note Purge is extremely simple: I rip out every page from my binder and notebook, and then I throw them all in the recycling bin. And then I never have to think about terms like “angle of incidence” or “centrifugal force” ever again.
I actually did keep just one or two pages of my physics notes. Not because I’ll need to use them for future courses. I kept them as a sort of battle scar.
After my last exam was finished, I couldn’t even touch my book bag for a couple of days. I was afraid that my organic chemistry textbook would suddenly tumble out and pop open to page 322, and I would accidentally read the definition of “Grignard reagent.” And it wouldn’t be the answer I put on the final exam.
Life is worth living again
…until next semester.
I still have two exams before Christmas vacation. I’ve got six chapters of my microbiology textbook to read before Friday, and I’m trying to not even think about history. But ever since last Thursday, life has been worth living again.
Organic chemistry is finished. Gone. Forever.
Until next semester. When I have Organic Chemistry Part 2.
Stuck in post-midterm apathy?
How to make it through the home stretch
There’s only one week of classes left. I’ve got a chemistry lab, a biology lab, and a couple of history classes between me and Christmas vacation. It’s the home stretch.
But I’m stuck in Post-Midterm Apathy.
I only have to read a couple of chapters in my chemistry textbook, practice with my molecular model kit, and do some study problems to prepare for my organic chemistry final exam. There’s only one assignment and a test left in my religious studies class.
And then I’m finished.
But I just don’t have it in me. Thanks to five full courses, two labs, and two part-time jobs, I admit it: between September and November, I used up all my School Energy.
It’s times like this that I need to do some carefully planned procrastination.
Otherwise, I just end up siphoning off study time by doing stuff that isn’t really worthwhile. Like staring at the same paragraph in my history textbook for half an hour. Or checking my e-mail. Twenty times in a row.
Instead, I know I should allow myself a couple of hours to recharge, doing anything I want, guilt-free. And then my Study Efficiency will be back up and running for the next week.
Okay Halo 3, here I come.
August is almost over
But don’t worry. Be happy.
In less than three weeks, I’ll be sitting in an organic chemistry lecture. I’ll have a lab report to finish, midterms to worry about, and some pop quizzes to fail.
For every student feeling the symptoms of “August is Almost Over and I Have no Idea What the Heck Happened to the Last Five Months” syndrome, this song is dedicated to you.
Even university doesn’t earn me cool points
But being older and taller should.
I’ve realized something this summer. My younger brother David is cooler than me. Way cooler.
Actually, it’s not even a matter of David being cooler than me. He’s cool. I’m not.
David’s on his school’s wrestling team. When he throws a football, it travels more than four feet. When he kicks a soccer ball, he can control which direction it goes.
Back in high school, I was in the chess club. And part of Envirothon.
David has dozens of friends on Facebook. I have two. And one of them is David.
David’s coolness has also made me realize something fascinating: certain laws of physics don’t apply to cool people. If I wear a hat for more than 30 seconds, when I take it off, my hair looks like a dead squirrel. When David takes a hat off, it’s like he was never wearing one. His hair instantly springs back to vibrant and shiny life.
I’m the older brother. He’s in grade eight, I’m in university. I’m taller. But none of that seems to matter. His coolness is a direct violation of Sibling Hierarchy Rule #467. Which states that older, taller brothers are automatically cooler. It’s practically my birthright to be cooler than David.
But I’m not.
Last November, I tripped over a wet pile of leaves and broke my arm. When David broke his arm a few weeks ago, it was while playing soccer.
Yeah, even the way he breaks his bones is cooler.
The power of one
Being an Only Child has its advantages
For the past two months I’ve been living like an Only Child.
Unlike my younger brothers, my summer vacation started at the end of April. Which means each week day, between the hours of nine and three, I’m an Only Child.
Suddenly the TV doesn’t have to be split five ways. Dexter doesn’t have to compete with SpongeBob Squarepants. If I want to use the computer, nobody’s in the middle of a Runescape battle.
And those four toaster slots? All mine.
With four siblings in the house, using a water bottle is complicated. At the very least, it’ll migrate: a water bottle that starts on the top shelf of the fridge never stays on the top shelf. It’ll either get buried somewhere else in the fridge, or disappear completely. Or the lid will vanish.
Even worse, a layer of backwash might suddenly appear on the surface.
Taking a sip from a water bottle, putting it back in the fridge, and finding it where I put it. It’s a special kind of luxury.
And it ends in less than a week.
- photo courtesy of .jo.hardell.
Why September isn’t the end of the world. Sort of
A month of summer vacation is gone. But that’s okay
It’s been more than a month since I wrote my chemistry lab exam, and finished my first year of university.
Initially, it was hard to believe. After eight months of labs, tests, assignments and physics class, it was over. My first year of university. Done. An endless supply of summer vacation ahead of me.
And now a month of that endless supply is gone.
Back in high school, this would have been cause for alarm. Summer vacation had to be carefully rationed. Spent efficiently. If I decided to watch Star Wars, I’d fast forward to the lightsaber battles and skip any scenes where Anakin opened his mouth.
There couldn’t be any wastage.
But this summer, for the first time ever, I’m not dreading going back to school in September. It’s one of those things about university that I would never be able to explain to my grade 12 self.
It’s a hard habit to break. Every summer vacation for my entire public school life, I went through the same pattern of enjoyment: three weeks of fun, five weeks of September Dread.
Okay, so maybe I’m not exactly looking forward to September. But it’s not ruining the rest of my summer vacation, either.
Final marks: stalling my summer vacation
On my chem lab exam, did I say fumaric and maleic acid are alkenes?
All my exams are finished. My summer vacation should have officially started April 24.
But it didn’t.
Because right now, I can’t enjoy playing Halo 3 with my friends. I can’t relax and read a book. When I watched Righteous Kill last weekend, I suddenly remembered question 14 of my chemistry lab exam, and then spent the next hour and a half wondering, “Did I say fumaric and maleic acid are alkenes?”
My summer vacation can’t begin.
At least, not until I know what my chemistry lab mark is.
One thing I didn’t do during reading week
It’s like when Frosted Flakes claims to be part of a nutritious breakfast
In public school, that long endless gap between Christmas break and summer vacation is tolerable, thanks to snow days, P.A. days and Easter weekend.
But in university, there are no more snow days.
You’ll never get a Friday off because of a P.A. day.
And Easter weekend isn’t until after the last day of lectures. Yes, it means university students are being robbed. If there isn’t any school missed, it doesn’t officially count as a holiday.
Only March break survived the Public School Holiday Massacre. But first it had to go under the Vacation Protection program. March break got a new name. And, uh, it isn’t in March anymore. Now it’s in the middle of February. And it’s called ‘reading week.’
It’s sort of like when Frosted Flakes claims to be part of a nutritious breakfast. Sure, it might be part of a nutritious breakfast. It’s just not the nutritious part.
Calling it ‘reading week’ just means the old March break got a facelift. An unexpected upgrade. And now we’re all just pretending that we’re, uh, reading.
Right.
Semi-sick is no semi-vacation in university
When I recently heard my 12-year-old brother launch a squishy, viscous sneeze across the kitchen, I knew it was only a matter of time. It doesn’t matter how often I wash my hands, or if I chemically bathe my fingers with Purell before eating lunch. Unlike the Coughing Guy sitting behind me during a lecture, [...]
When I recently heard my 12-year-old brother launch a squishy, viscous sneeze across the kitchen, I knew it was only a matter of time. It doesn’t matter how often I wash my hands, or if I chemically bathe my fingers with Purell before eating lunch. Unlike the Coughing Guy sitting behind me during a lecture, there’s no escaping my younger brothers’ germs. They’re right across the kitchen table. They’re in the bathroom, surrounding my exposed tooth brush.
My younger brothers are the weak, germy link in my family’s immune system.
Now I’m on the brink of sickness. I’m just one ‘staying-up-the-whole-night-to-finish-that-stupid-chemistry-lab-report’ away from being full-blown sick. And in university, I don’t get to lie down in bed and read all day. I still have to attend classes.
In university, being semi-sick isn’t cause for celebration.
Trapped in second-semester purgatory
It doesn’t feel like it’s been two weeks. It feels like its been 10 years
It’s been almost two weeks since Christmas vacation ended. Two weeks since I last played Halo 3. Two weeks since I watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (also known as Indiana Jones and the Plot that Initially Held Promise But Stopped Making Sense When Aliens were Introduced). But it doesn’t feel like it’s been two weeks. It feels like its been 10 years.
Last September, when my parents told me that my first semester of university would be “over in the blink of an eye,” I figured it was one of those things that parents collectively agree to tell their children just to annoy them. Sort of like, “You’ll thank me when your older.”
Then I blinked, and I was sitting in the middle of my chemistry lab exam, unable to remember what the heck a triprotic acid is.
But for whatever reason, second semester is going in slow motion. It’s the same kind of feeling I get when my family is crammed into our mini-van for a long road trip, and the only thing I can do for five hours is play the Dilemma Game with my brothers. Would you rather be stuck in a pit of spiders, or a pit of earwigs? Would you cut off all your toes or all your fingers? Your eyelids or your tongue? Would you rather poke a sharp stick into your ear or your eye? What would be worse: eating someone else’s baby toe nail, or being trapped in a sleeping bag with one of my younger brother’s nacho farts?
I wonder what would be worse: being stuck in my physics class for the rest of eternity, or having to listen to an endless stream of hypothetical questions?
January 5th: Mondays will suck again
In three days my Christmas vacation is over. After two weeks of sleeping in past 12:00, and then playing Halo 3 for the brief interval between my periods of hibernation, I’ll suddenly have to wake up at a specific time to catch a specific bus. It’s a special kind of luxury being able to lose [...]
In three days my Christmas vacation is over. After two weeks of sleeping in past 12:00, and then playing Halo 3 for the brief interval between my periods of hibernation, I’ll suddenly have to wake up at a specific time to catch a specific bus.
It’s a special kind of luxury being able to lose track of which day of the week it is. During Christmas vacation, words like ‘Tuesday’ and ‘Friday’ lose all significance. Between December 18th and January 5th, Monday isn’t the loser of the Weekday family. For a brief two-week period, Saturday isn’t any better than Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday. All weekdays are equal, in perfect Harmony.
And then comes January 5th, and Monday sucks again.
Summer vacation is over- for my brothers
This is my last week of summer vacation- but it’s also the best week of summer vacation. Last week my 10 and 12-year-old brothers started back at school. As in, seven whole days before me. Suckers.
This is my last week of summer vacation- but it’s also the best week of summer vacation.
Last week my 10 and 12-year-old brothers started back at school. As in, seven whole days before me.
Suckers.
