Do any of you remember last year when I posted a few times about how far I was in to finals week? Ummmm yeah, I didn't think so, it's been basically a whole year since I last posted on a regular basis.
Basically, my first experience with college finals was hell to the acious and not because I bombed them or anything (I actually did quite well) but because the schedule was so whack. I originally had 4 finals on Thursday and one on Friday morning. Now, you know no one wants to still be on campus on Friday of finals week, let alone taking an actual final. In fact, my school only has two Friday morning times for finals, barely anyone has those times, and I was so lucky to get one of those. Thankfully it wasn't the 7:30 am one, but still. I was also a lucky duck (not!) with scoring 4 finals in the same day. While most of my friends were finished and headed home by Tuesday or Wednesday, I was stuck waiting around til Friday afternoon. Major bummer. Anyways, I was lucky enough to get one of the Thursday finals changed to Tuesday, so I only had 3 finals on Thursday, which was still a lot. Needless to say, I was super burned out by that night.
This year, my schedule is a lot better, at least in some ways. For one, I don't have any Friday finals. Sure, I'm still stuck here til Thursday afternoon, but that's one day less than last year! And I really only have 2 finals next week. I had no final in my PR class (but a stupid project that is now--thankfully--over with), my stats final is take-home and online (thank goodness!) and I did my newswriting one today. Why is it always the easiest one that we get out of the way first? Oh well, I'm way ahead of where I was last year at this time. So one down, 3 (ish) to go. I say 3 ish because the take-home one isn't like a traditional final. I know it will be super rough, but I will have my dad's help which is amazing. And I get to go home this weekend and escape the craziness that is the freshmen who live on my floor. Gosh, I can't wait for them to grow up. Of course, that'll be after I leave the dorms, of course.
I'm feeling way better about finals this time around, too. Sure, I am stressed about a couple of them, but overall I'm handling the stress in a good way.
I'll keep updating all y'all (if anyone still reads...) throughout next week as I countdown to Christmas break! I'm sooooooo close :)
Does anyone here like group projects? I thought not. You might think it's kinda fun to collaborate with others, but once you're knee-deep in the project, you probably hate it at least a little bit.
Some group members are total slackers. Or they just try to dominate the entire project, and think anything you say is useless. Trying to coordinate meeting times with everyone can be a nightmare and more likely than not, by the time the project is due, at least a few people totally despise each other.
I was assigned a group project in my PR class back towards the end of October. At first, it seemed cool and not too stressful. I had gotten to pick my group members, and they were all girls I talked to in class every day. So we'd get along great, right? Not exactly. Once it came time to start meeting and working on the project, some snags came up on my end. They always wanted to meet at night--sometimes I'd have work right before and by the time I'd get back home, I was tired and hungry and had to work on homework, so nights were out of the question. Also, I have no car, so I was not about to haul my butt across campus in the dark and cold. I met with them once on a Sunday afternoon, but we didn't get much done. I've noticed that they claim that they've gotten a lot done at meetings, but obviously they weren't the ones I've been to. I've been to 3 (or 4 ish) so far and they've all devolved into just sitting around and not doing anything.
So why not do work outside of the meetings? Sounds fine to me, that way I'm not wasting my own time. But the group member claimed there wasn't much to do outside of meetings, and she passive-aggressively called out some members of the group for not always attending meetings. As far as I know, only 2 of the 6 of us have attended every meeting, so I'm not alone in my "ditching".
I met with them 2 more times, and felt like no one cared about my ideas. At this point, it's the end of the semester and I'm just done. So if they're not gonna listen to me, fine, I won't share any ideas. I dreaded going to the meetings, but I did anyway so no one could dock me points. Truth is, I feel like they're going to anyways. I think they secretly hate me and my partner, the girl I worked a lot with. We've both not been able to go to meetings, and we haven't done quite as much work as some of them, but only because our assigned part was pretty vague and hard to research. So...not our faults. Actually, I know they hate the other girl. They've said behind her back that she hasn't done any work, which isn't completely true. They've stuck up for my efforts somewhat, but who's to know what the heck they're saying about me when I'm not there? Girls can be so bitchy sometimes.
Okay but here's the thing--one (or really more like 2 or 3) group members have kinda taken control of the whole thing. I feel like 2 in particular are really anal, and don't want other people "screwing" them up. Fine, but then don't blame us if we aren't as big a part of the project. Plus, how about you actually listen to what other people have to say. Especially regarding meeting times. 6 members is a fairly large group--chances are, not everyone will be able to meet every time. I've tried saying I can't meet at night, but no one cares, and they still hate me for not making the meetings. I know everyone has a different class schedule, but cut people some slack. And, don't waste their time when they do go to the meeting. Sure, I love laughing about a funny story or swapping juicy gossip, but not when I took time out of my schedule to meet for some project. Save that for later.
Basically, I cannot wait for this semester to be over! Our presentation was today, and it went pretty well, but sadly, that's not the end of it (I wish). We might have to meet one more time to finalize the paper, because that's not due for a week. Oh gosh, just kill me now! Not really, but I'm so over working with these people. Not to mention, I'm so done with school in general and I'm kinda swamped this week. So if we don't meet in the morning or afternoon...well, tough luck for them, because I'm not meeting again at night just to regret wasting all that time. And if my grade suffers a little (because the peer evals are only one small part), then whatever. I've done well in the class so far, and I'm just done with trying to please people I'll probably never see again.
How about you--what do you think of group projects?
Hey guys! Soooooo does anyone still read this blog? I kinda forgot about it after second semester of last year. There's a ridiculous amount I could recap on, but I'm not going to do that because it would take forever. It's been almost a year since I updated, so let's just move on to the present. Basically, I'm a sophomore now (wooooo!) and still in the dorms, but in a much nicer, newer one. I have the room all to myself--no more pesky roomie to deal with--and a bathroom that's shared with only 2 other girls. I'm livin' the dream life, no? Honestly, I really do wish I was living off-campus this year, and I wish I had a car, but I'm hoping those things will come next year. This year is a HUGE improvement over last, so I'm thankful for that.
Anyways, by the title of the post and the day on the calendar, I'm pretty sure you know what time I'm talking about--the end of the semester. A student's most dreaded and most looked-forward-to time of year. As usual, I'm counting down the days (and hours!) til I can escape school for a month-long break.
Tomorrow is the start of my last week of classes, and I just can't wait to get them over with. Unlike the last week of classes of the past, this one is chock-full of a lot of other stuff, namely a project presentation tomorrow and my first final on Thursday. Eeeeek! I'm actually just excited to get one out of the way--this year's finals week is a LOT less stressful than first semester of last year's. On Friday, I'm hoping to head home for an extended weekend, mostly so my dad can help me with my stats take home final. I am totally stressing about that one, but we'll see what goes down. I can't wait to go home, even if it's just for 3 days. It might seem weird, going home for 3 days, and then coming back to school for 3 days, and then going home again for a month. But whatever, I miss my family a lot (having your own room in a hall filled with immature freshman can get lonely and boring) and hopefully this mini-break will refresh me for my last couple of finals next week.
Hopefully, I'll remember to update you guys on what goes down this week and next. It should be pretty hectic, but that'll hopefully make time fly, right?
I feel very accomplished--I'm 80% done with my finals, with one more tomorrow. But the biggest news is that I'm finally over the hurdle of today: three finals in a row! Everyone I told thought it was crazy (so did I) but I did a lot of studying, a lot of praying and I got through it.
All three tests were timed for 2 hours...more than enough time to finish them. The first one (wildlife ecology, the one I was freaking out about the most) I finished in 45 minutes, the next one (20th century fiction) I finished in 55 minutes and the last one (math) I finished in an hour.
In between tests, you'd find me at the library, feverishly studying up for the next test. Not that I hadn't studied earlier, I just needed a refresher right before the test. I'm hoping it paid off. The tests didn't seem ridiculously hard like I thought they'd be, so that was a nice surprise.
Now I've got one left--and it's at 9 am! Yep, that means I gotta haul my butt out of bed at 7 in the morning...yikes! Luckily, it's just one test, one I'm hoping (and thinking) I'll do well on. It's my media in society final, and since it's a requirement for my major, I really hope I can pull it off. I like the material and the class, so that should be a good sign for my future success. But I'm not gonna expect anything, because my finals today sure did surprise me (in a good way, though).
Once that's over...I'm going home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For a month! There are so many things I want to do, including just spending time with my family and I hope Christmas break will be full of good memories.
Wish me luck on my last exam...and packing!
5 days. Yep, 5 days left before I'm outta here! I can't believe the moment I've been waiting for pretty much all semester is (almost) here. In a way, it's bittersweet, but it's more like "OMG, I can't WAIT!" Can you tell I'm excited?
Of course, all my dreaded finals are ahead of me. Two should be no problem (but I really shouldn't expect that I'll get A's or I probably won't), one could go either way depending on the questions (the format on this one is the same as the midterm, and I got a 92% on that, but the questions on the final could be harder) and two are...well, let's just say I'm not looking forward to them. At all. But hey, in five days, they'll all be over and I'll have a month of break to look forward to! I'm trying to look to the near future and avoid freaking out because I'm not totally prepared yet.
I've got one study guide totally written up. It's taken me several chunks of time since Thursday, but it's totally done. I've got study sessions planned for Monday and Wednesday in the library, which should be a productive time, considering I'm not lugging my laptop with me (I get a little distracted by the internet, namely Facebook and, of course, blogging). I've only got three days where I have finals, one that's jam-packed with three in a row (!) but at least I'll get them out of the way. And that means I have two study days during the week to let off some stress. I'm gonna grab lunch at the student center on those days so I can avoid the dorm (mostly because my roomie will probably be in there all day...vent time: I really hate how she's in there during the day when I want a little privacy and 'me time' but then heads out late at night and doesn't come back til after I'm asleep, messing up my sleep schedule :\) for most of the day. Thursday, I'll be gone from like 12:30 til 8 so that should be good, even though most of that time will be spent taking finals. And Friday, I'm not really counting as a day because I have one final at 9 am (yikes!) but it'll be over by 11, so I can leave soon after, once I'm done with check-out. Which will be another long, boring process. Why can't this week just be over?
Well, I'll update you throughout the week (if I have time, of course) to tell you about how my first college finals week is going. Until then, I'll be studying my tail off!
One of the hardest days to go back to school is the day after Thanksgiving break. Of course, it's harder after Christmas break and also after summer vacation, but coming back after Thanksgiving is pretty difficult.
For me, the break was the first time since summer that I have been home for more than a weekend. I have been grateful for all the weekends I got to go home or see my family but having nine days with them was a true blessing. Among the many things I did over the break, here are just a few: going to an organic all-peanut-butter-and-jelly-sandwich place (they have all kinds of different nut butters and jellies so it's never boring), getting my Starbucks fix twice, running some errands, watching Fantasia 2000, baking all kinds of Thanksgiving treats, game nights, getting yummy gelato and enjoying a Pei Wei dinner on my last night at home. Pretty much everything I did involved my family, and I'm so thankful to have such a great one.
Of course, that just makes it that much harder to go back to Fort Collins (2 1/2 hours away) and face school again. Really, who wants to go back to school when it already feels like the holiday season is in full swing? I'm refusing to listen to any music but Christmas music (on my iPod and streaming a station from back in the Springs that's been playing the stuff since Halloween!). I brought a mini Christmas tree back to my dorm that's all decked-out in ornaments that match my bedding. I have quite a few food items that are holiday-related, from the chocolate peppermint soy milk to an Iced Gingerbread Clif bar. There's a chill in the air, and despite the lack of snow on the ground, it still feels like winter. Basically, I'm just ready for it to be December 18, the first full day of my Christmas break. The best part is, it lasts exactly a month! So I'm extremely anxious for that, I'm ready for classes to be over and to finish my final exams. After my last two classes today, there are only 9 more school days, which doesn't seem like a lot, but if you've ever lived through those last few weeks before Christmas, you'll know the feeling.
So I'm counting down the days (and maybe the hours, too) until I can get out of the dorms, away from my roommate and go home. Because to me, it doesn't seem like the Christmas season til I'm spending it with my family.
