Time Management in University

Hi, everyone!

By the 3rd week of university, I can certainly say that I have no weekends. It's not too bad, though...This blogpost will describe my homework and extracurricular schedule, as well as I will get into some tips on how to manage your time wisely.

Firstly, it is important not to burnout, because if a person never has time off, it is very likely to occur. I am not nearly at this point yet, and here is why:

I distributed all my homework among 6 days of the week. For example, on Monday I will primarily focus on Physics and Chemistry, on Tuesday - Biology and some Chemistry, Wednesday - Chemistry only, etc. It is important to immediately evaluate which subject requires the most amount of time.  

I of course keep a planner, and I write my every plan down, but since I won't always take it out of my backpack as soon as I remember to note something, I have a to-do list of my phone which I also regularly check. It's important to plan for the week ahead on Sundays, but also, plan daily for anything that will come up during the week. 

Do not underestimate or overestimate your business. If you are not using a planner, you might not realize how much catching up you must do, but if you end up having a lot of thing do to - don't worry - nobody died in undergrad yet :)

To manage your time effectively during the day, and particularly the weekends, I suggest choosing the right time and place. For instance, there is no way I can do my homework at home in Toronto during a sunny day, but I will be able to focus perfectly during the rainy one. Since I can't make the rain, I will start my day with a soothing pamper routine, and once my body is relaxed - I can perfectly focus. It's all about listening to what your body wants. 

If we are talking about the weekday, what you can do really depends on your academic timetable, but I suggest studying as much as you can during the day to leave the time off for the evening.

Definitely, prioritize your tasks. That does not mean throw them out of your to-do list - that means don't spend to much time on them. For example, I have to read the research articles of my professors. I won't do it until everything that I planned for the day is complete and I have some extra time. Make a goal though, to still finish your weakest priorities during the week. 

The reason why I said I have no weekends is because I work the entire day on Friday and otherwise, I would have that time off. I do study from Monday to Saturday, though, and I still can't say I'm very tired. Often, since I do my homework on campus most of the time, I don't have anything to do past 8-9pm. 

Also, try not to procrastinate because your organism will be exhausted and the longer you procrastinate, the more tired it'll be. 

Good luck! 

not my picture

Desk Organization

Hi, sweeties

Like I promised, here is a blogpost about my desk (with pictures) and the way I organize it. My writing will probably be a little disorganized, since it's an unusual blogpost to write.

Here is an overview of my desk:

First, I would like to proceed to the most, perhaps, clever organization idea on my main table: printer table and drawer from carton boxes. Note, it's not my idea, I got it from Pinterest, and twisted it a little. 

I glued together 4 carton boxes, but they came in a pack of 5, so I kept the 5th one as a holder for sheet protectors, coloured paper, squared paper, and lined paper. Into the 4 boxes underneath the printer, I put my school books and lab manuals+notebooks. Right near the printer (but you can't see) I store my whole puncher.

My white board isn't glued or screwed to the wall because it's a rented apartment and it's not allowed. However for now, I use it as a motivational board for quotes. You are gonna laugh, but my 1st quote is from Greys Anatomy, Cristina Yang's character: "Should I eat, or should I shower? I could sleep in the shower, but I'm also starving". For some reason this quote gives me a motivation to keep studying as much as I can because some people (med students and residents) are way more tired than I am, so I can't complain. And also, it motivates me to study until the point when I become a doctor and I will have a privilege of being tired at work where I save lives of my patients. You might or might not think I'm weird now :D

The other quote I didn't put up yet, but it reads: "Everything that kills me makes me feel alive" from one of the pop songs. And again, it all comes down to working really hard and that being a privilege.

I also have a tablet holder (or whatever it is) where I put my iPad onto. My uni has a blended learning format, meaning that a lot of the material is taught through online modules, and there is a bunch of other resources. So to access it while I need my laptop for something else - I use my tablet. 

It might look a little unusual at first, but the little table space which has binders underneath is a part of the design of the big table. I put a little shelf unit underneath it to have 2 more spaces available. On the higher one, I put my binders and my stationery box, and I placed my MCAT books below on the floor. Here is that pink stationery box and its contents:

It has little items like post-it notes, tape, white-outs, and staples. It's convenient to store them in one place with compartments, so that's what I did.

Behind the white shelf unit, you can locate 2 pensil and pen boxes, some binders, and a container. Those binders are empty and serve as extras in case I need to put something in there. The container is empty for now, but I'm sure I'll find something to put in there. 

The drawer unit to the left from the little table has 4 compartments, and here is how the insides look like. The 4th compartment is a little boring, as it has extra containers, batteries, skrews, and other household items:

This one has extra earphones, pensils, mini-staples, erasers, and pens.

This one has large and small flashcards

This one has all of my craft supplies: a bunch on washi tape, stickers, glitter, and labels. 

I hope you liked it! 

My First WEEK Of Uni

Happy Saturday, everyone!

My first week of undergrad is done, which is kind of crazy. Like in my last post, I'll just talk about my experience living through 1 week of uni in the faculty of Science. As you already know how my very first day (Wednesday) went, I'll just continue with the next 3 days + a few overall thoughts. Hope it's a little entertaining.

My Thursday started from me waking up at 7am with no alarm. I loved it because I was able to have some time to myself, as well as reassure that I am packed and ready for uni. On that day I had a 9:30 Physics class, an 11:30 Bio class, and a (HAS) Health, Aging and Society lecture from 7-9pm. Normally, I'd be much busier on a Thursday, but this week I had no labs or tutorials. Physics went great. Not only I got a genuine professor, but one the labs I have to do is a home-experiment. The best part about it is that I can come up with my own idea, which I will somehow connect to Medicine or Biology. The experiment has to be video-taped and done in partners. Biology also went fantastically. I came an hour earlier though, so I had nothing to do, but talk to a very pleasant girl, also from a faculty of Science. The ~6 hour gap that I had in between my lectures I spent with my boyfriend who came to visit me. We first went to Tim Hortons for a coffee and a snack, and then we went home for a lunch and a little bit of prep and study time. My prep was just a huge outline of all my quizzes, tests, labs, assignments, and tutorials. In 3 hours we got bored of sitting without internet, and we decided to go back to Mac and find a study room, and we did:

After we found my evening lecture class, my boyfriend left, and I enjoyed myself in my one and only social science class. 

As I came home, I started packing for Friday, since I was going home right after my 2nd bio lecture. I had my dinner, and watched some YouTube videos, and Grey's Anatomy episodes (I'm re-watching) on my phone, because it turns out I won't have Internet till next Friday.

On a Friday I was woken by a phone call about my mattress delivery, and when the brought it in, my room finally looked a little bit more complete. I went to lecture which went fantastically again, and then my dad picked me up and I went home for the weekend. 

When I came, I decided to go see my high school friend, whom I really adore ;) and then I went to Sushi with my boyfriend to end the day. Before sleep though, I got my HAS readings done, and fell asleep.

Saturday started with my First Aid course and that lasted from 9 to 4, and now I'm sitting here, writing a blog post :) My plans for today is to get my Bio and Psych modules and readings done, and tomorrow I have work, after which I go back to Hamilton and finishing my Chemistry readings. 

WHAT I LEARNED

1. I discovered 3 very nice, different of each other places to study in. One is in one of the libraries, the other is the Study Room, and the third one is in another library. 

2. My planner is too tiny, so I printed a simple monthly and weekly layouts that have more space available. Every colour has its own meaning: assignment, lab or tutorial, quiz, midterm, etc. 

3. I will not be using binders in lectures, since there is absolutely no space for them on the ~ 25cmx25cm desk. I will instead use a clipboard and record the class code on the top of the page, to later just distribute the notes to my binders (which I will carry with me further in semester, as the notes accumulate). I might also look into typing my notes. 

4. Taking notes isn't hard at all, so I'll write a blog post on my tips and suggestions on it soon.

My First Day Of Uni

Hi, guys!
There went my first day of class. This blogpost contains no tips or academic hacks, but rather the description of my first day of uni. I hope you will like such an unusual blog post!

Since I rented an apartment outside of campus, certain things were added to the list of my responsibilities. One of them was to buy a mattress, and the other - was to install internet. None of those tasks are done as of yet. I’m waiting for my mattress to come of Friday evening, and the Internet connection to be installed on Monday. That sucks. 
Anyway…my day started from me waking up at home in Toronto because the night before I got very homesick and my dad picked me up for the night. At 1pm though, I was back at uni enjoying the Club Fest 2016. There was a huge amount of clubs and organisations having different purposes and themes. I signed up for a number of them, but I will make a decision as to where I’d like to stay after all general meeting pass. I’ll pick not more than 3 or 4 clubs though, because that way, I will be able to stay strongly committed to each of them. The majority clubs I joined were Medicine related, but there were 2 that were not. One of them was Health, Aging, and Society club, and I was interested to join because I’m pursuing such minor, and I want to be a bit more educated on those topics. The other club was Russian Speakers Association, and I joined that due to my Russian heritage.
 After the club fair, I had no idea what to do, but it was ridiculously hot (~35 degrees celcius), and I decided to go into the building where my evening lecture will proceed (it’s the MedSchool building). While playing on my laptop, an outline for my Health, Aging, and Society club came out, and after I read it, I went to the Campus Store to buy the appropriate book. After spending half an hour in line, I bought my book and decided to visit one of the libraries to study my pre-class Chemistry Modules there. Time flew super fast, and it was already 5pm, which meant that I had to go to the building of my lecture, again. Class had to start at 5:30pm, and on my way to the lecture haul, I got some water, coffee, and a caramel tart, which was apparently my lunch, since by that time I haven’t eaten for 5 hours. I also called my boyfriend, and he instantly made me happy as he reminded me of his visit tomorrow. There was only one lecture this day (General Chemistry), due to the absence of labs and tutorials, which would usually fill up my Wednesdays. 

I sat on the first row in my lecture hall, and there was approximately 800 people there. I was sitting with a few lovely girls, and the class went super fast, since the professor (who was also lovely) just talked about the course outline and expectations. I read this outline before class though, so I knew what to expect. After the class finished, I came home and began fulfilling my to-do list. I just cooked some chicken soup for dinner, showered, cleaned up a little, filled up the planner, and watched some pre-loaded Grey’s Anatomy episodes. 

Tomorrow (Thursday), I’m expecting a much more overwhelming day, since I’ll be on campus from 9am to 10pm. In that amount of time I’ll have 4 lectures, as well as a huge break in between them (due to the absence of labs and tutorials in the first week), which I will spend with my boyfriend, and prepping for future lectures. On Friday, I will just have 1 biology lecture, and after my mattress will arrive, I’m off to Toronto for the weekend! 

Little Things That Stimulate Learning

Hi sweeties!
Happy first day of school to whoever has started, and good luck for those of you whose 1st day didn't come yet! Regardless of where you are in your academic journey, it will be useful to know a few simple non-academic life hacks to improve your brainpower. Those things you can practice on a daily basis, and it would be interesting if you'd set up a little self experiment where you would record and track any changes brought to you by those life hacks. Anyway, let's get into them:

FOODS

Food exists to give our organisms the energy to live, but certain foods, like superfoods, exist to give us the brain power by providing our bloodstream with antioxidants and vitamins. Since cooking might not be an option for a busy student, you can enjoy snacking on the following items:
- blueberries (memory)
- pumpkin seeds (memory)
- walnuts (mental alertness)
- tomatoes (antioxidant)
- dark chocolate (concentration)
etc.
I highly recommend this website for all important superfoods.

Water is also crucial "brain food" because it keeps our brain hydrated at all times. If you are a coffee drinker, make sure that for every 100mL of coffee, you consume 200mL of water.

ACTIVITIES

Exercising makes our heart pump the blood all around our bodies faster and this is how our brain gets more Oxygen. This must improve our cognitive functioning, memory, focusing, as well as faster information processing. If you are not a sports fan (like me), starting off with 10 minutes of jumping jacks and/or other cardio exercise a few times during the day, will improve the neurogenesis (creation of nerve cells) and therefore, improve our mental capacities.

Sleeping 7-9 hours daily at a more or less organized time frame will also contribute some brain power to our organisms. Not only we will have more energy, but also our memory and cognitive functioning will improve, contributing to higher academic standing. It is important to maintain a specific time frame for your sleep, since it will set our brains to function more efficiently during a needed period of time (during lecture, for instance).

Breathing exercises a few times during the day will help deliver more Oxygen to your brain, so even if you're not into meditating, try to breathe deeper at some points of your day.

ORGANIZATION

Having an organized desk, laptop, room, backpack, locker, or whatever it is you have is important to simply save you time while looking for something. But that's not it. Organization = efficiency. Even if you think that you will find your item within the debris in your room, your brain uses more energy to visually go through the disorganised objects, which exhausts you a little later. Not only organization itself is important, but you should also try to keep your workspace minimalistic for the same as above reason.
I will be posting about desk organization really soon, so don't forget to check it out.

The colour scheme of your work area is also important. Green is a good choice in order not to overwhelm your eyes. Same goes for the majority of light, cool colours. In terms of your desk lamp, or computer screen, though, assure that it is adjusted to a duller and warmer shade at night to avoid eye pain and exhaustion.