I officially moved back into my dorm this past Monday night and classes started bright and early Tuesday morning! This semester is Go-Time. Fall semester was a very emotional, stressful, and eye-opening semester for me; I didn’t have as much time for blogging as I would of liked, and it left me with a lot of things that I need to consider. But the biggest thing fall semester left me with was the absolute need to kill it this semester!

One of the biggest problems I have is that I am an extremely motivated person, but I’m also wicked lazy. One day I could spend 18 hours + working and studying, then the next day I may not leave my bed.

To survive Second Semester I have completely redesigned my schedule, reorganized my dorm, and changed the way I spend my time in class, in order to optimize my day while still allowing my lazy self some down time.

| My Schedule |

I used to have to plan my schedule around my Chronic Migraine, so I had to have most of my classes in the morning incase I developed a migraine in the afternoon or my current migraine progressed. But now that I finally have working medication I have planned my schedule to be the most beneficial to my productive-lazy ways.

I use Google Calendar to stay organized!

I only have one class on Monday’s, from 4:00-5:15, then a club meeting from 6:30-8:00. This gives me Monday morning to get my materials and assignments ready for the week. Tuesday's and Thursday’s are my heaviest days: I have work from 5:45am-9:00am then class from 10:00-11:15, then again from 1:00-2:15 and 2:30-3:45.

I scheduled these days like this to keep me out of my dorm and away from my distractions. Staying on campus during the will keep me more focused and productive. Plus it gives me just enough time to have an early dinner and get ready for my 6:45 yoga class!

My Wednesday schedule is more spread out to allow me to take the morning and go to my lab, and stay on campus in Isenberg to get a little work done. Then I have a few hours to go to the gym and eat before my classes at 4 and 6:30.

I planned having Friday’s off to have a little more wiggle room for a lot of things. If I need to schedule a doctor’s appointment in my home town a few hours away, I’ll schedule it for Friday. If I want to go visit my boyfriend at his school I don’t have to plan around potential classes or exams. If I’m completely stressed out Friday is my day to do nothing or do my laundry or go to Target and run my errands. Friday is my day!

| My Dorm |

Before winter break I put all my seasonal clothes into plastic buckets under my bed, donated to Goodwill, threw out unnecessary papers and niknaks; basically I overhauled my room. And when I came back I got rid of my Keurig. The water tank had cracked, so I threw that part out and put the rest of my Keurig in my trunk under my bed. I then turned my bookcase into my snack bar.

Because my Tuesday schedule is so packed, and because I want to stay in tune to one of my new year's’ goals and save some money, I invested in a huge box of tea, protein bars, my favorite Special K shakes, and some Boom Chicka Pop. Instead of keeping my snacks in my drawers like last year, I’m keeping them out in the open so I remember to take them and use them this year! (p.s. switching from coffee to tea is both delicious and makes my wallet super happy)

I also added my favorite clipboard calendar from Target to my wall to help me actually SEE my deadlines before I walk out of the door everyday.

| My Classes |

In class I used to always use my laptop and I used to always use Onenote. I started off using notebooks in class then copying them into Onenote, but me being my lazy self decided to just start typing them into Onenote in class to save time. This was a bad idea.

Using my laptop in class was such a distraction. This semester I’m going back to strict notebooks-only in-class policy. I even use Pocket Points to help keep me off my phone. I will copy my notes into Onenote later in the Library as a form of studying, but also as a way to create a digital study guide for future exams.

How’re you surviving your semester?

xoxo

AME