The First Day Or Meghan doesn’t know how to sleep in
My classes don’t start until later today. When I say “later” I mean, much later. And when I say “much later” I mean why in the name of Jane Austen’s pen am I up right now?! Believe me, it was not a planned wake up, in fact my alarm will not be going off for another hour and a half. I’m sure you’ve all realized by now that an hour and a half of sleep can make a pretty huge difference on how you’re feeling. Too little sleep and I find I’m either falling asleep in my seat or overcompensating hyperactively (and burn out rather quickly). Too much sleep and I feel groggy all day and just want to sleep more.
Speaking of wanting more sleep, why am I awake before the Sun has even risen? While I could blame it on the crickets that can be heard in the absolute silence of my neighbourhood, I know that the real problem lay with myself. Ever since I was a teeny, tiny Meghan off on my first day of Kindergarten I have not been able to sleep in on the first day of school. In fact, this is sleeping in for me. I used to wake up at one a.m., then three a.m., then five a.m. (I’m sure all you math majors have figured out the sequence by now). It seems my mind (and body) sees the first day of school as something akin to Christmas. Scary, I know.
Well, at least this means I’m eager to learn?
I’m happy to say that I don’t feel nervous about going to class anymore (arriving on time and actually finding my classes is still causing me quite a bit of stress though). Yesterday, at orientation day, I thankfully met many people in my program and already I feel pretty close to a few of them. At least I know I’ll have someone to sit with in a few of my courses. I didn’t think that making friends would be that easy, but I guess when everyone is eager to make friends things will just fall into place. Let’s just hope I manage to remember all their names tomorrow. Ugh, I have so a horrible memory for names.
Also, I’ve discovered, thanks to some helpful third year and fourth year students at orientation, that I do not need to take one Arts and one Science for my degree, I can in fact take two Arts. And seeing as my Science is really not going to help me progress towards my minor, I’ve decided to drop it and pick up another English course. Unfortunately, when I tried to do so on good old SIS I was informed that I did not meet the requirements for the English course, which I believe has something to do with me not being an English Major (as the course insists upon). So, I’m off to Registrars this morning, hoping they can help me sort it out. Last minute schedule change anyone? Yes, I’m expecting barrels of fun…
Wish me luck!
Meghan
Wednesday September 10th, 2008
You'd think sitting in the CAW completely immersed in the university atmosphere would trigger some sort of inspiration for this blog. Well, I'm looking around at the full seats, at the students and staff eating their lunch or tapping away at their computers (while earning some strange stares in return) and my mind is completely blank. No ideas are flooding in from the hum of conversation around me. My mind is a black hole of nothing.
It's more than a little disturbing for someone like me who always has something to write about, something to say, especially about my own life, to draw a complete blank. I mean, it's not like I've been doing nothing for the past few days. It's my first week at University after all! Everything is a fresh experience, everywhere I go, everything I do is new and shiny. I've had classes, and lunches, and walks around the campus. I've listened to lectures, bought last minute books, gotten lost, and been found. I've made new friends, renewed old friendships and sat by myself for hours at a time with nothing but my books for company. My life is an exciting ensemble of experiences.
Really.
It is.
And as soon as I can find the proper words I'll tell you all about it.
I suppose I could bring up some of the mistakes I've made to help out any students who happen to be perusing this. The first thing that comes to mind is my schedule. I decided to schedule all my classes on two days, believing I could handle it because I would be spending the same amount of time in class as I did when I was in high school. Four day weekend has to be awesome, right? Wrong! An hour and twenty minute university lecture is not comparable to a high school class. The amount of work you receive (all of which is due by the next class) is not equal to high school homework. Four classes of work all due within two days is not fun. Do not attempt this. Your brain will melt and/or explode.
It's really too late for me to change things now, so I'm going to have to suck it up, grin and bear it as some would say, but you don't have to make the same mistake as me. If for your second semester you are considering such a feat, consider again. It's not worth it, and you'll probably end up at the University on days you don't have classes anyway. I know I have...every day this week. And believe me, it is less embarrassing to be able to answer the "What time is your next class?" question with a response that does not include "tomorrow".
Speaking of tomorrow, I have another thirty pages of my French novel to read that's due...along with a couple of satire-filled, epic poems and some chapters from a book I haven't even purchased. So, until the next time where I can talk about more nothing...
May your days be headache free,
MeghanWeek Two (or is it three?)
in which Meghan becomes paranoid
I am drowning in a sea of paper work.
When I was told in orientation "for every hour in class you will have three hours of work outside of class" I thought that it was some kind of exaggeration, or at least that it wouldn't apply to me. I never really had to work in high school, and isn't university just a step up from that? So, it would get a little harder. I would have to actually study for tests. Boo hoo, I would need to be self-sufficient. I could do that. Easy.
Except, not so much.
The last time I read so much at one time was on the opening night of Breaking Dawn, and at least that was in English! What satanic creature bent on my total destruction compelled me to take three literature courses? At least a dozen novels in four months is not going to be a simple task, especially when I don't only need to read but understand and remember. I've found that reading out loud helps me absorb the information better, but I can't exactly do that on campus unless I want to look really foolish. To add to my confusion, I find that I don't work as well at home. Something about the university atmosphere encourages me to work, while at home I'm more likely to stare off into space then pick up a text book.
To put it simply, at home I have difficulty studying but I can read aloud and thus more clearly understand what I'm studying. Then at school I can study easier, but not read aloud and have more difficulty understanding what I'm trying to learn. It's really a catch 22.
Staring at the pile of books on my bedside table, I can't help but wonder where my weekend went. I know I spent it doing school work (really, I did) so why do I still have so much of it? And why does it all have to be due tomorrow?! There is no physical way I can complete all this without staying up the entire night, and I'm quite sure that is not healthy. Besides, I really like sleep.
Instead, I've decided university is a ploy by THEM to keep teenagers locked up in their rooms and libraries, doing school work all day and night, so that they can't cause chaos on the streets. Very clever, Mr. Them, very sneaky. I'll out you soon enough...just as soon as I'm finished reading the first five chapters of Foundations of Academic Writing...
Back to the books!
Meghan
Wednesday September 17th, 2008
Week...uh...oh forget it
or we establish that Meghan is weird
Life certainly has a way of spinning you around when things get too comfortable. I had just started to get adjusted to university when everything changed. I know about as much as the next student about the strike, probably less, actually. Really all I know is how it is affecting me. As of now, it hasn't affected me much. I had a few meetings schedule for today which I either couldn't attend because I really don't want to cross a picket line, or because they were cancelled because no one else really wants to cross the picket line.
I'll admit, I'm a little curious as to how the students on residents are holding up. Everyone I know is taking the strike in one of two ways; they either don't mind it and see it as a kind of vacation, or they are freaking out about it, afraid what it may mean for their semester work load.
Personally, I'm just going to keep up with the Syllabuses my teachers gave out, and keep checking the uwindsor website. The way I see it, that's the best course of action. I hope everything is resolved to the satisfaction of both parties soon. As much as I love time off of school...I love being on campus more. I love being able to sit in the CAW and work, and knowing that there are people around me doing the same. I love randomly running into people, and sometimes not so randomly meeting up with them. The University is like its own community and even though it's only been one day, I really do miss it.
Strange to actually miss school, but then I've never really been considered normal.
Bah, who wants to be normal anyway?
Meghan
Sunday September 21st, 2008
Feeling Unproductive
The past few days have not been as productive as I could have hoped. Maybe it's because I'm using my bed as a desk, but it seems more difficult to stay awake while reading my textbooks than usual. I've never needed to be more self-motivated before because now I don't even have classes to go to, so I fail to see the point of keeping up. Of course, the point of keeping up is so I don't die in an avalanche of school work later, but sometimes it is difficult to remember that fact when facebook (or youtube, or hotmail....) beckons.
Even focusing on this blog for more than a few minutes is taking more effort than it should. I know we were told that university would be more difficult, that the professors would not be pushing us to do the work like our high school teachers did, that it would all be up to us, but I just never imagined it would be this hard to focus. An hour of school work feels like it takes an eternity, but I can sit down at the computer, glance at the clock and three hours have passed!
I think the only thing keeping me sane right now are my friends. Not being able to see them on campus is tough, but at least I've managed to meet up with them a few times since Wednesday. I've never noticed how much I need social interaction before. I used to consider myself a kind of solitary creature. I mean, I was the girl who could sit against the wall at recess with a book and not be bored for a moment. Now, I'm surrounded by books (and some of them actually are interesting) but I'd much rather be out doing something.
My parents would prefer if I stayed home and studied all the time, I'm sure, but I think if I tried to do that I would burn out. My mind can only absorb so much information in one day, after that it's useless to cram anymore in. That's right, my brain starts to get indigestion if I study too long.
In any case, I've been away from my textbooks for too long and I can see daylight slipping away from me. Back to the books...again.
Meghan
Thursday September 25th, 2008
Confused thy name is Meghan
I need deadlines. I need to know when something must be done, or if it even has to be done. That is how I function, my schedule revolves around deadlines. Give me an open due date and you will never get what you asked for unless the 50 zillion other things that I need to complete that do have deadlines are already finished and I don't have anything else I want to do at the time. Which never happens, by the way, because I always have something else I'd rather be doing. Usually it's eating or sleeping, but just as often it's reading a book that I actually enjoy or going out with my friends.
That being said, this strike and the lack of knowledge it causes is causing me distress. I've fallen two classes worth of work behind, and I can't seem to convince myself to actually pick up the syllabus and do whatever reading it says would have been completed if I was in class. Why? Because even if I do it, I know I'm just going to end up rereading it all because I'll have forgotten what I read by the time classes start up and I don't like wasting my time. Why don't I just take notes? Because I don't know how to take notes, I don't know what I should be taking notes of. I don't know what I'm supposed to know or remember. I don't know what's expected of me and it's driving me insane!
I hate feeling like I'm falling behind when I'm not even sure if I am falling behind. I don't know what will happen when classes start back up. I don't know if we'll jump back into the first day of missed classes, or jump forward, or even jump backwards. There is so much I don't know or understand and it's really starting to affect me.
I know, I'm a big girl now, I should be able to do this all on my own, but I can't.
I feel like a failure and I hate it.
MeghanSunday September 28, 2008
It's All About the Politics
I'm still trying to keep up with my classes even though with every day that passes I feel less inclined to do so. At this point, I don't feel like I went to University at all. I had a grand total of four days of classes before the strike, which, in the grand scheme of my education, equates to about nothing. I just want to go back to class. It's the middle of September, it feels wrong not to be in a classroom.
My mom mentioned going to Laurentian for a semester and then coming back to Windsor next semester, but I feel it's too late in the semester now, there's no way I could catch up with classes that have been going on all this time. Besides, I still have some hope that this strike issue will be resolved. I don't want to leave Windsor, my friends are here and my room is here. I'm not ready for separation just yet, one of the reasons I decided to stay at home for school in the first place.
In other news, unrelated to the University, last night I went to the Volmer complex in LaSalle to watch a fire show. It was...interesting. There were statues made of hay that the performers lit on fire. Some of the statues were cool and moved, like the scissors that opened and closed. The crowd's favourite was the word BUSH, which was a little more political than I was expecting, and I find it a little sad that us border town Canadians know more about American politics than our own. I mean, aren't we having another election ourselves soon that we should be worrying about? One that I can vote in, by the way. It will be my first time voting...if I can figure out how to register.
Don't know who I'm voting for yet, I'm thinking my normal way of choosing (Eenie meeny miney moe) is not proper in this case. I guess I could always draw straws...or something.
Meghan
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