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Celebrating Early

Wow, with just a couple weeks left in Fall Quarter, it’s time to start studying like crazy for finals! It is no secret that we are in the holiday season, but along with it comes all the last minute assignments, and so much stress! Always try to find time to take a breather, make some plans with friends and enjoy some food!

Time escapes us so easily, it can feel overwhelming studying back to back, but knowing there’s a light at the end of the tunnel keeps me going. It was about two weeks ago when I realized … Thanksgiving was right around the corner! Finally, a chance to catch up on sleep! I decided the next day to take a break and plan something with a friend and her floor, to just celebrate a little early and have some fun.  

Ever done an Escape Room? They are so fun if you are into solving problems and playing detective! You are given several clues, all leading up to the big reveal, all the while confined to just a room with your friends. Depending on which room you end up in, you could be solving a murder, trying to find some item, the list goes on. It is such a unique experience, and can be a great way to distract yourself from all the studying and homework that will inevitably pile on as the quarter comes to a close.

You know that saying “All good things must come to an end?” Well, I think it applies to bad things too. In this case, the quarter system. If you do not enjoy a particular class or Professor, not to worry, it goes by fast, and you will be done before you know it! Now that is something to be thankful for! 

I only hope that in Winter Quarter I will be able to find a balance with social and academic life, but the more units, the less likely I can have a lot of free time. But don’t worry about me too much! I will definitely be using all my tips I have learned so far, especially the one about planning early. Tune in next time and maybe I will share some more!

Happy Holidays!

Celeste

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Dear Week 0 Nancy

Dear Week 0 Nancy,

You’re going to love week 0 so so much. Don’t miss out on the hypnotist show because that was so crazy and I’ve never seen anything like that. Take advantage of the Anteater Involvement Fair and get involved in clubs. Go to all their week 0 events and get free food and meet new people! Be a little uncomfortable and go to the dance workshops, even though you have two left feet. There’s so much free time during week 0 because you don’t have classes so take advantage of every second, because there isn’t going to be another week like this.

Please don’t fall behind. I know you’re gonna do it, but please try not to because ten weeks goes by SO fast. Before you know it, it’s midterms season and it’s gonna be crazy. You’ll be okay though because you have an amazing group of friends in your hall to help you cram for bio and chem which helps so much when the final comes around. I didn’t skip any classes this quarter, and I’m glad I didn’t because you need to go to class. Don’t kid yourself, you’re one of those people who needs to have a teacher explain it to you. Also, please read your bio textbook, otherwise the lectures will make no sense, learned that the hard way.

Take advantage of late night! Having Pippins and the Anteatery open until 12 is honestly a blessing, especially if you plan on staying up late, which you will. Pippins usually doesn’t have much, but it’s only an 8 minute walk across campus to the Anteatery. Take some of your hall mates and it’ll be your own little adventure/study break.

You don’t think much of it now, but you’ll love your card holder phone case. Honestly, I had to survive without it for a week because I broke it, but it’s a lifesaver. Always having your credit card, ID, and room key with you is the best because you never have to worry about remembering to grab any of those things. The week I broke it, I got locked out three times and couldn’t eat because I didn’t have my ID. I ordered one right away!

It’s only been a quarter into the school year but I’ve grown and have so much advice to give. Like for high school, please take as many AP classes as you can handle! I regret not taking more because more AP credits gets you a higher standing and earlier registration windows to make sure you’re on track!! It doesn’t sound like a big deal but when your friends are scrambling for classes, you’ll be thankful you took so many and entered UCI as a sophomore.

Wrapping up this quarter was hectic, but now I get to enjoy my three weeks off before winter quarter starts and I take classes for my new major, business economics! Wish me luck and happy holidays!

Sincerely,

Nancy

 

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Farewell to Finals, For Now

Dear Brandon ten weeks ago,

What’s up dude what’re you up to? I bet you’re playing video games huh. Stop playing video games and start studying boy you know better. Just kidding keep doing what you do and you’ll be fine, but please try and take better care of yourself during finals. We got through and did pretty well, (hopefully) but eating only a sandwich and coffee cake  because you can’t be bothered to stop studying really isn’t a good idea. You already eat so little already, any less and you’ll turn to dust. Grades are important but you know they don’t matter in comparison to your health, even though at times that idea may be hard to comprehend. Oh, and sleep more! Yay, no morning finals, that doesn’t mean you should sleep at 5 am every night. I wish I didn’t get into such a bad sleeping habits because the effects are tangible. You may be tempted to stay up all night studying. but don’t do it! It’s not worth it! Try not to let the stressful atmosphere of finals get to you either. I feel like there’s such a negative atmosphere that consumes UCI when finals come around, and I suppose that’s for a good reason, but for me personally seeing everyone else stressed makes me feel more stressed. It’s awesome seeing how the school tries to address it though. At middle earth at least they brought in puppies and offered free scantrons and other amenities. Kudos to the school for supporting the students like that. Well, I’m about to take off for San Jose. I’ve never written a letter to myself before so I’m not sure how I do this… I guess until the next time, have fun and study hard.

Sincerely,

Present time Brandon

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Finals Finale

Its been a tough week, full of studying, late nights, and not much fun if I’m being honest. But the most important thing is that ITS OVER. We all managed to survive our first finals here at UCI and I wanted to share some of my more memorable moments with you, the readers. Overall I had only two finals that I had to study for, one being the Environmental Engineering 60 class and the other being Math 2A. So I guess I was lucky since I could leave UCI and go home by Wednesday.

Studying for the Environmental Engineering final was essentially deciphering the PowerPoint presentations of our professor as well as reading over our notes. The PowerPoint presentations seemed to be more geared towards helping the professor remember what topics she needed to cover in class rather than for the students to use as study material. At this point I should also mention that there was no study guide but the final was not cumulative, meaning that it would cover material that was from the second final onward. When I heard that the final was not cumulative I felt so relieved because the amount of information I thought I would have to cover just became halved if not less than half. Either way, I was pretty confident going into the final but when the test came out, some of the questions made me question my understanding of English. Some questions were worded so badly that if someone didn’t read it over at least 5 times they would be confused as to what the question would be asking. That actually happened to my friend because he never heard the term “canary in the coal mine” before. The question was essentially asking what species of animal was the “canary in the coal mine for DDT. For those who don’t know when someone calls something a canary in the coal mine they mean “Something or someone who, due to sensitivity to his, her, or its surroundings, acts as an indicator and early warning of possible adverse conditions or danger.” So the species that indicated that DDT was bad for the environment was actually the Bald Eagle and I chose that but my friend was unfortunate enough to never hear the idiom “canary in the coal mine” in his entire life so he told me he probably got that one wrong. Regardless, the test was not the most fun thing to do because of the wording of the questions, so I guess be prepared for that?

Math 2A was a whole different story as the math department actually gave out sample finals for the students to prepare. That being said, when it came time to take the final, the entire thing seemed to be on special cases like log and e^x. So the practice finals actually helped for around 20% of the final. I finished my test with about 5 minutes left on the clock and when I went to turn in my test, I looked around and couldn’t spot the other people I came in with so I assumed that I took too long. As I was going back to my seat to grab my stuff the proctor said that he needed everyone to sit down for the last 5 minutes of the test, even if you were finished. So there I was, exhausted beyond what’s humanly capable and really forward to sleeping my stress away, but forced to wait for the last five minutes in the room. I couldn’t access my phone or talk so I just sat there staring at the second count down for 5 minutes. I gotta say it was similar to those movies where you see the kid just staring at the clock waiting for the bell to ring, just multiply that by a millennium and a half. Regardless, I eventually made my way out and managed to catch up with my friends to go grab some well-deserved ramen at the University Town Center mall.

I gotta say, finals in college is definitely not like the ones in high school. The ones in high school you could pass by just cramming the night before, but in college if you try and do that I can tell you right now, you are gonna have a bad time because there so much material to cover that it would take at least a couple days to fully remember the information. After finals though, you feel like you worked hard enough to deserve the break. That’s where I’m at right now, at home, relaxing, reminiscing about finals preparing for that day that every kid loves, Christmas.

Merry Christmas Readers!

-Josh