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Yes, it is that time of the year!

Hello Anteaters! I am excited to share my midterm experience with you all!

After I committed to UCI, one of the most common conversations I would have with college students would be about midterms and how intense they were. 

From the start of week one, my chemistry professor would repeatedly announce to the class that midterms were week three. He wanted the class to ask for help if the introductory topics or online videos were difficult to understand. He knew that the level of stress would decrease during exam week if students were intentional with the class and sought help before it was too late!

Because of his advice, I took advantage of not only his office hours and my TA’s office hours, but my math professor’s office hours and the Learning and Academic Resource Center (LARC) for extra help.

My chemistry midterm was week three, and my math midterm was week four. For chemistry, my midterm was online, and this meant that I had the option to choose where I wanted to take my exam. Because I wanted to take the exam in a quiet space, I reserved a room for a couple hours in the Study Library. If you ever have to take an exam online, I would 100% recommend reserving a room because it is a comfortable amount of space, you are the only one in the room, and you do not have to worry about a roommate or outside noises.

A few study tips that worked for me were attending review sessions for your courses, attending office hours, and studying material by small increments a few nights prior to the exam. I found that the material covered in the review sessions were useful and provided extra guided practice before the exam day. 

(This is from the LARC study session for my math midterm. There were plenty of opportunities where students could ask questions for clarification. )

Before my exam days, I  made sure to go to bed earlier ( around 11:45 pm-12 am, and I promise this is an earlier bedtime for me). In the morning, I woke up extra early to eat breakfast and prepare my materials for my exam.  I recommend giving yourself at least 30 minutes to set up an exam if you are taking one online. A tip is to make sure your device is charged the night before and to bring your outlets in case your device starts to run out of battery. 

(After my chemistry midterm exam review (that was led by the Chemistry Department),  I was greeted by a ZOT Bot 🙂  Because this study session ended at 9:30 pm, it was a pleasant and cheerful surprise to see the Bot! I could not pass up the opportunity to ask my friend to take a photo of me and the Zot Bot! )

Overall, attending review sessions and office hours were key factors in helping me prepare for my first midterms at UCI! 

Until next time….. ZOTZOTZOT!!!

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To new beginnings and the Importance of Self-Advocacy :)

Hello Anteaters! Although school has only been in session for about a month, my experience at UCI has consisted of meeting new people, adjusting to the college lifestyle, and balancing school work with outside activities. 

Because my STEM courses are taught in the “flipped classroom” style, I have been adjusting to learning material independently and creating a consistent routine when it comes to watching online lecture videos. I learned early on in my General Chemistry course that missing one lecture video will result in a difficult class session. Thankfully, this occurred during week two, so I had time to change my study habits and no longer had to “play the catch up game” (which was a sigh of relief). Trust me, you do not want to fall behind, especially in STEM courses!

Another new piece of information is that I had the opportunity to declare Math as my major! During week two, I worked alongside the supportive Undecided/Undeclared staff and the Physical Sciences Department to switch from an Undeclared major to a Mathematics major. Although this process included physically knocking on the Math Department’s office doors just to hear the same answer, “no, you have to wait until you meet the requirements,” my last attempt was successful! I was greeted by an academic counselor and given a strict deadline to switch into Math by the end of that week. I am grateful that I can continue to blog, even as a new Math major! 

Furthermore, a significant part of the college lifestyle is the food at UCI and around the city of Irvine. 

My ultimate study snack is from Brandywine, and it is their delicious vegan pumpkin bread. Every time I eat at this dining hall, I take two or three pieces because they are not only tasty, but are already saran wrapped, which makes for a quick snack after a long day of classes. I also have my friends try the bread, and believe me when I tell you that they all would give it a 10/10:)  

Yum!!

TIP!!!

You may be wondering why I included a photo of a doorstop. If you are living in the Mesa court classics I recommend buying or asking for one! By keeping the door open, I have met several students in my dorm building. This was great during week 0 when everyone was moving in and meeting each other. 

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Path Finder?

Hey fellow anteaters, I’m pleased to all inform you that I am alive and well. Let’s hope that I’m not the only one who took advantage of the spring break and became spontaneous because I did. If you’re all wondering what I’m blabbering about, I’ll start off by explaining a little story. During the early humble beginnings of my college careers, when I was researching what your average Joe in college does, I came across multiple videos of students explaining their day to day activities. Basically if you’re not a veteran fighting for internships or avidly going to multiple events, you were a gym bro pumping iron in the gym or a spouse in training who takes pride in cooking and cleaning (which of course is fine. Also for those of you who are reading this please don’t take it to heart. Everything is all jokes here).

For those of you wondering which part I chose, I decided to choose the path of a housewife. Here’s why: I didn’t know much about internships although I’m fairly active on campus. Second reason, again don’t take this personally but I just don’t like the idea of physical labour. I did enough sports in high school to know, so that is why I decided to become a house wife. During the break, I started cooking and cleaning a lot more often (I even practiced lines to say when my roommates come back, JK). Also before I go, I do want to talk about one thing.

Now that we are in our last quarter of our freshman year. I’m noticing that there are a lot of people scrambling to do something to make the year worthwhile. I just want to say you don’t need some big bonanza to happen to have a checkpoint for your freshman year. There are literally students racing for stickers and I’m one of them. Look at me for instance: I’m still trying to learn how to swim and drive since I never got to it. Anyway my point is take it slow, so you don’t miss even the little things that matter.

This is your house blogger in training chef-ing it out

*Chef Kiss* *Chef Kiss*

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New Hobbies, What’s Your’s?

One of the few things that I’ve noticed around most of the friend groups that I’ve been hanging around is, UCI Is commonly spilt up into two groups. There are those who already have their own hobbies/interest and those who are in search of on. Personally I fall under both, as I already have a hobby but I am still up to try new things that’s fun and interesting. Speaking of new, I haven’t been able to keep track of all the shows that have been popping up here and there, but I’m loving it. Before any of you flame me for this, I honestly just want to say that it’s been the most commonly asked question and I’m going to ask it “What episode of Euphoria are you on”,I’m currently on season 1 episode 4 and for starters I’m not a band wagon, I genuinely consider it a very good show.

Also got this book called “They Both Die In The End”, the title in itself basically says what the book is about, if any of you are curious. Most of you might be wondering why I decided to read a book where the main character dies in the end, but hear me out. The book itself is about two character who have 24 hours to live and the book in itself is big and I was curious as to what they could possible do in 24 hours. The way I look at it is what would you do if you were in their shoes and I couldn’t come up with an answer, so I decided to read it because it gives me a chance to look at life through a different lens.(I’ll stop fan grilling now XD)

Although I would love to sit here and continue to talk your ear off, I’m sure many of you have better things to do. I don’t really have a decent knowledge when it comes to music, so I’m open to many suggestions so I’ll be leaving my insta if any of you have any recommendations. Think of it like me helping you, help me find a hobby in music. If you’re wondering what kind of music I listen to, I love all genre’s and listen to anything as long as I like it(I don’t discriminate).

This is your favorite blogger jamming out and for most interested in recommending K-pop, my bias is V

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Let’s Keep The Ball Rolling…

After everything so far I think we can say that we’ve reached a checkpoint since we came to UCI and a lot has happened. I can already feel my mental state of mind slowly changing or maybe it’s because I haven’t done my homework, either way it something different. There’s a saying that my parents always told me growing up, “those who fail to learn from their mistakes are domed to repeat it”, and that is why as I go into winter quarter I intend to do better than I did in fall quarter.

Starting with making better use of the facilities, I personally think I learned everywhere on campus faster than other undergrads. The first mistake I made was after I learned about them, I made no attempt to take the initiative to take advantage of it. This quarter, I plan to not just wait till I actually have a reason to make use of my resources and instead familiarize myself earlier on. By doing this, I can be more prepared to tackle a problem and avoid having to scramble my brain on what to do last minute. Second mistake I made was my lack of effort when It came to sorting through my email. In my defense, I get about 50-100 emails every day and thats if I’m lucky enough to check it before it piles up.

Third mistake I made and hope to overcome one day(probably not going to happen) is procrastination, I didn’t necessarily put myself in situations where I had to cram. It was mostly because I could do the work at any time and because I would turn it in a little later it didn’t give me time to revise and reflect on my work because I had to study for the next course work. Since there is only so much excuses can do for you I’m not going to say anymore(even thought their really good ones), excuses just serve as restraints to further improvement.

As of now my current(still pending) goal is to have as little regrets as possible, so that’s why if there is anything that I feel like I missed out on this quarter. Next year I plan to do something even better to make up for it because college can be difficult, so anything that can bring me the slightest joy, I feel like I owe it to myself to enjoy it. That is why I want to experience as much as possible this quarter and the rest of my college years and thrive through it. Right now that classes are online, it does add to the difficulty slightly but its just a repeat of what happened last year and if they can do it so can I.

It’s you’re favorite zot blogger being the marble and sculptor for a better future signing out.