College Experience.

So this past weekend, I did Husker Hunt, a 24-hour scavenger hunt. I suppose you could call it fun. Definitely interesting and definitely epic. We had a list of about 200 things to find (100 right shoes counted as 1 item), another 100 or so things to take pictures of (you and someone with dreadlocks), and random challenges that included a dance-off, math quizzes at 8 am, and finding a stuffed dog hidden randomly around campus. We also went to the Red-White game wearing all green...

I was awake for about 38 hours straight...NEVER AGAIN.

I will say that I have probably never felt more terrible in my entire life, and I cannot believe I survived. Probably because we were running around literally the entire time, so we didn't really have time to sleep. Or eat. Or anything really. I think if I would have stopped moving long enough, I literally would have passed out. It was also freezing!

But college is about life experiences, right? I mean it was a lot of fun. I had an awesome team and honestly, how many people can say they've done something like that? Not very many.

Team Rapscallions!

Before the Hunt.
We are pumped.

After the Hunt.
We are dead.

We didn't win or anything, but sleep deprivation aside, it was a pretty fun weekend.

Updates.

I've realized I'm really bad about following through on things.

I am a completely unreliable person. It's true. I forget things and lack motivation. It's something I'm working on.

So here are some updates about things I've written about on here and not followed through on:

Resolutions.

Remember when I posted my New Years resolutions on here so I would stay accountable and stick to them? Hahaha. I had to go back to my post to see what they were because I couldn't remember them. Fail.

Actually, I'm not doing too bad. Healthwise...well we have a crapton of chocolate, courtesy of my roommate's boyfriend (Thanks!) but other than that, I've been doing a pretty good job of eating healthy. I've rediscovered my love of pb&j and vegetables (not together). I seriously eat baby carrots like they're potato chips. Running is a different story. I think I've mentioned how my life is absolutely crazy this semester? I kind of forgot what it's like to have free time, meaning I don't have time to run. I have a feeling this whole half-marathon thing is not going to go well...

Spirituality...This one is going pretty ok also. I had to give up on yoga because I'm a poor college student and didn't want to pay $65 for it. But it's been going well otherwise.

Making up for not being in France...this is not happening. I wish I was in France.

The Housing Conundrum.

This is still a conundrum. I opted not to live with my guy friend and entered the lottery for the on-campus apartments with my roomie and a couple other girls. We got wait-listed. We're number 65. The plan is to move off-campus now so hopefully we get that all figured out soon.

It's really stressful not knowing where you're going to live next year.

Coffee.

I haven't drank coffee at all this week and I'm still functioning just fine. No caffeine problem! I have felt like crap the past couple days, but I'm going to chalk that up to lack of sleep and lots of stress. Coffee is being reinstated soon though, I miss it!

So yes, those are all the wonderful things that I've been doing (or not doing).

I'm not slacking off, I promise.

At least I'm not intentionally slacking off. I've just been really spacey lately. I just completely forget about important things that are coming up, like assignments and meetings and such.

Example A: I had this project and paper for one of my classes and I swear to God it was due on Thursday (aka tomorrow). This semester I have a lot of my classes with the same people, so a few of us were talking as we were waiting for the bus after our Monday night class and I find out that it's actually due Tuesday (aka yesterday). Keep in mind that I find this out Monday after my night class and I hadn't even started it yet.

Example B: Yesterday, I was pretty pumped because I didn't have anything going on last night. I remember checking my phone calendar, seeing nothing, and thinking "Wow I actually have a free night? That never happens." Anyway, after supper I was doing homework and all the sudden I was like "Oh efff, do I have a meeting tonight??" Yes, I had a meeting. And yes, I was late. I have a committee meeting for student government stuff EVERY Tuesday at 7 pm. You'd think I'd remember it right?

I blame my dependence on my phone calendar. And my inability to remember things, but mostly I'm going to blame it on the fact that it wasn't in my phone (which is still my fault because I forgot to put it in there...)

I'm a bit notorious for putting everything in my phone calendar: meetings, appointments, work shifts, lunch dates, weekend plans, etc. See if it's not in my phone, I will think I don't have anything going on then. I know I work Fridays for three hours as soon as I'm done with class, but if it's not in my phone, I will be making plans with someone, look at my phone calendar, see nothing on that date and be like, "Oh yeah, Friday after class works perfect" and then about two hours later I will remember that I actually have to work.

The only think I don't put in my phone are classes and assignments. I write those in my planner. Unfortunately, I'm the kind of person who writes things in my planner, closes my planner, throws it in my backpack and forgets about it. Hence, the spaced-off papers and quizzes and such. I'm really trying to get better at actually looking at my planner this semester.

I've figured out that I have to write things in my planner and on my marker board. Towards the end of last semester, I started to have a permanent to-do list on my marker board. It's perfect because it's right by my desk and I see it every day. I can all sticky-note it and it's magnetic so I can put other reminders and stuff on it. For some reason, I haven't been using it this semester but that changed yesterday. Now it's got every class on it and what I need to get done.

Before

Just a side note, I didn't draw any of that.

After
Much better.

I told you I'm still trying to figure this whole college thing out.

Health Insurance.

So today I was going to have some warm fuzzy post about my first day at Kindergarten (which was wonderful, I absolutely love my kindergartners and can't wait to go back), but then I read this article about what exactly will happen if the repeal of Obama's Health Care plan goes through. It's a letter specifically detailing the impact of repealing this act.

I've read several articles about this because it's been in the news a lot lately and the New York Times is my home page. For those of you that live under a rock (or just don't know), the Grand Ol' Party is supporting the repeal of the new health care initiative. It recently just passed in the House and is now going on to the Senate.

More info: House Votes for Repeal of Health Law in Symbolic Act
Senate fight looms after House health care repeal

Or you can just google it and I'm sure you can find a million other articles about it.

Anyway, I like the letter because it says exactly what will happen if the health care plan is repealed, and it's not pretty. Granted it is from the Democrats' House site, but it does a good job spelling everything out. It's got hard numbers backing it up, and you can click on your congressional district to see exactly how it affects you and other people in your area.

It's especially relevant because as a college student, I don't have a full time job. (Read: I don't have my own health insurance). Neither do probably most of you. Under the current plan, I will be able to remain on my parents' health insurance until I turn 26. So will most of you, if you're 25 or younger. If it's repealed, I'm going to be SOL on my own here pretty soon. So will most of you.

There are currently about 32 million uninsured Americans. The current plan provides them with affordable coverage. Repealing the plan would mean that they would continue to be uninsured. I personally do not want to be one of those 32 million Americans without health insurance. Nobody should be without health insurance.

So why do these people need health insurance? Why can't they just buy it themselves? Why do they need the government to provide it?

Well, in a nutshell, heath care is EXPENSIVE. I know that when I need to go to the doctor now, it's a $20 co-pay, and insurance covers the rest. Without insurance, it'd be a hell of a lot more. And then insurance itself is expensive. Honestly, I can't afford to pay for health insurance while I'm working part time and going to school, so until I have a full time job that provides it (which I won't for at least another 3 years or so) I probably won't have it (unless the current plan stays and I can still be on my parents' insurance). And with this whole economic crisis thing, unemployment is high and it's getting harder and harder to find jobs, especially for newbie college grads. So more people are unemployed and don't get job benefits, meaning less people have health insurance...and I think I already alluded to this, but if you're working some minimum wage job just trying to make ends meet, after feeding your family and paying rent you're not gonna have a whole lot left over for things such as, oh I don't know, insurance.

So people who can't afford it don't have health insurance. And they'll probably be fine. But what if their kids get sick? What if they're in a car accident and have to go to the hospital? It's not likely to happen, but if it does, then what? No insurance, you're pretty much screwed.

We're not becoming socialists. The government is stepping up to provide affordable health insurance as an additional option for people who can't afford it. Capitalism is all about competition and the market right? Well by providing government subsidized insurance, it helps keep prices down, and that's better for everyone. There will always be private insurance companies. The government isn't taking over, it's just helping out its citizens.

All three Nebraska representatives voted to repeal the health care plan. Why? Because the United States needs a more "common-sense" approach to health care reform.

What makes more sense than affordable health care for everyone?

Nap Time.

You know how when you were a little kid and you absolutely abhorred (yeah, that's a $5 word right there), anyway, when you absolutely abhorred your parents for making you take naps?

Now in college, naps are seriously the greatest thing ever. Unfortunately, I never have enough time when I'm in my room not doing anything to take a nap. I always have class and work and such. Sigh...

On Mondays and Wednesdays, I have a class on East Campus at 8-8:50 AM and another one at 10:30. I usually get to the Union around 9, have breakfast, and then have a little over an hour or so to kill. Perfect time to take a nap, except the East Campus Union (or probably any campus union) is not the best place for naps. Lots of people and plastic chairs at tables ya know?

Well today I found the perfect place. There's this little corner behind some stairs with two really comfy purple chairs and it's pretty secluded. I figured it'd be great because who would come back here and I can sleep all curled up in chairs. Andy says I'm like a cat or something.

This isn't the best picture, but I had to get it off the website. I took a
better one with my phone, but it won't send picture messages
anymore. It's kind of under the stairs in the left corner.

Anyway, I'm curled up in my corner chair with my iPod in, and some older lady decides to come sit in the other chair and starts talking on her phone in Spanish. Now she's just sitting here reading the newspaper, even though there's a million other places to go do that, and nap time is ruined because I think it's a little awkward to sleep in public places when there's other people around.

So instead of catching up on my serious sleep deprivation, I'm blogging about it.

Oh and she just left, but now I only have like 10 minutes left until I have to go to class.

Photo Credit: http://union.unl.edu/east/

You know it's spring when...

It is absolutely impossible to do homework or anything productive when it's warm outside. Seriously. Why the heck would anyone want to stay cooped up in a dorm room when it's 70 degrees and sunny? There really is no good reason.

We've tried to beat the system by taking homework outside and attempting to do it, but that doesn't really work either. Once you're outside, there is literally zero motivation to do anything productive, and there are so many better things to do. Like sit there and do nothing. It's great.

The only downside to this is that teachers still assign homework in the spring, and especially with finals coming up in a couple weeks, there is a crap ton to get done. So this means that since nothing gets done during the day, everything has to get done sometime at night before class starts in the morning. This is procrastination at it's finest.

Welcome to the season of sand volleyball and late nights. It's absolutely amazing.

SPRING BREAK!

As much as I love college, spring break is the greatest thing ever. It's 50 degrees, sunny, and I don't have to wake up early to go to class.

And I've decided that spring break is meant to be epic, even if you don't go anywhere fun and exciting and far away. And so far, this has been a pretty epic break full of friends and french toast and free pie and Disney movies and Laser Quest and randomness and job interviews and wonderful things like that. And it's only Wednesday =)

And even though I'm not going anywhere super far away, spring break is also meant for road trips. Hence, Kansas City on Friday for three days of awesome adventures!

Then back to Lincoln on Sunday and class on Monday...:sigh:

Elections!

So today at the great University of Nebraska-Lincoln are ASUN elections. I think that stands for Association of Students at the University of Nebraska or something like that, but I'm not entirely sure. Basically, it's just glorified student government.

But apparently, it's kind of a big deal. I guess this is the first year with a big multi-party campaign, and the parties have been going at it since second semester started. You can't go anywhere on campus without seeing something emblazoned with Renew, N Vision, or Fusion (the 3 parties). There's been free t-shirts, keggers (yes, free beer), debates, interviews in the Daily Nebraskan (school newspaper), DailyER Nebrakan (Onion-esque school newspaper), and basically everything else designed to get attention and support from the student body. Like right now, I have a giant "S" in my window because a girl on my floor is running with N Vision and wanted to spell it out in our windows. Am I going to vote for them? Probably not, but hey, it's whatever. "FUSION" is spelled out on the floor above us.

And today, being election day, is crazier than ever. People from the parties are out all over campus in a last ditch effort to bribe people into voting for them. I've got candy from one party, and I've seen all three of them with tables set up outside the union giving out hotdogs, nachos, and donuts and hot chocolate (all free, of course). I think the hot chocolate would be a bit more popular if it wasn't like 40 degrees out, but they get points for trying.

And throughout all of this is the question, does it really even matter? I just found out last night who the current ASUN president is, so how much of an impact do they really have on UNL? I'm gonna vote and I've been telling everyone else to because I think it's important and all that, but it'll be really interesting to see if we ever hear about Renew or Fusion or N Vision or whoever wins after this week is over.

Cheers.

Dining Halls and Sleep Depravity...

These two things are absolutely disastrous when mixed.

Lack of sleep is not good, anybody will tell you that. Some common side affects: spacing out, forgetting things like when you have class or what day it is, calling your friends by the wrong name, inability to walk in straight lines or make coherent sentences, delayed reaction time, and thinking that everything is hilarious. (Note: these are not to be confused with being drunk. That is a whole 'nother problem).

And dining halls are tricky, even when fully awake. You have to navigate through food lines, salad bars, drink stations, tables and chairs, people, backpacks, Christmas trees, horse races, and who knows what else all while carrying a plate (or two) of food. Carrying drinks and silverware further complicates the whole thing, and during heavy traffic times like 11:30ish and 5:30ish, the whole thing is pretty dang near impossible.

Add in the fact that most people there are college kids that I guarantee are running on less than the recommended 8 1/2 to 9 hours of sleep, well...let's just say things get interesting.

I've miraculously managed not to break anything so far this year, but I've dropped a fair share of stuff, tripped over chairs, and run into people. Like last night, I ran into a girl and she spilled milk all over. I felt really bad. Seriously.

Fortunately, most people are not as klutzy and uncoordinated as I am, so for the most part, eating is not a major risk to your well-being. You just gotta be on your toes. And try to go to bed before it starts getting light out again.

Dining Hall Hazard of the Day: Lanyards. I usually have mine in either my back pocket or my hoodie pocket, with the lanyard hanging out. I've almost lost it a couple times from it getting caught on various things and it falling out of my pocket, and I've been closelined a couple times from getting it caught on various things and it not falling out of my pocket.

Scholarship.

Ok, so I got an email from the UNL College of Arts and Sciences about a "word cloud" they're putting together to promote the college, and it asked us to write a description and send it in.

Well, I have a few choice words to describe A&S right now, and not very many of them are appropriate to send in or post on here.

Mainly just because their scholarship application process frustrates me to no end.

UNL is divided up into different colleges based on programs and departments. College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business Administration, College of Engineering, College of Education and Humans Sciences, you get the idea. Everybody is a part of their college, and their college determines how to award upperclass scholarships. Most of them you just have to fill out the application form online, maybe add in a resume if you want to be considered for certain ones, hit 'submit' and then you're done.

Of course I would be in the one that's difficult and complicated. Not only do you have to fill out the application, you are required to submit a resume, a one-page "narrative of your education and professional goals" and two letters of recommendation. TWO. And they base who they award scholarships to on GPA and "leadership outside of the classroom" like UCARE research and stuff like that.

Ok, I'm a FRESHMAN. I have no idea what my "education and professional goals" are. I'm golden on GPA, but leadership outside of the classroom? Come on, freshman don't do anything. I've only been here a couple months. I couldn't do UCARE research at this point even if I wanted to, the best I could do would be to apply for it for next year. And I got two letters of recommendation out of complete luck, because if those two professors would've said no, I would've been SOL because I'm pretty sure my other prof from last semester wouldn't remember me and my other teachers were TAs or grad students. Awesome people, but probably not the best choice for references.

So basically, I have little to no chance of getting any money for next year unless my 4.0 GPA and the fact that I'm in the Honors Program and am an ambassador counts for anything. I'm hoping it does. I also threw in there that I played intramural broomball. Can't hurt right?

Refunds.

So every once in awhile, I get student loan return checks, which basically means that they gave me more in loans than I really needed. This gives me a false sense of having large amounts of money. Because yeah, I have an extra thousand dollars in my account, but no, it's not actually my money. This makes me kind of sad because I'm going to have to save it so I can pay it back. The system seems a bit skewed...

But actually I'm probably going to use it anyways for books and study abroad stuff. It works.

So Tip of the Day: Be financially responsible. Bleh. And take out student loans.

Professors.

University faculty are known for being...well...a bit strange. And I mean, you kind of have to if you want to be a professor. I think it's just some unwritten rule somewhere.

There's the stereotypical professor--old, nerdy, boring, clearly would rather be in a lab somewhere than teaching. Then you have the borderline insane ones--genius, but their mental competency is questionable at best. And the grad students--awesome and nice, but have no idea what they're talking about. Occasionally, you get the amazing ones--interesting and basically know everything there is to know about everything.

Last semester, I had a pretty neutral bunch. This semester there's a bit more variety.

My personal favorite is English Teacher. English teacher is a grad student, but also a borderline insane one. He's got black messy bed-head hair that sticks up all over the place, complete with scraggly goatee, mustache, and soul patch. He's never been on time to class, and I don't think I've learned anything about English so far. He's crazy, all over the place, but dang, he's hilarious. And he knows his stuff. See we've learned a lot, just I'm not sure that it's English-related.

French Professor is pretty entertaining too. He's more the stereotype--old, thick-rimmed glasses, wears jeans with blazers, you know. He's a bit crazy; he'll fire random questions at us and gets really excited about technology, which makes me laugh. He's not French, but when he speaks English, he speaks it with a French accent. He also makes us repeat stuff like a thousand times until we pronounce it right. He's not boring though, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't hate teaching. I like him.

History Professor wins though. History Professor is a genius. He's the only teacher I've had so far in college that can lecture for the entire period without notes or slides. He just talks to us the whole time, and what's amazing, is that he's interesting too. He knows basically everything and is enthusiastic enough to teach it to a bunch of freshmen in a 100-level history class.

I think it's going to be a good semester.

Tip of the Day: I've been told to sign up for classes based on the instructor, not the course number. That's how I've ended up in classes like History 101 and Philosophy 110. So far, it's worked out quite well for me.

Problem Solving.

So we figured out that if things don't work, hit them and it fixes all your problems.

Like last night we were going to sleep and there was this weird buzzing noise.

"What is that?"

"I think it's the light...maybe we should throw something at it..."

WHAP!

My roommate hit the light with a giant stuffed fish. The buzzing stopped. Problem solved.

Starting over?

Ok, so this thing was gonna end after first semester because I figured I pretty much had the hang of things, but after today I've decided I'm gonna extend this out for the whole year.

So this is Operation College, Take Two. New semester, new experiences.

UNL mailed us our schedules at the end of last semester, and you would think that schedules would be pretty straight forward.

If it says "HIST 101...0930-1020AM...MWF...FERG 217" you can safely assume that your History 101 class meets at 9:30, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings in room 217 in Fergusen Hall, right?

Wrong. My History 101 class meets at 9:30, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings in room 112 in Hamilton Hall. See the problem?

I showed up in FERG 217 at about 9:20 this morning with about 5 other people. This was immediately weird because it's a lecture class that should have about 50-100. None of us had received any sort of email or notification that class had been cancelled, and there was nothing posted saying it had been moved. The professor is the the director of the Honors Program, so it's not really like him to just not show up to class, but a couple people left anyways. Simple solution right? Just double-check Blackboard and your email to make sure you didn't miss it.

Weirdly, none of had our computers or anything to check the internet on. The kid with a Blackberry even forgot his phone. So we wander around until we find a computer. Nothing anywhere about class being changed. Finally, we find out that they had changed it on the online class schedule without telling anyone. WHAT THE HECK?!?

So by the time we figure out we have to go to Hamilton 112, it's about 9:50. The three of us walk into class just in time for it to get over. Skipping class on the first day is not the best idea, by the way. Everybody else made it to the right place except us, and I have no idea how that happened.

But at least we will be there Wednesday!

Tip of the Day: Always make sure you have access to the internet. ALWAYS. And double-check things.

Extra Credit.

So I vaguely remember some of my high school teachers refusing to give us extra credit because "they don't give extra credit in college."

I got a 68% on my biology lab final. It dropped my overall grade to 104%.

Extra credit is alive and well in college, my friends. Alive and well.

Tip of the Day: If extra credit is ever offered, DO IT. It will probably help you a lot.

But since the semester is over and this is slightly irrelevant now, a better tip of the day would be to enjoy the month or so off!

Banksies.

So the highlight of my semester was probably selling all my textbooks back yesterday.

I pretty much made bank, except I only got $93 for my brand new biology book that cost me $150. Oh well. I got $155. Not bad.

Now I have money so I can start Christmas shopping!

I am the definition of a "poor college kid." I should get a job.

Les jeux sont fait.

The games are done. That's a really good book we read in French last year, but that's not what I'm talking about.

I'm done with class. Done with finals. Done with my first semester of college.

Well technically, I still have a paper to turn in tomorrow, but I'm basically done with that too.

It's kind of amazing.

I may or may not have done terribly on my bio lab final, but I had a 112% before the test so I'm hoping that will offset any damage caused by lack of studying. Otherwise, I survived and I think I'll have a 4.0. Or at least a 3.9 something.

But as a former student teacher and college graduate said, all you really need is a 3.5 and that can easily be accomplished with an A- average.

So I'm gonna revise a paper today, and then chill for the next month =)

More AHHHH!

I'm officially the lamest person ever because I am actually going to stay in on a Saturday night and write a paper. And that doesn't bother me.

It's not that I want to write a paper tonight, it just needs to get done today so I have time to revise it and make it not crappy by Wednesday, and so I can spend tomorrow studying for my finals on Monday and Tuesday.

I've been working on this stupid thing for literally like three days and it's just not happening. I've almost got 6 pages done, and it's supposed to be in the 15 page range. I was going to try to shoot for around 12, but I think I will take 10 at this point since there isn't really a minimum, just a maximum page limit of 15.

It's a damn good paper though, and I'm going to be pissed if it doesn't get an A.

Now I'm going to actually try to go be productive and hack away at this thing some more. Happy Studying!

AHHHH!

So as of Wednesday, I said I took about 12 hours off from doing anything productive, and I was fine.

I'm not fine.

Finals always freak me out, and I just realized yesterday that I only have 3 days left until finals.

I'm kind of somewhere between freak-out mode and procrastinate-some-more mode. I freak out for a bit until I can't anymore and then I procrastinate. Probably not the best strategy.

And actually, I'm more worried about getting my 15 page paper done than studying for finals, but I have 5 pages done and I have until Wednesday.

Gotta love college.

Tip of the Day: Get enough sleep. I went to bed around 3 am. Woke up at 8:30, shut my alarm off, and went back to sleep. Woke up at 9:27.

I have class at 9:30.

How to Survive Dead Week

Today, the unthinkable happened.

WE GOT A SECOND SNOW DAY.

That happens like never.

Dead Week is much more enjoyable if you don't have to go to school.

But since that isn't the case most often, I've been coming up with a survival strategy so I don't go crazy.

First off, get some good music. Preferably nothing produced in this decade, but whatever floats your boat. Personally, I don't think you can go wrong with the 80s-R.E.M., The Police, Journey, Hall&Oates, Elton John, Queen, Styx, Foreigner, stuff like that. The 90s are also fantastic, but none of that N*Sync crap. Goo Goo Dolls, Third Eye Blind, Counting Crows, Better Than Ezra, Ben Folds, more R.E.M, Barenaked Ladies. And then of course The Beatles. You can't go wrong with The Beatles.

Second, don't sit at a desk and try to do homework. It doesn't work. Find a comfy couch somewhere, bring your books and your iPod and be productive. Also if you have someone to study with, that helps.

And third, don't freak out. Yeah there's a crap ton of stuff to get done, but take a break to watch a movie with your friends or go play in the snow. Your not going to lose anything by taking an hour or so off. I took about 12 hours off yesterday, and I'm fine =)