There are two favorite parts in my day:
1. Lunch with my friends after biochem class in the cafeteria, because it's full of laughter.
2. Taking my socks off when I get home, because it's the most relieving thing ever. EVER.
I'm not really homesick anymore. I mean, I would love to go home, but I don't sit around getting depressed about it anymore, which is nice. I think the large part of my adjustment in Boston is over: I finally rearranged my furniture to my satisfaction, I have solid eating buddies, my roommate and I have become closer, and I'm learning to keep myself busy with only school on my plate. If you recall from my undergraduate blog, for awhile (when I was carrying two internships, the bhangra team and a few classes) I had quite a schedule to work with. Here's an example of what I'm doing with my time now - the following is my schedule for a typical Wednesday:
8:00 am - 11:00 am: Study
11 am - 11:30 am: Lunch
11:30 - 2:00 pm: Biochemistry (class)
2:30 ~ 4:00 pm: Biostatistics (class)
4:00 - 5:00 pm: Relax, have a snack (yes, that's written down)
5:00 - 8:00 pm: Study
8:00 - 10:00 pm: Dinner
10:00 - 12:00 am: Study
On other days, after class I fit in an hour and a half of gym time, and two days per week I plan to read from the New England Journal of Medicine, just to keep informed. My goal for maintaining a schedule like this is to have eight hours of studying per day, for a total of 40 hours per week (I will make up for hours I slack off with over the weekend), and four days per week I go to the gym. The schedule pretty much keeps me from 8 am to 12 am each day, and between 12 am and 8 am I need to sleep, shower and have breakfast. Maybe some ice cream too.
I drink coffee now. OK, so I've had two cups in the past week and a half, but it's a budding habit. I was really nervous to get started with this, and kind of got into it from peer pressure. The initial experience made me feel like I was being pressured into drinking. "Everyone does it! The first couple are pretty bad, but afterwards you're like 'Man this is the best!' Add some stuff to it and it'll taste good, promise!" My biggest objection to starting the habit was risking my teeth getting yellow, but only one cup a day shouldn't do much harm, and the occasional Crest Whitestrip Whitening program should keep my teeth white. There is a Dunkin' Donuts not too far from where I live, and a Punjabi couple works there. The first time I went, the woman didn't charge me for my hot chocolate (this was pre-coffee drinking). I went this morning, and her husband gave me an extra cup of coffee, on the house. I really had nothing to do with an extra cup of coffee, so I gave it to the security guard on campus. It's nice having a hook up though; I think that will foster my coffee-drinking habit.
I had my first midterm last week, and it TOTALLY kicked my ass. No joke, I haven't performed this poorly on an exam since I took organic chemistry, and I didn't even care about that class. I started studying this crap like a month in advance, and it amounted to nothing. I met with my professor this morning so I could find out what I was doing wrong. She assured me that for this section, what I've been doing is exactly on target, but I still don't feel convinced. I guess we'll see what happens.
Anyway, the people in my class are complete freaks and in order to get a seat, I need to arrive 30 minutes early. Which means I have to go now. Sigh...
1. Lunch with my friends after biochem class in the cafeteria, because it's full of laughter.
2. Taking my socks off when I get home, because it's the most relieving thing ever. EVER.
I'm not really homesick anymore. I mean, I would love to go home, but I don't sit around getting depressed about it anymore, which is nice. I think the large part of my adjustment in Boston is over: I finally rearranged my furniture to my satisfaction, I have solid eating buddies, my roommate and I have become closer, and I'm learning to keep myself busy with only school on my plate. If you recall from my undergraduate blog, for awhile (when I was carrying two internships, the bhangra team and a few classes) I had quite a schedule to work with. Here's an example of what I'm doing with my time now - the following is my schedule for a typical Wednesday:
8:00 am - 11:00 am: Study
11 am - 11:30 am: Lunch
11:30 - 2:00 pm: Biochemistry (class)
2:30 ~ 4:00 pm: Biostatistics (class)
4:00 - 5:00 pm: Relax, have a snack (yes, that's written down)
5:00 - 8:00 pm: Study
8:00 - 10:00 pm: Dinner
10:00 - 12:00 am: Study
On other days, after class I fit in an hour and a half of gym time, and two days per week I plan to read from the New England Journal of Medicine, just to keep informed. My goal for maintaining a schedule like this is to have eight hours of studying per day, for a total of 40 hours per week (I will make up for hours I slack off with over the weekend), and four days per week I go to the gym. The schedule pretty much keeps me from 8 am to 12 am each day, and between 12 am and 8 am I need to sleep, shower and have breakfast. Maybe some ice cream too.
I drink coffee now. OK, so I've had two cups in the past week and a half, but it's a budding habit. I was really nervous to get started with this, and kind of got into it from peer pressure. The initial experience made me feel like I was being pressured into drinking. "Everyone does it! The first couple are pretty bad, but afterwards you're like 'Man this is the best!' Add some stuff to it and it'll taste good, promise!" My biggest objection to starting the habit was risking my teeth getting yellow, but only one cup a day shouldn't do much harm, and the occasional Crest Whitestrip Whitening program should keep my teeth white. There is a Dunkin' Donuts not too far from where I live, and a Punjabi couple works there. The first time I went, the woman didn't charge me for my hot chocolate (this was pre-coffee drinking). I went this morning, and her husband gave me an extra cup of coffee, on the house. I really had nothing to do with an extra cup of coffee, so I gave it to the security guard on campus. It's nice having a hook up though; I think that will foster my coffee-drinking habit.
I had my first midterm last week, and it TOTALLY kicked my ass. No joke, I haven't performed this poorly on an exam since I took organic chemistry, and I didn't even care about that class. I started studying this crap like a month in advance, and it amounted to nothing. I met with my professor this morning so I could find out what I was doing wrong. She assured me that for this section, what I've been doing is exactly on target, but I still don't feel convinced. I guess we'll see what happens.
Anyway, the people in my class are complete freaks and in order to get a seat, I need to arrive 30 minutes early. Which means I have to go now. Sigh...
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