Last Week - Practicals, Exams, and Finals

Today is my third to last day of school for my first semester in college. What a relief it is going to be and how much my stress levels will decreas within the next three days. As each day passes, a little bit more of my stress is dropped off but it is still at an extremely high level right now. Starting tomorrow, the exams and finals begin. Now most of my classes do not even have finals, maybe just a final assignment, but nothing to fret about. This is definitely not true for my General Anatomy and Physiology class however.
Tomorrow, during a two hour lab slot time, I will be taking a Lab Practical and the Cumulative Final in the same sitting, one right after the other. A Lab Practical deals directly with the Anatomy of the human body and is basically just labeling parts of the body, not too bad, although still alot of information. The Cumulative Final however is a very different story. The Final will consist of information from twenty chapters and will be made up of one hundred questions. The Final definitely has a huge impact on your overall course grade. If you achieve between a fifty percent and a seventy-five percent on the Final your grade will stay the same. If you achieve above a seventy-five percent, your overall course grade will go up by two percent. But if you achieve less than fifty percent on the Final, your overall course grade drops two whole percent.
You may be thinking that most people would have no trouble getting over fifty percent correct on the Final, but in many cases that is simply not true. First of all, there is information on the test that derives from twenty different chapters. If you were to look over all these chapters specifically, I bet you there would be close to if not one thousand vocabulary words and tons of processes. But what is even more torturing and may lead people to fail is the other amount of work that you are putting into the class around the same time.
So I told you about the Lab practical and Cumulative Final that is being held in my case on Wednesday, but that is not all that we will be tested on unfortunately. We also have to take our final Lecture Exam. Personally, I am scheduled to take the Lecture Exam on Thursday. Now it might make a bit more sense on how it is so difficult to do well on the Cumulative. You already have sooo much else to study for!
And if the amount of studying is not enough pressure for you, in order to pass General Anatomy and Physiology and continue on with your program, you need to pass with a C. You have no clue how many students are right on edge of passing or failing, I would say at least two thirds of the class. That is why all these last tests are so critical. With your last Lab and Lecture points, you may be passing, but if you have spent too much time studying for those tests, and not enough on the Cumulative, you might fail anyways.
Overall, it is just a very stressful time right now! All my time outside of class is dedicated to studying but I guess I now know how college finals truly work!

I Believe

I believe in love. I believe in trust. I believe that everything happens for a reason. I believe in faith. I believe time can heal most anything. I believe in hope. I believe in wishing on 11:11. I believe in a better tomorrow. I believe in wishing on fallen eye lashes. I believe in not letting anyone else determine your mood. I believe in loving unconditionally. I believe in justice. I believe in vacations. I believe in marriage. I believe in monogamy. I believe in having lazy days. I believe in sleeping in too late. I believe in family dinners. I believe in the spirit of Christmas. I believe in God. I believe in you. I believe in my brother. I believe in commitment. I believe in responsibility. I bevlive in chivalry. I believe in soulmates. I belive in eating too much. I belive in exercising. I believe in good deeds. I believe in just thinking of you presents. I believe in Dr. Suess. I believe in romance. I believe in soul searching. I believe in making good decisions. I believe in expressing your love. I believe in the truth. I believe in change. I believe in the power of music. I believe in comfy beds. I believe in eaing healthy. I believe in spending the holidays with your family. I believe in your own style. I believe in bargain shopping. I believe in watching and wishing on stars. I believe in living simple. I believe in photographs. I believe in strength. I believe in the stair stepper. I believe in homemade cooking. I believ in dancing in the rain. I believe in accepting. I believe in apologies. I believe in best friends. I believe in myself. I believe in happily ever after.

Occupation?

So trying to decide what you want to be when you grow up is a pretty tough thing and an overall huge decision that will impact the rest of your life. This is why I have a tough time deciding what career path I want to choose and why I am scared that I am making the wrong decision. My plan as of last spring was to attend a Technical College in hopes of becoming a Physical Therapist Assistant. An Associate's Degree sounded great for me because I did not want to spend another six to twelve years in school. This way, I can go to school for a shorter amount of time, still make a significant amount of money, and start earning that money earlier. Not to mention the schooling is significantly cheaper.
I have also always thought about going in to the Psychology field. Especially now that I have been in Intro to Psychology with an AMAZING teacher named Alissa Minten, I have been thinking more seriously about changing my career. The only negative that I see about changing my profession would be having to attend school for four more years, as well as paying a ton more money that I would have to if I stuck with the Physical Therapy Program. I am already set up to begin the Physical Therapy Program next year so therefor I really need to hurry up and decide if I really do want to change.
I don't know how I am going to come to the decision however. I think I am going to do some research online that will hopefully help me determine which occupation I would like better. I might just stick with Physical Therapy until next year and see how much I really do enjoy it, and if I don't I will just transfer to a different school for second semester or the following year and just take more generals. I do not know the plan as of right now which bugs me because I am one of those organized people who always want to know what is going on but i guess that is just life!

A itty bitty break! :)

So it's nothing like Christmas break but I am still extremely pumped! Thanksgiving is definitely one of the best holidays if you are looking for great food. Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, buns, pumpkin pie and lots more. Personally I am a huge fan of the stuffing and mashed potatoes with gravy myself and cannot wait for Thursday. The only bad thing about Thanksgiving day is after the meal when you regret eating as much as you did. But really how many times a year do you get to over indulge in such great and homemade food? Not many, particularly if you are a college student.

Every year for Thanksgiving, my immediate and extended family goes over to my Grandma's house for the Thanksgiving meal. We normally eat around one or two in the afternoon which is different from some people, because many people have two families to visit on that day. Although I only have one Thanksgiving to attend, my cousins get to attend two in one day, pretty lucky. When I was younger, I used to go to their other Thanksgiving with them as well, but as I have gotten older I decided to spend the whole day with my family. That's what holidays are for in my opinion.

This is definitely a needed break for me. School has had me so stressed out lately. Between papers and speeches, quizzes and exams, it's just getting to be a little overwhelming. This weekend I went home but most of the time was spent on homework instead of spending lots of time with my family! At least I'm done with classes on Wednesday at noon-ish so I can get out of here and go see my friends and family from back home. Like I said before, it's not a huge break, but it's keeping me going through these last few days. It is going to be hard to come back after this break, but then I just gotta keep trudging along until CHRISTMAS!!! :)

Colorado - Go Buffs!

So this summer I was able to travel to Boulder, CO to visit a really good friend of mine from high school. We have been friends since I was a sophomore and he was a senior in high school and have always been very close. I was not having the best time at home, had some personal issues gonig on so my mom decided that I needed a little vacation. My mom surprised me with buying me a roundtrip plane ticket to stay a week in Colorado.
This whole plan happened really quickly. The tickets were purchased within the same week that I left for CO which made it a big adventure for me. It was also quite an adventure because I had never travled by myself, not on an airplane, across country at least. My flight was really early. I had to get up at 3:00 a.m. in order to drive 2 hours to the airport and check bags and such. I believe I flew out of Minneapolis around 7:00 a.m., and arriving in Denver at 8:00 a.m. The actual plane ride was two hours, but because of the time difference, it seemed as if I had hardly traveled.
The Denver Airport is absolutely huge but it is very pretty. I had to take a tran from my gate, to the station where people got picked up. As soon as I got out of the elevator, I saw Ben there waiting for me and I could not wait to go see everything! After greeting each other, we drove directly from Denver to Boulder, where he has a house and attends the University of Colorado at Boulder. Colorado is pretty, but first impressions were pretty blah. Even though the drive in was quite boring, the rest of the trip was pretty exciting.
Throughout the week, we ate at many different places that I have never even heard of. one of my favorite places was named Half Fast Subs, it was delicious! That was definitely a big part of the trip, eating. Besides eating, I was able to get a tour of his school, go shopping, hiking, and got to meet most of his friends. It was a very good time and we are hoping to plan another time for me to come out and visit.
Overall, I love traveling and will usually take any chance to explore another area, especially if they are drastic changes or scenery and beautiful places. Other places I have visited include Florida, Texas, New Mexico, New York, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Bahamas. I enjoyed all of these trips and hope to take many more.

So this week has been an incredibly stressful week for my, academically at least. There has just been so much going on, meetings, exams, papers due, i feel like i have no time at all. This weekend unfortunately is not looking up as of right now. I have two quizzes and an assignment due for Intro to Psychology, as well as lots of reading. I need to come up with a formal outline for a speech plus making revisions to our own papers for this class. I also need to study for a lab practical for Anat and Phys next week, which is one of my major stressors.

Anatomy and Physiology really interests me but the actual class is very demanding. It definitely is more advanced than any A&P courses I have ever taken before. I also have troubles with studying because in high school, I never had to study much. I never acquired good study skills which is hurting me now in college. For A&P, you need to obtain a C to pass the class. Lately, with such difficult exams, I have been struggling. Hopefully by dedicating more time to studying and such, I will improve my grade before the final.

All my other classes have been going pretty well. I personally think that I am a pretty strong student and truly do like attending class and working on productive assignments. Hopefully everyone else's classes are going well for them! Have a good rest of the semester and year!

Life Lessons from someone who has been through it for 90 Years

So first of all it must be said that I am very into quotes, poems, different things that sum up or give meaning to life. I like them all, inspirational, motivational, friendship, love, moving on, and all kinds of quotes. Reading such quotes and learning life’s lessons help me get through and realize that everyone goes through similar problems and that’s the test of life. Quotes help me focus on the positive instead of the negative and to re-group my thoughts when I am down or frustrated.

So today I received an email from my mom, sent to her by a friend. The email entailed a list of forty-five life lessons written by a ninety year old women who obviously knows her stuff. I consider these life lessons quotes and I believe in pretty much all of her life lessons. Even though I have obviously not lived as long as this woman, seeing that I am only eighteen years old, I have already started to realize and take into consideration such lessons.

Overall, my point of posting this email is to hopefully help out someone else by sharing these life lessons. These apply to everyone and I’m sure everyone can enjoy or learn from any of these quotes/lessons, I know they work for me.

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone.. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets & wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, and then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

25. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ''In five years, will this matter"?

26. Always choose life.

27. Forgive everyone everything.

28. What other people think of you is none of your business.

29. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.

30. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

31. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

32. Believe in miracles.

33. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

34. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

35. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

36. Your children get only one childhood.

37. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

38. Get outside every day . Miracles are waiting everywhere.

39. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we would grab ours back.

40. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

41. The best is yet to come.

42. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

43. Yield.

44. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio