anahorvath.com

Tag: college

  • Review of the First Week!

    first week

    So this week was the first week back at school. That was an interesting time, I must say. This week, I just wanted to share my experiences with my first week back and this weird time navigating a worldwide pandemic and college classes.

    Classes started on Monday, August 24th, and this first day of school was not like past first days. I didn’t try to dress cute or make myself look presentable which was honestly refreshing but also kind of disappointing. It made the day feel really different. Monday was a horribly busy day. I had five classes, cell biology, anatomy, a business class regarding the legal and ethical issues of business, macroeconomics, and my pre-thesis class. I basically sat at my table for five hours straight after I had breakfast and cleaned up and that was the worst decision of my life. After those five hours of classes and exploring the class pages and syllabi, I had lunch, and then it was time for more class work. I ended my extreme first day of classes with a pre-thesis meeting and then after that hour I crashed. My sister and I ordered Noodles and Company for dinner that night as a celebratory dinner and as a way of saying, “Yay we did it! We survived the first day of classes!” It was a good dinner and if you’ve never had caulifloodles, I highly recommend you look them up and then try them. 🙂

    My second day of classes was a breeze. I had my online session for cell bio lab and then online lab for my anatomy class. For my cell bio lab we have an online portion and an in-person portion. I alternate when I meet in person every other week. When I meet in-person, I’m required to wear a face mask in addition to a mask which seems a bit excessive, but I understand the precaution, so I will do what I can to keep myself and others safe! For my anatomy class, we have a virtual dissection software that we use to understand and see all of the structures we need to look at. I was hesitant about an online anatomy course at first but I actually love the professor that does our lectures and the software we use for virtual dissection is actually pretty cool. That was basically all I had Tuesday, so I had a chance to do some reading for my econ class and was done with my work around 2 pm.

    Wednesday, I had my cell bio, anatomy, business, and econ classes. It was a pretty mild day but wowza four classes in one day is a lot of work. I can handle it, but it’s just a lot of information to take in within a few hours. By Wednesday, I discovered that I really liked my business class. It has been very different from any other class I’ve taken so far and I really like how my professors are treating the course as a way of obtaining life skills as opposed to an actual academic course. Yes, I still get graded for the work I do, and there are still assignments and quizzes, but the emphasis is more on building the skills needed to run a business.

    Thursday, the only true class I was the first-year honors seminar recitation that I teach. It was exciting to meet my students in person. It was just a very strange environment though. The tables were all so spread apart and it was odd communicating with people and trying to be enthusiastic and share my excitement for the honors program with a mask on. It was just a bit strange.

    And then the last day of the school week, Friday!! Friday was another big day of many classes, those classes being cell bio, anatomy, my business class, and econ recitation. My econ recitation was an in-person class and that was interesting. For a class that was supposed to have thirty students in it, we were put in a decently sized lecture hall. All of the rows had tape blocking off all seats except one to enforce social distancing. Obviously we were required to wear masks. My TA basically just talked about how the semester is going to run but I found it most interesting that my TA found it strange for us to be meeting in-person. Our lectures for that course are asynchronous so it seems a bit weird for us to have in-person recitations, but I’m just going to go with the flow and see what happens.

    It was a strange first week of classes but it was also good in many ways. It was filled with a lot of mask wearing and hand washing but it was also filled with fun and I was especially happy to see a bunch of my friends again. Hopefully people make good and smart decisions and allow us to stay on campus until Thanksgiving break. Stay healthy, stay safe, and I’ll see you next Sunday!

  • College Life and COVID-19

    covid-19
    Picture courtesy of the Center for Disease Control

    So this past week has been one HECK of a week, let me say that. College life and COVID-19 are quite the combination. I’m now on spring break (thank goodness) but this past week at school, it was very interesting to see how coronavirus (COVID-19) developed and how it has affected everything.

    It has been incredible to watch the response to this novel virus strain from the local, state, national, and even international levels. A couple of weeks ago, we received emails here at CSU introducing this current nightmare of a coronavirus. We were told that my university was monitoring the situation and would be updated as new information came up. And that new information came QUICK.

    First the virus hit the U.S. and after that, boom. Schools in Washington were deciding to shift to online platforms, and before I knew it, CSU decided to do the same. On Wednesday this past week, our president and executive team made the decision to extend our spring break to March 24th, with classes starting up ONLINE beginning March 25th. We will be in online classes at least until April 10th and as the virus continues to do its thing, my school may or may not continue to use online platforms for learning. We shall see.

    On Wednesday, it was very interesting to see the reactions of my fellow students. Some were thrilled classes were moving online and ideas of slacking off and screwing around clearly filled their heads. Others, myself included were concerned. What’s going to happen to my labs? Are all exams online now? Are my exams still going to happen that were scheduled upon return from spring break prior to the COVID-19 pandemic? There are just so many questions we have. Some have answers, but some are still just up in the air.

    Now. I keep talking about Wednesday, and now I would like to have a little story time. Wednesday, I was supposed to have an in-person exam for my physiology class, which has become my favorite class this semester without a doubt. I was headed to my accounting class at noon when I received an email that my exam, which was supposed to be at 5 on Wednesday night, was moved to be online and I had five hours to schedule an online exam time. It was a mess and I have absolutely hated working with ProctorU to handle online exams. Read my posts about summer classes to learn more about those experiences. Haha.

    And as I now add to this post on Sunday, my university has decided to shut down for the rest of the semester, with all classes finishing online. This will be interesting. Oh boy, will this test the discipline and self-control and focus of students across the country.

    More than anything, I want everyone to stay healthy and smart out there. To those of you reading this, please please please take care of yourselves and your family. Please make smart decisions and educate yourself on the current situation. Now, more than ever we need to make educated and well-thought out decisions to keep each of us safe and healthy to the best of our abilities. CO-VID 19 is a fascinating, but clearly contagious and dangerous virus to many people so we need to work together and get through this. I really recommend checking out the CDC page on the virus. I’ll link it for your convenience: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html

    Have a good week and stay healthy out there. See you next Sunday!

  • I Need to Rant: Part 2

    rant
    Photo by Terry Vlisidis on Unsplash

    Hi, and welcome back to my TED Talk that no one asked for. I need to rant again. I enjoyed it the first time and I know I’m going to enjoy it now. We’re going to ditch the Otavalo post I originally had planned for today… So if that was what you were looking for, I’m genuinely sorry. That post will go up next Sunday for sure. Something is really frustrating me currently. I just wanna get it off my chest and see if anyone out there can help me out. So I got a new suite mate this semester and she seems nice. There are a couple of things that I need to rant about though, not necessarily about her but about my current living situation and a struggle of mine…

    One of my issues, she has a cat and I’m allergic. Not deathly allergic, but I’m allergic enough to the point that their hair being in the area makes my immune system go all haywire. I touch a cat and my body is like “Ana, what the heck are you doing?!?” She’s allowed to have the cat in the room because it’s considered an ESA, or emotional support animal. I don’t really care if it’s an “emotional support” animal, to be quite honest. ESA or not, I’m still allergic to it. I understand the need for them and I get how they can be helpful but who in their right mind allowed that to happen?

    I’ve never seen or made contact with the cat, but the fact that one lives next door to me and I share a bathroom with the room that the cat is in, makes me nervous. I hope if it comes to someone moving, it’s not me. I have lived in the hall I’m currently living in for the past year and a half now and in my specific room for the past semester, so I feel that I should get a bit more say. Let’s just say that I’m very excited to be getting my own apartment next year.

    My second issue is that I KEEP GETTING LOCKED OUT OF MY BATHROOM. Here’s where my true rant begins. It doesn’t matter how many texts I send, it keeps happening. With my previous suite mate, that was an issue too. She kept forgetting to unlock the door on my side so I couldn’t use our bathroom. For a bit of insight, the bathrooms in the suite style room can lock from both sides. I can lock it from my room, preventing my suite mate from coming into my room. I can also lock the bathroom doors while I’m taking care of business so no one comes into the bathroom. Hopefully that’s understandable. Last semester, I was locked out of my bathroom a total of five times. Just after our second week of classes this semester, I’ve already been locked out twice. I’m. Over. It.

    I get that it’s just a door handle and that maybe I shouldn’t be getting as worked up as I am, but I’m fed up. It happened way too many times last semester and I just hate having to send that awkward message, “Hey, could you unlock the bathroom door please? I can’t get in from my side…”. A girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do though…It makes me feel so pathetic! But also, how hard is it to remember to unlock the door?! I haven’t forgotten a single time. And I’m true to my word when I say that. I have never forgotten, partially because I believe it isn’t that difficult. People can be forgetful. I’m forgiving of many things but I’m starting to feel a lot less forgiving and patient. Ugh.

    Imagine really needing to use the bathroom after a class and rushing back to your room, only for your bathroom door to be locked and no suite mate in sight to unlock it. I’ve been there. Imagine getting all ready to go shower after a good workout at the gym, again to be turned away by a locked bathroom door and no suite mate to respond and open it. I’ve been there. The amount of times I’ve now had to just go use the bathroom on the main floor has been ridiculous. This issue exists with both the past and present suite mates.

    I’ve been wanting to put up little sticky notes on both doors exiting the bathroom that say something like “Don’t forget to unlock the door!” just to prevent any locking-out, but I feel like that’s too passive-aggressive. If anyone has any suggestions for my situation, please let me know. I would gladly appreciate it and take any suggestions into consideration.

    So on that note, I’d just like to leave you all with this advice: Be aware. Be aware of your surroundings, those around you, and just everything in the world. You’ll be better off that way. Thanks for letting me rant this week also. 🙂

    See you next Sunday, back to our regularly scheduled programming with continued stories of my study abroad in Ecuador. And I promise I won’t post another spontaneous rant like this for a while. Have a good week everyone.

  • Hello, Quito

    Hola y bienvenidos a mi blog! Hoy, vamos a hablar de…I’m just kidding haha. I don’t think I could do an entire post in Spanish. I could, maybe on a very basic level, but I’m not sure that you’re all here for that kind of blog. Anyway! This week I’m going to be talking about the first city we stayed in during my study abroad from January 2nd to the 15th. Quito! The capital of Ecuador!

    If you haven’t read my post on all of my journals summing up my Ecuador trip, I recommend maybe doing that before you read this post, just so you get a general idea of everything I did. Or if that’s all you want to read about my time in Ecuador, you can read that too, by clicking HERE! 🙂 You won’t be totally lost if you don’t though. On with the show!

    What a wonderful way to start off my trip to Ecuador. We arrived super late on the 2nd after an entire day of traveling. My first time through customs wasn’t as scary as I honestly imagined it being. The man just asked how long I will stay, and I couldn’t remember how to say fourteen days in Spanish, so I told him “Two weeks (dos semanas)!” and called that good. My first stamp is looking pretty cute in my passport. 🙂

    Quito

    When we arrived at the Holiday Inn Express we stayed at downtown, my roommates and I practically all crashed. That may or may not be a theme of mine for this trip, haha. The next morning, January 3rd, we had an early breakfast at our hotel and then it was off to the Fundacion Cristo Misionero Orante, which is a school run by a group of nuns. The place was entirely self-sustaining, so all of the food they needed was right there for them. In addition to that, they also double as a safe place and home for children who come from abusive homes. At Fundacion Cristo Misionero Orante, we helped weed in the areas where farming happened so that they could plant more vegetables and herbs too. We also had the opportunity to teach English to the kids who were in class at the time. Another student and I had the opportunity to go and teach English toward the end of our time at the school, and let me tell you, it was not easy. One of the things I learned during this part of the trip is that I really wish I had taken more opportunities to learn Spanish in high school. I learned quite a bit, but what I knew still wasn’t enough. The kids most definitely wanted to communicate and I wanted to communicate back, but it was difficult. Sometimes, I felt like a fool, if I’m being completely honest. In the end though, I was more focused on just being able to make the kids smile and enjoy their company overall.

    Quito

    After about three hours of work at the school, we went back to downtown Quito for lunch at this super cute place, Patio Andaluz. Our first of many wonderful meals happened at this place. My addiction to blackberry juice also began this day, haha.

    Quito

    With full stomachs, our tour of Quito then began. We saw the president’s estate, the main plaza, and many beautiful, tight streets lined with brightly colored buildings that were both homes and shops. Locals walked around will platters filled with meringue treats which looked delicious and every chance they had, they wanted to sell us something. We also visited a beautiful cathedral during our tour of Quito. With the help of our wonderful guide, we were allowed into the church and even got to climb up to the roof and see a wonderful city view. I can now say that I’ve been on top of a church before. Literally, the very top. After this, we visited another spot where we could see all of Quito. It was beautiful and also really cool to look out and see how the building climbed up the Andes Mountains and then suddenly stopped.

    Our first busy day in Quito concluded with a wonderful dinner at this place not too far from the hotel called Restaurante Achiote. The food was great, yet again, although I wasn’t a huge fan of the dessert which was figs dipped in black sugar and cheese. It was different, that’s for sure. A lot of the people on my trip really wanted to go out that night, so we went to this area deemed “Gringoland” and found a bar. I got some good old bottled water while everyone else drank. One of the things I learned to be extremely grateful for that night was the no smoking policy that a lot of places have in the United States. There was a man smoking behind me and let me just say my asthma wasn’t too pleased with that. My first experience in a bar was an interesting one, that’s for sure.

    Quito

    The next day in Quito, we were back at Fundacion Cristo Misionero Orante. We helped paint the wall outside the school to cover up the graffiti and also did some more weeding. If I can’t put that I’m a professional weeder on my resume at this point, I’m going to be very disappointed. Just kidding. It was REALLY hot that day and I am so glad that I brought some water, sunscreen, and a hat with me that day.

    Quito

    After our time at the school again, we headed to Hacienda Herlinda for lunch. The food was fantastic, again and after that we visited El Mitad del Mundo, or the middle of the world. Here I got to experience the wackiness that is the equator and now I can proudly say that I’ve been in both hemispheres at once! Fun times. With another busy day practically over, it was back to the hotel. We later had dinner (at a place that I can’t remember and appear to not have written about in my notes) and then went and got brownies at this place called Sweets and Coffee, which to me, seems like the Starbucks of Ecuador. It was a cute little place! Everyone wanted to go out again that night, but I was getting a headache, so I called it a night.

    And just like that, our time in Quito was over and we were onto our next city, the one I was most excited for, Otavalo. Save the drama for your llama and I’ll see you all next Sunday!

  • Reflecting on 2019

    reflecting on 2019
    Photo by Chinh Le Duc on Unsplash

    This year was quite the year. A lot happened. A lot always happens, but I feel like this year was especially good and also especially sad and hard. With that said, I’m reflecting on 2019 and looking back on the year I had.

    January: My family and I rang in the new year from our couch and I got to play a lot of tennis with my dad, sister, and friends that we’ve made at the Ranch Country Club. I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to play at such a nice facility and have courts year round to play at. Does anyone remember my shrimp project for ecology last school year? That happened in late January too. 🙂

    February: I went to a dinner to celebrate my academic achievements for my freshman year. We also celebrated my mom’s birthday. Marty was starting to get pretty sick around this time but he was still a happy, wonderful dog.

    March: School was definitely in full swing again and I got to celebrate my sister’s 18th birthday. Her birthday was during the week, so I didn’t get to be home for it, but we celebrated over the weekend. We also had those two big bomb cyclones in March. I got school off twice so of course I remember that! 🙂 My aunt also came to visit during spring break and we had a great time at the Denver Art Museum (at least outside it), touring Regis, and eating at BurgerFi.

    April: Boo turned eight in April and I got to watch Allyson at a couple of her high school tennis matches. She was 1 singles so of course I had to be there to be her cheerleader! Allyson also had her senior prom and I had so much fun helping her get ready. She looked beautiful. 🙂

    May: Bobo turned two and I finished out my first year of college. Allyson also graduated from high school and my aunt and uncle came to spend some time with us around then. We had a wonderful party for her at the Ranch and it was so good to be around so many friends and family members to celebrate her. We also sent Allyson to Hawaii then!

    June: Allyson started working at Build-A-Bear, so I was one proud sister then, haha. We also spent a lot of time at the pool and on the tennis court for leagues, tournaments, and just some good family fun. My grandma also flew back to Georgia in June and my summer classes were in full swing. Woohoooo.

    July: Boo rang in July with his big dental surgery. He needed a bunch of teeth extracted so that was his way to celebrate our nation’s independence. In July, I played a lot more tennis and explored Colorado with my family. We went to The Inventing Room, saved a bunny from our window well, and Allyson and I won a couple of tournaments. I also visited one of my best friends from school in California. We had a lot of fun. 🙂

    August: We celebrated my dad and aunt’s birthday as well as Marty’s tenth birthday and then shortly after Marty’s birthday, he passed away. 🙁 I still miss him so much. If I’m being totally honest, I’ve struggled more than I thought I would with his loss. Beside that, I started my sophomore year of school and we also made a trip to Farmington to see my grandpa, aunt, and uncle before school started. My family and I also went and saw Anastasia in August and it was a beautiful show.

    September: My dad and mom went to New Mexico for my dad’s high school reunion and while that was happening, I was in full study mode already. Organic chemistry and physics were an intense combo! Despite our distance, we also celebrated my uncle’s birthday. 🙂

    October: I turned 20! We also celebrated my grandma’s birthday. My family and I went to Phil Collins’ concert when he was in town and I also competed in the Miss Colorado USA pageant.

    November: My family and I went to the Denver Art Museum for a project Allyson needed to work on. Early in November, my grandpa passed away too. 🙁 It was tough and still is tough to deal with his death. Over Thanksgiving break, we went to New Mexico for Thanksgiving at my great aunt’s house and we also celebrated my grandpa’s life at his memorial service. My sister and I had the honor of speaking at it. We also visited the Salmon Ruins while in New Mexico. This year, one of the things that I truly took to heart is that family is the most important thing to me. I don’t know who I would be or where I would be without them.

    December: The last few days of 2019. We spent Christmas at home this year and it was different, but it was good. We had my great aunt’s famous cheesy potatoes on Christmas morning and that was fun. Different, but fun. We also went to Gaylord, the new hotel/resort out by DIA and saw their ice display. It was really cool. I’ve enjoyed a lot of time with family while I’ve been home since winter break started and I finished strong with my sophomore season at CSU.

    So that was my year! I know there are still a couple of days, but I felt like reflecting on 2019 now was a good idea. This year sucked in a lot of ways but it was also an incredible year. There will always be good and there will also always be bad. With every new year, I just remember that and see how I can improve my responses and attitude toward new challenges, obstacles, successes, and downfalls. I hope these last few days, you all spend some time reflecting on 2019 and enjoying the last days of this decade. I’m looking forward to 2020!

    I won’t be posting for the next two weeks due to a study abroad I’m doing in Ecuador, so I’ll see you all in the new year when I get back. Have a great week and again, Happy New Year!

  • I Survived This Semester

    I survived this semester
    Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

    Oh. My. Goodness. I don’t know how I did it, but I did it. This semester is over and I actually did decent. I survived this semester.

    There was one class (my evolution class) which was the one class I didn’t do as well as I had hoped to, but I still did decent enough. My organic chemistry class was my favorite by far, and I did extremely well on the final and with the help of my professor, I got the grade I was shooting for the entire semester. 🙂 My physics final was HARD, but I snuck by with the grade I wanted in that class too so I was proud of myself for that. And then for my honors seminar, I never had any concerns for that class, it was always just a lot of busy work.

    And you might notice that I never distinctly pointed out any grades in that last little bit of this post. To be quite honest, I hate sharing my grades with others. My grades are my business and in college I’ve learned that people either are like me and prefer not to share their grades, or they share their grades and make it all about a competition. There’s no need to make comparisons and compete to see who’s doing the best. We all have our own plans and goals and we all need to stick to those plans and goals.

    Sorry for the little tangent haha. Anyway! The past two weeks have honestly been so intense. I studied so much and for organic chemistry, I don’t think I’ve ever been as dedicated in my entire life. I also don’t think I’ve truly ever felt as interested and passionate about something in my life. And so now this is going down in writing… If dental school doesn’t work out for me, I think I might pursue organic chemistry as a career. Whether that means a masters or PhD in it, I don’t know, but I love organic chemistry. What a nerd I am!

    I’m honestly still in shock and have no clue how I did it. I legitimately was worried that I would burn out, considering how many credit hours I took this past summer. But I didn’t! I pushed through and I survived this semester. 🙂 I hope those of you with finals had a decent finish and that you’re all enjoying winter break now, because I sure know I am! Have a great week, Merry Christmas, and I’ll see you all next Sunday.

  • Take Care of Yourself

    take care of yourself
    Photo by Tim Goedhart on Unsplash

    Finals week is upon us everyone. It is finally here. Thank. Goodness. Finals can be an extremely stressful time for some people. For those of you who got lucky and only have one final this semester, I WISH I was in your shoes. That sounds like such a pleasant finals week. I’ve got three. And I have some friends that have four or five finals! During this stressful time of the school year, it’s more important than ever to take care of yourself.

    For those of you that go to school with me or live with me or even just talk with me every once in a while, you are more than aware of the fact that I absolutely despise my intro to evolution professor. He’s a creep. The final for that class is tomorrow and I’m THRILLED to be done with that class and never see that man ever again. With that mini celebration aside, I’ve also got two tougher finals, one for physics and another for organic chemistry.

    I’ve a pretty dedicated student and already spend a lot of time studying and doing homework because I want to do well and I want to truly make sure I understand the content of the class I’m studying for. While I do go hard on the studying, I also think it’s SO important to take care of yourself and give your body and mind a break.

    Whether you’re just going for a walk, doing some yoga, going to the gym, or taking some time to play a sport, I recommend getting up and moving around. Your body gets tired from sitting and studying and most people develop some sort of weird posture or their spine gets out of alignment from sitting at a desk and studying all day. I’ve had it so I know. Getting your heart rate up and moving helps clear your head too. You make yourself happier and your mind tends to focus on the task at hand as opposed to studying, so you can stress less.

    Other than physical activity, I also try to get more sleep than I typically do around finals week. Most people would say, “But Ana, that’s time to study!” I get that, but I also recognize that I’m putting my mind through a lot throughout the day and the stress I already have isn’t great for my body. To prevent myself from getting sick and give my brain the best break it can possibly have, I get at least an extra hour of sleep. I try to stick to the same wake-up time, but I go to bed earlier, and so far, last year, I know that helped me feel much more productive in the mornings, so we’re going to stick to that this year too.

    It’s also SO important to stay hydrated and keep your body fueled during finals week. I have some friends that say “I don’t have time to eat. That takes away from my study time.” And to that I say, you’re a fool and your body is actually going to crash on you. Take care of yourself! It’s not that hard to grab a snack if lunch takes up too much of your time. At least that’s something in your body!! Your body NEEDS energy and your brain especially does. You also need water to keep your body functioning properly and prevent yourself from getting headaches related to being hungry or dehydration. Without food, you become cranky and discombobulated anyway, so what good are you doing for yourself if you’re not eating?

    So to all my fellow college kiddos out there, please take care of yourself. Please shower, please eat, and please get some sleep. You’re more prepared than you think if you’ve been studying hard and working hard all semester, so you can dedicate just a little bit more time to yourself. Of course I still want you to study hard and give it your all, but take some more time for you. 🙂 Have a good week.

  • A Tale of A MacBook: My Struggles with Technology

    MacBook
    Photo by Dmitry Chernyshov on Unsplash

    It can be a MacBook or PC, it doesn’t matter what it is. I run into some form of trouble with it at some point. So there’s a lot of really tech-savvy people out there and surprise, surprise, I’m actually not one of them. Despite the fact that I’ve helped a professional organization manage and maintain their website and the fact that I also have been running my own website and blog for five-is years now, I SUCK at technology and truly have zero patience for it.

    My MacBook, which has been a handy-dandy little friend of mine since I started college just recently started having issues. Sad thing is, it’s only two years old. The battery has been refusing to hold charge. You might be asking yourself, “Then Ana, how are you writing this blog?” I’ve gone back to my old ways… my iPad.

    Within the past two weeks, I’ve been on the phone with Apple Support, who has been incredible and extremely supportive by the way, for a total of five hours, trying different resets as well as diagnostic and maintenance repairs. I also took my laptop into Genius Bar and we were able to get my laptop to hold charge when plugged in. That was the happiest day of the past couple of weeks for me. And then literally right when I got back to school and had used my laptop for a couple of hours, it needed charging, since it had only gotten up to around 30% when we were cleared to leave the Apple Store. And guess what, IT REFUSES TO CHARGE AGAIN.

    I have never been so stressed out or frustrated by a device so much in my life. I’ve taken incredibly good care of my MacBook and I love it so so so much and I feel so upset that it’s decided to jump into the deep end on me like this. I’m taking it into Apple again and hopefully we can get the issue resolved because let me tell you, college is ROUGH without a laptop, wowza!

    I hope you all have a good week and I wish you all the best with all of your technology. And if anyone has any idea what might be going on with my laptop that refuses to hold charge when plugged in, please let me know. See you all next weekend and Happy Thanksgiving!

  • I Need to Rant

    rant

    Alright. I have an issue. This typically isn’t the place I would go to rant, but on Thursday, some crap happened in my physics recitation and I am officially over it. There are these two people in that class, who I will not name, and all they ever do is leech off of other people for answers and work. THAT DOESN’T DO ANYTHING FOR YOU.

    If you don’t understand the material of a class, ask for help. I’m the type of person who is more than willing to help someone understand something if they just ask. I will walk you through something, step by step if you need it. I will briefly explain something to you if that’s all you need.

    But these two girls. Oh. My. Goodness. Every single time they wiggle their way into my group it drives me up a wall. “What did you get for the answer?” “What equation are you using?” “What are the units on that?” They literally just ASK for the answers. I never see either of these two ever do any work and all they do is sit there and expect the rest of us to get them through the class. UGHHHHH. And the one that sits next to me when she actually comes to class always awkwardly leans over to see my paper and at that point I just ask if she needs anything and she’s like, “Um, so what are we doing?” PHYSICS, DUH!

    I truly feel bad for these two every time they’re in my group. I wish that they would just put in the hard work to actually be able to understand what’s going on. I wish that they would get off their lazy bums and figure out the class. You can only go so far in life leaning on others to help you get through school and life in general too. If you’re struggling with something, JUST ASK. There’s absolutely no need to fake that you understand something when you clearly don’t. You get on the nerves of the people around you and you’re not benefiting yourself by using others.

    I hope you all keep that in mind and remember that hard work does pay off. It helps you understand things better, it helps you feel better about yourself, and it also prevents others from wanting to go insane. Thank you for coming to my TedTalk. Also let me know if you don’t mind the occasional rant or two. Honestly, writing this has made me feel a lot less annoyed and irritated. A rant or two every once in a while might be kinda fun and not that bad of an idea.

    Have a good week everyone. See you next Sunday.

  • Back to School! Getting Ready for Year 2 at CSU

    This past Monday, I moved back in at Colorado State University. Classes don’t start for another week but I was granted early move-in by the honors program (thank youuuu) so I could be all settled in in time for me to take part of the peer mentor trainings for freshman seminars that CSU requires through the honors program. Oooooh. Basically, I’m an instructor for a freshman seminar recitation course. Fun! I get to provide a bunch of resources to freshmen in the honors program and help make their transition to college as smooth as possible. I’m supposed to have a partner, but I’m not going to lie, he’s been a lousy one so far so we’ll see how that goes!

    Monday was a fun day. Let me tell ya. Monday = move in. I said all my goodbyes to my dad, Marty, Boo, and Bobo and then was in Fort Collins a little after noon. That’s when the unpacking began. My mom and sister made a second trip back to my house to get the rest of my stuff and then all of the magic in my new room truly happened. I’ll have to post a picture of it some time! The unpacking and sorting and decorating really wasn’t complete until around 6 o’clock and my mom, sister, and I had all skipped out on lunch so we were all pretty drained. When finished with my room, we went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner where I ate WAY too much (but also needed it so we’re fine). After dinner, I said goodbye to my mom and sister and was back in my hall. Bed time followed shortly after. I was pooped!

    CSU

    Tuesday was a big training day for the peer mentor program. There were so many ice breakers and a lot of good information to help us all be the most successful and helpful instructors to our freshmen. Wednesday was the day I actually got to meet my freshmen and I’m so pleased with the group I got. They seem to be a wonderful group of very smart young individuals and I look forward to seeing them become more confident and comfortable with college. 🙂 I don’t know if many other honors programs run things the way that CSU’s honors program does, but I’m blown away by the attention and support that each student receives.

    Thursday was my first day to really just do nothing which was kind of nice but also really weird. This was the day that my sister, Allyson, was moving in at Regis University and also the day that most people were moving in on campus here at CSU. It was also Marty’s tenth birthday. I’m still celebrating and I’m still so thankful that my sweet bubba has been such a wonderful part of my life. Anyway…

    Thursday morning, not much happened. In the evening though, the big carnival on campus happened! Despite some threatening clouds and the occasional bit of rain, the carnival continued on. My friends and I didn’t do many of the rides (I’m personally just not a fan) but we did try every single ice cream thing (including snow cones) that was available to us. There was also popcorn and I found out I’m not horrible at skee ball. CSU seriously knows how to throw a welcome party, wow. This was a super fun night because I just got to be around so many good people that I love so so so much. I’m excited and thankful to be with the friends I made last year.

    Friday, once again, the morning was pretty slow and relaxed. My friend and I went to get our nails done and also had lunch at Torchy’s Tacos which has become one of my favorite places to eat in the whole entire world. The trashy trailer park tacos are the way to go in my opinion. 🙂 10/10 would recommend.

    CSU

    In the evening on Friday, there were activities at the Lory Student Center and that was my favorite part of this past week. My friends and I got there an hour before anything actually opened so that we could wait in line to stuff little Rams, kinda like what you do at Build-A-Bear Workshop. We successfully stuffed our Rams and then went on to collect so much free food from Spoons (which is a local Fort Collins favorite), Panda Express (a personal favorite haha), as well as That Bagel Place (which I believe is another Fort Collins thing). We made glitter jars and made sand art and really just enjoyed each others company. My friends and I even made it on the Lory Student Center’s Instagram story!

    Yesterday, I had my first day of work with a local tennis facility and I really enjoyed getting to play and TEACH the sport I love. The little lobbers (which were the 4-6 year olds) were my favorite. They were just all so adorable and so so so bad at tennis and I loved it! Teaching is a really different side of things that I think I’ll learn to really appreciate.

    This past week was exhausting but so much fun at the same time. I’m so excited to be heading into this school year and see where things take me from here. If you’re a fellow Rammie and you’re reading this, good luck here at CSU! 🙂 If you’ve headed back to school already, I hope things got off to a good start for you and if you’re just getting into classes and you’re not from CSU, I still wish you the best of luck. 🙂 We’re all gonna need it. Especially if your name is Ana Horvath and you’re taking a physics and organic chemistry at the same time… Have a good week!