anahorvath.com

Tag: college

  • Summer Classes are KILLING Me

    We are now two (maybe, three?) weeks into my summer break and I feel like my online classes and physics class are destroying me. Wow. I may be exaggerating a bit, but maybe I’m not. Anyway, summer classes are tough.

    Personally, I decided to take summer classes through Colorado State University’s online courses so that I could get ahead with some of my business minor courses and other classes, since I intend to graduate in the fall of 2021.

    Currently, I’m taking an advanced writing class, microeconomics, and algebra-based physics. All of those classes add up to a total of 11 credits. Yay me… My two online courses started literally right after Allyson’s high school graduation which was on May 18th and physics started this past week.

    There’s always weekly quizzes and discussions for my online classes which take up a lot of my time, but I understand why the teachers and professors do that. It’s tough to be engaged and dedicated to an online class! For physics, I meet three times a week, for THREE HOURS. And on top of that, my professor hasn’t given us breaks during the days where he lectures for the entire time. I’m gonna need a break at some point. It’s so hard to focus for that long, let me tell ya.

    One of the hardest things I’ve noticed about all of these summer classes is time management. If I thought I was good with time management before, this whole summer class thing is REALLY testing that. I’ve decided that Mondays and Tuesdays will be dedicated to my online classes and then whatever other time I have will be dedicated to tennis and other fun summer activities.

    I really hope that I don’t regret doing what I’ve done. Summer classes will be crucial to my plan for my undergraduate degree but I also want to have a life and spend time with my family and friends this summer. We’ll just have to wait and see how this all goes! Have a good week everyone. 🙂 See you next weekend.

  • Dead Week Part 2: Finishing Freshman Year

    dead week

    This week is going to be a lot, so for my sake and sanity, I’m gonna keep this one short. Dead Week is here again! This time around I have a dance performance, two different speeches to prepare, a five-page paper to write, a practical to study for, as well as my three final exams to study for. Full plate over here!

    This semester has been a wonderful semester and I was fortunate to have so many wonderful professors and lab teacher assistants. The semester had its ups and downs (particularly my chemistry grade) but I’ve pulled through and challenged myself to overcome all the adversity I’ve faced. I’ve made it this far and I only have another two weeks to go so I need to dig down deep, find the strength to finish strong, and get outta here!

    My experience in the dorms has been interesting nonetheless and I’ve made a lot of wonderful friends on my floor, but I am honestly SO ready to go home for the summer and then live on my own next semester. I’ll get my own space and won’t have to worry about accommodating and bending my schedule to benefit others.

    Dead Week really is a lot about finding the mental capacity and strength to finish everything out on a good note and I’m praying that all of my finals and performances and speeches go well. If you’re interested in seeing my dance performance for my honors seminar, leave a comment and maybe I’ll post it in a future post! My honors seminar is about everyday movement and dance and this final dance is a fun project my professor has us doing.

    To those of you also dealing with Dead Week this week, you got it! Stay positive and finish strong. Stay organized and allow yourself some time to relax and get away from the books and papers. If you’re interested in reading my blog post about my first experience with Dead Week, I’ll link the post right here. I hope you all have a great week and I’ll see you next Sunday! (Haha, hopefully…)

  • Eating Healthy in College

    eating healthy in college
    Haha, I tried to get a picture of my lunch from Thursday. That was successful and you also get a little blur from my finger. Good job me, good job.

    You’ve heard me mention this before: the freshman 15. Plenty of freshmen struggle with their eating habits upon entering college. There’s so much food available ALL the time and they abuse that. And they eat, and eat, and eat, and before you know it, they’ve gained 15 pounds, hence the freshman 15.

    If you’ve been reading my blog since I started college at CSU, you will know that I was determined to avoid the freshman 15, and so far I’ve been successful and actually lost about 15 pounds. With a combination of working out and proper eating, I’ve been able to accomplish this goal. Exercise is extremely important to maintaining a healthy lifestyle, but it’s also so so so important to eat right. Here’s what has worked for me:

    1. Drink lots of water. Whenever I go to the dining halls, I typically get water and I do my best to drink at least two full cups of water. Occasionally I will drink some iced tea or lemonade but I really try to stay away from the sweet drinks, especially soda. Water is not only good for your skin and body in general but it helps fill you up a bit so you don’t overeat.
    2. Make your plate colorful. While fried food is super duper good tasting, it’s not so good for your body. In moderation, it’s fine, but if the color of the foods on your plate are all a fried brown, you’re doing something wrong. Add some vegetables or fruit to that plate or add a salad. Your body will thank you. Strive for this with every meal and pay attention to the variety of foods you eat throughout the day.
    3. Leave the dining hall feeling not hungry and not stuffed. The wording on that statement might be a little weird, so I’ll do my best to explain what I mean. With eating from dining halls in college, you definitely don’t want to starve yourself. You shouldn’t starve yourself, period! You want to be balanced with the food you eat. If you’re piling on the food and coming back to a table with multiple full plates, you might want to rethink that. Just think about balance and remember that you can always grab a to-go box if you start to feel full. 🙂
    4. Eat desserts in moderation. At the dining halls at CSU, there’s a place dedicated to desserts and I’m sure that it’s that way with most schools. Seeing the rows of cookies upon cookies and plates of cakes and brownies can be extremely tempting, but remember, eat these in moderation! Desserts also taste AMAZING and sometimes its really hard to only take one serving and limit yourself, but all of that sugar really isn’t that good for you or your teeth. Treat yourself every once in a while but don’t go nuts with the desserts.
    5. Seek nutritional advice through your university. Colorado State University has an “Eat Well” program and they have dietitians and nutritionists willing to help figure out foods that you’ll enjoy that are better for your body. In addition to this, all of the menus for food are available online so I have access to the nutritional facts. I don’t pay too much attention to this, but sometimes it’s a great resource for knowing more about calories (even though I’m not big on calorie counting) and nutritional values in general. Most college dining halls have resources like this and within the dining halls themselves, there’s typically information on all of the foods available so pay attention to these! Use your resources and you’ll be set.

    Keep in mind, that these are things that I’ve found helpful and they may work for those of you also eating out of college dining halls, and some of them might not, and that’s ok! Find something that works for you and stick to it. Eating healthy in college is important because it helps set the foundation for eating healthy later in life and it’s important that you give your body the materials it needs to function at its best!

    If you’ve got an idea for a blog post or a question for me, feel free to leave a comment on this post or reach out to me on my new “Contact Me!” page which can be accessed in the menu above. I’d be happy to hear from you. I hope you all have a great week! See ya next Sunday. 🙂

  • Back To School!

    • 2009
    • 2019

    What a wonderful winter break it has been! After five weeks at home, I am headed back to school tomorrow. There are no classes tomorrow, but I do want a little bit of time to get settled back in and get all of my textbooks and materials. And in honor of the big “challenge” going around, here’s me in 2009 and 2019. Ten years does fly by! Anyway, here’s a recap of my first college winter break.

    Over break, there are a lot of fun things that my family and I did. For one, we spent another great Christmas with family in New Mexico. This year we went to see the luminarias in my grandpa’s neighborhood and those were really pretty. Spending all of that time with family was just really nice and really fun. I always enjoy catching up with my aunt and uncle and sharing all of my accomplishments with my grandpa. We also had our annual Christmas morning breakfast at my great-aunt’s house and that’s always so much fun. The food is always delicious (ESPECIALLY her cheesy potatoes) and the company is always great.

    After Christmas, things winded down and we awaited the new year. My sister and I recreated Bob Ross paintings of his painting, “In the Midst of Winter” and that was really fun. Oil paint is so messy, wow! While we did spend plenty of time recreating his painting, we also spent A LOT of time cleaning up the paint from our kitchen table and ourselves. That stuff is hard to clean up, let me tell ya.

    In addition to unleashing our inner artists, my sister and I played plenty of tennis. We hit with our dad which is always a great time and I also had the opportunity to hit with some of the ladies at my club. It was refreshing to play against ladies with different playing styles. They challenged me and helped me adapt to become an even more well-rounded and educated tennis player. I’ve really loved growing with tennis, especially over this break. I really do love the sport! Allyson and I also had the opportunity to attend an open court at Denver Tennis Park, which is a brand new tennis facility right off the University of Denver Campus. We really enjoyed getting to play with other kids and show off our skills.

    I also had the opportunity to experiment with some stuff for my modeling. I am truly interested in pursuing modeling, even if I do not take it on as my full-time job. Recently, my sister helped me take a few new pictures and send some of my stuff off to new agencies. I’m excited to see what comes from these opportunities and how I continue to grow as a person from all of this.

    My sister and I also dogsat over both of our winter breaks and, oh boy, did that prove to be QUITE the job. Four dogs in one small house can sure make a BIG mess. We did enjoy our time with the four dogs, but oh my goodness, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to step foot in that house again. The male dogs fought frequently and it was a stressful situation to be in a lot of the time my sister and I went over to check on the dogs. Like I said though, we really enjoyed being able to help our neighbors out and I’m glad that all of the dogs are happy and healthy!

    And just like that, my winter break was over. Another Christmas and New Year celebration flew by and I now sit here writing this blog about how I go back to school tomorrow. Back to the grind! Have a good week everyone. 🙂

  • Done With First Semester!

    By now, some of you are probably sick of hearing about my school life and all of the hullabaloo leading up to this past week. Sorry to disappoint you if that’s the case, but I promise, this is the last one of it’s kind for a while! Finals week was rough, but I made it and my wonderful five week break has begun! It’s really crazy to think about how fast this first semester flew by.

    It only seems as if I was at Ram Welcome (which is CSU’s big orientation before the first week of school for new students) was yesterday! I feel like was just moving in and honestly, I’ll be moving out of my room before you know it.

    This past week I only had two actual finals, which was SUPER DUPER nice. I had a final for my chemistry lecture and for my honors biology lecture. Both were manageable and even though I didn’t get the grade I wanted on my chemistry final, I still made the Dean’s List which I am extremely proud of. 🙂 I studied really hard and worked my butt off this semester to make sure I start college on the right foot and I can see that the hard work I put in paid off. It’s important to start off strong in your first semester of college (I’m talking to all of you high school seniors getting ready to go to college soon)!

    And what would finals week be without getting sick. Haha, boy did I get the rough end of it. The week before finals week, I was definitely getting sick and I COULD FEEL IT. My sinuses hurt and I was coughing and feeling cold all the time. I did all I could to not get sick during finals week, but that still didn’t keep the yuck away. Eventually, I got SUPER sick and the night before my biology final was a real fun one. Can you sense the sarcasm? We’ll just say that I spent a lot of time in the bathroom that night, and what really sucks is that I have a communal bathroom and I was also playing the “don’t wake your roommate” game. I spent a lot of time in bed before my biology final that same night and thank goodness I was feeling well enough to trek across campus then. Yikes. The stomach bug is not a nice thing.

    It’s been nice to be home the last couple of days and I look forward to the wonderful time I get to spend with family and friends over these next couple of weeks. Cheers to first semester and I can’t wait to see what college holds for me next!

  • Done With Dead Week

    dead week

    This past week was ROUGH. Wow. I had a 12 page lab report to write, a 10 page paper to also write, a genetics disease presentation to prepare, and a pile of chemistry homework to complete. On top of that, I have two finals to study for. Ladies and gentlemen, I present you with dead week.

    For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, dead week is lovely name given to the week before finals in college. This is typically where final papers, presentations, and speeches occur so it’s awful. On top of this professors are all trying to cram in that last little bit of information to make your brains actually explode.  

    As usual, I managed to get sick the week before finals.  I think that’s stress-related and probably also ties into the fact that I’ve been running on very little sleep lately. This all seems so perfect with dead week. Being sick makes me feel like I’m dying sometimes because of all the coughing and sinus pain and throat pain. So much fun, haha. I’m ready for a six-week long break. At this point I know I deserve it and I bet many other of you college students out there can relate. I just need a long break from dining hall food, my dorm, and campus itself. I love my school and all of the people I’ve met but this break will actually save me from going insane. 🙂 Hopefully people can relate to this. 

    After my two finals are done, I’m done with my first semester of college! Oh my goodness, that flew by! I’m almost there and so are you college kids out there reading this! Best of luck to you all on finals. You’re all going to do so well! Stay healthy, stay strong, and let’s get this semester done!

  • Thankful

    thankful

    Thank God this past week is over! Wow was that rough. All of my professors and TA’s decided this week was the best week to turn in papers and lab reports and also take exams. I’m SO glad it’s over.

    As we approach Thanksgiving, once again, I just wanted to take some time to talk to you all about the importance of being thankful. When I say this, I don’t mean that we just need to be thankful on Thanksgiving. Being thankful for EVERYTHING is important on a daily basis. There is so much that we take for granted from day-to-day, and that’s not how life should be at all. It’s a miracle that I’m sitting here writing this blog to you all and it’s a miracle that you’re sitting on the other end reading it! 

    Throughout the month, I’ve taken time to reflect on what I’m thankful for every day. I was really wanting to add this list up to 30, for each day of November, but I feel like this is something I’ll continue doing anyway. By taking time to recognize all the good in my life, I feel like there’s really not a lot I can complain about! 

    Here are 18 things I’m thankful for:

    1. It’s November! This year has really flown by.
    2. The fact that I get to help my mom volunteer at COMOM tomorrow.
    3. My mom who helps keep my teeth in good shape and a family that can afford dental care.
    4. Time with family, especially my health and ability to play tennis with my dad and sister 🙂
    5. Pre-dental club and wax whittling (I’m a dork)
    6. The fact that I can handle an honors section biology class. I’m also extremely thankful for Harry Potter and that entire world. In my honors seminar on children’s literature we are reading Harry Potter and I love it way too much. Proud Gryffindor 🙂
    7. Wednesdays. It’s almost the end of the week!
    8. Fun and cool lab substitutes for my honors section biology lab
    9. Fun emails from my dad about foxes creeping into peoples’ yards
    10. Weekends! Sleeping in is pretty great too
    11. Brunch with my roommate and honorary roommate (I say this because she’s in our room more than she is in her own)
    12. No more homework in my honors recitation! Good meetings with pre-health advisors are great too. I feel so much more sure of what I want to do in my life 🙂
    13. Discipline to study hard and hopefully do well on my biology exam (Thanks Mom and Dad!)
    14. My adorable sister who is so so so excited for me to come home (Me too Allyson, I can’t wait!!)
    15. My lab TA for chemistry. He’s a really good guy and he’s also not bad looking (haha). He’s helped me a lot this semester. 
    16. Getting an 85% on my chem exam! This last exam was super duper hard and a bunch of people I talked to failed the exam. I’m thankful for my abilities to study (once again) and go with my gut. Hard work pays off!
    17. BEING HOME! I missed my family and also my doggies and bird. 
    18. Showering without shoes. I’ve been showering in flip flops for the past 3 months and the communal bathrooms are pretty nasty. They’re cleaned daily and I’m so grateful to the cleaning staff (I couldn’t do what they do!) but the fact that a bunch of other girls use the same shower that I use kinda freaks me out.

    Even the little things in life mean a lot. It’s all about perspective. If you ever feel like your life sucks or you’re hitting a rough patch, find one thing to be thankful for. I bet you that someone in the world has it much worse than you do, so that’s important to recognize. 

    I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving this week and I hope that you all get to enjoy some quality time with friends and family. If you’re in college, like moi, and are on break, you deserve it! I don’t know about you, but I SOOOO needed this break. Honestly, everyone deserves this break. Have a great week everyone! Don’t forget to be thankful. 🙂

  • T-Minus One Week Until Thanksgiving Break

    Thanksgiving Break

    Man has this semester flown by! It feels like I arrived at CSU, blinked, and now I’m sitting at my desk watching the snow fall trying to not be stressed about all of the stuff that’s happening this upcoming week. I need it to be Thanksgiving break!

    This upcoming week I have a chemistry exam as well as a biology exam. On top of that, I have a paper due for my honors’ seminar (which is already done) and a lab report due for my biology lab. I’m feeling ok for my tests, but we shall see what happens. I would love to hold my A’s for both classes heading into finals. 

    So after this week, I’m on Thanksgiving break (woohoo) and then when I come back from that, I’ll have 2 weeks of classes and then finals and then WINTER BREAK! I’m so excited for college winter break because it isn’t the tiny thing I used to get in high school. Oh no no. In college, or at least at CSU, we get six whole weeks off! I’m very excited. I see a lot of tennis in my future. 🙂 

    I’m going to have to end this blog here today, because I have a lot of work to do. I hope this wasn’t too boring and I hope that those of you also getting ready to go on Thanksgiving break are surviving. Have a great week everyone!

  • I Said I’m Proud to Be a CSU Ram

    CSU

    Wow am I exhausted! Move-in at CSU was a lot of work. Meeting new people was a lot of work. Ram Welcome was a lot of work, and walking! Going to classes this upcoming week is going to be a lot of work! From pep rallies to finding our classes to getting free succulents and doing the most fun high ropes course with my roommate, I’ve done a lot. Here’s some of what I’ve learned this week.

    • See where your classes are BEFORE they actually start. If you want to feel more confident about where you’re headed on a giant college campus, take the day before classes to figure everything out. 
    • Take the time to meet people. Whether it’s on your floor, in your orientation group, or in classes, be social! You never know who will become your best friend. And it’s also nice to get to know people so that you see some familiar faces around campus.
    • Introduce yourself to your professors. This is something I’ve heard time and time again from upperclassmen. In big lecture halls, you don’t just want to be another face. Get to know your professor so that you’re not just another face or test to grade.
    • Get involved. Even in the first few days, it’s important to find clubs and other things you want to get involved in. This is another way to meet people and find what interests you!
    • Don’t be afraid to ask for help! I know that when classes start, I’m gonna need some help actually finding my classrooms. I know the general buildings I will be in, but not the classes. If you’re lost, get some help! There’s no need stressing yourself out and there’s no need to walk around staring into outer space when you could be figuring out what you need to. 

    There’s a lot more I’ve learned over these past couple of days and I feel like if I kept writing, I would have another novel of a blog post. To those of you also leaving for college soon, or already at college, have a great, safe time! If you’re at CSU, good choice. If there’s any CU Buffs reading this post, go Rams, am I right? Haha 🙂 Have a good week everyone!

  • Summer is Coming to A Close!

    summer 2018

    It’s hard to believe that I’ve wrapping up my second-to-last weekend at home before I head off to school! Summer just flew by! As usual… I’m really excited to write this weekend partially because I’m testing out the new editor on WordPress and it’s really nice so far. It’s been a lot easier to navigate and work with compared to the other one. Anyway, summer is wrapping up here!

    My summer started off on a really high note with a magical trip to Oahu. It was nice to live the island life and leave my worries and stress behind. I really enjoyed learning more about Hawaiian culture and history as well. The food there was amazing too and left me kinda wishing I just lived in Hawaii.

    When my trip was over, I came back and the rest of the summer has been dedicated to spending time with family and on the tennis court. I spent a lot of time with my two coaches at the country club my sister and I hit at as well as with my dad and sister, which is always a blast. There were plenty of tournaments played and plenty of lessons learned along with them. In fact, here’s a couple of those!

    • When your opponent is acting like a dinosaur and a jerk on the other side, ignore that. They’re doing that to be distracting and ridiculous. I ran into a girl that literally roared and screamed if she lost a point and I learned to just laugh at that. I’ll play my game and she can play her’s.
    • Be prepared for the heat, and really just every scenario. Colorado’s weather is the weirdest. It can be raining one minute and sunny and hot the next. This summer was definitely a hot one. The tennis court tends to be 10 degrees warmer than off, so if it’s 90 degrees outside, imagine what it’s like on the court! Be ready with iced water, cold towels, sunscreen, extra clothes, and find a place on the court to keep yourself cool. You don’t want to get heat exhaustion or pass out!
    •  Tennis is a hobby. Have fun with it. One of my coaches at our country club has been constantly telling me this since I started working with him and I think it actually clicked this summer. I’m not saying that I haven’t had fun with tennis in the past, but I truly understood what he meant this summer. I’ve played more for myself this summer and regardless of the outcome, I’m content with myself. It’s important to take the pressure off of yourself and understand that tennis is a game. Tennis is not a lifestyle and it’s not something to live and breathe. It’s a game, it’s a hobby, and it’s fun. In the end, if you lose, you’re still alive and life is good. Realizing this all made my relationship with myself and tennis much healthier.

    Other than tennis, this website and my blog have been a great part of my summer. I really enjoyed writing posts this summer and I typically felt really excited to write. It’s crazy to see how much this blog has grown and that I’ve had over 8,000 views! Truly, I thought no one was going to read anything on here and it’s been amazing to see the opposite of that. 

    Spending time with family is always a big part of my summer and next weekend, I’ll be going to New Mexico to visit my grandpa, aunt, and uncle one last time before college. Those visits tend to be shorter, but they’re always a lot of fun. We’ll be celebrating my dad’s birthday and also my aunt’s birthday during this trip so that’ll be a lot of fun. 🙂 The past couple of days, my sister and I have had to play nurse to Marty as he recovers from his dental surgery. He’s been doing quite well actually and seems to be a much happier pup which makes me so happy. Boo has been a great little brother lately too and has been giving Marty a lot of attention. He’s still a very happy little dude too. 🙂 Bobo has been talking a lot more and he’s flying more too. He likes to call my dad’s name and eat banana chips. He’s a cutie.

    I’m starting to get pretty nervous about leaving for school but I know that it’ll all be good. I’ll settle in and figure life out. It’ll be good. My roommate seems really sweet and we’ve gotten along really well so far so I hope it all goes well with her. I’m very excited to meet her in person. I really like my schedule and it’s so nice knowing that I never have a class before 8 am! College is going to be a whole new world and I hope I’m ready for it. Have a great week everyone!