Helloooooo! It’s good to be back! I apologize for the long hiatus, but my first semester of dental school had me pretty preoccupied. So yes, it has been a bit! So let’s catch up then shall we?!
Let’s talk about my first semester of dental school! 19.5 credits flew by and things went well! Could there be improvement? Absolutely. And I plan to do even better this upcoming semester. But, I enjoyed it! I did very well in my wax lab and enjoyed getting to further develop my fine-motor skills. I took quite a few very basic level science classes again which were fine, but I am very excited to move away from talking about the mitochondria (which is the powerhouse of the cell by the way). My anatomy class was by far my favorite class this semester though. I’ve always enjoyed anatomy and it was good to review and dig deeper!
Outside of school, life has been pretty good. A while ago, I may have discussed that I was dealing with SIBO, and that is now cleared up for good (we hope!!). I am continuing to navigate this gluten-free, dairy-free life, and I’m enjoying that quite a bit actually! I’m feeling good and eating good food for sure. We actually started making gluten-free, dairy-free pizzas at home because I was really missing pizza more recently and I think it was a huge success. If anyone is wanting recipes, let me know!
While I’m on break from school, I PROMISE to be more active here again. Yes, it has been a bit, but I plan to be gone less in the months to come. I have some pretty fun things planned for the blog this upcoming year and I hope to continue providing you with good things to read if you’re all up for it. Next on my agenda is to relax and rest up, enjoy Christmas, and ring in 2023!
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.
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. 🙂
Christmas 2018 is coming in quick! I tend to leave these posts a bit shorter just because the holidays are always a busy time and this year, my family and I procrastinated BIG TIME. I still have so much shopping to do for my family and our neighbors. AH. It’s fine. Anyway, I would just like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy holidays. I hope that you all enjoy time with family and friends.
Let’s all make sure to remember the reason for the season and remember that this time of year is not about the gifts even though that does make the season much more fun. It’s more important to give during the holidays and make memories with family and friends. Thanks again to all of you for taking time to read my blog and check out my website. I really appreciate you being here and can’t wait to see where this next year takes us all! Once again, I hope your Christmas 2018 is wonderful. Have a great day! 🙂
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!
