breakthesky.net » School

Work Week’s Got Me Beat

Manda — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 22:03:25 +0000

When the earliest I can get home on any given day of the working week is 5p.m. (on a Friday!), it is very telling just how all-consuming my class/work/internship schedule is. Needless to say, I’m beat from this week. It’s almost 6p.m. on a Friday evening and I’m sitting on my couch in my PJ’s watching reruns of NCIS like an old lady. Not gonna lie, it’s kind of nice that I have absolutely nothing planned for tonight but to relax and unwind. Oh, and maybe tackle some of my readings…

I know I’ve talked about how busy I am on this blog before and it might seem like I’m complaining but I’m not, honestly. My schedule is something I chose and I’m happy with all the things that I’m doing. I just think it’s kind of scary how fast I went from being a freshman with a handful of classes and a schedule that was wide open in terms of free time to a totally jam-packed schedule where I’m juggling sixteen things at once. How did I grow up so fast? Where did the time go? Am I really expected to be an Adult in the Real World come graduation next year?!

(Oh, and in news I meant to post earlier but I completely forgot to and now it’s kind of late and outdated: I survived both the DC earthquake and Hurricane Irene last week without incident, minus the 24 hours or so I lost power due to Irene. My area was incredibly lucky as others were not as fortunate with either, or both, of the natural disasters.)

It’s That Time of Year Again

Manda — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 12:17:30 +0000

It’s that time of year again… The time where the end of the spring semester sends my stress levels skyrocketing and I am perpetually almost at breaking point.

This year, I’m freaking out over final exams, final papers, making a summer travel itinerary (and organizing everything that comes with a self-planned trip in southeast Asia), trying to coordinate a summer internship, preparing for my summer employment opportunity, figuring out if I have places to live… The list goes on. And to top it all off, my beloved MacBook gave out on me, so I am currently computerless.

Till my computer gets fixed (I have a Genius Bar appointment tomorrow and I’m hoping it’s not a big issue, so it should be fixed soon) I’m going to be scarce. I’m relying on my roommate’s spare netbook and my iTouch for my computer/Internet fix, but neither are ideal for blogging, unfortunately!

I Can’t Write Papers Anymore

Manda — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 13:50:03 +0000

I have not written any sort of essay, paper, or thesis since April 2010. To top that off, I have been (intensively) studying nothing but Mandarin Chinese since September. So, let’s imagine for a second what happened when I tried to write my term paper proposal for my only English class this semester, Chinese Media Studies.

If you guessed that it sucked, that’s a very, very kind guess.

I can’t seem to string together a coherent argument anymore. My sentences have become repetitive, identically structured, and lack the power of persuasion an argumentative research paper is meant to contain. A lot of this is probably because I’m simply out of practice at writing papers, but I think I’m also out of practice with using the English language in a formal context. Or in any context, really. Yesterday, it took a friend and I five minutes to come up with the correct English definition of the Chinese word “矛盾” (textbook definition is contradiction or contradictory, but I find a more accurate definition is conflict or conflicted). It wasn’t that we didn’t know how to use the word in Chinese, we just couldn’t think of how to explain the meaning in English!

Right now, I have a (very) rough term paper proposal written up. Every time I read it over in an attempt to fix the many things wrong with my writing, I cringe. I’m a communications major; writing is my passion. I’m good at it, dammit. But now my writing reads like English isn’t my native language. The writing in my proposal has a slight awkwardness and stilted feeling to it – and that has never, ever happened to me before, no matter what type of writing.

I guess it’s nice that my professor’s first language isn’t English, so maybe he’ll look kindly at my much-left-to-be-desired essay writing, at least for this proposal. But now I’m worried about how I’m going to cope with my classes senior year, when I’m taking the last couple course requirements for my comm major…

Rest is for the Weak

Manda — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 12:40:04 +0000

An hour ago, I decided to lie down in bed for a minute, which turned into an impromptu nap. Thankfully, it was short, but it was definitely not something I needed to spend my precious time doing. Between now and Friday evening, I have to do the following:

Study for my five-chapter comprehensive Chinese midterm
Write an outline/tentative script of sorts for this outlandish love story/tragedy musical for oral Chinese
…learn and memorize dialogue and lyrics for above musical
Pack for my upcoming weekend getaway to Nanjing
Finish planning my Nanjing itinerary: book hostel, pick out which sights to see, etc
LAUNDRY
Tidy up my room a little so it’s not an absolute mess when I get back from traveling

I barely have time to breathe, let alone do anything else, as my pending exams are going to be the death of me. Which is why this week, my motto is “rest is for the weak.” Rest? Who has time for that?

When a Student is the Class Deadweight

Manda — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 12:29:42 +0000

There is this girl in my class that is holding my classmates and I back in terms of how fast we are learning and progressing.

And that is putting is very, very nicely.

She skipped a level to be in my class. Which is no easy feat, considering she skipped a little over an entire book (10+ chapters) of vocabulary and grammar. Not to mention the fact that her speaking, writing, and listening abilities are generally not up to par to the rest of us in the class. This isn’t just me being overly critical; hearing her speak in class and seeing writing samples proves this. How can she be on the same level as the rest of us when our speaking/writing/listening ability is the product of a semester’s worth of intensive immersion study, and not something we produced overnight?

It’s one thing to be a motivated student and pledge to catch up to be on the class level in addition to staying on top of current coursework. It’s another to not actually do any of that, and still expect to get by in class.

My class is the highest class level offered in my study abroad program, independent studies excluded. It’s not enough to just “get by.” I put in hours of homework a day just to prepare for the next day’s class. There are worksheets to complete, essays to write, new characters to memorize for daily dictation, texts to mark up with new vocabulary, grammar, and additional new words. It’s a tough workload, and it’s very draining. To do all that and catch up on the 10+ of materials the girl skipped is, in my opinion, a physically impossible feat. And currently, my opinion has yet to be proven wrong, because the girl has done absolutely nothing to start catching up. Other than hope that it’ll magically happen, without having to do any extra work of her own.

She has the gall to show up to class without any of the homework completed. Essays will go unwritten because she “didn’t understand the question.” (The essay topic was based on the text we had studied in class that day. It was pretty self-explanatory stuff – well, for someone who pays attention.) Worksheets will go uncompleted because she “was busy.” (With what? She didn’t have any answer to that question.) New words in the text will go undefined because… well, she had no reason for that one, either. (Looking new words up in a dictionary is pretty standard for any language class regardless of level, if you ask me.)

So much time is spent going over vocabulary and grammar that we already know but she has never learned, either in her previous class or through catching up on her own. It’s as though instead of learning new material, which we are supposed to be doing, my class is just constantly reviewing old material. She’s not a quick learner, nor is she a hard-working student, a deadly combination for this situation. If she can’t be bothered to do the bare minimum required for class, how is it feasible to think she will do the extra catch-up work required that comes with skipping a level? If her language ability is so clearly below mine and my classmates’, why is she still in my class?

I understand wanting to give every student a fair shot. I get that, I really do. But when doing so negatively impacts on other students’ learning, it’s time to cut the deadweight and move on. If she’s not making the effort and doing the work required of someone in her particular situation, why make the rest of us suffer for it?

Back to the Grind

Manda — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:18:08 +0000

Class all day, homework all evening, studying all night… ah, my second semester in Beijing has truly begun.

It’s a strange feeling of deja vu. It’s a new semester, with a higher level of language classes and new textbooks and new classmates and new kids in the program – but at the same time, it’s like going through the motions all over again. The only thing that’s really different is the people; I miss my good friends from last semester. Oh, and the weather is different too. Beijing is cold!

If last semester was anything to go by, I’m going to be run off my feet in the next few weeks until everything feels routine-like. Or, I decide it’s time to give myself a break and give myself more time to go out and be social rather than be shut up studying all the time. (I’m only like that during the week, though. I definitely take the time to enjoy my weekends!) It’s also hard to find time to spend on the Internet when it’s even more difficult to find a good Internet connection. Oh, China.

I seem to have already lost the ability to string together two coherent sentences in English. My goodness. I’m not even sure what I’m trying to say. Except that hi, I haven’t died, I’m just insanely busy as per my life in Beijing!!

Picture This

Manda — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:47:10 +0000

Me, at the airport on my way to Beijing

One 14kg duffel bag with a wheelie thing
One 7kg duffel bag
One 7kg backpack
One 3kg plastic bag
One 1.5kg purse¹

Me, in my new apartment

Assigned to a room meant for two, but no roommate
Translation: double the closet space, my own bathroom, and a spare bed

Me, as an orientation leader

“Wait, which subway line is the university on again?”

Me, as a returning study abroad student

Teacher: Manda, you started last semester with a really strong Cantonese accent but had lost it by the end of the semester. But after spending winter break in Hong Kong, your accent has come back!
Me: *demoralized*

Oh, Beijing. It’s so, so good to be back. <3

This was filled with electronics like my iPod as well as my wallet, which had a ton of coins, hence the weight.

This Is When I Know I’m In Trouble

Manda — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 05:54:10 +0000

Scene: I’m on the phone with my mother, getting told off for one of the various things I do (or don’t do) that bothers her. In an attempt to salvage the situation, I play one of my trump cards (or, “the news of a personal success that I save for informing my mother of when I need rescuing from a lecture”).

Me: My grade¹ for the semester got posted. I got a 96.
My mother: That’s not bad.
Me: …that’s 4 points away from a perfect grade.
My mother: Yes, four points.

Sometimes, I wonder why I bother with saying anything.

Because I was enrolled in an intensive language study program, the grades for my language classes were combined into one collective grade.

Fall Semester Abroad: Complete

Manda — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 09:49:56 +0000

As of 11:45a.m. today, I have officially completed my fall semester abroad.

It’s so surreal, to be finished with such an intensive semester. No more 听写 (tīngxiě / dictation) to prepare for, no more 生词 (shēngcí / new words) to learn, no more new 语法 (yǔfǎ / grammar) structures to learn… the semester is over. I’m done.

Now, I have two days to party it up in celebration of successfully completing my semester (my final exam went very well!) as well as pack for the opportunity of a lifetime I’ll have in December: a whole month of traveling, what?!

The End of the Semester is Near

Manda — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 15:08:10 +0000

This week is the last full week of my fall semester abroad. Aside from the usual tell tale signs of the end of semester, like revising for final exams and writing final papers, my surroundings signal the end of all that I’ve become accustomed to and grown to love this semester. I’ve started to pack up my stuff in my suitcases in preparation for when I move out of my apartment; my friends and I are swapping our photos of various events throughout the semester; plans are being made to go see sites in Beijing that we’ve put off visiting in all the time we’ve been here.

It’s not even what I’m doing, or what my friends are doing, that all point to the end of a fall semester abroad. It’s the fact that the bustling outdoor night market along the main street near my apartment building got closed down, so the street is empty every time I walk along it in the evenings. It’s the fact that the nearby outdoor biergarten, which had the best fried 饺子 (jiǎozi / potstickers) I’ve ever eaten, got closed down as well. It’s the fact that the regular 串儿 (chuànr / kebabs) sellers outside the clubs are no longer there, having left for other places. It’s the fact that my favorite bubble tea chain changed their summer specialty drink to that of a winter specialty. It’s the fact that all the markets have changed the shoes and clothing selection to that of winter fashion.

And let’s not talk about the impending goodbyes I have to say to all the friends I made in my program this semester. Because that, for obvious reasons, is going to be extremely difficult. It’s always hard to guess how close you can become to someone over the course of just a semester. But when you are abroad, friendships are stronger and experiences abroad are inextricably tied with those who you are friends with. It’s hard to believe that once we part ways at the end of the semester, I might not ever see some of the people I’ve become close to over the last few months.

I’m gonna make this last week count like no other.