#looking forward to more in-person stuff next semester even though my timetable is a lot busier

[biopsychs]

What I Learned From University (1st Year)

FIRST YEAR

Everyone is super friendly, especially in the first few weeks → Introduce yourself to the people sitting near you for the first few weeks of lectures. Everyone is looking for a friend or at least someone to talk to!!

If you commute, make that time productive → My bus ride was an hour there and back each day. It sucks but I would try to be productive for at least half of the commute. I have a post about being productive on public transport here.

On that note, stay on campus as long as possible each day → As soon as I got back home I would procrastinate every little thing. Stay in an already productive environment for as long as possible.

Maybe don’t buy your textbooks used → I thought I was being smart by buying used textbooks (most schools will have a buy and sell facebook page for textbooks). I ended up having to pay for access codes in order to do my online homework – access codes that cost ~$70 separately and came included with new textbooks anyways. Email your prof or talk to someone who has recently taken the class to find out if you need an access code. If you do, your best bet is to buy a new version of the textbook (unless you can get a seriously cheap used textbook).

Print off your timetable and find all of your classes before the first day → This helped me so much! I found exactly where all my classes were before the first day of class. I wrote down little tricks to help me remember where everything was (i.e. my calc lecture is in the arts and science building which is also where the only subway on campus is).

Don’t knock living at home to save money → If you’re lucky enough to have a college or university close to home at least consider living at home. Getting your own place or living in dorms is expensive. (But if you have to find off campus housing on your own, don’t leave it too late or you might not find a place)

Figure out the best way to take notes for each class → You have to customize the way you study for each class, all depending on the prof and the content. I hand-wrote notes for some classes (chem, calc, and physics), but not others (psych and bio). If you’re writing by hand you can always just annotate your textbook notes or lecture slides (if they’re posted before class). If you fall behind while taking notes, just leave a gap and check out a friend’s notes after class.

Adjust your expectations → Don’t expect to get straight A’s, like you might have in high school. You can strive for straight A’s but be realistic as time goes on. For classes I struggled with, I expected to be near the class average. If I was a lot lower than the class average then I would know to invest more time.

Make time for physical activity → If we’re being honest I hardly exercised during uni. Go for at least a half hour walk each day and try to start a physical activity routine. Get a friend and join a sports team, go to a fitness class, or commit to some form of a daily workout with them! You’ll feel bad bailing on someone else, plus working out is more fun with other people.

Review content throughout the semester → Reviewing little bits of content will save you a massive content review right before finals! Look through old notes while you wait for your daily coffee or take 15 minutes to watch some khan academy videos on stuff you learned in the first month of classes.

Think seriously about how much you can handle → Don’t take on too many responsibilities at once and consider all of your options! I worked weekends and some week nights throughout the school year. Looking back I should have worked less because my stress levels were way too high. Also, quite a few people I talked to took 4 classes instead of 5, for their first semester of university. I don’t think I would have done it, in the end, but it’s always something to consider.

Have fun but be responsible at parties → Always go to parties with people you trust!! If you didn’t do much partying/drinking during high school (like me), remember to pace yourself when drinking! Eat before you go out and have some water between each drink, till you find your limit. Don’t let yourself be peer-pressured into anything but also don’t be afraid to have fun! And check out if your uni has a safe walk program (someone will come and walk you back to your dorm or your car if you feel unsafe or nervous for any reason)

When procrastination hits, aim to be productive in some way → The only reason my biology mark was so high was because I would study biology whenever I got sick of studying for physics and calculus. If you know you need to study but just can’t do it, start by being productive in some other way – study a subject you do like, do your laundry, organize your study area, etc. Get your brain to start thinking productively.

Labs are difficult so be prepared → I had so many labs first year. Some tips: eat and hydrate before labs, never assume you can finish your prelab last minute, be nice to your lab partner, always remember lab safety (don’t be the person trying to wear shorts in the lab, TAs will not hesitate to kick you out), don’t rush through an experiment but be efficient, and ask for help (even if you feel like you’re bothering your TA).

Please go to bed early. Sleep affects everything → I was so dumb and would never go to bed early even though I had to be up at 6 am almost every day to catch the bus. Lack of sleep will catch up to you eventually!! Also, all nighters are not necessary, unless you make them necessary. I prioritized and never had to stay awake too late. And never pull an all nighter the night before an exam (you’re better off getting sleep and resting your brain).

Bring a water bottle everywhere → Buy a decent water bottle and always carry it with you. Even though my uni is small there are still tons of spots around campus where I can refill my water bottle!! Stay hydrated my friends!

A practice problem a day keeps the F away → This saying probably works best for science classes, but I guess a reading a day will get you somewhere too. Do something for every class each day, even if it’s just a practice problem or a quick reading. Develop a routine!

You’ll have lots of midterms → I was under the impression that midterms happened just once a semester (I thought I would have one week where I had a midterm for each class). That was not my reality. I had 2 or 3 midterms for each of my classes scattered throughout the semester. Study really hard for your first set of midterms till you get used to the high expectations!

Don’t worry about what other people are doing or thinking → This is mostly in regards to social media. I was bummed when I looked back on my first year of university, because I felt like I hadn’t done anything fun compared to other people. You only see the image that other people want you to see. You don’t know how hard someone worked or how hard they didn’t work. Just focus on you and how you can affect positive results in your life.

Other people literally don’t care about your appearance → My friend’s little sister visited campus and asked us “Why is everyone wearing sweatpants?” People literally don’t care. Dress nice and put lots of makeup on one day, because you feel like it, and wear sweats the next day.

Start essays and reports as soon as possible → You never know what might come up so be prepared for the worst! Outline your essay or graph your data as soon as you can.

Eat healthy and do meal prep → You can eat healthy during university! Set aside a couple of nights each week to do meal prep. Cook food in bulk to save money and don’t eat out too much. Try to have at least 1 serving of fruits or veggies with each meal or snack you eat!

Find a good study spot on campus → Explore your campus and figure out your favourite places to study. I had a couple of spots where I would always meet my friends to study and quiet spots where no one would bother me. Studying outside or in an area with natural light is always good.

Don’t be afraid to talk to your profs and TAs → This is the number one thing I’m going to try to do more of in my second year. TAs are chill to talk to and they can tell you tons of useful information on what upper year classes are like, which professors are good, why they chose to go to grad school, etc. If you’re struggling in lectures or labs, talk to your prof or TA! Make an appointment and be sure you can tell them exactly which concepts you’re struggling with or at least where you got lost. One of my profs told us he just waits hopefully during office hours for someone to come in. (Also profs love it if you ask them about their research or any topics they seem passionate about during lectures.)

Explore all the resources your university has to offer → My university has a program that is basically people bringing their dogs around for students to pet, in order to relieve stress. It actually works and gave me something to look forward to! Just be aware of your options so that if something in your life changes you know where you can go to ask for help.

Get a planner and utilize it → There’s no excuse not to have a planner of some sort. Use your phone, get a bullet journal, or buy a cheap planner. Have somewhere where you can record important deadlines and make to do lists. I also recommend back planning all of your studying at the beginning of the semester. Write down your midterms and finals dates and write down how much you’re going to study each day leading up to the exam. This way you’ll be able to look ahead at each month and figure out what needs to be done (i.e. getting an essay done early because the due date falls during a busy week of midterms)

This post ended up being a lot longer than I expected whoops. Take the things I said into consideration but remember that everyone’s experience will be different. Good luck to everyone heading to university!

My Other Posts:

AP lit tips

high school biology

organization tips

physics doesn’t have to suck: how to enjoy and do well in your required physics classes

recommended reads

reminders for myself

using your time wisely on public transport

what i learned from high school

#i hope this helps anyone entering university or college!!! #it will be stressful but you can do it! #studyblr #etudiance #academla #studybuzz #studyplants #elkstudies #heystudiyng #focusign #areistotle #idkstudyblr #intellectus #natlookhere #mine

[astormyjet]

March 13th - July 18th 2017: ES and JHS Graduation Round Two, Korea and Osaka, Hanami, Early ES Sports Day, Becoming RA, Shiminami Kaido Round Two, More Farewells and the Start of Summer.

Yeah, it’s been a while folks. Life hit me full force. As did the looming threat of the future. I’ve been working on trying to motivate myself. It’s pretty hard, when you set the bar low and you eventually achieve what you want, there’s this big moment of well, this is temporary, what the f**k am I going to do with my life after this. Basically the last few months have been one existential crisis after another. Fun times.

A bunch of really cool 6th Grade Elementary School kids and 3rd Year Junior High School kids graduate in March. I keep seeing a bunch of the JHS Graduates on my bike to and from school this year, my fave tennis kid from last year nearly ran me off the road and into the river the other day she was so stoaked to see me. A bunch of my faves from ES came to the JHS, but I haven’t really had the opportunity to teach them or be in class with them as much as I was with the 1st years last year.  It’s made me a little jittery to be honest.

 I’ve only really had the chance to go to 2nd year classes, and that’s not picnic being that 80% of the kids are little punks. I love them to bits, but they are disrespectful, lazy little shits - and have been since they were in the 6th Grade. In part this is due to the way their English teacher taught them last year, but it’s also on them. It takes WAY to long to explain anything to them, so we’re stuck in discipline mode for 90% of class, review mode for 5% and have very limited time to do anything outside of the text book. They’re getting better, we’ve made more headway with the tougher kids which has bought the mood of the classroom back a bit, but there is still SO MUCH TO COVER. I want to go to 3rd and 1st year classes more. *sobbing* At least my 3rd years have been writing to me a lot. I have ninja-ed my way into some of their classes during my free periods, but it’s not the same...

My new 5th Graders are fantastic, cute and terrifyingly smart kids. I mean all the kids I teach are smart, but this lot are quirky and just so...genki? My 6th Graders are still great too. Which is a relief. I was worried they’d get one of the teachers from last year and that would change them for the worse, but that particular teacher was moved to another grade. English club is going well, it was so popular this year that a bunch of kids got turned down. We’re at capacity with 28 kids, and boy is it stressful having to think of fun stuff to do with a bunch of kids for an hour and a half every two weeks. But I love it.

South Korea and Osaka were fun. I’ll be honest, I think I bought the mood down A LOT in Korea, which I feel really guilty about. The person I was travelling with had so much they wanted to see and do, but I was a total fun sponge. I just felt REALLY uncomfortable in Seoul. I walked past a couple of anti-gay protests, and I think that had something to do with it. Being around other tourists also just..drove me mad? People are so rude? I think I’ve been in Japan too long as the standards I have for politeness are way too high...

That said, the lady in our hostel was really sweet. As were the other guests. Most of the vendors I interacted with were civil, even when I fucked up and started speaking Japanese instead of English out of habit (guy took it in his stride, and was almost relieved I think because his Japanese was better than his English). It was easier to find clothes that fit, particularly pants. The food was delicious, and the things we did go and see were pretty fun. I loved K-star Road and Myeondong. When we were leaving for Osaka, there was a drama or a CM being shot in the Airport, so while we were trying to get to sleep there was a lot of yelling and camera people running by. It was pretty cool. 

Osaka was much more my speed. I enjoyed going up the tower and doing some shopping in the Pokemon Center (this time minus the encounter with random 5th Grader from my ES) and ironically enough the Korea Town there. We were only in Osaka for a night, but as soon as we hit the ground back in Japan I just felt like I was home. There’s something that has always pulled me towards this place. I’m not sure how I’m going to leave in a few years. Hopefully by then somewhere else will be calling to me just as strong. 

After that trip it was right back into the new year with the teacher change and the new classes. Introduction lessons were about the only time I’ve had lesson with my 1st year JHS kids this semester so I’ve had words with my JTEs and they’ve paid lip service at least to timetabling me in for next Semester. Somewhere in this time I got pissed at my ES Supervisor for all the mucking around with the timetable and not informing the Japanese ALT about the changes and making her come all the way in for no classes or classes in the afternoon only. It stopped happening for a while...then it happened again today. Hopefully it was a one off thing or I’m going to have to talk to the BOE because it’s really not fair on anyone.

There were a bunch of Hanami parties ect too around this time. Also a couple more farewell parties. I applied for RA some time in Feb and got the position in March/April along with another person who is super cool and motivated, so that has had me busy.  In May there was Golden Week, which I did pretty much nothing in, besides go down to the Ikazaki Kite festival on Children's day again. It was fantastic. My ES had their Undokai/Sports Day in May too due to the big Paralympic championship being held here in September. It was so much fun this time, I dodged between tents and got to hang out with the really little kids as well as their parents and we all enjoyed cheering for our teams. The team I was on won for a change!!!

I graded from Green belt to brown finally after a four year period of dodging grading for Karate. I’ve learnt about 4 more kata since I have been here too, which is overwhelming. My teacher is threatening me with my black belt either at the end of this year or middle of next....so better get into shape a bit more before then. 

I bought a new skate board and have gone out a couple of times with my friend and his girlfriend. It’s surprisingly easier to cruise on compared to the old k-mart board I had, though I miss my longboard something shocking. I also miss being able to cruise around on it like back in Uni, you can’t really do that here without breaking the law or getting run over by someone. 

In June we held our first RA event, doing Iyo-kasuri dying in Matsuyama. It went well for a first event, I just need to relax a bit and plan stuff out for myself a bit more. The next event we’re hoping to hold is one for a Beach day after all the new people come in. But that is after Orientation, so I am going to start plotting that in about two weeks. 

I also did the Shimanami Kaido again with AJET. This time it actually went a lot better, it RAINED something fierce on the second to last island so we basically swam up the last couple of hills, but it was well worth it. It was hot, but not unbearable. There was also a festival at the end of it in Onomichi which was cool. The morning after, on the way to get breakfast we ran into on of the guys I came in with in 2015. I can’t for the life of me remember his name, but he pointed us in the direction of a really nice bakery. So props fellow kiwi. Best Curry-pan I have ever had. 

I took the JLPT N4 on July 2nd. I’m pretty sure I failed again. But I only have myself to blame. I need to figure out how to study. I was always one of those kids that did really well on tests with relatively little study at High School, I just needed to pay attention in class and do the homework. But everything changed when the firenation..I mean Uni attacked. I know for a fact my conversational Japanese has gotten heaps better (though it is strongly Iyo-ben/Yankii/Inaka), my reading and writing hasn’t improved at all. Nor has my ability to do their shitty grammar puzzles, really the format of that section is going to be what makes me fail in tests I study for even...but for now it’s over, I think I’ll wait until this time next year to sit it again, if I pass I’ll aim for N3. 

This last weekend there was the AJET leaving party on Kashima island in Hojo. It was a bit surreal to be quite honest. A fair few of the people who came in with me, as well as the sempai who guided us through our first month, are leaving. I know life will plug on as normal after they’re gone, that is the transient nature of this job, but it is going to be odd for a bit having new faces around in a couple of weeks.

It’s made me realize how fast time is going. I have no plan for after JET yet. I have no ambition or motivation really. I don’t really have anything waiting for me back home other than Student debt and few job prospects. So for now I guess the plan is to take more TESOL courses, brush up on my Japanese and look into what I need to acquire a similar job after my final renewal.

One of my 5th graders was on the island when we got there. So that was weird....but she was really cool today, bragging to all her friends about how she saw me and my friends. A bunch of kids were surprised I even had friends, but that’s another story for another time. The next day as I was going to pick my bike up from the repair shop (my back tire burst on my way to the supermarket/station on Saturday) I ran into one of the shyer 6th Grade kids and her cousin. We had a special fifth grade lesson with my teacher for JHS, we’re doing phonics, and it’s equal parts hilarious and terrifying how kiwi these kids sound. 

This weekend there is E-Talk camp, which I am looking forward too. One of the few decent 2nd year JHS boys is doing it again this year as well as one of my fave 3rd year girls. I think there might be one more kid, but my teacher didn’t really confirm that yet. I’ll find out on Saturday hopefully.

I’m going to my ES End of term party on Thursday, which I am looking forward to, but also dreading. The nurse who has been at the school for the last year or so is transferring out to Seiriyo High School and we’re getting someone new. So this party will be the last time I see her for a while. She’s been pretty cool about me coming in and out and chatting with the kids who have anxiety issues and the kids who aren’t feeling well, but are still genki enough to be sitting up. It’s also been really nice to hide in the nurses office while I don’t have classes because I can do my homework there a lot faster than I can in the teachers room, and they had the aircon on earlier...and not as high as the teachers room does...either way, I hope the dynamic doesn’t change too much, especially for the two kids who have that place as their refuge.

Next week, I have a trip to Tokyo coming up. I need to get off of the island for a bit again I think. And I need to do it on my own. So I’ve booked five days away, and only have tentative plans to meet up with my former Japanese housemate. I want to climb Takao-san, even though people say it’s nothing special and I want to go to Ueno Zoo and do a couple of nerdy things in Akiba/Ikebukuro again. I just need to push myself a little more. Then it’ll be right back into Orientation Prep and welcoming the new kids.  

Orientation prep is a bit stressful. I screwed up and made things complicated for everyone by trying to be considerate of my stressed out JHS JTEs. At the end of the day I should have just bitten the bullet and started planing the whole demonstration lesson on my own and run through it with whoever I was going to do it with a couple of times before the actual event, but noooooooo I had to go and try change things up by asking if we could have one of the other ALTs in our region do it with our old boss....but that’s a problem for tomorrow or the end of the week. I am confident I can pull it off if things fall through, but if not, there is really only me to blame for it all.  

I have so much to do before I leave, but I should wack the last of the urgent stuff out by tomorrow afternoon. If not, I took leave on Friday, so between cleaning my house up for Micheal to stay here on his last night while I am away and packing (hopefully not too hung over) I have time to get the bulk of what I need done out of the way before my holiday and the printing deadline. 

Basically I am happy, a little stressed, somewhat frustrated with lack of classes at my JHS, but also shit scared of the future. What else is new....

#JET Programme #Life on JET #JET Program #ALT Life #Japan #日本 #teaching in Japan