Rant Of The Day: Science Communication Within Academia Is Far More Pretentious Than It Is Effective.

How to be a white or non-black ally at a rally

via  @laurielovelugo 

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Happy November!

It’s a beautiful time of year to recognise that you are a BOSS who is worthy of success x

Break the problem down

From personal experience, life is hard and stress hits you like a tonne of bricks. Exams are coming, deadlines are forever nearing and you feel like one thing is coming at you after another and you can’t possibly finish all this in time to the best of your ability but omg everyone will be mad or disappointed if you don’t and AHHHHHHHH

Stop that.

When you are overwhelmed by stress and believe you cannot possibly succeed, face that shit objectively. Write your stress source down or talk it out and belittle it as much as you can.

For example: “holy shit I have to sit an A Level in Maths and I’ve been learning the content for less than a year all on my own. I don’t have many practice materials and that shit looks hard. I will run out of time because I also have 4 other A Levels to sit and I will fail.” (Me irl bc I’m crazy)

Becomes: “It’s a few questions on a sheet of paper. All you have to do is work on your weaknesses. You should make a timetable to prove to yourself you have time. It’s not A* or bust - do your best.”

Because that’s all it is. Take the emotions away from the problem. Temporarily take everything that’s riding on that one thing away and strip it right back to what it’s really about. Make yourself believe that it is not above you. Once you convince yourself you can do it, actually doing it becomes a hell of a lot easier.

*I’m not saying those things are not important or not a big deal. I’m saying for the sake of your sanity, make it manageable.*

It’s a lovely feeling when it all comes together in your favour. There is light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how long or dark that tunnel is 💛

I told myself that I could do it, and I did. When I got my first exam back, I was happy until others put me down. Our class has gotten our results back from exam three, and I did exceptionally well. I was one of the highest grades in the classroom. Some classmates ask to see your score in hopes of making them feel better about themselves, and some genuiley care. I am not sure how to explain it, but when people ask about your mark, you can tell if they are genuine or not. The usual people who like to ask about my grade wanted to know what I got and when I told them they simply said, “oh.” I felt that they were expecting me to fail because I know that feeling too well. Studying in the library, mostly every day until 11:00 pm, really paid off. I just want to remind myself that I can do it, and I am proud of you.

12/3/19

Transition metals are legitimately so interesting! I feel like I’ve got stuff done today.

Happy Tuesday :)

11 Question Tag

Rules:

Answer 11 questions

Nominate 11 other bloggers by tagging them

Ask those bloggers 11 questions

Thank you to @marie-curie for nominating me! Right then, let’s get started! Oh, and Happy New Year’s Eve haha

1. How many books have you read in 2018?

29. I kept a diary of what I read. It’s a pathetic total but it’s more than I’ve read in a year before AND I’ve been super busy so I’m quite proud of that :)

2. What is your favourite book character?

Werner Pfennig from All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. He’s such a bright spark. I freaking love this book. It’s like the only fiction book I’ve read in English in two years!

3. Current favourite TV show?

I don’t watch TV as a rule but actually I’m quite into Grey’s Anatomy and Doctor Who.

4. Have you made any New Year’s resolutions?

To read more *English-language* fiction! And also to start learning to code. I’ve wanted to for a while

5. What are your favourite songs from 2018?

Brace yourselves, this answer is quite long. My most recent has to be Scared of the Dark from the new Spider-Man soundtrack (yes. Yes I did go there haha). But then we have:

High Hopes by P!ATD

On Fire by Loïc Nottet (please give him some love omg his voice!)

Almost all of Maître Gims 2018 album Ceinture noire. La Même is THE best thing on it though.

Max Giesinger’s album Die Reise. All of it.

Hier mit dir by Wincent Weiss

6) Last book that you basically inhaled/ read in one go?

I am literally incapable of reading anything in one go or quickly. It takes me days to get through a couple of pages nowadays haha but I guess the fastest I’ve read was L’invitée. And we all know how long I was reading that xD

7. Do you listen to music while reading?

No. I have got to have absolute silence or I can’t focus on the words haha

8. Favourite OTP?

I don’t have one :)

9. Countries you want to visit

Oh my God there are so many! But I guess my top 8 would be (in alphabetical order):

Australia

Austria

Belgium

Canada

The Czech Republic

Luxembourg

New Zealand

Norway

10. What is the coolest fantastic creature and why?

The hippogriff! I love eagles and I love horses and the hippogriff is a very handsome, very powerful mix of both.

11. Fond memory from 2018?

I have had a blast this year, and I am a completely different person now to how I started the year. I’ve grown up a lot from having to travel solo and made some fantastic friends. I’ve really gone out and made memories for the first time in my life. I reckon among the highlights are my time at the summer school at Cambridge University and going to London with just my friend from school. We were sat in Five Guys not having a care in the world. And we went shopping and I let my friend dress me haha

I can’t neglect my best friends of course - the sleepover I had with them a couple of months back was so much fun!

And I guess all the times I have laughed. Including my friend’s birthday, where I tried VR for the first time.

So those were my 11 questions. I hope I haven’t bored you too much. I’m now going to nominate:

@myhighschoolstudies @anatomyandcappuccini @cyclicstudies @etudaire @freckledstudy @psychologyhermione @pianoandstudy @nic-biostudies @a-study-in-letters @helianthusstudy @patriotstudies

Sorry if you’ve already done this! You guys are going to answer the following:

What was your favourite film this year?

What are you looking forward to in 2019?

If you could have one superpower, what would it be and why?

You are given the chance to master anything you wish in 2019. (This could be a language, a school subject or a hobby like ballet or playing an instrument, or literally anything you like.) What do you pick?

If you could change one thing about 2018, what would it be?

What were you most proud about in 2018?

Have you made any New Year’s resolutions?

You can take three books and three songs from this year into next year. Which do you choose?

What is your favourite memory of this year?

Which countries would you like to visit?

Not all of 2018 has been bad news. What happened that made you smile?

15-16/11/18 - 67-68/100 days of productivity

What a week! I’m exhausted!

I’ve been mainly reading today, because I wanted to be productive but didn’t really have all that much to do - for once! I am going to have a day of maths on Sunday to make up for missing my mentoring session this week, but I’m still going to take it easy.

But right now I’m researching for my IRP in German, ft. the new book I ordered which got delivered today. So far, so very interesting! I can’t wait to reach a conclusion :)

Happy Friday, guys!

02/10/18 - 20 days of productivity

Pictured above are my biology class notes and then my written up, neat version I refer to when I revise. I like writing them up - it’s therapeutic and helps me remember them. However, I typed these up in my only free period only for my memory stick to decide to corrupt itself beyond repair for no reason at the end of the lesson, so I lost everything. I’m currently crying about that - even though I have hard copies of all my other notes, which is good. I didn’t lose too much!

Today I had a fairly alright day - but I completely forgot to do my French homework and cried a bit because that’s so unlike me. I had an excellent German lesson though, and I’m Chemistry I got to do separate things to everyone else because my teacher dreads me getting bored haha

Absolutely! I don’t have a MacBook - I have a seven-year-old, slow and slightly broken HP laptop that has served loyally as a faithful study companion. I have mildliners, yes - but not because everyone else has them. I have them because I actually like them!

I take the time to write up my notes neatly because they go into a folder that is inspected by my teachers - we get told off if we put scruffy work in. But I make them more aesthetic as a way of assimilating information and having a productive way to chill out.

The whole point of having a studyblr for me was to keep on track for my personal targets. If those targets were straight Cs instead of straight A*s it wouldn’t be any less valid.

I don’t have muji pens or the finest notebooks - I save up and buy some of my favourite Pentel Energel pens whenever I can because they are actually fairly expensive as pens go and I sure as hell wouldn’t buy them at all just because everyone else is raving about them. Otherwise, it’s a cheap notebook for me all the way - because guess what? The paper you use doesn’t impact the quality of your notes.

You do what’s right for you, studyblrs of the world.

Your aesthetic does not invalidate the quality of your account.

call for change: studyblrs

I have had this blog for about a year now, and I’ve come to realise the unattainable perfection of studyblrs. I created this account to motivate and educate myself and I feel as though these ‘perfect study notes’ hold unrealistic expectations. This is why I have decided to post things that are more realistic, educational and have a positive impact on the community. Please reblog this to spread the message: You do not need perfect notes, every stationary item, a macbook, top grades or an aesthetic study space to be a studyblr. All you need to do is do the best you can.

Hey! Love your page. I love all your notes and it reminds me of mine! I love to spend each day learning the subjects (chemistry, physics and maths) especially maths and physics because they offer huge new challenges. I’m intrigued to know what your favourite topic in chemistry is though?

Thank you so much! I am a sucker for anything organic - particularly when you’re dealing with aromatic compounds as well as aliphatic and alicyclic ones :)