God This Week Has Been Hell But It Won’t End That Way!

100 days of productivity

Day 29 - day I officially stepped back into the grind ngl

Discussion post for pathogens

Case study for pathogens

Week 13 Content quiz for pathogens

Duolingo lesson

Cooked for my family

I’d be fluent by now if it were real 😩

Duolingo's April fool's thing this year is absolutely hilarious and honestly I wish it was real

Let’s do this for December!

Mindful December study and self-care challenge

Okay, so here is my December study and self-care challenge! It’s thought to be motivational and habit-forming, but bear in mind that everyone works differently and is involved in a different field, so if you need to make adjustments to this challenge to fit your personal needs, then do it. Feel free to adjust this and view it as a source of motivation and inspiration. Also, you don’t need to this in the right order. The most important thing about this challenge is that you get to know yourself better and find peace while moving in the right direction personally. 

You can dedicate daily posts to this challenge in which you elaborate the questions, but of course its also okay to post nothing at all or just on selected days where you feel like you have anything to say, especially because this is a very personal thing. If you decide to post something, you can tag them with #al study challenge. I’d love to read about your experiences! 

1. Tidy up your study space and make a mind map of things that you want to accomplish this month, as well as a list of deadlines for December and January. Keep in mind that a clean study space needs to be kept up with during this challenge, so it’s a daily task to keep it neat. Also, remember to drink enough water or tea during this challenge and to sleep well. 

2. Do you have a big project coming up? I need to write a 15-page-essay, so this needs a lot of preparation. Make a mind map for that big project as well. 

3. Create a study routine plan, so that you will accomplish your goal and make it realistic. You know yourself best, so make up a plan that you’ll be able to stick to. Set up the goal of doing at least one thing a day. Of course, more is fine, but don’t overwork yourself. 

4. Start planning your days in the morning (or in the evening before), if you don’t already. Also, try to be mindful. How are you feeling today? What are your plans besides studying? You don’t need to study for 5 hours straight because others do. You can, but it’s not necessary. It’s also fine to take a day off in case you’re not feeling well. Just do some little thing, a short assignment or a reading that is fun. Keep that in mind.

5. Meditate for at least 10 minutes. Sit or lay down comfortably and focus on your breath. Try to control your thoughts by trying to think nothing or of a specific word or thing. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t work right away. 

6. Try the pomodoro technique for doing a task that you don’t really like and have problems focusing on. You study for 25 minutes, and then do a 5 minute break. Repeat this, and take a long break after 3 or 4 sessions, or stop studying, if you’ve accomplished your goal for the day. 

7. Record yourself reading out some of your notes that you need to remember, go for a walk and listen to it. Did this method work for you? Do you remember more? 

8. Don’t forget that project you’re working on! Read through some literature or do some more revising. Check your progress, and make adjustments on your planning or your mind map if necessary. 

9. Time-log your day to become mindful of what you spend your time on. Eliminate obvious distractions. Remember that it’s perfectly fine to do pointless things just for fun in between, but your daily life shouldn’t be centered around playing Candy Crush. 

10. Do something study-related that has to do with other people. Study with friends, start a study group or read an essay of someone else to see how study methods of other people look like or how they think differently than you. Try to pick something up that you remember and learn from. 

11. Try out a different study space and see how well you do there. You could work at the library, or in the kitchen instead of your desk, or at a café. Reflect how you did there, and you were able to work out more effectively, think about changing your study space. 

12. Declutter. Make space in your room, and therefore space in your head. You could sort some things out that you don’t use anyway, and either throw them away, sell or donate them or gift them to someone. There are great Facebook groups for doing that.

13. Do you move your body regularly? Doing some sort of fitness activity strengthens your ability to discipline yourself, but also your brain and muscles. Try it out! Go to a local gym and do a free trial training or look up workouts on Youtube. You can try Yoga, Pilates, or more challenging stuff like HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). 

14. Check the apps on your phone. Which do you spend most time on and why? Are they useful in any way, or are they a waste of time? Could you download some more apps that could help you reach your goals, like drinking more water? Remember day 9.

15. How does your sleep schedule look like? Is it regular? Try to go to bed earlier and get up earlier or later and see in which direction your productivity levels go. 

16. How do you motivate yourself? Have you already established a method that works for you? If you don’t need motivation for studying and can rely on your discipline, that’s great, but a little motivation doesn’t hurt anyone. You could make a vision board or watch study videos on Youtube, for example.

17. Have you thought about trying something new in the past weeks or months, like learning a new instrument or language? Why don’t you give it a try? 

18. Do something for your body, as this self-care concerning your outside will also reflect on your inside. Buy or mix your own face mask, take a long and hot shower or bath, put on make-up or put lotion all over your body. Do something you’re comfortable with.

19. In the past 17 days, you have implemented studying into your routine. Did you have any distracting thoughts? If so, what were they about? Were they centered around a special topic? In which location are you able to study best? Think about those things to improve your productivity.

20. What have you procrastinating for the longest time? Do it, or at least start doing it. If you can’t make yourself do it, at least try to start and say yourself you’ll do it for five minutes. Try to do five more, and so on. How do you feel afterwards? 

21. Read something for enjoyment. Light up a scented candle, make yourself comfortable and enjoy the book. 

22. What is your favorite planning method, and which have you already tried? Which didn’t you try yet? Maybe it is time to find out what method is the most effective for you personally. 

23. Watch a documentary that widens your horizon. Either on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Youtube or any other platform you can think of. Suggested topics: Environment, consumerism, nutrition, animals, science.

24. Do you have a personal book which addresses personal development? Which is it? Who, would you say, could this help, and with which issues? What did it help you with? If you haven’t read one yet, why not do some research? You don’t have to buy a book if you don’t want to, of course. 

25. Reflect: What has helped you personally, and in your studies and what didn’t? Maybe repeat some daily challenges on the remaining days of the month. Remember to enjoy the end of the year, make yourself a nice time and don’t pressure yourself too much. Have a nice New Year’s Eve and Christmas, in case it’s celebrated in your culture or in your life or family, personally. 

Day 29: What are three things that you are proud of? 

The thing I’m most proud of are my academic accomplishments. I have always been study oriented and have obtained incredible results like being let in one of the best public universities in my country. I consider myself so proud in my accomplishments it’s more arrogance than anything else if I’m honest; but hey I spent my life doing something why not be proud!

Seeing that I’m getting my life back together: I came back home being obese and yesterday I hit the milestone of being at a normal BMI. Second I was able to keep up with at least two challenges this month and my grades are starting to look up. I’m starting a challenge for myself which is to keep a bullet journal updated for November. As Kronk would say: “Oh yea it’s all coming together.”

My new ability to try, make and keep new and old friends. I am used to alienating myself to favor either my schoolwork or I preferred being alone but I want to be around people; Life alone is quite melancholy which my therapist drilled into me and I want people to be a part of my life so baby steps would be to join a group chat. In college take a swig of coffee with some friends I got from class and talk about everything. For my old friends that I barely talk to, I know I have to work to earn their friendship back and the best part is the fact I’m trying everyday.

Best language learning tips & masterlists from other bloggers I’ve come across

(these posts are not my own!)

THE HOLY GRAIL of language learning (-> seriously tho, this is the BEST thing I’ve ever come across)

Tips:

Some language learning exercises and tips

20 Favorite Language Learning Tips

what should you be reading to maximize your language learning?

tips for learning a language (things i wish i knew before i started)

language learning and langblr tips

Tips on how to read in your target language for longer periods of time

Tips and inspiration from Fluent in 3 months by Benny Lewis

Tips for learning a sign language

Tips for relearning your second first language

How to:

how to self teach a new language

learning a language: how to

learning languages and how to make it fun

how to study languages

how to practice speaking in a foreign language

how to learn a language when you don’t know where to start

how to make a schedule for language learning

How to keep track of learning more than one language at the same time

Masterposts:

Language Study Master Post

Swedish Resources Masterpost

French Resouces Masterpost

Italian Resources Masterpost

Resource List for Learning German

Challenges:

Language-Sanctuary Langblr Challenge

language learning checkerboard challenge

Word lists:

2+ months of language learning prompts

list of words you need to know in your target language, in 3 levels

Other stuff:

bullet journal dedicated to language learning

over 400 language related youtube channels in 50+ languages

TED talks about language (learning)

Learning the Alien Languages of Star Trek

.

Feel free to reblog and add your own lists / masterlists!

Winter Studying Challenge

December 15: What’s the coolest gift you ever gave someone?

I gave my ex three video games: a resident evil game, wolfenstein, and another one. They were games he liked so why not?

December 16: What’s your favorite Christmas movie?

Rudolph the red nose reindeer from 1964.

That is beautiful, it's like the ice bucket challenge but hardcore :}

Finland, since 1918

Look I don’t really have anything to say about the Finnish flag. But I do want to point out that they just celebrated the most bizarre holiday I’ve ever heard of:

National Sleepy Head Day (Finnish: Unikeonpäivä) is celebrated in Finland on July 27 every year. Traditionally on this day, the last person in the house (also dubbed as the “laziest”) to wake up is woken up using water, either by being thrown into a lake or the sea, or by having water thrown on them. Other traditions include shaving the left side of the “laziest” man’s chest. It is based on the story of the Saints of Ephesus who slept in a cave for some 200 years during the Middle Ages whilst hiding from persecution by Decius, the Roman Emperor at the time.

In the city of Naantali, a Finnish celebrity is chosen every year to be thrown in the sea from the city’s port at 7 a.m. The identity of the sleeper is kept secret until the event. People who are chosen have usually done something to the benefit of the city. Every city mayor has thus far been thrown to the sea at least once, but other sleepers have included the president Tarja Halonen’s husband, Dr Pentti Arajärvi, the CEO of Neste Oil Risto Rinne, along with many writers, artists and politicians. The celebrations continue into the evening in Naantali and include activities for people of every age.

Like seriously what the fuck is going on in Finland.

100 days of productivity

Day 19 (Day late a g a i n)

Today I did:

Finished my 48 hour fast

Bioinformatics final part 1

Bioinformatics final part 1 checkpoint

Cooked food

Finished modules 5, 6, and 11 teaching plans

Duolingo lesson ( I am a slave to that bird I s2g)

Winter Studying Challenge

December 8: When should people start preparing for, decorating and celebrating Christmas? 

November and the entire month of December. If you’re feeling saucy, start in July.