Boost Your Spanish With More Complex Synonyms For Words You Already Know

this quiz tells you what your homeric epithet would be and well, isn’t this the question that keeps us all up at night? feel free to reblog and put your epithet in the tags, mine is bright-eyed

im acting like a bad bitch with resting bitch face whilst walking to uni but really im listening to chewing gum

so I got into grad school today with my shitty 2.8 gpa and the moral of the story is reblog those good luck posts for the love of god

language learning is basically 95% mistakes with 5% inspiration

i’ve spent the past seven and a half years saying “qué peña” instead of “qué pena”.

me, a whole late bilingual, has been walking around saying “what a ROCK!” instead of “what a PITY!”

qué pena…

what to use a notebook for

planning and organising

dream house plan

recipe collection 

trip / vacation planner

bucket lists 

a bullet journal

pet book (dates of vet visits, photos as they grow up, etc)

baby journal (similar to pet one)

plan with me challenge 

idea dump

budget book

school

class / lecture notes

textbook notes

school planner or bullet journal

university research / application planner

reviews

cafe / restaurant 

books

movies

music

tv series

artsy craftsy

poetry 

writers notebook

sketchbook

sticker collection

gardening journal

photo journal

inspiration / moodpboard scrapbook

fun n cute

happiness journal (write one thing each day that made you happy)

gratitude journal

quote collection 

travel journal

dream journal 

sentence-a-day journal (write a sentence about every day)

journaling challenges (you can find a bunch of prompts online)

astronomy journal

how to study when you REALLY don’t want to

we’ve all been there. You have a paper due in the morning, it’s 10 pm, and you’re sitting at your desk, feeling dead. Or maybe it’s 3 pm, and you’re just SO overwhelmed with an endless to do list and so many pages to read or annotate or take notes on that you just think,

screw it. I just won’t do anything. 

Listen, I get it. I understand. I LOVE learning, but I often find myself bogged down by homework, that incessant, painful reminder that you’re being forced to learn.  Nobody likes that.

So below are some of my tips for studying, especially when you really, really don’t feel like doing it.

What’s your absolute dream school? Columbia? That’s amazing. Harvard? Incredible. Florida State? Awesome. Wherever you want to be in two years- whether it be college, grad school, teaching, etc. Picture yourself learning in your dream learning environment, doing what you love the most. Maybe for you, that daydream means picturing yourself in a New York City coffee shop, working on Literature homework from Barnard College. Or maybe it means cramming biology in a crowded, raucous library at UMass. Whatever makes you get excited about learning- take the fuel you feel from those daydreams and use it to fan the flames of your love for learning. 

Treat every single class like it’s your absolute favorite class ever. Listen. I don’t care if you have the shittiest teacher on planet earth. I don’t care if you couldn’t give less of a fuck about quantum physics or functions or whatever. You have the privilege and the opportunity to learn anything and everything, and we could all do good to stop taking that for granted. Treat AP Calculus like it’s your favorite subject EVER, even when- especially when it feels like pulling teeth. But how? You might be asking. The secret is that it’s really, really not that hard. There are so many ways to motivate yourself to do that subject you’ve been putting off for days, and you know it!! Use studyblr to find inspiration for That Subject™, make a study group, trap yourself in your dorm/library/coffee shop until you just finish one problem set, just START. Chances are when you see other people being productive and getting shit done in that subject (cough studyblr cough) you’ll want to do it too. 

Eat, sleep, and live. Listen to me: you HAVE to stop killing yourself to do more school. Your to-do list ISN’T GOING TO JUST GO AWAY. There’s always going to be things you have to do and things you could be stressed about. But stress, school, and homework are not excuses to abandon self-care, friendships and having a social life. Go out with your friends! Go to the movies! Go to that football game! Get the important stuff done and stop worrying about your endless list! Having somewhere to go will motivate you to get done faster, and you’re going to feel a lot better after going out and having fun than sitting at home alone procrastinating. Chances are, you’ll be more energized to get some work done too. 

Pay attention to what your body’s telling you. Switch out midnight iced lattes for smoothies and fruit. Eat lots of food that makes you feel good, healthy and fulfilled. Stop snacking on the same 4 chips every time you study and start learning how to fuel your body and your brain. If you know you can’t eat a full breakfast before school, find things you can eat, and I mean MORE THAN JUST COFFEE STRAIGHT FROM THE POT. Track what you eat for an entire week, and I mean EVERYTHING. Track your water intake, coffee intake, and soda intake. On top of food tracking, also track your mood, productivity, and overall feeling of wellbeing. At the end of the week, see what’s up! Look for patterns, dehydration, food inconsistencies, gross stuff you eat a lot, things you want to change, all of it. And then actually MAKE THE CHANGES.

I know I’m going to sound like your mom friend here, but that’s kind of what I am, so: drink👏🏻more👏🏻water👏🏻!!!!!!! I cannot STRESS THIS ENOUGH!!!!!!! FUEL YOUR BODY!!! YOU WILL FEEL BETTER!!!

in conclusion…

- picture yourself learning in your dream learning environment

- picture the payoff, you doing what you want to do - nursing or teaching or building fancy ass AI robotos or whatever it is

- do NOT take your education for granted!!!! learning is such an opportunity and not everyone gets it

- treat yourself like a normal human being.  take care of yourself.  shower.  eat.

- pay attention to your body.  pay attention to what you need.  pay attention to what you WANT

- drink your water, listen to some jazz, and just start somewhere.

- small progress is still progress 

When Writer’s Block Meets Imposter Syndrome

So I am at that point in my apps where I have to write a personal statement and I am S T U C K. I can talk and talk about language and how much it means to me, when I put pen to paper, suddenly I feel less valid and like my ideas and interests aren’t all that interesting.

I know that I shouldn’t be as nervous as I am. I know that I am a good scholar and that I worked really hard to even be able to consider going to grad school. I know that I can do this.

I think I just need some more perspective. 

the 20s are soon upon us

things to include

flapper dresses

jazz music

sex positivity

women’s rights

renewal of arts & culture

increased immigration & cultural sharing

sequins

eyeliner

things to leave behind

racism & nativism

consumerist culture

white guys writing “the great american novel”