Dealing with Covid in College

Posted on January 17, 2022January 19, 2022

COVID-19 is something that has now affected everyone’s day-to-day life, and with new variants, we are all predicted to be affected yet again. Whether this be with sickness, isolation, virtual meetings and work, wearing a mask, or more pushes to get a vaccine/booster, these will all be the topics we can’t avoid in the upcoming semester.

I was exposed my freshman year of college and put into isolation housing in the dorms and at home, but I became sick over winter break this year (one year later). As unlucky as it is to become sick, I was lucky enough to not have to miss school. Although I did miss work, my quarantine time (and isolation time from the past) taught me a lot. To prepare for times like these or if you find yourself affected by the pandemic in any form, read and try using these steps to maintain your day to day lifestyle:

1. Talk to people. You can not go weeks, maybe not even days without human interaction. It is a necessity, even for the introverts out there. Call, or better yet video call, your friends, family, significant other, neighbors, resident assistants, and whoever you can think of. Even a professor you are comfortable talking with will most likely graciously set up a time to chat over zoom. People care about you, and when you are affected by the pandemic, people are likely to want to find ways to help, even if it is just to be a listening ear about everything that is going wrong.
2. Communicate constantly. Rather than just having a day-to-day conversation, make sure you are getting on a deeper level with people, especially professors if the pandemic is affecting your ability to attend class or complete classwork. Your professors want to see you succeed, despite how that may seem sometimes. Be open to them about your situation, preferably through email. Tell them if you need more time because you weren’t feeling up for work, they know you are in a stressful and mentally draining situation. Tell them you didn’t want to risk going to class because you were exposed to someone who tested positive, they will appreciate you keeping everyone safe. Tell them you didn’t remember to grab your textbook when you were moving to isolation, they will understand you were focused on grabbing more important things. Your friends, family, significant other, neighbors, resident assistants, and more will also be likely resources to help get you accommodations that you may need for your day-to-day life, sickness, and happiness. No matter what, communicate with those you encounter often so they can help you shape a more enjoyable experience in this dreadful time.
3. Pack activities (if you’re moving to an isolation room.) When I moved to an isolation room on campus, I was panicked. I knew I was going to be going home to isolate shortly, but I couldn’t process that in the moment. I’m pretty sure I packed an excessive amount of clothes for the possible time being, and I forgot all of my chargers for the electronics I packed. I didn’t grab anything to keep me busy, so you could imagine when my electronics died at the end of that day how bored I was. Even with electronics, the same old thing day after day gets boring. Bring a craft, something to color, something to read, etc.
4. Bring medicine, vitamins, and rejuvenating liquids. When I was sick, multivitamins, Vitamin C, Mucinex, Aleve, Powerade, and Zinc were my besties. Taking medicine and vitamins consistently is important as well as staying hydrated. You will never know when or if you will get sick, so stock up on these now so you have them later. It doesn’t hurt to start practicing healthy habits now too!
5. Stay as consistent as you can. If you are sick or in isolation, your days will most likely feel thrown off. You won’t want to eat, sleep, drink, complete tasks and work, or get ready for the day on your typical schedule. This is okay. You are sick and/or in a stressful situation, people will understand this. However, you will be alone and have to take care of yourself. Go to bed and wake up at a decent time. Eat meals as you normally would. Try to stay on top of your schoolwork as much as possible so you aren’t overwhelmed when things go back to normal. Do what you need in this time, but make it as close as possible to your average day (fake it to you make it!)
6. Pamper yourself. You may need extra sleep, go to bed early. You may feel the need to shower more, do it. You may feel the need to eat more, eat. You may want to do a skin cleanse, use that face mask. Relax and drink lots of water!

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My First College All-Nighter

Posted on December 5, 2021

When you think of a college student, I hope you think of someone studious, but also very busy! I am both of these qualities to the extreme. I will not go to bed until my school work is done or I am satisfied with the progress I made. This led me to my first college all-nighter!

Somehow, I made it through the majority of my first year before this happened, but it was such a rough experience I will not be doing it again. Maybe I will be coming close to it, but even that is a push! Now, what did I do all day and night to stay busy? What led to so much work to do in just one night?

All week I had chapter readings to complete, notes to take, and lectures to attend. Sounds like a pretty typical college student to me, but I was also playing catch up in my courses at this time since I was just coming back to class from being sick. A note for being sick or missing lectures in college: you have to work twice as hard as you think to get back on track!

I had a lot on my plate with this, discussion boards, and essays, so I kept pushing back starting my lab report for Foundations of Biology further and further away. We also had a group project due a few days prior, so I worked on that before my own report because I did not want to let my group down! Needless to say, I was being productive, but I had a lot of work to do.

Once my classes settled down in the day, I started to refresh my memory for the materials I was supposed to be writing about in my lab report, and this is when I realized I had only half the idea of what I was supposed to talk about in this major report I had due at 8am the next morning.

So I did what any logical college student would do. I typed up what I was confident in, then went to get some food and coffee :)

At this point, I had no idea I was going to be pulling an all nighter, but shortly after dinner when I was trying to teach myself the material I needed to elaborate on in my report to analyze my data, it became apparent that it was going to be a long night.

I rewatched lectures and read my textbook for hours. I was using Google to look up things that didn’t ring a bell left and right. I didn’t even know what type of diagrams I was looking at at one point. This part just took persistence. I knew I was behind and needed to learn a lot of material quickly, so that’s what I did. After I felt like I knew the concepts decently, I resumed writing my report and decided that I would look up anything I ran into an issue with.

Around midnight, I needed a break. I went to Clinton Street Market in Burge Residence Hall right before they closed. If you are unfamiliar with campus, this can easily be where all of your laundry money goes. It is a great place to go get something quick to eat or snack on when you don’t have time to go to the dining hall or the dining hall is not open. I grabbed some sweet snacks and of course more coffee before heading back to work on my report.

Fast forward six hours of intense typing, researching, and editing, I came to the conclusion of my report. I was struggling to focus, stay awake, and muster the motivation to finish. But, I started to jump around a bit to wake myself up, and for the next hour, I edited my report.

Here is the funny part. People were starting to wake up now that it was getting to 7am. My resident assistant, who was also the RA on duty the night before, walked by the lounge I was in on his way to the bathroom when he woke up. He stopped by to peek in and see why the lights were on so early. When he saw me, he realized that I pulled an all-nighter and we laughed about it!

This gave me the energy I needed to finish editing my report. And after just reading through it one time, I submitted it! However, I was not done there. I still had a whole new day to get through. I freshened up and was out the door to classes again.

This experience was rough and made me truly value the (little) sleep I get! Before I came to college, I thought students pulled all-nighters left and right, but most people do not at all. It is good to set boundaries for when to sleep, and I just learned that the hard way.

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Thanksgiving Break 101

Posted on November 30, 2021

Hey Hawkeyes, I don’t know about you, but Thanksgiving break was much needed for me. The week before break started, I had 4 papers due and two midterms. Academic burnout was hitting me in the face like never before. Once break started, I took a few days to rejuvenate my energy, then I thought it would be great to stay productive. Follow along with some of the things I did:

Friday: Fun day

• Finished up classes
• Met up with a friend from home who was visiting and touring the University of Iowa
• Went to the movies (for the first time in a long time)!

Saturday: Fun day

• Went out for breakfast at Goosetown Cafe
  • It was my first time here and I highly recommend trying this place, I’ll definitely be going back! The cafe itself is gorgeous and has great service.
• Went to the game (and saw the last Hawkeye home game win for the season)!

Sunday: Relaxation and fun day

• Drove home (yay!)
• Spent lots of time with family and played lots of uno

Monday: Productivity and relaxation day

• Lots of errands ran today
• Watched lots of Netflix
• Made dinner and baked some cookies!

Tuesday: Relaxation day

• I ran a few errands
• Caught up with some more family and friends

Wednesday: Productivity day

• Studied and got ahead in some reading for class

Thursday: Relaxation and fun day

• Spent lots of time with family and friends
• Ate lots of good food :)

The rest of break: Productive days

• Drove back to Iowa
• Worked lots!
• Read for class to get ahead

After this break, I feel ready to jump back into classes for another few weeks. However, I can’t wait for another break. It was so nice getting to stay at home for awhile! I am also very thankful I stayed productive. Putting in some hours at work and getting ahead in classwork was very helpful as I am preparing for classes this week. I hope you all also had some fun this week and stayed productive! :)

 

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Do I Have Time For That? Time Management In College

Posted on November 9, 2021

Time is so valuable as a college student. Not only do you have a strict schedule, but somehow you also have to find ways to value other people’s time when it comes to office hours, group projects, and even just hanging out with friends. Here are some time management tips I have learned in my college experience:

• If it takes less than five minutes, do it now.

Chances are if you procrastinate on something small, you are going to forget about it. Whether it is writing something down, sending an email, or organizing your notes, just get it done. The perk of this is it is something off of your to-do list that you won’t even have to write down!

• Use a digital calendar you can access on all of your devices.

Planning ahead is essential, and using a calendar makes it easy. If you have apple devices, I recommend using the calendar app and syncing your calendar across your devices (bonus points for color coding)!! If you don’t have apple devices, try seeing if you can find one embedded in your email. I know Office 365 emails have a calendar feature you can access with any device as long as you simply sign into your email. At Iowa, this is attached to our ascribed student emails. Try it out!

• See if you can work, volunteer, or complete research on a consistent schedule.

It is easier to get things done if you don’t have to worry about keeping track of when to do them! Ask for a consistent schedule in the activities you are involved in. For example work after class on Mondays, Thursdays, and Sundays. Volunteer Wednesday nights once every two weeks. Work in a research lab before and between classes on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. No matter your schedule, make it something you can get used to.

• Study every day.

No one has time to effectively cram in college. Study a bit every day, type a few paragraphs for that paper, or even take it easy and rewatch lectures. Whatever you do, do something. It will pay off not only in the long run for the retention of information, but you are also going to thank yourself when you are running low on time to get an assignment in.

• Let people know your limits.

College will eat up every second of your time if you allow it. However, you still have to allow time for yourself in order to be healthy and productive. When you need a break from all that is going on or have to tell yourself when to sit down and do something, don’t get talked into doing something with your time you don’t want to. Let your friends know “Sorry, that’s time I set aside for…” It can be as simple as cranking out assignments and sending emails, or just going out for coffee with yourself to clear your headspace in the day.

Good luck Hawkeyes and Future Hawkeyes with schedule planning! It can take some trial and error with each semester as classes change, but generally, these are my rules of thumb!

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Myth Busters: A College Lab Report

Posted on November 3, 2021

Hello science people :)

I have had my fair share of lab reports already not only in college but just this semester (so far) as well. Here are some myth busters for you to think about when it comes to writing those pesky lab reports!

• Statement: “You can write these reports quickly.”
  • Myth buster: You can not write these quickly if you want a good grade, even if you are good and quick with writing essays. Science writing assignments at the college level analyze how well the material is resonating with you and how well you can connect your studies to real-world examples. It also depends on the project. In Foundations of Biology, my first lab report I wrote, took a break from and edited in a matter of two days. I received back a great score, so I thought I could follow that time management strategy again. That was my mistake. The next lab report had the same directions and elaboration requirements, but I did not acknowledge that there was more material and concepts to cover… and that’s the story of why I pulled my first college all-nighter! Thankfully I only made this mistake once, but it definitely emphasizes that the length of your project may not be easily seen by the directions. My papers with the same directions differed by almost ten pages!
• Statement: “If you follow the instructions, you are set for a good grade.”
  • Myth Buster: Please, please, please follow the instructions, but you have to go beyond what you are told to write most of the time in order to get a good grade. You have to connect the dots between what you have learned and what you were expected to do in the lab. My first lab report was for Principles of Chemistry I, and I felt like it was super structured with what I needed to write. I wrote it right after my lab, answered all of the questions laid out for me, and did not get the grade I thought I would. Why? My report was shallow. I did not review the concepts that I was elaborating on, so I was not writing what my professors wanted to see. They do not want to see a regurgitation of the lab procedure or their slide deck, they want to see how you can connect a specific concept used in the lab to a broader scale phenomenon and why things work out the way they do. Write about that.
• Statement: “You will write more than the English and Creative Writing majors.”
  • Myth Buster: Well you might… but it depends on the project! Like mentioned before, my first ever lab report was short and sweet, handwritten (and largely spaced out), no diagrams or figures needed, solid two pages. However, my most recent lab report was 24 pages. This was for Diversity of Form and Function. Now how on earth is that difference acceptable? My most recent lab report was over a cumulative project rather than a two-hour single lab. This means this report was acknowledging multiple weeks of being in the lab for three hours at a time. That is a lot of data collected to be reported and elaborated upon! This report was also required in a digital format because pictures and diagrams were expected. This was an easy couple of pages added to the report because in the event your report gets printed, these figures have to be huge (with captions and elaboration on them, too, which are easy points)!
• Statement: “Your professor skims the method and materials section because it is the same for everyone.”
  • Myth Buster: News flash! Everyone is doing the same project, therefore everyone will have (or should have) the same material in their report. Your professor lives, sleeps, and breathes their profession. Many have assigned the same project for years and have read similar reports hundreds of times. They will read every word of your report, they are used to this. They want to know what you know. Even in the materials and methods section, they are checking that you can do more than just regurgitate your lab manual. Do you know how to put the procedure in your own words? Do you know what is most important to include in the report and what is more common sense?

Good luck with your lab report and future lab reports! Always reach out to your professors and teaching assistants for advice on what specific concepts they are looking for.

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What I Learned During Move In

Posted on August 18, 2021August 26, 2021

Hello Hawkeyes, and welcome to the 2021 fall semester. The fun of moving in is something we all look forward to, but no one looks forward to the hassle of actually lugging around a room’s worth of items. So how can you make this process easier? Here are some hacks I found!

1. Organize clothes by season into tubs
   Why bring your entire wardrobe to college if you know you are going home for winter break? The answer is simple… don’t. Go to the store and buy two identical tubs. If it is summer, put all of your fall and your favorite winter items in one tub, and in the other put the rest of your winter clothes. If you are packing in the winter, pack all of your spring clothes and your favorite summer clothes in one tub, and the rest of your summer clothes in the other.Now that you have your out-of-season clothes packed in tubs, put the tub for the upcoming season and favorite items into your car. Pack this tub first! It should be big and bulky, so it is easier to fit small items around the tub than the tub around the smaller items. This tub is going to your dorm room with you, and the other will stay in your closet at home. This will ensure you have some clothes to start you off when the weather changes, and you won’t have to take a special trip home just to switch out clothes. Put this tub somewhere out of sight or reach, because you won’t need it. I slipped mine under my bed and in the corner!

   Now here is the best part. Pack the clothes that are in season into the hamper you will use in college. Stuff this full! Anything that is leftover, put in duffel bags or day bags you can envision yourself using in college. When you get to college you can put these items in dresser drawers or hang them up, but when the season changes, grab that tub from the corner of the room and switch out the items between the tub and your closet. Now you have a new wardrobe that is in season, and all of your out-of-season clothes out of the way without taking a separate trip home! Now when you go home for break, take this tub of out-of-season clothes and switch it out with the tub of now-in-season clothes that are at home, and add to your closet!

2. Plastic wrap is your friendWhen packing for college, you don’t have a lot of space in the car typically. To make it seem roomier, I found it easy to set up my small room pieces such as my three-tier storage cart and my shoe rack, and stuff them with all of the items that can fit in them. That means things inside things inside things. Things that can be squished are, and every nook and cranny is filled with something.

   Now that this sounds like a chaotic mess that will fall all over the place, you have to make it easy to move. Plastic wrap (used for packaging mail is the best but plastic wrap for food works too) will be used to secure your items in the place they are in. Wrap individual shelf units as a tier and every item stays in place. This means you can just pick it up and pack it in the car as easily as if it were empty.

   A bonus for the three-tier cart is that they come with wheels so they can still roll all around campus with your stuff packed full inside and you don’t have to worry about it falling out or getting a moving cart for this item. An additional bonus if your car is anything like mine is, the three-tier cart, although tall, does not have to be set on its side. Instead, mine fit in front of the stationary back seat and our movable passenger seat and rested on our floorboard. The movable passenger seat when pushed back allowed the whole structure to be secured in the car.

3. Reusable bags first, then tiny boxesWhen moving in and out, you have to use every bit of car space possible, but you also have to stay organized. How? Use reusable bags to throw your items inside to allow the bag to form fit into the nooks and crannies of the car. Save these bags on a high shelf or in the corner of your room for when you move out, then you won’t have to track down packing materials. When you run out of reusable bags moving in, use small boxes! These also fit in those small spaces while keeping your things organized. You can also find smaller boxes more readily than those large, awkward, and bulky boxes!

I hope you take these hacks into consideration as you are moving, they certainly helped me out this year as opposed to last year when I did not think these things through!

This blog post will be followed by a tour of my entire new dorm room in the near future.

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How To Stay Productive In The Summer

Posted on June 3, 2021

College students are used to keeping busy, so summer break can feel like you are crashing into a brick wall with nothing to do. What do you do with all your free time? Here are some ways you can keep moving forward with productivity:

• Update your resume
  • You can never have a perfect resume. Update it from last semester, proofread, reorganize it, or even find something to add to it.
• Get a summer job
  • While you are out of school, it never hurts to get a summer job to make more money. This can be picking up more hours at a current job or getting a part-time job.
• Write a new personal statement
  • Your writing skills get better the more you use them. Start that personal statement again and add something new!
• Volunteer
  • Volunteers are needed just about everywhere. Finding somewhere to help out in your free time is a great selfless act for the summer.
• Apply for scholarships and fellowships
  • During the school year, you may not have much time to do this, so take advantage of your free time now to try and earn advances toward your education.
• Review your notes within the past year
  • It is easy to forget details, so review your notes to see what you retained from class and what you should look over again to remember long-term.
• Read a book or other scholarly articles
  • This keeps your mind engaged so you don’t jump back into the school year and feel like you are bombarded with a heavy reading load.
• Look into research
  • Research is always a great opportunity. Find a lab that interests you, work up a resume and personal statement, send an email to see if there are openings in the lab or what the availability is.
• Prepare for post-graduate plans
  • Are you going into the workforce after you graduate? Look into where you want to go. Are you taking an exam for post-undergraduate studies? If so, start studying now. Are you planning on taking a gap year or traveling? Start planning exactly what you want to do.
• Look for summer internships
  • Many businesses understand that students are only free in the summer, so they offer summer internships. See if you can land one in the field of your choice. This helps you get hands-on experience before you have to dive right in.
• Job shadow
  • This is another way to get experience in the field of your choice without having to dive right in. Job shadowing is majorly a hands-off experience where you watch someone do their job and ask questions. This is a great introductory experience to a job of your choice to see if you are truly interested in the job and to get your questions answered.
• Get certified
  • Depending on your career path, different certifications are offered through different programs, but take what you can get! Any certification shows you are willing to put in work early. A common option is the CPR and First Aid certification through the American Red Cross. Even if you are not interested in the health field, this can be a good certification to get, because accidents happen everywhere.
• Take a class
  • It is recommended that you only take classes if you have to in order to graduate during a desired time. This is because summer breaks are supposed to be a break from the traditional academic school year, summer classes have a different cost of attendance than fall and spring tuition, and summer classes are heavily accelerated. If you do take summer classes though, it is a great way to keep your brain busy during the summer so you don’t feel rusty when the fall semester starts.
• Find a summer program
  • Many professional tracks have summer programs across the nation where you can learn more about the profession, practice hands-on skills, and even give a boost to the academic side of your career path. Give a quick google search to summer programs with your major or track to see if there is something that catches your eye!

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