The schedule I made and posted outside my door so my roommates always know where to find me!
As I took a personal day Saturday to celebrate my birthday, Sunday I definitely felt the pressure to get cracking on all the work that needed to be done by Monday and Tuesday. In addition to everyday reading (there is a TON of reading in college) I seemed to have agreed to lead a discussion for my Women in Fiction class, create an interactive review session and study guide for my Anthropology class, and I had a Studies in Fiction paper due Monday. Wow.
After I buckled down and got cracking, I found myself checking item after item off my to-do list. Finally, all that stood between me and being down was the paper, and I already had a paragraph done and ideas to round out the remainder of it. No problem. Then I looked ahead to my week and thought that it would be another busy week. Which is both positive and negative.
Negative side? I am constantly on the go, as most students at Hanover are, and sometimes if I don’t plan carefully, I have to scramble to get assignments done on time. Positive things? Time goes by so much faster if you are always in classes, meetings, activities or doing homework. It really helps combat homesickness, as you don’t get a lot of time to sit around and think how much you miss your family and friends back home. When you do have time to think about these things, you probably use that time to catch up on sleep, eating and/or squeezing in some television time.
Here enters my Monday-Friday schedule with Saturdays and Sundays being blocked out by homework or trips home. I am taking five classes this semester: Women in Fiction, Studies in Fiction, Black Death, Intro to Anthropology and Fitness Walking. Obviously, Fitness Walking doesn’t give me any homework, but that is still an hour three times a week that is dedicated to spending time in the gym.
Women in Fiction and Intro to Anthro only meet Tuesdays and Thursdays, but as with most biweekly classes, the class times are double so I spend two hours in each class instead of just one. Black Death (a course focused entirely upon The Plague in the 14th century) and Studies in Fiction meet the standard three times a week for an hour. I really enjoy all of my classes this semester; I just find they take up quite a chunk of time between the class time, daily assignments and reading.
After I decide when I am free (once class time has been decided) I have to schedule in club/organization meetings (and all the events that go along with them). Right now I am an active member of the Campus Activities Board (CAB), Student Activities Center committee (SAC) and Crowe/Coulter/Wiley Hall Council. This may not sound like it is anything to worry about, and generally, it’s not. But when each club schedules events for the same day and time, it gets troublesome. I have become pretty good at dividing my time and still giving each club my all. I am so happy to be a member of each of these clubs as they have given me great opportunities.
Once clubs and classes are penciled in, I find time for work. Having a job on campus, off campus, or both is very helpful as it provides you with little bits of money that you can use on your wants and needs while you are away at school. Right now I am a blogger, research assistant, cultural events attendance taker, dog-sitter and tutor.
This still may seem like a lot to have going on at any given time, but I like being busy, and I find that I still get to do other fun activities on campus like attend movie nights, go out for dinner and watch television. It only gets overwhelming when everything is happening at once!
