Study de-stress (Georgie)

Phew! I have decided to take 15minutes from stressing to write this post and perhaps it will give me a bit of perspective.

I have just realised there is a live time word count that shows at the bottom of this post while I am writing – very cool, and distracting. 49 words so far.

Anyway, essays are stressing me out. I suppose I know that I’ll get them done eventually and it will all be over by the 9th, but three research essays is a lot and I missed out on two weeks of study because of the Philippines. Don’t get me wrong, it was totally worth it of course, but now I just feel like I’m two weeks behind, not only in essays, but in all the other stuff.

Oaktree is going well. I’m really glad i decided to do the Generate Program. If anyone out there wants to get into volunteering but doesn’t know where to start look at:

http://www.theoaktree.org/Public/Home.aspx?Page=tZNPnpq/SyU=&opt=WpiO1ubWMI4=

In my group, we’re running a fundraiser called: ‘One Day. One Colour. Just One Dollar.’ We’ll going into a few different schools, getting the kids to wear red to school and donate a gold coin and making them aware of Oaktree and global poverty. I managed to get my old school to sign up for it, which is a bit exciting. And now we’re just working out all the details.

SALP is great. I really like my group. Can’t remember if I’ve written this before or not but our Action Learning Group (ALG – really just a fancy name for a group) is running a Neighbourhood Day at Melbourn Uni to engage with the wider community, particularly with the people that live in nearby commission flats. It’s been a bit tricky working with another group, just trying to get times to meet up etc. for 11 people is difficult. But now we’ve split up jobs and have a secretary and co-ordinator, which will hopefully make things a bit smoother. But it sometimes feels like our group dominates the conversation a bit more because we’re all louder, so I think I’ll have to make an effort not to talk so much and listen to the quieter people in the group. Just about finished the business plan though!

Went out for dinner last night on Bridge Road with some uni friends. I was quite looking forward to it but then got massively sad once I got there. I think I was just feeling a bit self conscious about my body and what I was wearing etc. But maybe I was just thinking about all the work piling up? Who knows. Anyway, came home quite early so it was a bit of a bummer of a night.

My North America trip is finally taking shape! We had the first meeting last Friday with everyone doing the history subject ‘Searching for the American Dream’, which made it seem very real, which I suppose it should as it’s only a few weeks away!

I was chatting to my old Canadian roommate from my exchange and we were working out my first two weeks before the subject starts and it looks like I’ll:

After flying into Boston, I’ll spend the first weekend with Mary Ellen in St. John’s, Canada. Then, as she works during the week, I’ll go to Quebec and Montreal for 5 days. I’ll then meet back up with Mary Ellen and we’ll go to Halifax together.

I’ll head back down to the States and I really want to go to New Hampshire Why? Well, that is that home state of Jed Bartlett, the fictional president from the West Wing, possibly the best TV show ever. And I also read ‘Notes from a Big Country’ by Bill Bryson and he wrote a lot about living in Hanover, which is where Dartmouth is and now I really want to visit!

Then I am hoping that I can go see Niagara Falls, and maybe Toronto if I can fit it all in – there’s too much to do! And then with the trip we get to spend a week in Boston, a week in New York and then a week in Washington DC – I still have high hopes that I might just bump into President Obama. And then I have a spare week where I might go to Virginia with a friend and maybe spend a bit of extra time in New York.

Has anyone been to the US and/or Canada? Any tips? Where should I go? What should I visit?

Ok, now I am feeling a bit more excited about the trip after writing that. Up until now I’ve just been thinking of all the stuff I have to do before I head off.

I hope everyone is going well studying! Good luck with exams and final essays. And look forward to a month free of uni!

Listening to: Boom Boom Boom, the Black Eyed Peas, I think this is the most hilarious song ever.

Reading: Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Interesting so far

Watching: The second season of The West Wing – how I love it. And the Amanda Byne’s movie Sidney White, yes, I’ve watched it twice already and am thinking I might put it on again. She is a legend.