Catching a breath
Where did February go? It feels like the month has just started and now it's going to end in 3 days. I'm not the biggest fan of Reading Week. Sure, I enjoyed it in my 1B term, thinking that it's the most awesome thing that we get to have a whole week off. But now that I'm in my last term, I don't appreciate it so much anymore. It makes no sense to me. It totally disrupted my momentum, decreased my productivity, squished all my midterms right before and right after the "break". It feels so unnecessary, considering that a few years back, the Faculty of Math and Engineering only had Reading DAYS (Thurs and Fri), so half the people on campus were off for a week and the other half stuck in classes. It's the weirdest thing to have one whole week off in the middle of what I already consider a very short term. If anyone know the history of how the concept of Reading Week started, please tell me. If there's a point to this, why aren't there a break like this in Fall & Spring term? If I had a choice, I'd rather start the term a week later, or end the term a week earlier. But that's just me. At least I got one thing done over the break - wisdom teeth extractions! Not fun.
To-do's:
Now that the break is over, it's time to get back to business! I feel so behind in everything. So it's list time.
Housekeeping:
- Fixed my teeth and made sure I won't need more dental work this summer
- 1st WUSC deadline Feb 20 (send copy of passport, medical form, signed contract)
- 2nd WUSC deadline Mar 13 (proof of insurance, short bio, a photo, document checklist)
Confirm the health insurance stuff- Book immunization appointment (Mar 20)
Submit remaining donations to Elyse- Apply for travel bursaries
- Follow up with WUSC re: living expenses
Submit Intend to Graduate form
- Blog about the book I just finished (Me to We)
- Post research about Somarelang Tikologo
- Post research about Botswana
- Attend Innovation & Sustainable Community Change workshop on Mar 3 hosted by SIG @ Waterloo
- Start looking into the Setswana langauge (find an online dictionary & print important stuff)
- Prepare for final presentation on Mar 26
- Video project (details TBD)
- Read Getting to Maybe by Frances Westley and End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs
- Re-read Race Against Time by Stephen Lewis
- OH, and study for my other 4 courses - 2 labs, 2 midterms, 4 finals (almost forgot, ha!)
That's it for now! March looks like it will be a busy month, but I am thoroughly enjoying every moment of it.
Labels: Beyond Borders
posted by Ruby Ku at
8:32 PM
2 Comments:
How did you do the To Do list? I want one on mine!! You never cease to amaze me with your technological prowess.
I can answer your Why Reading Week question. It was created due to an overwhelmingly shocking statistic that university and college kids were more likely to commit suicide during this particular time of year than any other time. I can't even remember what the numbers were or where I heard this info, I have just known about it for ages. The theories behind it are that some people have difficult holiday seasons with family after just having come off of final exams term one. That plus Feb is usually the time when people have the least amount of money as this is when the Christmas bills start coming in. By now they have dealt with cold and dark climate weather (which does affect mood) and they are about to walk into mid terms with all of this hanging over their heads. Put all that together: bad home life, no money, bad weather, post christmas blues, impending exams and pre existing unhappiness and you have a recipe for high suicide rates. So the powers that be decided to save us all from varying degrees of distress and let us have a week to chill and calm down, or read and catch up, rebuild and focus. I for one am greatful for it but i can understand your frustrations with how they break up productivity.
But thats why. :o)
PS) only canada and the UK have them
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