Monday, August 23, 2010

The Night Before I Begin a New Semester

I'm writing this post as a stream of consciousness the night before I start Fall semester. I have so many emotions rolling around in my head that the only proper way to get them out is to just let them flow naturally, with no thought to grammar or focus.

I've been rotating between feelings of excitement and feelings of anxiousness about starting a new semester. Last semester took everything out of me and having a break for 4 months (aside from my 6-week class) has been amazing. It's been nice to work, then come home and either take a nap or just chill out around the house. No responsibilities, no pressing assignments. It was nice.

I don't even know how much I'll be blogging once school starts. Right now, I'm also doing all the housework and cleaning. Who knew such a small apartment could get so dirty so fast?! I have a few blog posts already written, but I know this semester is going to be pretty crazy. I don't think it'll be as crazy as last semester but I am taking two courses heavy on the writing, one course heavy on the studying, and another course heavy on the research.

I enter every semester with big plans to stretch myself, really research for good stories, and put all my effort into my classes. And within 3 weeks, I'm back to just doing enough to get by with an A or B, but not doing much to stretch myself as a writer. I have big plans this year. I'm taking some exciting classes, like Magazine Feature Writing and Social Media, that make me anxious to get started with this semester. I feel like I'm going to learn so much more about journalism and media, and also about myself through this semester.

I don't think I'm going to be as stressed as I was last semester. For one thing, I'll only be interning one day a week (still toying with Mondays or Wednesdays). For another, I have long breaks between my classes on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I won't be jumping from work mode to school mode to internship mode.

In other great news, my brother and I did our fantasy draft on Saturday. I managed to score Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, AND Drew Brees as my QB's. I also got Adrian Peterson, Larry Fitzgerald, and Randy Moss. My brother got some all-stars as well, so I think it's going to be an amazing season for us! I about killed him last season so I need some competition. Hehehe.

I feel so behind on blog stuff. Saturday night, I had to do the dreaded "Mark All As Read" in Google Reader because I had 162 unread blog posts to get to and knew I would never get to them by the time Monday rolled around. My "blogiversary" was yesterday and months ago, I had big plans on how I was going to celebrate - have my own domain, giveaways, etc. - but I did nothing. I just let it pass.

I have nothing else to say, other than I'm nervous about this semester. I'm nervous about how I'll do, how I'll handle the course load, and what kind of assignments will be thrown at me. I know I can handle it. I just have to prove it to myself again. Hopefully, I won't have too many whiny blog posts this time around.

13 comments:

  1. For some readson I would always get super anxious the day before a semester of school started. But by the time the first week ends, the semester seems to fly by. You can do it! I am jealous of your writing classes by the way..

    Oh and I'm not for sure but my blackberry might have sent my comment when I had only written one line lol so yea sorry!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That feeling of anticipation and nerves before a new semester is so much fun - and in the next few days you'll get your course outlines and you'll know exactly what's in store - you'll be fantastic :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Just stay calm and cool and you'll do a fabulous job!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good luck!! I hope this is a good semester for you - and not too stressful.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think this is going to be a fantastic semester for you - starting anew is always a little scary, but I can sense the big hopes you have for this one - and don't worry about not blogging often enough! I'm at the point these days where I'm making more time for RL things - taking an evening class, exercising, reading and writing - and blogging sometimes has to be cut back a little. Even if you aren't posting as much, it means you'll be doing all sorts of exciting things in the real world - and I can't wait to hear all about them when you are online :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Having BIG plans for a semester is normal - I'm always the exact same way and a few months in all "grand" plans fall by the wayside! Good luck, you're so close to being done :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I wish you the very best for this semester! I remember exactly how you feel - I always was a little ball of nerves and excitement before my first day of a new semester. I hope you enjoy your Feature Writing class; I honestly think that was my favorite journalism class in college. I had a professor who was very creative with our assignments, and how much fun I had actually trumped how nervous I can get when I interview people!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Good luck with the start of the semester! My classes start the 8th--eeek! That feature writing class sounds great! And oh my GOSH best draft EVER! Except of course that you don't have Aaron Rodgers =P. I was watching the Vikings preseason game last night and mourning that Adrian Peterson is stuck on the Vikings/wishing the Packers could get him.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I went to Charleston last Monday through Wednesday with my best friend, Em, and I wrote absolutely NO blog posts the whole week. I started classes again Thursday, so that put blogging off even more. I hardly checked Facebook and didn't even glance at Twitter until about Friday. It was nice to relax and feel like I had no obligations for a whole week (besides school, that is). I was reluctant to get back to blogging, and I know that I won't be doing much of it in the near future because this is going to be one heck of a semester for me. Lots of English classes, lots of reading, lots of writing, lots of homework. I wish I could financially afford to only work about 20-25 hours this semester because I will need ALL the time I can get to read, study, and write, because my co-workers love to just walk up to me at work and start talking my face off while I'm trying to concentrate on school work whenever we're not busy. It drives me insane to the point where I almost have to get mean about it. I need to go buy a lottery ticket. I win the lottery, I don't have to work, I can focus a lot of my attention on school, and give to charities. Sounds like a great plan. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  10. I am sure you'll do fabulously. It's always nerve-wracking to start a new semester, but eventually things fall into place. :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. First, don't worry too much about your blog...school most definitely comes first!

    Second, if you ever need an extra brain for story ideas or editing, let me know, I took a GAZILLION journalism classes :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. At the beginning of the week,(this would be friday and I am a like a day late and a dollar short on this post :) ) i was horribly, biting my nails nervous, but after the events and stress of the last couple of days I'm too tired to be nervous anymore. I'm just ready to get in there and get started with it already.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Having BIG plans for a semester is normal - I'm always the exact same way and a few months in all "grand" plans fall by the wayside! Good luck, you're so close to being done :)

    ReplyDelete

Comments make me all giddy with excitement.

 
Design by Designer Blogs