I hate Christmas so much. I've been hating it for ages, mostly because of the atmosphere in our family. This year didn't change my general impression of it too much, although there were only three fights during these days. I despise the compulsory family visits, the "everybody loves everybody" play while it's clear that the feelings of affection are quite sparse around here, and the fact that I cannot decide which part of the family (if any) I want to be with on the 24th. When will I have a normal Christmas?
But now the visits ended, everybody survived, and Christmas is over. Yay! A new year is coming up, and if I had time and I didn't have to work on my thesis, I would try to account for the events of this year so that I can start the next year happy and organized. But I do have to work on my thesis and I do have to find time to meet my friends, so I only think about this past year once in a while. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel: my thesis is fine, I have two more applications to send in and I have to do Rosemary's module's stuff, get an internet connection in my flat, and that's it! By the time I'll be skiing, my life will be in order.
Friday, 28 December 2007
Sunday, 16 December 2007
While writing motivation letters...
I wish I had time to write... So many things are happening. Research, people leaving, exams, end-of-semester rush. Tonight is the application deadline for 3 of the universities I am applying to. 4 more hours to perfect my motivation statement. I am leaving in 10 hours and I am not packed yet. (The washing machine and the dryer are working.) I'm supposed to finish the analysis of my data and my SRT homework before that. I'll be leaving my room in a total mess, which I hate, because I like to arrive back into order. I survived the semester without any complete all-nighters, and now, the first one after the semester has ended will be one...
I HATE WORD LIMITS!
I HATE WORD LIMITS!
Wednesday, 12 December 2007
Extension!
Dear Diana,
On behalf of the Director of Education I would like to inform you that you have an extension for SCIE 400.
The new deadline is 28-12, 2007.
Please make sure your instructor has your work on time.
best wishes,
Ingrid Snooy
drs. Lieke Schreel
Curriculum Manager & Registrar University College Utrecht
drs. Mariëlle Hoff
International Officer
Ingrid Snooy
Assistant to the Registrar
On behalf of the Director of Education I would like to inform you that you have an extension for SCIE 400.
The new deadline is 28-12, 2007.
Please make sure your instructor has your work on time.
best wishes,
Ingrid Snooy
drs. Lieke Schreel
Curriculum Manager & Registrar University College Utrecht
drs. Mariëlle Hoff
International Officer
Ingrid Snooy
Assistant to the Registrar
Sunday, 9 December 2007
Sun is shining!
Wow.... I haven't seen the sun shine for what it seems like weeks. But now the lab is glowing in the sunshine and I have the best view of campus. So beautiful!
Friday, 7 December 2007
Change of plans
No sleep. I'm testing from 19.00 till 21.00 again. I brought a blanket with me this time. The heating is on, but so is the air conditioning... And during the weekend, the heating does not work... Ice, ice, baby. I dropped by Floris' office on my way because I saw that he was still sitting in front of his computer and I told him that he should go home. He asked why I'm dragging a blanket with me. I said I was moving into the psych lab. I might as well do that.
What we need here is a couch. It would be perfect for participants who come too early when somebody is still doing a test, and of course, the tired researher could also sometimes enjoy a comfortable spot. Only joking... But I do spend more time here than anywhere else, so I might bring along a pillow for next time. Especially, when I'm so tired.
What we need here is a couch. It would be perfect for participants who come too early when somebody is still doing a test, and of course, the tired researher could also sometimes enjoy a comfortable spot. Only joking... But I do spend more time here than anywhere else, so I might bring along a pillow for next time. Especially, when I'm so tired.
To do list - 7 December, Friday
Some say that planning is the key to success. So, I planned what I'll do today:
- 00:30 shower
- 00:45 do laundry
- 00:50 compiling Dutch portfolio
- 1:15 go to bed
- 5:00 alarm goes off
- 5:05 snooze
- 5:10 get up and put laundry into dryer
- 5:15 compiling Dutch portfolio
- 6:00 learn the format of a Dutch letter, learn some sentences that might come handy
- (at the same time) make instant noodles for pre-breakfast
- 6:20 check and adjust CV
- 7:00 write cover letters and requests of TOEFL score waiver to Yale, MIT and UPenn
- 7:40 drop by Voltaire and switch the printer on
- 7:50 have breakfast
- 8:15 pick up the Dutch dictionaries that Emily will put in my mailbox till then
- 8:25 print portfolio, CV (1), letters (3 of each)
- 8:45 go to Dutch test
- 10:45: leave Dutch test
- 10:50: drop by College Hall to get my transcript scanned and put in a sealed envelope
- 11:00-13:00 testing for my thesis
- drop off extension request at Floris' office
- cycle to town
- 13:30-14:00 see Nada for consultation
- buy envelopes and post transcripts etc.
- 16:00-17:30 testing for my thesis
- 17:30 dinner
- 18:10-20:10 FREE TIME/SLEEP
- 20:20 testing for my thesis
- 21:00-00:30 SLEEP
- 00:30-00:45 shower
- 01:00-05:00 chief in the bar
- shower
- sleep
I better get started... I have 10 minutes till showering :)
Sunday, 2 December 2007
Testing, smoking ban, unexpected visit
Here I am again. This day is starting very slowly. Yesterday, on the other hand, I woke up relatively early and spent the whole day writing my developmental psych essay. It's a 4000 (well, ended up being 4300) word essay and we were supposed to do it in couples but the instructor was allright with me doing it alone. Group work is a bitch. I rather do double or triple the work than get others involved. I sometimes start to think that I'd be quite low on agreeableness in the Big Five. But I don't need the experience of pulling through a group with the work I am doing again. I need people around me who are motivated, want to do work and actually know how to do it. Please, please, please admit me into a good program! UC has been a huge disappointment in this sense...
I spent the last two weeks with testing people for my thesis and tomorrow I'm starting the second round. I might have to make the new input files by then :) 32 people, each tested twice, each test taking 30-40 minutes, that is almost 43 hours of testing. Plus the time of setting up, the time of people being late or not showing up, chatting a bit, etc. Since the program in the psych lab does not want to run the experiment properly, I need to test people one by one, on my laptop. How lovely. But this is going to grant me my extension, if I'm lucky enough. Frank will sign it, Floris will sign it, and I only need to get Lonia to agree.
I've been also sitting at the BarCo interviews for the positions of Chair, Vice Chair and Building Manager with the present BarCo. What a shame I am not allowed to say anything about the interviews! Only that I never ever want Cassiopée to wake me up 1 minute before a meeting again... May I bitch about the UCSA Board then? No, that wouldn't be nice.
Talking about the UCSA Board, last Wednesday was the GA about changing the smoking policy of the bar. Ok, here comes the bitching, whatever. Why the hell can the UCSA Board not ask us for our opinion? My favorite question and answer of the night was the "Have you thought of how you will implement a smoking ban" by Karin and the "We will discuss that later" by Eelke. So, we were voting on something that they don't even know how to implement. Now, I am a non-smoker, and I would prefer working in a non-smoking environment, but the Tuesday and Friday both non-smoking are a very bad idea. We have many chiefs who are smoking and they will need smoking breaks. The first issue is that they are not allowed to leave the bar without a chief. The second is that if the bartenders are smoking too, there will be about 30 minutes in an hour when the bar will not have the right number of people working behind the bar. Then, we will either have to have non-smoking chiefs, which would discrimiate against smokers and would be very stupid because some of our best chiefs are smokers, or I'd have to schedule only non-smokers for the party nights, but that would be the most unfair thing I could think of. Third, I don't know what the UCSA Board thinks about enforcing this, but I'm not going to tell a chief who starts smoking during their shift to stop. They come as volunteers. If the UCSA Board is willing to be there every non-smoking evening and enforce the ban, I'm fine with it. But there's another GA coming up in two weeks and we'll see what happens there.
And finally, I had an unexpected visitor last week. So, this is time to introduce Beki. I met him at the party at the rowing club when I was at home. When my sister introduced us to each other, we figured we have met before - probably something like 15 years ago, when I was running around at the Csepel rowing club as a little girl, and he was already rowing. He's been rowing for 21 years, so that's quite probable and he says he remembers, so I'll trust him on that. At the end of the party we exchanged contacts and we started writing and Skype-ing quite frequently when I got back to Utrecht. One evening he said that we'll probably not be able to skype the next evening, because he won't be there, and the day after in the evening I got a message from him saying "can you let me in?" :) And he was here. It's only slightly crazy to travel across half of Europe to see someone without asking whether you can come and knowing what the other would say :) He probably chose one of the worst weeks he could, but eventually I still got the testing done and he still did some of his drawing tasks and was training a bit. Damn, it's pretty impressive he came here!
I spent the last two weeks with testing people for my thesis and tomorrow I'm starting the second round. I might have to make the new input files by then :) 32 people, each tested twice, each test taking 30-40 minutes, that is almost 43 hours of testing. Plus the time of setting up, the time of people being late or not showing up, chatting a bit, etc. Since the program in the psych lab does not want to run the experiment properly, I need to test people one by one, on my laptop. How lovely. But this is going to grant me my extension, if I'm lucky enough. Frank will sign it, Floris will sign it, and I only need to get Lonia to agree.
I've been also sitting at the BarCo interviews for the positions of Chair, Vice Chair and Building Manager with the present BarCo. What a shame I am not allowed to say anything about the interviews! Only that I never ever want Cassiopée to wake me up 1 minute before a meeting again... May I bitch about the UCSA Board then? No, that wouldn't be nice.
Talking about the UCSA Board, last Wednesday was the GA about changing the smoking policy of the bar. Ok, here comes the bitching, whatever. Why the hell can the UCSA Board not ask us for our opinion? My favorite question and answer of the night was the "Have you thought of how you will implement a smoking ban" by Karin and the "We will discuss that later" by Eelke. So, we were voting on something that they don't even know how to implement. Now, I am a non-smoker, and I would prefer working in a non-smoking environment, but the Tuesday and Friday both non-smoking are a very bad idea. We have many chiefs who are smoking and they will need smoking breaks. The first issue is that they are not allowed to leave the bar without a chief. The second is that if the bartenders are smoking too, there will be about 30 minutes in an hour when the bar will not have the right number of people working behind the bar. Then, we will either have to have non-smoking chiefs, which would discrimiate against smokers and would be very stupid because some of our best chiefs are smokers, or I'd have to schedule only non-smokers for the party nights, but that would be the most unfair thing I could think of. Third, I don't know what the UCSA Board thinks about enforcing this, but I'm not going to tell a chief who starts smoking during their shift to stop. They come as volunteers. If the UCSA Board is willing to be there every non-smoking evening and enforce the ban, I'm fine with it. But there's another GA coming up in two weeks and we'll see what happens there.
And finally, I had an unexpected visitor last week. So, this is time to introduce Beki. I met him at the party at the rowing club when I was at home. When my sister introduced us to each other, we figured we have met before - probably something like 15 years ago, when I was running around at the Csepel rowing club as a little girl, and he was already rowing. He's been rowing for 21 years, so that's quite probable and he says he remembers, so I'll trust him on that. At the end of the party we exchanged contacts and we started writing and Skype-ing quite frequently when I got back to Utrecht. One evening he said that we'll probably not be able to skype the next evening, because he won't be there, and the day after in the evening I got a message from him saying "can you let me in?" :) And he was here. It's only slightly crazy to travel across half of Europe to see someone without asking whether you can come and knowing what the other would say :) He probably chose one of the worst weeks he could, but eventually I still got the testing done and he still did some of his drawing tasks and was training a bit. Damn, it's pretty impressive he came here!
Before hell breaks loose
The general idea is that the last two weeks of the semester are always the hardest. For me, this time this was extended to something like the last 7-8 weeks of the semester. So, the title actually does not make too much sense.
It's very easy to get used to the continuous workload once you realize that you'll be able to manage it. That point came last year in the fall semester before the midterms. I looked at my agenda, counted my exams, the papers, the ASIC and the College Council meetings, the MediaLab workshops and I bursted out in tears. That was the turning point. It's a bit like a switch that you can set from the panic mode to the "well, let's take it one by one, and I'll make it" mode. Since then, I've been operating in the latter mode.
These days I don't like inquiring about how people feel because I get the same type of answer. I hate when people answer "busy" when I ask how they are. First of all, everybody is busy. So, simply "busy" does not say anything. Maybe "busy with applications". Or "busy because I have an exam in two days and I haven't started reading the book yet". Second, because it assumes that busy has the same mood reference for everybody. You can feel quite contented with being busy or you can hate the whole world because it's making you busy. Do all people mean the latter when they answer "busy"?
So, how am I? I am well, thanks. This day is a bit grey and depressing - it's been raining all day. That is, since I woke up at exactly midday. I had weird dreams but I don't remember what they were. I feel a bit scattered all over the place. You know, one of those days when you need to take your time and think through what you need to do. But I also feel surprisingly optimistic today. Maybe because I still did not make a mental list of things I need to get done :)
Well, I have an appointment with Simone to help her with her statistics, so I need to go now. I might make more sense later.
It's very easy to get used to the continuous workload once you realize that you'll be able to manage it. That point came last year in the fall semester before the midterms. I looked at my agenda, counted my exams, the papers, the ASIC and the College Council meetings, the MediaLab workshops and I bursted out in tears. That was the turning point. It's a bit like a switch that you can set from the panic mode to the "well, let's take it one by one, and I'll make it" mode. Since then, I've been operating in the latter mode.
These days I don't like inquiring about how people feel because I get the same type of answer. I hate when people answer "busy" when I ask how they are. First of all, everybody is busy. So, simply "busy" does not say anything. Maybe "busy with applications". Or "busy because I have an exam in two days and I haven't started reading the book yet". Second, because it assumes that busy has the same mood reference for everybody. You can feel quite contented with being busy or you can hate the whole world because it's making you busy. Do all people mean the latter when they answer "busy"?
So, how am I? I am well, thanks. This day is a bit grey and depressing - it's been raining all day. That is, since I woke up at exactly midday. I had weird dreams but I don't remember what they were. I feel a bit scattered all over the place. You know, one of those days when you need to take your time and think through what you need to do. But I also feel surprisingly optimistic today. Maybe because I still did not make a mental list of things I need to get done :)
Well, I have an appointment with Simone to help her with her statistics, so I need to go now. I might make more sense later.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
