Procrastination at its Finest

            Procrastination at its finest. This describes my attitude towards basically everything up until this semester. All throughout high school and my first two years here at TCU I have been able to put studying, projects, papers—you name it—off until the very last minute and so far it has worked out pretty well for me. This semester has forced me to manage my time a little bit differently. I am a nursing major and this is my first semester of clinical work. All the older nursing majors I know say this is the hardest semester because you are overloaded with work and the content is extremely difficult. I also added an extra class (this one) onto my already packed schedule, which has just increased the need for organization, planning, and better time management in my life. For the first time my planner is actually being put to use!

            The hardest part for me has been realizing that there is always something I need to be doing. Last week I finished my first round of tests in all my classes so I chose to take the weekend off, which was a horrible idea. I forgot about homework I had to do for my Monday lab until Sunday night at about 9:00. Since Monday I have been scrambling every night to get the work done for class the next day. Even though I don’t have tests in my nursing classes for another 2 weeks, I have nearly the same amount of work that I need to be doing just to keep up with my classes. I don’t like the feeling of never really being finished until winter break, but I have been getting better at using my time during the day efficiently so that I can relax at night.

            This brings me to my next point: using time efficiently. I am probably one of the most distracted people you will ever meet. I could be sitting at a cubicle in the library without my computer or phone and I will still find a way to do anything but the work I came there to do. That has changed this semester. I have found that I am completely cable of being focused for long periods of time if I put my mind to it. I have learned how to block out anything and everything going on in my life while I am at the library studying for something. The tactic I have used to do this is writing things down. Anything outside of the class I’m studying for that stresses me out or that I need to get done I write down. That way I am not constantly thinking about it and worried that I might forget it. Another thing that helps me to be efficient with my study time is giving myself breaks. As a result of my procrastination in previous years, I never thought I had time to take breaks when I was studying because I was always running out of time. Now I have forced myself to start studying for tests a week in advance, doing less per day, and giving myself that time to take breaks if I need to.

            This semester I have also learned how to say no. It sounds simple but it has been one of the most challenging things for me to learn to do. I am a people-pleaser through and through. One of the ways I do this is by always agreeing to do favors for people. I also don’t like to miss out on doing fun things with my friends so I often try and do too much, which usually means putting off my work until the very last minute. Before this semester even began I knew that I was going to have to work on this. I have gotten so much more comfortable saying no to people when I know that I really don’t have the time and this has made all the difference in my time management. Now I am much more in control of what I’m doing and when I’m doing it.

            Though it has not been easy, I have successfully broken my terrible habit of procrastination and learned how to manage my time much more efficiently.  This has eliminated so much stress from my life and allowed me to be successful in school when I don’t think I would have been if I were still stuck in my old ways.

First Meeting With Terrence!

I had my first meeting with my conversation partner, Terrence Chen, last Thursday. It is always a little awkward when you first meet someone, especially when you are walking aimlessly around the bookstore looking for someone you’ve never seen before. Nevertheless, we finally found each other and had a great first conversation. Terrence is from a small town in southeastern China and he came to the United States at the beginning of this semester with the intention of studying at TCU for five years. The first year is the Intensive English Program, and then he is going on to get his Bachelor’s degree in Business. He told me that after he graduates from TCU he wants to go back to China to work for his dad for a couple years before going out and finding a job on his own. It was obvious by the way Terrence talked about him, that his dad was a very important figure in his life. His dad was the one who encouraged him to come to the United States and learn English, despite the fact that he has no interest in staying and working here. His dad always encourages him to travel and see the world before he settles down back in his hometown—which he fully intends on doing. 

I asked Terrence how school in America compared to school in China and he said he has a lot more free time here. He told me how after he got home from school he would study all night and all through the weekends as well. There was a lot of “on your own” work at his school. He also explained to me how his specific school was different from most others in China. He went to a high school that was focused on the liberal arts and studying abroad and didn’t offer any science classes. I found it very interesting that Terrence hadn’t taken a science class since the 8^th grade. I have never heard of a high school like that in the United States!

I was interested in learning about how the Intensive English Program worked and how Terrence felt about learning English so I asked him what kinds of things he’s been doing in his classes. He mentioned having to read two books on his own time throughout the semester that he got to choose. I can’t remember the name of the book he chose to read, but he told me he was confused about the message behind the story. He explained the plot to me and it was a typical “rags to riches” story that we see a lot in American culture. I found it very interesting that a concept so commonplace in our society could be completely foreign to someone from a different country. I explained to him that one of the things Americans value is hope, and that even if you are born into unfortunate circumstances, we believe that hard work and dedication can lead you to a better life. He understood the concept more when I explained it like that, but he just wasn’t able to recognize it in the story he read.

I am always interesting to learn about how hard it is to learn English—especially because I am trying to learn a foreign language myself. He told me that English has been a very challenging language to learn because of all the exceptions to the rules. He said that they learn about a grammar rule and then they learn tons of exceptions to the rule that make it extremely confusing. It’s hard for me to understand how difficult of a language English is because I never had to learn it by the rules. I do relate to the frustrating process of learning a language though. No matter how many classes you take about grammar and vocabulary, it is so hard for me to have a conversation with someone in Spanish. I appreciate what all of the ISP students are doing as I’m sure it is very difficult and scary to go to a place where you are forced to speak a foreign language all the time!

I had such a great time meeting Terrence and I am excited to meet with him again this week!!