Emily's First Blog Post

Blog post -- Self isolation edition!!

It's the first week back from extended spring break and wow everything is so overwhelming. I went from complete boredom and ten hours of Netflix a day to trying to remember how to learn and a million assignments. At this current point in time (Fri. 4/3/2020) I have like five 20.109 assignments on my to-do list.
1. Lab homework due tonight
2. Lab quiz due tonight
3. Data summary revision due tomorrow
4. Journal presentation due next week
5. Reseach paper is due in two weeks
It's like no matter how hard I stare into the future, I just see 20.109 all the way until it disappears into the distant horizon!!!
The online classes is also really something. While I thought the original problem would be understanding the material w/o doing the experiments, the more immediate challenge I have discovered is that I am on my computer ALL THE TIME!!! For at least seven hours each lab day (lab+homework+big assignments), and around two hours the other days (catching up+big assignments). In lab in person it was a lot of fun to talk to my classmates and the instructors but now I'm just staring at a computer all day and I swear my eye started twitching two days ago.
~~If anyone has tips on reducing screen time, please let me know~~
And, because the lab is right in the middle of the afternoon, it takes up the prime hours of daylight! I have found it's too cold and dark to go outside by the time I'm done with the assignments!! ☾ ☾ ☾  In fact I tried coding the R exercises outside in my backyard yesterday in an attempt to capture some Vitamin D, but then my hands got so cold I couldn't type after half an hour (I live in NJ). And a spider attacked me! I would also love some recommendations on fun things to do outside (preferably non-sports realted).

So basically the material is fun and the coding challenge is fun and I really like learning how to write components of research papers 💥💛, but it just has so much desk time I think I'm going crazy. I also started eating a ton of chocolate because there's just always some in my house and I've gotten to the point where I eat like a bar of chocolate each day 😌😌😌I also super appreciate all the instructors for being on Zoom all the time and for being unendingly patient and dispering all the wonderful information via email 💕💕I hope this ends soon and we can all party our way back to campus 💪💪💪💫💫

--Emily

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