Writing A CV:

My much requested list of resources for studying astrophysics. Happy learning!

As a language lover who can’t possibly afford all of the language lessons I would love to take, over the years I learned the best ways to self-learn them. This introductory phase doesn’t even require a textbook - I am sure everything here can be found online for free.

Disclaimer: this is the method that works the best for me, and I’m sharing it with the intention of helping other people who are stuck. There’s a million different ways to self-learn a language, so if this one doesn’t work out for you, don’t lose motivation!

Disclaimer 2: this method might not work with all languages. I’m sharing this knowledge keeping in mind my experience with Latin (in particular French, Spanish, etc) and East Asian (in particular Korean and Japanese) languages.

Without further ado, here are the steps: 

1. If you’re learning a language that uses a different alphabet, make sure that’s the first thing you learn

Relying on romanization is fine at first, but further down the path it will only serve to confuse you. Romanized words of these types of languages can be written in many different ways, so often they don’t even provide an accurate way of pronouncing them. Furthermore, as you make progress, you won’t be able to access a lot of content in your target language since you won’t find it romanized. 

2. Learn your first words

Before actually getting into all the grammar rules and whatnot, learn your first words! These include, among others:

Greetings

Answers (yes, no, maybe, etc)

Numbers

Please and thank you

Practice their pronunciation to get used to the language’s sounds, and how they’re written (especially if you have to use another alphabet - it’s a chance to practice your calligraphy!).

3. Learn essential vocabulary and grammar

I call these “essential vocabulary/grammar” because they are words you must know to build sentences (other than verbs). These include:

Articles (definite, indefinite, partitive, etc)

Basic pronouns (personal, possessive, etc)

Depending on the language, basic grammatical particles

Sentence order! In many languages, the subject/verb/noun order is totally different. Make sure to know how your target language orders that.

Make sure to also learn their rules and remember the exceptions. The latter are always annoying, but don’t worry - as you progress, you will learn these by heart, and they will eventually come to you naturally!

4. Learn the most basic verbs in the present tense

Like the vocabulary of the previous step, verbs are also essential when building sentences. Now that you’re only a beginner, you don’t need to learn difficult verbs or tenses, so stick with the most used ones:

to be 

to have

to do/make

to say

to go

to know

to think

to see

to want

to give

5. More vocab!

Now that you know your verbs, complement your knowledge by adding more basic vocabulary. Here are some ideas:

Places

Food

Objects

Adjectives

Family members

Knowing these in addition to the grammar points you’ve learned will allow you to construct simple sentences, such as I am going home or This is my sister.

6. Practice for your level

Like many other people, I’m guilty of jumping straight into watching movies and shows in my target language, only to get frustrated with myself when I don’t understand anything despite everything I learned until then. Of course, I’m not saying you shouldn’t do it, since it does help you develop your listening skills (especially if you do it with subtitles!), but I have a tip for the ones who prefer an easier activity.

Look for children’s content! I know this sounds silly at first, but books, movies, shows, etc made for children usually use basic grammar and vocabulary. If you think about it, the listening exercises you find in language grammar books made for beginners often seem like they’re made for children for that reason. Therefore, if you can’t find clips and texts for your level easily, try following this tip!

A few more tips for self-learners + resources

Write a diary in your target language. Even if you don’t know that much, try describing your day the best way you can (even if that means you have to write everything in the present tense). That’s a way of understanding what sort of vocabulary is useful in your daily life and what are your weaknesses.

For you listening skills, other than Netflix, listen to music as well! Seize the opportunity to also learn the new vocabulary you find in the songs.

For speaking skills, if you don’t have anyone to practice with, read texts out loud and record yourself to check your pronunciation. If you’re up to it, finding friends online that speak your target language is also a great way of practicing dialogue!

Most used words in every language

Textbook masterpost

More helpful books!

Random tasks to practice your target language

My blog’s langblr tag for more helpful posts

Happy studying! ✨

Because of coronavirus, a lot of recent grads are moving back home. After four years (or more) of freedom, being back home is a big adjustment and it’s easy to revert back to our teenage behaviors. Here are some of the things I’m doing to feel a little more like a grown up while I’m living at home!

i. make your space your own

Just cleaning out your room can make a huge difference. Donate your old clothes and take your old posters from high school down. If you’ve got the time and resources, a fresh coat of paint or new bedding can also do a lot to make your old room feel more adult. You can also rearrange furniture to make a workspace if you’ll be working from home or applying to jobs.

ii. set boundaries

Lovingly set some ground rules about how you can best support each other. This is especially important if you’ll be working or taking classes from home – let them know you’ll be unavailable during certain hours so they don’t barge into a Zoom meeting. 

iii. build a routine

Even if you’re not working or in class at the moment, it’s important to be intentional about your time. The biggest thing that contributed to me feeling like a kid when I first moved back was spending my days watching Netflix and napping. Which are totally valid! But add in other daily activities, like taking your dog for a walk and making yourself a nice breakfast.

iv. make time for friends

I normally hate virtual hangouts, but they’ve been so important for my mental health during quarantine. Schedule a weekly Zoom coffee date with your group of friends. FaceTime your old roommates. Meet your high school bestie in the park and have a distanced picnic (don’t forget masks!). Having a support system is so important right now!

v. find new hobbies

This is the perfect time to try out new hobbies. Plus, craft stores have been having great sales since they know everyone is cooped up all summer. I found some really fun craft kits that I never would have tried normally, and now I’m the proud owner of a woven frog wall hanging. A few ideas: painting, tie dying, embroidery, yoga, running, learning a new language, reading, etc.

Having a long-term project to work towards – like a larger art project or trying to master a difficult yoga pose – helps to keep the days from running together.

vi. find ways to feel “normal”

Everyone, no matter their living situation, is feeling really upended right now. Find the little ways to bring back pieces of your “normal” life. Learn how to make your favorite coffee shop drink at home. Cook for yourself. Wake up at your normal time even if you don’t have to. Keep up with your normal exercise and self care routines – they’re more important now than ever!

In light of me graduating tomorrow, I’ve decided to make a bit of a guide for those younger students who have not yet experienced college. Keep in mind, I am American and attended an American university while living on campus.

LAUNDRY/CLOTHING/FASHION

hand wash your intimates (panties and bras). they’ll last longer.

don’t get wrapped up in sticking to an aesthetic. just wear what’s clean

hang the next day’s outfit on your closet door

have one outfit for every occasion

invest in plain solid colored tops, a business formal and business casual outfit, and comfortable shoes

fold a plain t-shirt, roll it up tiny and stick it in a bag. keep this in your everyday bag if possible in the event a guy named Eric spills coffee on you in Bio

use scarves, plaid shirts, belts, ties, etc to spice up your wardrobe. but also, its fine to wear the sweatpants and hoodie to every class

THE LIBRARY

don’t get attached to just one singular spot. explore like you’re in a video game looking for hidden items.

sometimes you end up working in the library for their full operating hours. keep a travel bag with toothbrush/toothpaste/floss, mini bottle of face wash, pads/tampons, pain reliever, hair ties, and chapstick. just in case you stay until 2am at closing and you have an 8am and you know you won’t get much sleep.

have cash on you, have money on your student card, have your ID with you at all times and USE EVERY RESOURCE they offer.

minimize how much you bring. my library had desktop computers but also you can borrow macs and ipads for a period of time. also, they have chargers you can borrow.

photocopy, print, scan, etc is your friend. borrow a textbook from a friend for a day and have your own copy in minutes at the library.

follow the rules of the land. don’t be that guy/girl/person.

FOOD/DINING HALL

plan your meals

budget your meal plan so you don’t end up starving during finals week

KNOW EVERY SINGLE DEAL/SALE/SPECIAL OFFERED AT FAST FOOD JOINTS

eat with others, especially when you’re struggling to get food

if it isn’t essential, don’t buy it

never shop hungry

make lists before you grocery shop. shop more on the outer rings of the stores where the fresh, healthy food is

DRINK WATER

cook like you’re trying to survive a harsh winter. leftovers that last. carbs and protein heavy.

have family send you care packages with essentials you can’t get where you are.

GET THE RECIPES FOR YOUR FAVORITE HOMECOOKED MEALS

CLASSES

unless you invented mornings or are the god Apollo, please refrain from taking 8AM classes

never make big gaps in between your classes in one day. schedules should maximize efficiency. have enough time to eat and pee between classes and nothing more.

office hours. go to them. no matter what your status in the class is. you want those letter of recommendations, don’t you?

sit in the front

do the readings, write down questions you have, take good notes, make sure all your questions are answered before class is over

make friends with your classmates. emailing the whole class to get notes you missed is a huge nono

make money by being someone’s note-taker

go to tutoring sessions

make besties with your TA

STUDYING/HOMEWORK

never work on outside assignments in class

start the day you get an assignment even if it’s due next month

the minute you start a new unit, prepare for that inevitable test

you should spend hours studying for each subject. daily. for the best results

online homework is hard to remember. make phone alerts

download apps that won’t let you procrastinate on your computer when you need to study. i use writer’s block.

study before you go to bed, then pause and continue once you wake up

PUBLIC SPEAKING/PRESENTATIONS

record yourself while you practice

don’t stare at one person the whole time you’re speaking. pick three in different locations around the room

if you need to pause and look at your notes, do it naturally and comfortably. even announce that you’re taking a second to check your notes

take frequent short pauses to avoid saying uhhh and ummm while you’re trying to remember something

ask that your audience save questions for the end

practice (3x)

perform your script to a friend first. have them act as your audience, teacher, and the bad scenarios that can happen when you prepare but everything goes to shit

Getting Stuff Done: How to Deal With Lack of Motivation

“How can I stay disciplined?”

“How can I get things done if I don’t feel like doing them?”

“How can I overcome my lack of motivation?”

As a college student who has had their fair share of being absolutely unmotivated to do anything, I know it can be hard to get things done if you don’t feel like doing them. Luckily, there are some things you can do to become more motivated to finish your homework, write your paper, study for your exam, or whatever tasks you have on your plate.

Part 1: Increasing motivation

Break up your tasks

Just thinking about one huge task is going to intimidate you so much that you’d rather leave it till later, when the urgency of time pushes you to complete it, than start now.

Breaking up your big tasks into smaller ones will make your tasks seem less daunting. Since you won’t be as intimidated by the amount of effort it might take to complete these tasks, you’ll be more likely to start doing them.

For studying, this can be something like ‘make flashcards for units 1-3’ or ‘practice past exam papers: 2015 + 2016’. For writing papers, this could be writing an outline, doing research for each point of your outline, writing the first 3 paragraphs, etc.

Working on small tasks at a time will also make you less prone to distractions since you only need to focus for a short length of time.

Make small goals and reward yourself

These goals could be accomplishing one of the smaller subtasks above, or achieving a certain grade on a practice test, or finishing a section of your study plan - as long as you’re working towards something.

The rewards? Maybe going out to eat, watching something, or even just time off. Hopefully these rewards will motivate you to complete your task.

I know some people are more inclined to do their work if they’re punished for not doing it, rather than rewarded for doing it, so if you wanna take the ‘punishment’ approach, you could do something like not allowing yourself to use social media until you finish a set of tasks - this is essentially the same thing, just thought about in a different manner. However, you should always be careful with these punishments/restrictions, because sometimes they can end up harming your health and productivity (e.g. ‘I can’t take a break until I finish all of my homework’).

Part 2: Not relying on motivation

Of course, you can’t always expect yourself to be motivated all the time. In fact, it’s very ineffective to rely on motivation to get things done; motivation is fleeting. Here’s an alternative: self-discipline. But how does it work?

Establish a study routine

Humans are creatures of habit. Even if you’re a P-type (like me), habits are hard to break. So making a habit of accomplishing your tasks/studying at a set time every day will help you, well, accomplish them. For example, it’s a lot easier to get your homework done every day if you do it at the same time - e.g. once you come home from school - rather than doing it ‘whenever you have time’.

Having a study routine will also make you less likely to be distracted since you know that that period of time had a purpose. If you’re trying this out for the first time, you might wanna completely get rid of distractions so that you can focus (e.g. putting your phone in your bag, on silent). However, with practice, I found that my phone or any other sources of distraction don’t really bother me anymore since I’ve had tons of practice resisting the urge to pick up my phone whenever there’s a notification, for example.

Schedule in time for breaks

This ties in well with the point about rewards: the break might be the reward for your studying. However, this doesn’t always have to be the case. You shouldn’t always think of relaxing as merely a reward for studying or accomplishing your tasks, but rather a necessity for the well-being of your mind. This sort of approach to breaks ensures that you actually let your brain rest once in a while.

After taking a break, your mind will be refreshed and revitalized, and you should have more than enough energy to continue with your other tasks.

Some of you asked - with regards to my previous post on The Mandatory Midday Break - how I can limit myself to exactly an hour, and to be honest, the answer is habit. It’s like having a habit of showering at the same time every day and not extend the length of time you spend in the bathroom (except in certain circumstances, like during a day off, I guess).

This is why it’s important to schedule your breaks and establish a study routine or habit - not only does it ensure you get enough rest, but it also prevents you from extending your break so that you don’t become unproductive and leave a ton of tasks unfinished.

It can be hard to motivate yourself to accomplish all your tasks, but there are things you can do to increase your motivation. However, you can’t expect to be motivated all the time, and you shouldn’t rely on motivation to get things done. Discipline and habit are the most important tools you can use to be efficient and productive without having to be motivated.

Hope this post has been helpful, and, as always, feel free to drop me an ask if you have an ask. Have an awesome week :)

7 Ways to organize your laptop because we can always be a little more organized on our devices (including myself). 

Don't allow others to consume you. If they don't call, go to sleep. If they don't message you, put away your phone & have a good day. If they are distant and refuse to tell you what's wrong, go home and do something fun. You live for yourself first. They are secondary.

simple ways to declutter & organize your (digital) life by kkaitstudies

ur digital life can sometimes be just as cluttered as in real life. here are some easy things to consider to declutter and organize online!

unsubscribe to all of the unnecessary services and newsletters. remember when you subscribed to that one store’s newsletter so you could get 10% off and haven’t shopped there since? unsubscribe to all of the stores that you receive newsletters from that you don’t shop from anymore. while you’re at it, if you haven’t used any subscription service like Spotify Premium in a while, do you rlly need it? SAVE DAT MONEY.

organize and delete emails. or if you’re extra nervous, archive the ones you feel like you may refer back to. create folders for important emails like order confirmations or school emails. filter thru emails every week so you’re not stuck with 500 emails in your inbox after one month.

back up your files. DON’T RISK LOSING ALL YOUR DATA! invest in a solid external hard drive. if it’s out of your price range at the moment, dropbox and the entire google suite are great (and free!) for storing files.

clean out all your computer folders. have u seen your downloads folder lately? save and organize the important stuff, and delete things you don’t need. 

limit the amount of folders you have on your desktop. keep it simple and easy to navigate. even if that means there are 5 folders within each folder lol (so long as u know where everything is)

delete unnecessary apps and photos. if you don’t use an app frequently or have any sort of attachment to certain photos, it’s time to delete them (don’t worry! you have them backed up somewhere if you’re decluttering!) u rlly don’t need 15 blurry burst images of your dinner from last night. just delete them. 

i love that the phrase is “in love” like love is a place. like somewhere you could live.

Proof by induction

Proof by contradiction

Proof by using a Renaissance painting as your header image

Proof by saying “QED” at the end

Proof by using that weird symbol which means “QED” at the end

Proof by dead thinker who predicted our current impasse with alarming clarity

Proof by reaction gif with unexamined racial undertones

Proof by procrastinating on replying to critics until a time when it would just be weird to bring that old debate up again

Proof by purposefully never replying to critics so as to build up an aura of unchallenged sagacity among your followers

Proof by accelerating the goalposts to .998 c

Proof by how the characters in a novel you read reacted to a situation that was kinda like this

Proof by referencing obscure EU legalese that’s been outdated since 2003 but no one will look up

Proof by referencing a single social science study