31/01/22

12/02/22

100 days of productivity: 43/100

more notes!!

me trying to make sense of my physics book. finishing an exam past midnight. notes for class. new cards!!

i am. SO SO SO EXHAUSTED!!!! fighting for my life. and truly just waiting for the mid-semester break so i can spend my days sleeping xd

reviewing physics notes bc an exam is in a few days. whenever i don't want to work, i take a deep breath and just tell myself this will be worth it in the end.. 👍

05/01/22

100 days of productivity: 5/100

i had my jab yesterday which gave me a massive headache and i’m hoping it goes away soon :(

finally finished my physics assignments today!! my physics lecture also is about to start but idk how well i can focus and am severely lacking motivation ://

also went on a walk and it was freezing and the forecast says we might be getting some snow ❄️

📍place of the day: 727 Fifth Avenue, New York City

self portrait

26/01/22

100 days of productivity: 25/100

forgot to post yesterday but here are my phys notes!!

📍place of the day: Golden Gates, San Francisco

I love libraries SO much. If any of you see my book at your library can you please take a picture of it for me??? I haven't had the chance to hang out at a library properly for a few years so when we moved back to NZ it was on my priority list haha. The number of books that I take out at a time is definitely an exaggeration HAHA but I do often take out a few very heavy ones at the same time and it feels like a workout to bring them home. Searching through books always feels like an exciting treasure hunt.

hi friends! february has felt like three years and i am glad to see it end. this month was tough for so many different reasons but I'm trying to stay positive. i'm still incredibly intimidated and scared by my course load but I've started properly studying now and feel confident in my ability to at least try. next saturday i'm having lunch with an old friend from secondary school and i'm grateful i have that to look forward to 😊

i hope you're all doing well!

February Productivity Challenge

Day 24: What's your favourite beverage?

Iced coffee made right

Day 25: What does your ideal breakfast look like?

Okay i have two answers for this:

- A smoothie bowl

- Crepes with a tiny amount of syrup, bananas and tea

Day 26: What's the cosiest place in your mind right now?

my bed at like 2 am with the lights off and the window open, covered in blankets with music playing on low (everybody else in the house is asleep)

6 semesters of physics - recap of the B.Sc. degree

Finally! I've finished my Bachelor's degree in Physics! Because it has been a while since I gave a recap about my studies, I guess now is a good moment to share some of my experiences and give you some impressions - whatever you're doing, whether you want to start studying physics or whether you're already struggling through your studies.

Not surprisingly, studying physics is indeed tedious business. Most often one works (at least I did, and many of my fellow students had a similar schedule) every day of the week. During the semester there's simply not a lot of time for loads of recreational time - but: It gets better. There's not more free time in the higher semesters, but one has less self doubts and the frustration one feels in the first semesters evolves into a form of motivation. It becomes normal to spend hours staring on exercise sheets or trying to understand a certain concept - contemplation of this kind becomes a kind of joy, but to be honest, a fraction of frustration remains of course. At least as I experienced it, the studies become less exhausting the more exams one has already passed. Simultaneously, one gains further motivation because the more sophisticated the topics are the more stimulating the studies are.

Now, some hints and insights that - at least I think so - helped me to get through the studies in a decent time (by not exceeding the standard period of study) and staying motivated (besides the hints I've pointed out here):

Keep up the amount of work you do for your studies: Try not to rest on your laurels once you've completed your first semesters. Keep on studying - there is so much to learn, the first semesters are only the beginning!

Dont hesitate to repeat topics from the first semesters. It is normal to forget and furthermore it is normal to understand things just a couple of semesters later after facing them the first time. Sometimes it feels redundant to do a recap on e.g. linear algebra - but redundance, to some extent, helps to gain deeper understanding.

The feeling that you actually understand nothing will remain - always, I'm afraid. This might sound disillusioning but it is simply true. The more you learn and understand the more you see what you haven't understood yet or not even know about. Taking undergrad lectures is always focused on the basics of each theory - I guess it is normal to feel lost sometimes, even if you've studied for three years already. During the undergrad studies one can merely learn superficially - deeper understanding in a chosen area of physics will (hopefully) follow in the postgraduate studies.

Use your vacations to read about topics that might interest you beyond the lectures. I know that this sounds insane, in particular because recreational time is rare. But there are always some topics that are mentioned in the lectures and merely browsed superficially. Additionally, although the standard lectures are most often demanding enough, they are not always the main source of motivation. It is worth it to pick some of these topics and do some reading in your free time after the exams. At least for me this was a way to find topics that made me say: "Yes, this is exactly why I am studying physics". That way I stumbled across foundations of quantum mechanics, i.e. the realm of Bell's Theorem, interpretations and alternative theories of QM. It is very stimulating to find a branch of physics which simply fascinates you - I guess one cannot find them in the standard lectures: You have to search for the topics which please you the most. Doing so adds momentum to your motivation.

Do not exclude physics from your free time. Of course it is crucial to have physics-free hours but I think - psychologically - it is essential to draw joy out of your studies and not seeing it merely as an obligation. In case you regard any physics just as work and not as joy, then you run into danger losing your motivation on the long road.

Study responsibly. Sleep enough, eat healthy (vegan) and drink sufficient amounts of water - Although it is difficult sometimes, do not let bad habits overwhelm you. Additionally, also find joy beyond physics and allow yourself to do hobbies, i.e. drawing, reading on politics/literature/whatever, watching movies. At least in such a range that you will not merely become a narrow-minded scientist.

So, these were some points which came to my mind, hopefully they will help at least some of you! Do you have further/better hints to share? Post them below 👇👇👇