Hi!! Do You Have Any Advice For A Physics Student In Her First Year?

one of the most important things ive learned from upper level biology education so far is that dna isnt the god-like all-powerful beacon of similarity between all living beings on the face of the earth as high school science textbooks will lead u to believe but actually is, in fact, the molecular equivalent of a smoldering dumpster fire that’s in a constant state of chaos and cellular scandal like some highlights: 

-the parts of dna that just casually detach on a physical level from the main strand, do some sick skateboard tricks in the cytoplasm, and land somewhere else with 43552342 copies

-the parts that would do A Thing if they wern’t physically spooled up so tightly that the Make Thing Happen machinery couldnt get to them

-the dna thats in ur mitochondria bc the mitochondria used to be a bacteria that our bigger, buffer cellular ancestors just vored in the primordial ooze 

-the dna that’s in chloroplasts in plants for the same reason

-rna….bitches be crazy like what is she gonna do next?? o she gonna act like a protein now and do shit?? im on the edge of my seat 

-sometimes u just gotta make more chromosomes man like sometimes u just be hanging out and u gotta make ur genome 64 sizes larger and then change ur mind only 100,000 years later and delete half of it and thats just how it is on this bitch of an earth

-random shit from like 5 BCE is just casually left over everywhere like no susan i told u to leave that gene alone we might need it to fight dinosaurs again u just never know!!!!!

dna is earth’s biggest and brightest train wreck and honestly i wouldnt trust a dna molecule to water my plants let alone run my body but here we fucking are 

10 Things I Wish I Knew Before University

You are going to feel like dropping out. I would say to stick it out for the first year and sit for finals. If you get a good grade for your finals, that could really give your confidence a boost and motivate you to keep going. And then, if you still feel like dropping out or changing majors, you should do as much research as possible.

Feeling pressured to do more things. During my first year, I said yes to everything–even things that I didn’t feel like doing. I felt like if I didn’t, I’d be missing out on something really important or fun. FOMO, basically. However, more often than not, I wasn’t missing much and these opportunities will arise again very soon.

Buying too many unnecessary things. I bought so many stationery and notebooks before I started uni in hopes that they would motivate me to study. I ended up not using even half of them my first year. At least, I’d be set for supplies until I graduate.

Revising in uni is not the same as revising in high school. I used to think I could study last minute for a test, like I did in high school. I learned the hard way that that wasn’t the case at all. Now, I review the topics after every lecture. The key is to keep up because all those lectures are going to pile up really fast.

Past papers are your new best friend. I find that professors have their favourite questions that they like to give out. During finals, they might even use the same exact questions as they did in tests!

Failing/Getting a low grade in a test isn’t going to ruin your life. I once got so caught up on that one test. But luckily during finals, I snapped out of it and just tried my best. My final grade wasn’t too bad. You live and you learn.

Wear whatever you want (as long as it doesn’t get you in trouble). When I wear a hoodie and sweatpants, I get comments that I look like I just rolled out of bed (which I did, duh). And when I have really nice makeup on and do my hair, I’m trying to impress someone. I think people just like to run their mouth and it’s nothing personal, so you shouldn’t care what they say anyway. 

Keep in touch with friends outside your university. It can really come in handy during times when you really have to vent about someone in your classes. They can also help you keep grounded and have a different perspective.

You don’t have to love the library. I’m the kind of girl who studies lying on her stomach on the bed with papers and books surrounding me and my cat stepping on them occasionally. I think the library is too quiet and public for me. And if you’re the same way and prefer the cafe or elsewhere, then that’s okay too. The goal here is that you get your studying done.

Stay healthy. Whenever it’s near finals, I would abandon every other responsibility except studying. I would stop eating healthy and quit exercising, all in the name of making time to study. But they should go hand-in-hand with studying and not one or the other. I find that the better I take care of myself, the better my grades are. You should also get enough sleep–this, I never fail to do.

8.7.19

morning planning plain and simple 🌿

Math/Science Nerd Culture™

being really fast at math when you write it out, but taking 62.476 seconds to do 3 x 8 when someone asks you

you either hate odd numbers or you love them and this is causes great division of math nerds

teachers start teaching on the first day and assign homework

working with chemicals is only fun if it a) explodes, b) requires a bunsen burner, or c) turns a pretty color (like pink)

catching yourself using math in the real world and thinking “oh my god *insert 2nd grade teacher’s name here* was right”

dad jokes

not knowing you have a favorite animal until the existence of the water bear is made known in biology

getting excited when you can use a calculator

realizing that using a calculator means the test questions will be harder

one of your parents is good at math/science and the other is not

“i’m cold” “go stand in the corner, it’s about 90 degrees”

the textbooks are larger than any other subject

there’s always one historic figure in the subject that feels like a favorite uncle/aunt even though they’ve been dead for 105 years

the teachers don’t go in order of the chapters so you never know what to expect when you walk into class

there’s so many quizzes that you could fail three of them and get a solid A+ anyway

feel free to add more lol

I don’t know how I can be so ambitious and so lazy in the same time.

Rainy days...

Rewriting some chemistry notes

The Bastei Bridge in Saxon Switzerland National Park, Germany

Actually, it doesn’t have anything to do with Switzerland, its located in Saxony, but the name comes from the local perception (Saxony’s “Switzerland”).

Photo: SteFou!, via visitheworld

Germany

Source.

Sometimes you have to just treat yourself like an overtired toddler.

“Okay, as soon as you finish this assignment you can take a little nap.”

“You just cleaned your room, good job!”

“Hmm..maybe eating a snack will stop you from wanting to cry.”