Ten Assignments Yesterday, Eleven Today. I Can’t Wait For The Long Weekend.

8/21/19

Started classes Monday and I’m already trying to get ahead in what I can with homework and readings. Hope that this semester will turn out better than the others and same goes to all that are about to start classes!!!

at some point when i’m less out of it i’m gonna make a longer post about how eastern european farm workers are mysteriously omitted from talks about essential workers during the pandemic despite propping up western europe’s food industry literally at the cost of their lives. like i wanna be super crystal clear here: if you’ve eaten fresh produce or meat products in, or imported from, germany, uk, the netherlands, italy or spain this year (maybe thinking you’re doing your part in supporting the economy by buying locally even) - eastern europeans have gotten sick and died so you could do that. yet somehow, for some reason, they are not essential workers.

‘but this kind of thing doesn’t make it to the news! how could i have known about it?’ fine. ok. here’s what 15 minutes of googling will get you:

‘forced to sign contracts in german, dutch, or other languages they don’t read, [workers] often find out upon arrival that their working hours are longer, their salaries much smaller than promised and their living conditions abysmal, with housing and living with little protection against covid-19’

romanian farm worker nicolae bahan got infected with covid-19 while working on an asparagus farm in germany. according to several fellow workers the farm owners refused to provide healthcare and a space to safely quarantine and instead locked him inside a container out in the field where he died shortly. 

another romanian worker on the same farm talks about how until the end of march they were not provided soap in the bathrooms and risked having their hours cut if they stopped to have a drink of water while out in the field.

germany flies in thousands of romanian workers at the height of the pandemic. farm owners claim they can’t hire domestically because ‘most germans are not used to working stooped in the fields for hours on end. they complain about backache. romanians and poles are stronger and they work weekends and public holidays.’

despite a severe workforce shortage many brits refuse to take on farm work, citing contract length, location and family duties. meanwhile romanians (who are regularly underpaid and abused by employees) are now lauded as ‘key skilled workers’ during the shortage (but no mention is made of adjusting their salaries to reflect either their skill or the fact that they are in high demand)

over 1500 east european workers at german meat processing plant tönnies tested positive for covid-19. 

former romanian employee at tönnies talks about poor working conditions and workplace abuse. employees were forced to work overtime without pay and told not to take sick leave. 

romanian and bulgarian workers infected with covid-19 while working in other german meat processing plants. employers pay by the hour and don’t check working conditions.

bulgarian workers in italy have rocks thrown at them by angry crowd while protesting the lockdown that will likely cost them their jobs.

if you didn’t know before, you know now. and if you can be outraged at injustices and abuse happening on another continent you can be outraged at injustices and abuse happening the next town over that make it possible for you to get your reasonably priced five-a-day. not just this year, in the middle of a pandemic, but for well over a decade.

Cottage garden by  Georgianna Lane

5 things to do at the end of a semester

Reorganize your desk and your computer

Whether you’re out of school for 3 months or just a couple of days, cleaning out your desk is the first thing you should do. Put the textbooks away and rearrange everything : you won’t think about school as much and it’ll most likely be relaxing. And don’t forget about your computer ! Delete the unnecessary documents and reorganize your files.

Store your notes and your exams

Buy a big binder or a folder and put all of your revision guides/flashcards/notes/etc in it. I don’t recommend ever getting rid of your old notes because you never know if you’ll need them later down the line. Also, if you have some of your exams, put them in there. They might come in handy someday !

Think about what you did

Think about your semester : what you did right and what you did wrong. Could you have studied more ? Should you have started your essay earlier ? Did you like your classes ? Your schedule ? Ask yourself some questions and use the answer to prep for next semester.

Start prepping

Make lists (things you’ll need to buy, things you want to work on), research planners and printables, buy some school supplies, try out some study schedules and new techniques (mind maps, apps, cornell notes). It’s never too early to start preparing for your next semester !

Treat yourself

Give yourself a break. Watch some netflix, eat some cookies, sleep in, stop drinking coffee for a few days, go buy yourself a new dress, do whatever makes you feel better !

02.08.19 || study session in the library 📚📚

I feel like the section of Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy where he warns about melancholy from ‘overmuch study’ is the 17th c equivalent of that post that’s like “why are we here? just to suffer? everyday I get emails”

celling my soul

20.8.2019

I was one of the first ones in the library this morning and it felt so surreal

ft. fun organic chem rxns and messy nail polish 🙈

Chemistry notes

my brain feels electrolysed