The past few weeks have been somewhat of a blur with midterms, spring break in between major exams, and trying to get my SNC life in order too.
I often notice when talking to people who haven't studied abroad forget that I am in fact taking classes, have homework, and spend a significant amount of time doing each of those things. So, this post is about the nitty-gritty reality of needing to, well, study.
The structure of classes are different here. By that I mean there is very little structure (remember I am in Italy). I have few frequent homework assignments but the assignments I do have a large projects that count for a huge percentage of my grade. The midterm and final exams also are a prominent part of our grade as well. There is no shortage of students staying things like "I had to study on the train" or "I went to _______ but then had to study for my exam".
My friends and I recently took a trip to Vienna, Austria where we had to learn how to balance work and travel. We had booked this trip prior to realizing that this weekend was going to be a critical homework weekend. We had to figure out how to manage our time so we could make our trip meaningful without our grades suffering too terribly because of it.
Vienna was distracting and not as much learning happened as we had hoped which meant the price had to be payed on Sunday evening. Amongst trying to study for my science exam after being in a different country for a few days, I also had to sort out my SNC housing for the next academic year. If you know SNC housing, you know this is a full-time job.
In one weekend I:
- Flew to Vienna
- Visited multiple Cathedrales and squares
-Walked through a few museums
-Flew back to Rome
-Studied like my life depended on it (it kinda did)
-Explored 400 housing options and settled on one (apartment with a friend)
Then I woke up and it was Monday; the week began.
Overall, I am glad we travelled to Vienna despite it being a stresser at the time. We always have a blast as a group and I did just fine on my exams that week. Sometimes it is just nice to remember that I am not on a semester-long vacation. I'm still doing school, it's just a lot cooler.