College Work Loads

Hey everyone,

So today I want to talk about something that has been on my mind recently with all the projects and papers that I have been working on for school. I want to talk about the work load in college and how it differs from when you are in high school.

Fist off, the big difference that you need to remember is that in college it is recommended that for every hour you are in class you spend three hours outside of class working on things for that class. It is called being a full time student for a reason, as my communications teacher said the other day. You are expected to be doing some sort of school work for 40-45 hours a week. Now I will be the first to tell you that most of the time I do not reach that many hours on school work a week. Even with taking an honors English class I usually only spend maybe 15-20 hours outside of classes working on school work.

Not everyone is the same, and when you first get to college you will be having to figure out time management. I know that I still struggle with it sometimes because there are days where you really just don't feel like doing anything. Some of those days I just give in and don't do anything....and then I feel really bad the next day because I have to work my butt off get myself caught up with work.

Secondly, the work load is going to be different from person to person. Just because you and a friend have the same class does not mean you have the same amount of work. If there is one thing that I have learned already in college it is that NOT ALL TEACHERS GIVE THE SAME AMOUNT OF WORK. That is something that is hard to grasp I know. In high school, or at least at my high school, even if the assignments were a little different every teacher in every English or math class gave the same amount of homework as every other teacher. I have learned through doing homework with my roommate as well as just by talking to people on my floor that I have less work in my English class than they do. They are expected to always write papers and do assignments because that is what they are learning. My honors English class we are given 4 papers that determine our grade for the semester. We do not learn how to write papers, we learn how to make them flow better, and how to make them sound more like a college student. In the other English classes they walk through every step of writing a paper and make them practice each part as they learn it.

So don't feel like you are just being a freak if you are doing homework all the time and your friends are not. You probably just have more work than they do at that point, and the tables will turn at some point.

Another thing to remember about the work load in college is that it is college. Nothing in college, okay not nothing but almost nothing, is going to be given to you in a simple watered down way. You will seem overwhelmed and like you dont have time for anything. You have to make time. That is how this always comes back to time management.

Another tip that I have to help with work load has to do with majors and minors. If you dont know what you want to do in college DO NOT declare a major right when you go in. You are only setting yourself up to have to have more work to do if you decide you dont want to do that. I just watched a kid that lives down the hall from me spend 2 hours in his adviser's office two days ago trying to figure out just what he needed to do to go from a biology major to an athletic training major. He is now drown in work that he is going to have to do over the summer to get caught up.

You will not be behind if you wait until your spring semester of freshman year, or even your spring semester of your sophomore year to declare a major. I also recommend that if you do change your major at some point and your classes from your old major do not transfer a decent amount to your new major that you do not declare a minor unless you want to do summer classes, or stay in college longer.

Again all of this is just how I feel. I know that some people will not feel the same. If you have any thoughts on the work load in college feel free to leave them in the comments. I would love to read how everyone else feels.

~Kaylan

Diy Infinity scarfs

Hey girls,

So I know everyone these days are loving infinity scarfs. Being a fashion major helps with knowing that, but I also just happen to know because I myself love infinity scarfs. So today I am going to show you how you can turn your old normal scarfs into infinity scarfs.

Let't get started!

Materials:

1.Scarf(s) that you are wanting to turn into infinities.

2.Sewing machine(or fabric glue)

3.Scissors

4.Pins(if you are going to be sewing the scarf

So since I am a fashion major I have access to some really nice sewing machines on a weekly basis. So I figured I would use it while it was available to me. If you do not have the luxury of having a sewing machine you can hand sew or you can use fabric glue to hold it together.

Step one:

Pick out the scarf that you would like to turn into the infinity. I forgot to take a picture of both of mine originally but that's okay, you will get the gist of it later.

Step two:

Cut off any stringy frilly ends that are on the end of the scarf so that they don't get in the way while sewing. You can throw these away unless you plan on using them for another project, you will not be reconnecting them to the scarf.

Step three:

Put the right sides of the scarf together so that the inside of the scar if facing you. If you are having trouble telling which part is the inside look for the tags, they are always on the inside of the scarf. Then you will pin it together if you are going to be using a sewing machine. Just as I did below.

If you are gluing the scarf using fabric glue, make sure it is going to bond enough with the fabric to hold it together for a long time. You don’t need to pin it together if you are going to glue. Just make sure that everything is lined up correctly. You will also have to wait for it to dry completely before moving on the next step.

Step four:

If you are using fabric glue then skip this step. However if you are going to be sewing then this step is especially important for you. You are going to want to sit your scarf under the foot of your machine, and have it lined up so that you will be making a 5/8 “ seam. Now with this fancy dancy sewing machine I have it doesn’t say 5/8 on it. So if that is the case for you just get out a seam gauge, measure from the needle to the plate 5/8 “ and then make sure the edge of you scarf is lining up exactly at where the seam gauge says 5/8 is. Then begin to sew, make sure you do a back stitch at the beginning and end of the fabric.

Step five:

Now you will be making a seam finish on your scarf. I just took a pair of pinking shears and cut along the edge of the seam allowance. We have a surger so I could have made it look really fancy, but I know most people don’t have access to those.

Step six: (Optional)

If the tag is in a spot that you do not particularly like then take a seam ripper and rep out the stitches holding it on. Then go head and either hand sew, or with a machine, it to the new spot where you would like it to be.

And there you go it is all finished! These are the two completed scarfs. They took me about 10 minutes each. It was really simple and an easy way to turn old scarfs into infinities.

I hope you all enjoyed this DIY post. If you have any requests for blogs please leave them in the comments.

~Kaylan

College...it's hard...sometimes.

Hey everyone,

So I know that first off I owe a big apology for randomly disappearing all the time. I could give you excuses all day, but we all know that excuses mean nothing. I have been dealing with school, and though it is a reason not to be blogging, in my opinion it is not a good one.

But on the topic of the amount of time I have spent on school work if you could see my schedule you would probably think I am crazy, and you would probably think I was even crazier if you knew that I voluntarily added even more to my plate for next semester.

For those of you that are curious on everything that I do on a normal basis here at school I am going to give you a general synopsis....be prepared. I am warning you  now that it is a lot.

Classes:

Eng 108: Writing and literature (honors class...didn't know that when I signed up) MWF 10-10:50

Math 035: (math I shouldn't be in so we wont talk about that) MWF 1-1:50

Comm 101: MWF 3-3:50

Fcs 107: Contemporary and historic perspective (this isn't actually what this is. it lies.) W 12-12:50

Tam 214: Perspectives of dress T TH 9:30-10:45

Tam 111: Clothing 1 (basically beginner sewing) T TH 12:30-3:15

Now this may not seem like a lot considering it is only 16 credit hours, but with all the homework that comes with Eng 108, Comm 101, and Math 035 it's a little overwhelming. in the next three weeks this is everything that I have do for those classes, plus some things due for the other classes as well.

Eng 108: Annotated bibliography with abstract (3 pages)

Summary of films (I believe 2-3 pages each)

Rough draft for paper that hasn't been assigned yet

Comm 101: Watch Black Swan

Watch Noah

2-3 page movie review for both movies

Biography on Darren Aronofsky

Written group project

Power point with movie clips

Group presentation

Persuasive speech outline

Persuasive speech

IPC online module

Math 035:Unit 11 test

chapter 29 quiz

chapter 30 quiz

Unit 12 test

more quizzes

Unit 13 test

more quizzes

Unit 14 test

Final Exam

Tam 214: 12 page research paper (we have worked on that in sections for a month though)

Despite all of this however I did get to take some pictures during my sewing class and I will have a DIY up for you guys either tonight or tomorrow sometime.

~Kaylan

Early morning brainstorm

Hey everyone,

So I got to my English class a half hour early this morning so I could sit down and write a blog post out for you guys. I know I have really sucked at blogging since.....well I have always sucked at blogging, but I am trying to get more on a schedule for it. What I need from you guys is support though. I love doing this, but feeling like you are talking to yourself and just not being able to interact with people isn't fun. I absolutely love to talk with people in the comments and just learn about anyone that reads the blog.

I am also slightly lost for what blog posts to do, because you guys don't really give me feed back and tell me what you want. I would like for  you to leave your ideas for blog posts in the comments of this post so that I can see what it is that you guys want to see.

Also, I am busy with school work, as are most people, so sometimes the post might be short just because I am writing like 3 papers right now. Don't think I don't still love to do this, it's just hard when I have as much stuff going on as I do right now.

Time to run, I need to do a few housekeeping things with a paper before I go to English.
~Kaylan