Sometimes enough is enough

So about a week ago, I made one of the most difficult decisions that I have had to do so far in my academic career. I decided to withdraw out of Organic Chemistry to save my GPA. I still have 12 credits thankfully, but with Organic Chemistry and Anatomy and Physiology, I was unable to keep floating well in either class together. I decided to drop it and really focus this semester on Anatomy and Physiology. I am glad that I did this though, because last week on my laboratory examination I scored a 34/35! I was pretty excited, because my last lab exam was pretty bad. I had more time to study the website though, and through that I was able to accomplish much more in my classes. This week not too much has been happening. I went to a Band formal with one of my friends, and I had a really great time. I will talk to you guys later!

Always pay attention!!!!

So last week I was studying for Organic Chemistry Theory I, and I didn't understand a topic or two. So it is funny because you never really know when you are going to inspire one of your teachers. The neat thing about UW-La Crosse is that generally you have the ability to really get to know your professors, and they get to know you. If you go in and ask questions, even if you are in a class of 13o kids, they will get to learn your name and also know what your major is and what you are interested in. They take an interest in you because you took the time to invest in them. Be careful when you do this however and always make sure that you are paying attention when you ask a question. One of my teachers told me once: "If one person asks a question, generally a lot more people are curious about the same topic." Well the reason why I said this is because one day I am sitting in Organic Chemistry and thinking that if Chemistry is the central science, how does it apply to Biology. Biology for me has typically been a class of random useless memorization and a really big pain to study for. It was about that time that I ran across a problem that we did in class dealing with the structure of amino acid chains. Now as many of you science minded people know, an amino acid is the building block to proteins, virtually found in all parts of your body. I started to wonder....what/how does a DNA molecule look like, and why is it that only Adenine can pair with Thymine and Guanine pair with Cytosine.....

So I went in to ask Dr. Mortell my Chemistry teacher and this is where the pay attention factor comes into play. You see as I was asking her how this can be she was one step ahead of me. I gave her a question that she never thought about asking this particular topic on a test before and it turns out that on the test that I was given this Friday, my problem that I asked about was on the test....and I knew exactly how to do it!

So it just goes to prove that if you are going to ask the question, make sure that you are paying attention to hear the answer, you never know when you might see it again.

See you guys later!

So this week has been a fairly hectic time, and with classes and ROTC starting to stress me out to the max, I find myself especially having to buckle down to get the work that I need to get done, accomplished. I had a test in dance appreciation this past Wednesday, and it went pretty good for the most part. Today we had a run for ROTC and we got to call cadences, (the running songs in the army) while we ran about 3 miles. Overall it was a really fun time and by far my favorite event in ROTC. Last night we also helped with the honor flight for veterans from WWII that had the opportunity to fly to Washington DC and see the WWII memorial built in honor of them. Somehow they managed to get a 757 plane into La Crosse Airport, which is way to big for what the airport is designed for. Overall it was a very cool experience to have done and a cool volunteer project. Tomorrow I have to turn in my worksheet for Organic Chemistry and also get my Political Science take home test done by this weekend. I should have plenty of time this weekend though for doing the test because I will be out at Fort McCoy assisting with Ranger Challenge, an event designed for cadets. I will talk to you guys next week!

Organic Chemistry Test

So this past week I had an Organic Chemistry test. Now this may seem like just another test, but when you get into your upper level classes, you will find that they become progressively difficult. I learned this last year if you have been reading my blogs that Chemistry 104 was another very difficult test. Well, needless to say, I survived my first test, even if it was just barely, but I did make it through, and I am happy that I did. This week I have an Anatomy and Physiology laboratory test on Wednesday, so I will be studying that tonight and trying to cram all of the information that I possibly can on the Human bone structure, and the histology of different epithelial tissues. I think that I will be able to do fine on this though, if I can just continue to keep studying and not get distracted for too much of the time.

Choir this year has been going great, and I have really been enjoying it! We had a guest speaker/motivator come in and do a lecture for us last weekend. This past weekend I was out at Fort McCoy training with the rest of the ROTC battalion. We had the opportunity to shoot M16 rifles and I got to shoot a Machine gun for the first time in my life. Lets just say that I really enjoyed that. (Surprisingly it doesn't hurt as much as you think it will.... :) ) After we shot the weapons, we then spent 6 hours trying to get them clean. I finally got my clean after about 5 hours. The last major event that we had the opportunity to do this weekend was to go through a confidence course and an obstacle course. On the confidence course, I did an obstacle that I ended up hurting myself on. It was set up so that you had to roll a bunch of logs while you were laying on them, and span a 15 foot section about 4 feet off of the ground. Needless to say I got to the end, lost my balance and ended up taking a dive into the ground. Luckily I had my Kevlar helmet on so my injury was kept to a minimal!

Well I will talk to you guys later, because now I have to go to choir!

New Classes for Third Semester!

So it is now my Sophomore year here at UW-La Crosse and as hard as that is to believe I need to keep pushing myself forward. I have the most difficult semester schedule that I have had so far, because two of my classes are going to attempt to "weed" me out. The first of which is Organic Chemistry, and let me tell you that if you are going into Pre-Medicine and it requires a ton of work. The best part is right now it is still rather fun, however I need to find some time this week to go in and see if I can get some help because there are several topics that we discussed and I am not completely understanding the material. We are going over the processes of Hydrocarbons this week and how to name Organic compounds, which for some odd reason is different than naming any other chemical compound in any class that I have had before. For some reason they are super specific on how and what I should be naming.

The next class that is difficult is BIO 312 Human Anatomy and Physiology. I think that the lecture so far is great, however this week was the first week that labs were in session and they basically put out 80+ bones in front of us and told us to memorize them within the hour. Within the hour!!!!! So needless to say I will have to go into the lab sometime this week and deal with that little issue of continuing to memorize the names, grooves, cracks, and holes within the bones.

As far as the rest of my schedule goes, I will have to tell you about that next week! For now I have to get going and run a section conclave for this weekend. (Order of the Arrow Campout!) Have a great week guys!

End of the year studying for finals!

So this is the end of the year in college, and it is truly hard to believe that a whole year in college for me has gone by. I can remember like it was yesterday moving in the residence halls, and getting ready to begin a new adventure. Well the adventure of the first year is quickly coming to a close, and with it new wisdom to assist me in my journey next semester. I will share with you some of my wisdom that I have gained this year.

1. Don't ever wait to study the night before a major examination. All that this does is cause you to stress out and chances are that you will not learn anything from this experience.

2. When you study for your finals try to have some fun. If all you do all day is study you are likely to become very tired and sick of it and then the rest of the week you will feel very unmotivated. This is critical to good test taking.

3. Always get enough sleep before you take a test. Getting 4 hours doesn't satisfy this requirement.

Well I have to get going! Have a good week guys!

Salt Lake City

Hey Gang,

So every once in a while you get to do something extremely fun. This weekend I had the opportunity to go out to Salt Lake City, Utah and get to see a site that I will be doing a service project for in June. I am really looking forward to serving the Manti La-Sal national forest in removing the invasive species called the Tamarisk there. I am enthusiastic and overjoyed by this opportunity. Also this weekend, the Concert Choir got to got to Minneapolis on a tour. Tomorrow I will be singing at several different high schools promoting the UW-L Concert Choir. I think that it is going to be a very fun time.

With all the fun times, however, comes all the work of the college life that never really stops piling up on you. I have to write a lab report for Microbiology this week on my Unknown bacteria. The lab portion itself is very fun, however the work that comes with it is often challenging and can cause a hard time if you were not paying attention to this during the week. (Lecture.) Anyways I thought that I would just let you guys know what I have been doing. Next week I will be out at Fort McCoy Again and I will be having a training exercise with the MS III's. I will talk more about that later during the week. See you guys later!