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!

Back from Spring Break

Hey everyone, so I am pretty sure that Spring Break was amazing, and that I am totally refreshed and ready for the home run of the school year. With finals in less than six weeks I am beginning to think about what I am going to be doing this summer. I need to still keep up with my classes, and I need to start looking for a job. I have been offered a job to work on camp staff just North of La Crosse at Camp Decorah, a boy scout camp. I worked there for 2 summers, and I am unsure of how I will be able to do that again. Right now, I think that I will return to my hometown and try to get a job in the factory because it pays far better than at camp.

This week in Microbiology we were handed out our Unknown bacteria in lab. We are supposed to identify the bacteria inside before April 12th, and we have lots of Biochemical tests that we are going to be running on the bacteria. It should turn out to be very cool. This weekend I will be going to STX for ROTC and that will be out at Fort McCoy. I am looking forward to what we are going to be doing, because I get to ride on a Black hawk Helicopter to get out to the base. This will be very fun for myself and all of my friends who are cadets. Well I have to get studying for Pre Calculus and Microbiology so I will write to you guys next week. See ya later!

Stressful week before break!

So this is the last week before break, and as I sit here typing this blog, it is 10:00 at night on Sunday. I have to do a Microbiology lab, which I am having some trouble doing because I don't know exactly what the graph I am trying to draw is supposed to look like. This past week has been really exciting for a couple of different reasons however. Last week we started playing a game called mobsters, which in my opinion is kind of like Mafia. Anyone in my dorm can play and it is a cumulative game. The objective is to "kill" your target by hitting them with a sock, and get your family to win the game. The trick of the matter is however is that if the FBI can catch you killing someone, they can win the game by arresting you. Needless to say I have been rather paranoid this week with people who may be trying to kill me in my dorm. I can't wait for Spring break however as it is turning out to be a fun time. All of my friends from other colleges are getting off at the same time as me, so we will be able to hang out back in my hometown of Medford. This week, I will have to turn in a Chemistry Problem set, take a Microbiology test, (which by the way I took two of those this past week and they both were not a fun time.) and I have a Concert Choir test this coming Tuesday. Unfortunately I am still sick, and last week I had to miss ROTC PT days because I was so sick I could barely get out of bed. Last week I also changed my major from Biochemistry to Microbiology and I added a Music minor. That should be interesting because I really like music a lot. Hopefully I get better before Spring break otherwise it really will not be as fun of a time as I am currently planning on having. I hope that all of you out there are having a fantastic time, and I will keep you informed of what I do over the break, and this coming week's activities!

Stressful week

Wow! So the 3rd week of the second semester is now done and classes are really starting to heat up. In English 110 I had a paper due on Friday, and the second rough draft of the paper will be due next Friday. In addition to that my English teacher has decided to crank up the workload in the class by assigning extra assignments in reading and having to respond to the entries that we read. The bad thing is that they are all due in 2 days, which to you guys may seem like a lot of time, but in reality to do all that work for one class as a science major is really quite a work of art! I would usually get assigned a piece of homework in that class on Monday, but then I had Chemistry Lab on Monday which is three hours of goodness and that took up time in my life, and things just really started to get very interesting. This past week we had our first examination in Precalculus too. This was very hard for me, because I am not a Math whiz at all, and I didn't feel like I was very prepared to take that exam. I studied as hard as I could though, so we will have to see how I do on the test when I get it back on Monday. For now over the weekend I will be winding down and having a good time. In college you find that the only time that you have to yourself is on the weekends. The weekdays are reserved for studying with your friends in class and doing lots of homework. I watched a couple of movies tonight and I will be starting on homework in the morning. I will keep you guys informed of what happens next week! See ya later!

New College Classes

So right now I am not having a good time at all. My day started at 5:30 AM with PT in the morning. Right now I am doing my Chemistry II and totally really really really tired. However I can not go to sleep because if I would go to sleep I would not get the homework done which needs to get done. Before I go to bed...and keep in mind readers I have to go to an 8:50 class tomorrow, I need to review Chemistry and Microbiology and somehow get to sleep after that. Right now I have found out that my Second Semester is significantly harder than first semester. So anyways, with the complaining out of the way I will now briefly touch on the good things of the semester. I have to go on a tour with the Concert Choir to Minneapolis and have some fun. We plan on going to a dinner theatre, which will be very fun, and after that we will be touring and singing at 4-5 schools around the area showcasing the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Also this semester I have decided that I will be going out to Utah for an onsite planning meeting for ArrowCorps5. I am not sure if I have touched on ArrowCorps5, however it will turn out to be the biggest service project in the face of the Order of the Arrow's history.... 5000 people all doing service for the National Forests. I am in charge of the programing which will take place at the site. Other than that, I think that I am going to try to finish my homework and go to bed. See ya later!