I think the last three weeks of school have gone from good to bad really fast.

I feel like I’m working so hard to keep my head above water, but at the end of the week I’m four feet deeper than where I started. My schedule isn’t ideal. Having Chemistry, Math and Biology every day makes it difficult to absorb the information taught the day before. Just as I’m beginning to make sense of anything, a whole chapter full of new information is thrown at us.

The speed at which these classes are taught drives me nuts. They assume that after we leave their class we have nothing else on our schedules and can spend the rest of the day memorizing the periodic table or understanding why Lyme disease is a product of a tritrophic population. Leaving one class only to go straight to two others and then to work doesn’t leave me much time to figure out the rate at which Jogger #2 made it down the path. And frankly I don’t care. Who uses Algebra any way?! (Don’t answer that.)

It’s not that I’m not trying or working hard. I try and want to understand the material, but something isn’t clicking. That frustrates me. I’m usually pretty quick at picking up new things. Maybe it’s because they’re all being thrown at me at once. Maybe three Science classes and one math class wasn’t the best schedule for me. Unfortunately that’s all there is in my major. I couldn’t have chosen art, could I? Nooooope! Had to go with science!

The only class I am enjoying is Anatomy because I’m not lost. I’m not lost because I’ve had it before and I am really interested in the material. I’m in a blended course so I have three days of online lectures, notes, videos, etc. and then one day of lecture and lab. It’s difficult to keep up, but I can only imagine how much worse it would be if I had no previous experience with it.

I’m a complainer, but I hate complaining about school. I love school. I love to learn, but I feel like I’m doing very little learning. The material isn’t sticking and I’m not getting the help I need. I don’t have much extra time to spend at school to attend review labs or meet with TAs or tutors. When I do ask a TA for help, I get none! What extra time I do have is spent either at work or at home doing homework. And I can’t drop any classes because my grants are awarded only if I maintain at least 15 credit hours. Ain’t that some bull shiz?!

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m exhausted already and the semester is no where near over. I need to find a better system and figure out a way to balance my classes with work and life. I can’t spend four hours on only one subject. Before I know it it’s almost 10 p.m. and I’ve only done math work. So either I’m unprepared the next day or I’m falling asleep as I’m driving down I-90 at 6 a.m. (like today.)

Any suggestions on how to better balance/manage my time? Want to remind me that going back to school isn’t a horrible idea? Want to do my homework?