Studying...

I am writing this on the eve of my first college exam, after having studied for nearly five hours straight. In a little less than 14 hours I will be in SC 134 taking my biology test. Before now, my idea of studying was reading over my notes the period before a test. Fifteen minutes tops of reviewing and I'd come out with A no problem. In college, however, everyone says that cramming won't work. Unfortunately, I don't know any other way to study. In high school, teachers told us pointblank what was and was not going to be on the test. In college, we aren't given this luxury. Somehow 4 chapters of biology are going to be condensed into a 66 question assessment. Yikes. Basically, I am employing every study tip I've ever heard, but never used before. Reading, going over practice questions, making flashcards, I've done it all and am still not very confident. This is a very unsettling experience for me because I am way outside of my comfort zone. Never before have I felt so unsure about what I know. Right now, I just want to get the test over with just so I know what it's like. Even if I get a poor grade, I just want it over so I know how to prepare better the next time. Ugh! I feel frazzled, scatterbrained, and in need of large amounts of caffeine. I want to study more, so I can feel more prepared, but I don't know what else there is for me to do. I've read everything, went over my notes a dozen times, and gone through my SI questions. Thankfully I have another SI session at 8 tonight. Hopefully it helps so I'm not up studying all night :S

Friday Night Football :)

Jordan and I after last year's homecoming game
(The one game I didn't cheer for because
I was on homecoming court)

I love football. It is by far my favorite sport to watch, play, and cheer for. In high school, I was a cheerleader my sophomore, junior, and senior year, and honestly, it was one of my favorite parts of the entire high school experience. Don't worry though, I'm not the stereotypical blonde, ditzy, peppy-all-the-time cheerleading type. I'm a pretty laid back person and not much of a girly girl. Actually, when I told my friends I was trying out for the squad, they all laughed at me. No one thought that I fit into the whole skirt-wearing, chant-yelling group. They figured I would fit better into the actual football team than the cheering squad. (I actually contemplated playing football in junior high, but after my brothers told me they would disown me if I did, I decided against it.) I had always wanted to be a football cheerleader. Since I was in six-years-old, I have only missed one Turkey Valley (my high school, go Trojans!) football game, and I loved yelling along with the cheerleaders and always dreamed of being one someday. To me, being on the cheerleading squad was my way of being on the team. We got to hang out with the football players, ride the football bus, and got a front row view of all the games. When I made the squad, two senior cheerleaders took me under their wing and taught me everything I needed to know. Soon, I was a jumping, yelling, stunting cheerleading machine! Fridays during fall were the highlight of my high school career. Each week I would wake up with those Friday night light chills  and butterflies and count down the hours until the game! During my junior year, those butterflies multiplied when I started dating Jordan, our sophomore star running back. Watching him play was incredible, and we fit into the high school movie cliche of the cheerleader dating the football player perfectly. During my senior year, Jordan racked up 1,500 yards rushing and was named to the all-state team as a running back. I couldn't have been more proud. Even though I've graduated, I am so happy I can still be a part of my favorite part of high school. I've made it to every game, seen every touchdown, and continue to be Jordan's #1 cheerleader. Although I have to do my cheering from the bleachers now instead of out on the track, I still wake up every Friday morning with those same under-the-lights chills.

Wartburg vs. Upper Iowa

This weekend, I had the opportunity to go on a college visit. I realize most people don't continue to tour campuses after they're already enrolled in a college, but alas, my boyfriend is still a senior in high school and wanted to take me along. We traveled the half hour from my house to Upper Iowa University in Fayette on Saturday morning. The visit took place during Upper Iowa's Homecoming and was specifically geared toward potential football players. My boyfriend really wasn't all that interested in going to UIU before the visit, but as he is a pretty decent football player, he accepted the invitation to the recruitment day. We listened to the university's athletic director and football coaches, were given a campus tour (by someone who just happened to be one of my older brother's best friends from high school), did some tailgating, and watched the homecoming game. Because I have already experienced the college life, it was interesting to see how a different college does things. Throughout the day, I made a mental list of comparisons between Upper Iowa University and Wartburg.

UPPER IOWA                                                                WARTBURG

-Division II athletics                                                         -Division III athletics
-Doesn't really do much winning in football                       -Actually wins football games
-Free laundry, printing, and copying                                  -Free dryers that take 2 hours to dry your clothes
-Air conditioning in EVERY room                                    -Must develop asthma/allergies to get AC
-Very non-intimidating mascot (Peacocks)                        -Awesome mascot (Go Knights!)
-Must trek across a huge and spread out campus              -Can get to any class in less than five minutes
-Must brave the elements and walk outside                       -Sky-walks. 'Nuff said.

I think Upper Iowa's few advantages are definitely overshadowed by Wartburg's big advantages. Oh and Wartburg has me as a student. Big plus :)

Jurassic Park

Although I've seen the movie Jurassic Park multiple times, I've never really thought about it much. In the past, I've always just watched the movie casually, jumping when the dinosaurs pop up and laughing at the characters' jokes. This time, however, I paid much closer attention to the actual content of the movie. In addition to the "sciency stuff," I also took notes on the overlying theme of the movie. I think it really all comes down to the basic ideas of over-reliance on technology and the potential consequences of messing with nature. Because I don't plan on genetically engineering any extinct species anytime soon, the theme of technology overuse is more terrifying to me as a potential real-world problem.

The theme of over-reliance on technology develops as a result of the way Jurassic Park was designed. Complex interconnected computer systems control and operate every aspect of the island. Dinosaur eggs are turned by a robot, doors only lock when commanded on a computer, and even the tour cars are driven by a computer! The consequences of this excessive technology use are revealed when the systems fail and all hell breaks loose in the park. Dinosaurs break through fences, locks fail, and people die, all because the computers don't work right. This is a pretty significant consequence. It makes me worry about how much we rely on computers for nearly everything in our lives today. Although we aren't likely to get eaten by dinosaurs as a result, computer failures can still lead to dire consequences in our world today. One example of this is pilots' addiction to autopilot. According to a story aired last month on ABC news, pilots only spend around three minutes actually flying commercial airplanes. For the rest of the flight, autopilot takes over. There is growing concern over whether this reliance is weakening pilots' abilities to fly manually. When autopilot fails, pilots must take over, sometimes with dire consequences. In 60% of "loss of control accidents," pilots had difficulties manually flying the plane and often screwed up flight controls, leading to the deaths of hundreds of passengers in the last decade. The Federal Aviation Administration blames these mistakes on pilots' reliance on autopilot and are now encouraging airlines to allow pilots to physically control the plane more often during flight so they are prepared when disaster strikes and the computers fail.

Dolak, K. (Producer). (2011). 'Automation addiction': Are pilots forgetting how to fly?. [Web Video]. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/automation-addiction-pilots-forgetting-fly/story?id=14417730

First Day of Classes!

Wednesday, September 7th, 2011 has been a date looming in my mind for months. On this most anticipated day, classes started at Wartburg College. I went into the day expecting to feel a tinge of nervousness, but surprisingly, none came. Instead, all I felt was curiosity. I think maybe its because I've never had a problem with academics in the past. Then again, maybe that means I should be worried because I've never really had to study for school before. It's not that I was lazy or unmotivated; studying was just unnecessary for me. Anyway...back to classes. My first class this morning was biology. We discussed SI sessions, went over the syllabus, got a quick assignment, and took a few notes. I was amazed at how fast the time flew by! After a quick run to the Konditorei for a cappuccino power-up, I headed to chemistry. If classes were people, today's chemistry and biology classes would have been twins. More SI sessions, syllabus run-through, easy assignment, and a few quick notes. I'm not complaining because all this introductory stuff made class easy and go by quickly, but it was starting to get a bit boring. By the time IS rolled around, I was ready for a change of pace that I finally got towards the end of class. The idea of creating a journal in the form of a blog is something new and kind of exciting to me! I tried to keep diaries and journals when I was younger, but I would always lose my enthusiasm after a few days and abandon my poor journal. I am sure (at least I hope!) that the same thing doesn't happen with this blog because I have an extrinsic motivation going for me with this, a grade! Overall, my first day of classes went smoothly. I didn't get lost, show up to the wrong class, or trip up the stairs of the lecture hall. Much of my curiosity has been satisfied because I now know much of what to expect in my college classes, and I'm excited to get into more of the meat of the courses. I will probably regret saying that next week when I'm buried under three feet of textbooks, but I'm feeling very optimistic right now! And with that, a date that has loomed so heavily in my mind for months has floated by with no consequences.