June 24th, 2019

So, it is the end of exam season and one of my last exams were lab practice exams. This is what happened:

So this pictures sums up how my first lab practice final went… I messed up simple dilutions and I was so nervous I used a micropipette to sample 1 uL and all I took was air *sigh*

Crossing my fingers for chemistry tomorrow, not all hope is lost!

University teachers

What is the role of a university-level teacher?

At university level, students usually seek higher education in a field of their chosen interest. As the difficulty of the material studied increases, college-level teachers need to have certain qualifications in order to provide the best education possible. What is the purpose of a person teaching in college? We might think that teachers are the people who give us lessons to learn and homework to do, but I find that their role is far more important than that.

Firstly, I believe that the role of a college-level teacher is to provide the best and most accurate education as possible to their students. As university level teachers, they have to be precise in their field of study, but also need to be open-minded to help the students expand their knowledge and challenge their curiosity. It seems to me that higher education is an important period in the life of a student, and that it is crucial to use this time to see and learn as much as possible in order to become accomplished. Therefore, the role of college teachers shouldn’t be to teach the material in a passive way, but to guide the students through a new subject and link it to a wide range of topics, thus opening the eyes of the students to the reality of what they’re learning.

Moreover, and as we have stated previously, the college years of a student are a period of growth, so they are decisive. Hence why I am convinced that university teachers should be able to guide their students through these sometimes difficult or confusing years. Other than teaching their subject, their role is to support teens and young adults through their choices and decisions in a personalized way. It is essential for students to know that they have someone with experience who can be trusted to give them advice about studies, professional careers, or even about life in general.

In conclusion, the role of teacher in higher education is to be a guide and a model, in addition to the role of teaching the subject, because it is highly beneficial to the personal growth and open-mindedness of every college student.

Self-care

Some days, self-care means going to bed early, filling up the batteries.
But on other days, self-care means dragging myself out of the house after a long day and going to my dance class. It means focusing on something else for an hour or two, seeing people outside of school, having different conversations, and blowing off some steam. On those days, all I need is to feel my body move with the music and get my emotions out. It also means going back home and being the good kind of tired, taking a steaming shower that clears the mind for the night.
Self-care has different meanings, and you get to choose your own definition in order to do what makes you feel better.

2018’s music – Albums I listened to this year (Soundtrack of my life #1)

I rarely listen to entire albums. I usually don’t like all the songs in an album, so I end up playing that one particular song I like on repeat until I can’t stand hearing it one more time. But this year has been different, so get ready, ’cause this is the 2018 recap of all the albums I’ve been listening to, in no order whatsoever.

  • Infections of a Different Kind – AURORA (how did I not know about her before ??)
  • All My Demons Greeting Me As A Friend – AURORA
  • Evolve – Imagine Dragons (why didn’t I listen to this album before?? It’s my favourite band!)
  • Smoke and Mirrors – Imagine Dragons
  • Pray For The Wicked – Panic! At The Disco
  • The Greatest Showman – Various artists
  • You (EP) – dodie (we love and protect dodie)
  • Intertwined (EP) – dodie
  • Black Panther: The Album – Kendrick Lamar and various artists
  • Bon Iver – Bon Iver (go-to study music)
  • For Emma, Forever Ago – Bon Iver (idem)
  • Z-Sides – Tom Rosenthal (again, study/relaxing music)

and others like Hayley Kiyoko, Hamilton, Zoë Keating, Sia, without forgetting my all-time favourite album, Night Visions by Imagine Dragons.

I’ll maybe make a special playlist with songs from my dance classes, because some of them are kinda cool too.