http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinarose/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:00:00 -0500 Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:00:00 -0500 I had my first major test today. The teacher did not tell us about it untilTuesday, so I had very little time to study. There were 43 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions to cover a few thousands of history. The teacher at least told us what would be covered, "...the material from the lectures and the reading." Period. Well, thank you for your clarity Dr. Beattie. Oh well. I suppose I don't really have much to write today, I will be waiting until Tuesday to find out my test grade. Hopefully it wasn't too bad, because it counts for 20% of my grade! Christina http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinarose/595312/ Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:00:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinarose/595312/ I bring my lunch every day to eat at school or at the bus stop. I was excited to realize that there is a microwave I could use at my campus' BCM (Baptist Campus Ministries). This may not seem like a big deal, but this means that I can now eat real food for lunch instead of all pre-packaged food. I miss my mom's cooking! So, a triumph for the brown bagging student! Christina Russell www.collegetuitionsurvival.com http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinarose/587328/ Tue, 9 Sep 2008 08:53:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinarose/587328/ Some people will tell you that college is easy. Those people (no offense) have no clue what they're talking about. I just wanted to share my Wednesday schedule with you today, to help dispel the myth about college being easy. 6:30 – 8:00 Wake up, eat breakfast, shower, get into work clothes, pack school clothes & shoes. Check email to make sure no classes have moved.  Pack my bag with books for English, Hebrew, College Algebra, and Orientation Class. Make sure to get lunch from fridge! Check to make sure cell phone is charged.   9:00 – 11:15 Go to work (none of this is new for me…so I’ll just skip the details on this one!) 11:22 Catch my first bus and ride for about 30 minutes, trying to read while ignoring the loud conversations of the people around me. 12:22 Wait for another half hour, then catch my second bus which gets so full that there is no more standing room available. Get off at school and walk to my first class. 1:00-1:50 Hebrew 101 Where we are learning the alphabet, print and cursive. 2:00-2:50 English 102 Where we discuss argumentation, then proceed to get into a deep debate about religion and God. 3:00-4:00 Thank goodness for a little break! I go to the BCM (Baptist Campus Ministry building which is not just for Baptists!) and hang out. I try to study, and manage to get some reading in, but mostly meet new people and hang out, eating my lunch. 4:00-4:50 Orientation class, where they teach us all about everything you need to learn as a freshman. This class is frustrating because they assume that all freshman (including myself) will participate in underage drinking and anything else we can get our hands on. 5:30-6:45 College Algebra Lecture where the teacher is Chinese, and I can’t understand half of what he says. This class is usually fairly hilarious, because the other 100 or so people in the class can’t understand him, either. 7:00-7:50 College Algebra Recitation where the TA (Teacher’s Assistant) is a Chinese girl who talks so quietly, no one can hear her above the air conditioning. Fun! 8:00 My sweet Dad picks me up and bring me a chocolate shake! (Ok…he doesn’t bring me a shake every time, but he has picked me up every Wednesday so far after class. 8:30 Eat dinner, read some, check my email, post on one of my websites, try to stay awake long enough to get some homework done.   9:30 Go to sleep! I should note here that 9:30 is not normal for me, around 10:30-11:00 is more normal. But because of all of the things I've added into my schedule, I am so exhausted at the end of the say that 9:30 seems late! It's a good thing I'm not living on campus... Christina http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinarose/585494/ Fri, 5 Sep 2008 08:42:01 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinarose/585494/ College is all about discovering new things and having new , fun, and exciting experiences, and even though my classes don't start until Monday, I am already having some new experiences. I don't know if I would call them fun and exciting, but they were new, that's for sure! During my orientation,m I discoveres that my student ID will allow me to ride the bus for free. This is awesome, as it will save my gas money for more important things (like tuition!) I tried out my route today for the first time, and ever\ything went fine getting to school. (Of course, my Dad did ride with me....) and after .45 miles walking over hills in the wrong kind of shoes in the hot, humid air, I arrived at campus. I went to scop out where my first class was on Monday, then decided that I should start heading back to catch the bus home. Well, I walked back the .45 miles in jeans (aanother poor choice!) and caught a bus. Now, I hat eto admit it when I do something stupid. I did  make sure that the bus was the correct line, but it was another part of the same line. I didn't notice until about 10 minutes later when the bus driver tu\rned around and asked me, "Where you goin', honey?" and when I otld him my destination, he told me I was on the wrong bus. I could stay on his bus and he was going back to my a stop on the line where I could get home. Half an hour later, I was on the same bus, heading back in the right direction. Another thirty minutes after that, I was in my truck, and thankful for the freedom to havie a vehicle of my own to drive on roads that I know. So, word to the wise: When your dad tells you make sure to check that the bus you get  on says the right destination, it's probably a good idea to listen. Christina www.collegetuitionsurvival.com http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinarose/578190/ Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:34:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinarose/578190/ When I started college, somehow I was under the illusion that your professors were on top of things. Well, I have discovered that (much to my frustration!) that is not the case. You see, all of UofL's information for your classes is online. Your books, grades, professors, syllabus, and anythings else you need to know. This seemed so convenient and simple when they explained this 'great feature' to the new freshmen at orientation. Now, I have 4 days left to finish preparing for classes, but one of my classes has no books listed, and all of my classes except one has no information online whatsoever. Ug! So, I've decided to work through my frustration by starting to read one of my interesting text books for the one class that has my assignments listed. I can at least get the reading done. So, the moral of the story is that there are procrastinators everywhere, and many of them will be your college professors! Christina www.collegetuitionsurvival.com http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinarose/577618/ Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:48:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinarose/577618/ I love that time when it's still summer, but you get to shop for bakc to school supplies! Actually, I am somewhat addicted to office supplies, so it's always fun for me to get them, but it's especially fun when stores are having their big sales and I can more for less. Today I am posting a list of things that I do to get me ready for the coming school year: Call about any last-minute paperwork. I called yesterday to make sure that my final transcript had been turned in and to find out when I could bring it in. This also applies to any kind of paperwork you need to turn in before school. Stock Up On Basics. Post-it Tabs (to mark place in textbooks) Pens of various colors for notetaking Highlighters for note-taking Loose Leaf/Notebooks Clean My Bedroom. I don't know how you are, but my room isn't really clean very often. When I say clean, I mean spotless. I clean under the bed, in the closet, take everything out of the drawers and re-organize them, grab the furniture polish, vaccum the floor, even taking down the curtains to shake the dust off outside. It takes the fun out of the first day of school when I can't find any of the new office supplies because they are buried in a pile of dirty laundry. Some may go for that, but I like to start off the year with a clean room. Plan My Budget. If I make my money decisions ahead of time, school is so much easier. Last year, my school was very close to McDonald's. I decided that the one day a week I was there, I could buy a meal for around $4.50. That was fine, because school was only one day a week. This year, my first year at college, I will be working and going to school five days a week. Getting lunch out every day probably isn't inmy budget. SO Later on this afternoon, I am going to sit down and figure out how much money I want to spend on fast food and how often I need to take my lunch, while still allowing plenty of money for tuition, gas, car repairs, books, and all of those good things. Well, that's about it. I hope this inspires you to go get ready for school! Christina http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinarose/575825/ Sat, 16 Aug 2008 12:20:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinarose/575825/ A friend of mine emailed me yesterday in a panic because she had registered only last week, had no idea if her application was accepted, how to register for classes, and where to buy her books. I have just recently been delaing with some of these issues, like buying books and registering for classes, so I was able to give her a very simple step-by-step guide to ease her stress. She emailed me this morning and she is about to register for classes. When she emailed me, I was so glad that I dealt with all of the essentials as early as I could. So, a word of advice: deal with applying to college, registering for classes, buying your books, and all of the important details as soon as possible! It makes it so much easier on everyone! Christina   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinarose/573631/ Tue, 12 Aug 2008 11:17:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinarose/573631/ It's common knowledge that scholarships are the way to go if you want to pay for college. I just wanted to give my faituful readers a few quick tips for finding the right scholarships. Try to keep it simple I have a Microsoft Word Document with a table in it showing the name and date I have applied for any scholarships. This pervents me from appyling for the same scholarship multiple times. This also encourages me to keep going, because it shows me how many I've applied for vs how many I've gotten. (Which so far is only one!) It makes me keep going. Use one website I use Fastweb for all of my scholarship searches. It has you fill out a rather long profile, but almost all of the scholarships that will show up on their site are tailored to match your interests, age, and if you know what college you are going to attend, it shows scholarships from your school. They are my favorite, because you can mark favorites, then discard ones that you have applied for, or that you are not interested in. Keep in mind, just because I use Fastweb doesn't mean you have to! I like it, but there is more than enough websites for everyone to choose one that fits their preferences. Scholarship Experts Scholarship Page Financial Aid Supersite Happy Money Hunting! Christina Russell http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinarose/573122/ Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:16:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinarose/573122/ I have a confession to make. I hate typing essays for scholarships, and will do just about anything to avoid having to write them. So, if you or your child is like me, I have the solution! There is a website called Brickfish.com, where there all sorts of scholarships and contests if you are into photography and/or graphic design. I am, so this website totally fits me! The neat thing is, you can win by getting the most votes, or by being the most viral (aka having the most people click on it from other websites). Here are some examples of what  the contest entries look like them you post them to different sites: Photo Shoot Out 2 Brickfish     Favorite Accessory Brickfish   Brickfish Gas Card Design Brickfish http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinarose/572952/ Mon, 11 Aug 2008 09:07:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinarose/572952/ When looking at my class schedule, I saw a little button that said "Order Books Now". I like to plan ahead and since I was plannign to order my books early, I was excited to discover that the website had bundled all of my books that professors had listed (even though only about four were listed). I was no longer excited when I saw the total for the books. In fact, I felt rather sick. For only four books, which I might add were only for two of my classes, came to a grand total of $116.45. I did not have any idea whether the remaining classes would have one book or three, but at any rate, this was only one third of my classes! I still had four more classes where the professors had not announced the books yet! So, I francitally emailed a my student leader, and he told me to look on Amazon.com to find what I needed. I am pleased to report that the books which were going to cost me a whopping $116.45 were only $30.28! One of my books, listed on the university's site, was $12.95, but on Amazon, it was only $1.26! I saw the same book there today for only $0.70! So, if you are looking for books for your college classes, check out Amazon, it has amazing deals!   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinarose/568139/ Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:08:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinarose/568139/