The "Final" Blog Post

Here we are, 8 months after I've started this blog. I'm about to graduate High School and move to a different state, 5 hours away from my family, and more importantly, my dog.
There's something to be said to the fact that you learn from your mistakes, and I've made quite a few throughout my time in high school. I've failed. A lot.
In middle school, you showed up, you got a B. You wrote your name on the paper, you got an A. In high school, it was a whole new world, one where unless you worked your absolute hardest, you were not going to succeed. My grades in High school are not something I'm particularly proud of. They're not great, not terrible, but also, not a reflection of who I am as a student. I'm not going to talk about grades now though, that's another topic for another day.

Here are some things I learned in high school and hope to apply to my life in college:

-Join student government (I didn't do this and regret it!!)
-Talk to him, what's the worst thing that can happen?
-Work hard first, then reward yourself
-Block Netflix
-Make time for your friends
-Don't sleep your days away
-Kiss up to the teachers a little bit
-Running can be fun
-Put yourself out there
-Be loud

As you can see, I learned a lot in high school besides how to calculate the velocity of a watermelon speeding through space. Yes. I learned things that will help me academically next year, but I think that some of the most important things I've learned are more personal and will help me immensely in years to come.

If I had to choose one thing that I learned through out all four of my years in High School, it would be to put myself out there. Oddly enough, I've never been a very quiet person in the literal sense of the word, but I've also never been one to volunteer at a magic show or try out for the leading role in the musical. I have a lot of self-confidence, but I don't love the lime-light.
My junior year of high school, I was put in a situation that I could either take advantage of, or leave completely alone. After a few months of sitting quietly, I decided to take a chance. Long story short, there was a guy I liked in one of my classes that I didn't know very well, but ended up getting to know him a little bit better through working on homework and through music events. You can read more about it here in a post I wrote last year.
Moral of the story, it didn't work out, and it took me a while to get over the idea that I "failed" at achieving my goal. I would have so much more regret having not done something, as opposed to the regret I have towards the way the situation ended. As I mentioned in the post I wrote last year, some of my best memories were made because I put myself out there.

Although there are many things I regret about high school, I know that those regrets can be channeled into creating an amazing time in college.

Some Pinterest Inspiration:

I think this quote is my favorite

I'm not sure if I will continue blogging on this blog, but I know I will continue on my fashion and lifestyle blog, North Shore Proper, so be sure to follow me there to follow me though my journey at Bellarmine University!

NorthShoreProper.Blogspot.com

Fatigued

I write this post as my eyelids work overtime to try and stay open, even though it's only Eight O'clock and I just woke up from an hour and a half long nap. I could call this fatigue. If there's one changed I've noticed my body undergo all through out high school, it's that I'm not constantly tired. I could have had nine glorious hours of restful sleep (I just got a FitBit Heart rate monitor which will help me tack my sleep and see how restful it is) and wake up and feel exhausted.

I think as you grow through your four years of high school, you become more and more okay with the idea of over-working yourself. For many, the goal in high school is to succeed by any means necessary, and often times that means sacrificing your health via sleep deprivation and poor eating habits. I'm extremely guilty of falling into both of these traps, however, I'm working on taking better care of myself in preparation for college next year.

Yesterday, the National Sleep foundation released their updated recommendations for amount of sleep needed to be healthy. I created a survey below to see how people measure up to the recommended amount of sleep. I hope to create another post after I've collected sufficient results from the survey detailing what seemed to be the most popular responses, especially per age group.

Click here for larger view of the infographic

all sales final

Panorama taken by me at the local library

The week before finals is upon us. Fondly referred to as "Hell Week" at my school, students spend their time studying, crying, chugging coffee, and driving around looking for a parking spot at the library (aka me for the last 10 minutes). This week is one that is not taken lightly by teachers or students. Projects are assigned and collected, unit tests are taken, and (in some cases) online grades are updated for the first times in months.

The idea of final exams seem just that: final. The word lends itself to panic and thoughts of doom and destruction uncontrollable by the student. I know in my case, finals are when I realize just how important those five point assignments were back in September, or how little of AP Statistics I truly understand. Looking back on my first set of finals my freshman year of High School (I'm currently a senior) I suppose I thought they would only get easier as the semesters went on. Yet here I am, upon what I hope to be my last set of finals in high school, just as panicked as I was in 2012. I feel slightly more prepared, and slightly more anxious, but perhaps that's just the 3 cups of coffee I've had so far today.

Perhaps the most daunting aspect of finals is the idea that you're about to pull together five months of knowledge into one exam, project, or paper, and it's going to count as 1/5 of your semester grade. You have absolutely no control over what happens after you click send, or turn back your Scantron, all thats left to do is refresh the online grade-book compulsively until your pointer finger falls off. I promise it will be okay. Your fingers will not fall off (unless we get another polar vortex then I make no promises) and the world will not end.

Please join me in a toast (of a caramel macchiato) to kick off Hell Week right:

Here's to the late nights and near caffeine overdoses (yes it's possible, please be careful folks!). The endless typing, highlighting, and of course, perpetual fear that you're not good enough.

Cheers!