Class Photo
02 Saturday Nov 2013
Posted Photographic Evidence
in02 Saturday Nov 2013
Posted Photographic Evidence
in02 Saturday Nov 2013
Posted Uncategorized
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Academic term, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Health, insight, Mental health, November, Professor, Singapore, Stress management, study abroad
Everybody has a routine. For some it’s wake up argue with their alarm clock about if it’s actually 8:15am and then proceed to roll their way into the bathroom and begin their day. For others it’s a 5:30am hop outta bed leading into a brisk 5k run to get themselves on the right track for the day. For me it’s something in the middle, I’m a morning person and a night owl which doesn’t really help my sleep schedule but once I’m going I don’t really like to stop. For the past few weeks though I’ve been (along with my mates here) killing myself with final presentations for my design classes which I’m taking here at NUS. Now you may be thinking, everyone at some point has presentations, everyone has been working hard. I don’t disagree with this but to understand the scale of this one must make note that at NUS we take 3 classes that’s it, only two of them being what is known as studio. In these classes, you are assigned ONE and I mean a singular project, that’s it. So all semester you work diligently on this project, making occasional consultations with your professor about how it’s coming along and how improvements can be made but then the next thing you know it’s November. Once November has come, you are required to present in front of roughly 3-400 people consisting of your peers, professors, various faculty and industry professionals that you are in fact not a complete screw up and show proof that you’ve accomplished your assignments goal for the semester. Oh did I mention this presentation is also 70% of your grade and isn’t even graded by your professor but rather other audience members who have to understand your concept. To say the least the past few weeks have been high stress.
Normally when I’m back in the states I have a few different methods of stress relief which keep me sane, primarily, Brazilian jiujitsu and rock climbing. Now in Singapore both of these are available but neither are close or more importantly cheap. Due to my lack of stress relief, I have been experiencing a change of emotions. I have been sleeping less, and I mean a lot less, maybe 3-4 hours. Even on nights when I get home at 10pm I don’t go to bed till 4am. Along with that my irritability has increased greatly and I generally try and approaching things level headed but recently I’ve been a little more short tempered (in my defense sometimes the world is just horrible).
It’s tough being on exchange and having to sacrifice parts of your routine because you know there are other experience that you need to have which cost money. It’s a tough trade off but I hope it will be worth it.
Well after a long semester of hard work, one of two final presentation is over and in my eyes, we did exceptionally well. As I continue to trudge through this experience every obstacle gets a little bigger and trying to clear them becomes a little harder. I realize this is part of life and I’m gonna learn to deal with it, just gotta make it through life one day at a time.
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