Tips on keeping sane during summer courses

Chiba

I had a thread not too long ago where I was worried about my major and if I should switch. Well I decided to stick with pharmacy instead of switching despite this evil name Organic Chemistry. I've been studying like crazy and I have made some progress. However, with my next test being tomorrow, I do not think I've progressed enough.

I already have to take Organic Chemistry 2 and it's lab during the summer, but with the oncoming doom it looks as if taking Organic 1 for the third time (is a charm?) is very likely. I've registered for all 3 courses (O chem 1, 2, 2 lab) as a precautionary measure.

Thus, if I'm accepting I'm taking all three courses this summer, I'm faced with another problem. I'll have to stay here at my university due to it being 4 hours away from where I live, and not being able to find compatible courses (content and time wise) at colleges/universities in my area. The Organic Chemistry I class starts immediately after the spring semester ends, so I would not be going home in between. It'd look something like this.

-Day I can leave from end of Spring Semester: Fri May 2nd
-O Chem 1: Mon May 5th through Fri May 30th.
-2 weekish break at home: May 30th to June15th.
-Oranic chem 2 followed by lab: June 16th through July 25th.

So that leaves me here from 5/5 - 5/30, then 6/16 - 7/25.

Now the point of my thread, how do I keep myself sane? Very few people actually live here during the summer. Out of the six dorms, only one remains open and it's the smallest one. It's going to be dead here. During the weak I'll have about 3 hours of class every morning I believe, and studying, eating, playing some games to relax after the end of the day should be enough to keep me sane during the week. However the weekends, oh god the weekends. I do have the benefit of faster internet compared to the sub-56k speeds we seem to get during the year, so online gaming would be an option, but that's awfully depressing to think of just doing that.

What can I do to add structure to my day so that I don't go insane? I might get lucky and find someone who's staying that I either know or could maybe get along with, but I want to have a plan incase not. Many of my friends live too far away to visit too often. My ex-girlfriend said she would visit whenever she's in the city for her internship, which might be a few times a week, but I can count on her to do something as much as I can count on a rock to speak.

Short Version: Taking summer courses for majority of summer while staying at a pretty much deserted campus. How do I create structure to my day to remain sane?

Nitsuj82

When I took Summer courses in college, I was too busy to worry about minimal human interaction. Granted, there was one dorm open that all of the people who stuck around lived in, so if you really wanted to hang with someone, you just went to the lobby and studied down there.

Nose to the grindstone, man.

DeathPrawn

Where is the university located? If it's in an urban area and/or you have access to a car, that should make it easier to find things to do.

ihmmy

it's summer, go outside! Bike places. Go wander through parks. Volunteer somewhere or get a part time job to meet new people.

firewaterword

Based on my experiences living with two biology majors when I was in school, the lack of distractions while you're taking O Chem is an absolute blessing.

Do what you need to do to keep yourself from loosing it (exercise, read, drink, et cetera) but you should have more than enough to keep you busy. Also, one of the worst things I witnessed with said housemates was the backlash from friends when they were too overloaded with work to ever go out. If your friends aren't around, no one is going to give you shit for living in the library.

Also, getting into study groups will do wonders for your understanding of the material, and will have the side benefit of helping you meet people in the similar situation.

Good luck sir, and godspeed!

Fats

firewaterword wrote: »

Based on my experiences living with two biology majors when I was in school, the lack of distractions while you're taking O Chem is an absolute blessing.

Doubly so when it sounds like he's about to fail for the second time.

Buckle down and dedicate your time to mastering OChem, man. Learn a new instrument if you really find yourself with lots of free time.

Chiba

This is in Pittsburgh, downtown Pittsburgh, so it's not the most happening place, especially during the summer. Perhaps I'm worrying too much about going crazy. It just sounds awfully depressing to me right now, but maybe it won't be as bad as I think.

corcorigan

You could get plastered. That's the world's preferred way of killing time when there is nothing better to do.

Alternatively you could work and not have to resit again.

Dioltas

Offer your room as a place to crash for your friends from home/school? Especially if they're living with their parents. I know that when I was spending the summer at my folk's place, I would have jumped on the chance to road trip a mere 4 hours or so to spend the weekend elsewhere just for the novelty of being not at home.

Raneados

keep your door open whenever you're in it and awake

take study breaks in the lobby

if the lobby has a TV, bring a game console down and start playing some games, others will join in

Dark Moon

Chances are, as it's organic chem, you'll be busy as hell that entire time and come the end of the summer laugh at yourself for worrying about having unoccupied free time.

But if you doubt this is going to be the case, why not get a job that'll let you work some evenings during the week and weekends? That'll keep you occupied while making you lots of money that you won't be able to spend as you'll never be going out. Money is always nice, either for investing/saving or to enlarge the budget when next year starts and you (I'm assuming) don't have time to work a job.