Week 14: Famous Last Words

Quadrant streak of Legionella bacteria
(similar to the streaking I do in lab)

Well, this past week has been nothing but bittersweet for me. It was definitely a crazy week! As the semester draws to a complete close (with this upcoming week being dead week, aka the very last week of classes), it's been such a whirlwind. I had my very last regular test on Wednesday, and I've been finishing up all of my final experiments in my capstone lab, and this upcoming up week I will begin my final paper for capstone. I only have that one paper and one final, and I will officially be ready to graduate. I can't believe the time has actually come! It's honestly the most surreal feeling ever.

Another high I had this week was the Relay for Life event, which occurred over this past Friday. Together, the OU community raised over $180,000 for the American Cancer Society - absolutely unreal! It was such a fun experience, and I'm so glad I was able to spend my entire senior year working and planning such an amazing event for an even more amazing cause.

As far as this class goes, I am wrapping everything up this week and should be finished as soon I
as receive my comments back from Laura. It's been such a fun experience being in this class, and I've enjoyed every minute of it. There have definitely been some units that I have liked more than other, but all of them contain unique and individual stories of their own. I loved the idea of the UnTextbook; I think it has been really effective in the way the class was run. It's super easy to navigate and all of the notes in the episodes are super helpful too! Such an awesome class overall!

Week 13: Famous Last Words

Well, this week has absolutely flown by! At first, I thought it was going to be a long week because Monday seemed to drag on, but now it's already almost Friday! As I mentioned in my last post, things are absolutely crazy right about now. It seems like all of my classes have reached the "crunch time" moment. There's so much to do in my capstone class in order to finish up and be able to graduate; it's honestly so stressful. But, our group has finally nailed down an experiment, so hopefully we will be able to finish up in a timely manner and complete the course!

As for this class, I regretfully became super busy throughout the month of April, so I have been trying to play catch up. This is obviously no fault but of my own. I am
hoping to be able to wrap up everything within these next two weeks, but as I said before, April is such a crazy month! My goal for this next week is to add my last Storybook story and complete all the way through to the review week.

Design done by an executive member

In addition to all the craziness going on in my capstone class, I also have an upcoming physiology exam on top of working close to 30-40 hours a week. It's definitely been a challenging semester, but I think I have learned much responsibility and motivation from staying so busy. In a very backwards way, staying busy and occupying all of my time with things to do is what keeps me motivated. I love being super busy.

Another awesome thing I've gotten to participate in, not only this semester, but all year, is Relay for Life executive council. I am currently serving on the fundraising team, and we have been working all year to raise money for the American Cancer Society. This past week, we had multiple PR events to raise awareness about the awesome event, and after working so hard all year, next Friday is the day of the actual event. I am so excited to see our hard work play out! That being said...I must get on my soapbox for a minute. If you read this at all and are available on April 24th, you should sign up and check out this awesome event on the South Oval! It's going to be an awesome time!

Week 12: Famous Last Words

Well, these last 3 weeks have been absolutely insane. I had the wonderful opportunity to have a little vacation to Cabo during Spring Break, but as soon as I came back, I had to hit the ground running. I've had nothing but papers, tests, and projects in all of my classes, and it's seeming like it's never going to end. Luckily, there's a light at the end of the tunnel! Exactly one month from today, I will be graduating! And let me tell you, it's a super bittersweet feeling. I definitely can't wait because I'm excited to see what exactly the future holds, but I also am terrified because...well the exact same reason!

Since I'm there so many times a week (because I am a server),
I decided to include a picture of Chuy's.

As far as this class goes, I admittedly have not been able to commit as much time I was able to in the beginning of the semester. I am hoping to use this weekend to get caught up, and hopefully get ahead to where I am able to finish the course. I have really enjoyed all of the readings throughout each week, and I've really gotten to see a new perspective and style of teaching than I've ever had at OU. I'm so glad I decided to take this course because it has allowed me to use a little more freestyle writing than what I am normally used to in my other classes. This week, I unfortunately missed the deadline for the storytelling, but as I mentioned above, the g
oal I have set for myself is to try and catch up on everything this weekend.

Adding a little bit of excitement to the mix, my mom and sister are coming to visit Norman next weekend, so I am really excited for that! I definitely need a much needed break from school and work. I haven't seen either of them since Christmas, so it'll be fun to get to catch up with them.

Week 8: Famous Last Words

Wow, what a bit of a hectic week this has been! With the random snowstorm, class cancellations, and all the other aspects of life, it's been pretty crazy! Being a microbiology senior, I am currently enrolled in my capstone, and we have reached the point in the semester where we must come up with the final project/experimentation that we will write our final papers over in order to graduate - super scary thought, by the way. So, I spent my entire week brainstorming and researching all kinds of topics in hopes that one would jump out at me that I could do my project over. Needless to say, it was a bit of a daunting task, but I think I finally have a lead - thank goodness!

Oh, I totally forgot to mention I went to Soonerthon this weekend at the Huff!
This is a picture of my roommates and I at Soonerthon.

As far as this class goes, I really enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts and reviews this week. It gave me a really good idea about how everyone else feels about the class and gave me some ideas for goals and stories to write the rest of the semester. I am a tad bit behind on the Storybook (terrible case of writer's block), but I finally figured out exactly what I wanted to write about and have gotten my introduction nailed down. My next step is to post the first story, which I will doing within the next couple of hours. I'm excited to finally start writing some of the new posts and getting the website all finished. I can't wait to see how the final product all turns out!

Annnnnnnd, as far as everything else, the snow day was definitely a fun and relaxing day. I definitely needed a bit of a break! With being in class and working 30 hours a week, it was nice to be able to relax a little bit and get caught up on some of my other work - not to mention the snow was beautiful! I'm from south Texas, so I don't get to see the snow a whole bunch (except for the million and one snow days we've had since I've been in college, haha). But it definitely gives a little more value to the days that it does snow!

Oh and one more thing, I got my CAP AND GOWN this week. WHAT in the heck. Where has time gone? How in the WORLD am I old enough to be graduating college? INSANE.