I'm Still Laughing at "Sippy Goblets"

One month. Officially one month into college. Weird.

I made the mistake of joining a study group that one of my classmates wanted to put together and that she and I and another boy had been talking about for a couple of days. Today in Lifespan Development, we'd agreed to meet in the Geology building, so I clarified several times to make sure I knew where it was, then went straight to Connections.

After my Connections class was over around 5:45 this afternoon and I had caught Alison up on our weekend plans, I headed out to find that Geology building. It was supposed to be close by. As I walked, however, I got a text saying that the study session would now be in the Natural Sciences building "just across" from it. When I asked where this was, I was told, "Right by the Geology building". I almost texted back, "You're describing locations I've never been using buildings I don't know and method of loci doesn't work with me!"... but I refrained.

So I tried to search out the Natural Sciences building. My peer mentor from Connections walked me to it. Only, when she left, I walked in and it was the Math and Statistics building. I got directions from another girl and took a walk from the quad towards the center of campus. Aha, things finally started to look familiar! I found the Biology - Natural Sciences building and...

... waited.

I circled the place several times until I got a text from my classmate asking where I was. In the Natural Sciences building, of course- it was the one near University Inn, wasn't it? Yes, and where exactly was I? In the lobby. What did I see nearby? A mural. I even texted her a picture of it. She sent me her location, so I turned on Google maps and headed outside. I ended up standing outside University Inn, with no other buildings around me, thoroughly lost.

Now, I'm not supposed to be out in the sun until Saturday due to the leg hair removal thing. It was getting late and I was getting frustrated. Abandoning texting, I called and asked for more specific directions. Finally my classmate realized that she had confused the University Inn with the Conference Center. Easy mistake- they're both large black buildings covered with tightly-aligned panels and windows, and the sign outside the Conference Center reads both its name and the name of the inn. Why... I'm not sure.

Turns out, the study session was being held in the same building I'd had my Connections class in. It has two labels. If you approach from one direction, it's called the Agriculture building, which is the name I knew it as. From the other, apparently it's the Natural Sciences building. Which is distinct from the Biology - Natural Sciences building. Well, at least I'd made it.

I have very limited experience with study groups, so maybe my expectations were too high. My classmate had a list of vocabulary words given to us by the teacher. Just. The words. As in, the same words that could be found in my notes with all their corresponding definitions. Maybe I shouldn't have pointed that out- I think I embarrassed her. But I was honestly confused. Had I come all this way for vocabulary words?

No, of course not! We were also sharing (copying?) answers for the extra credit assignment. The extra credit assignment that was downloaded and halfway finished on my desktop computer back at Blue Square. The others in the group were stunned to hear that I didn't have a laptop. Weird that in 2016 you actually have to explain twice what a desktop computer is and that no, it's not in my backpack, and no, I couldn't pull the assignment up on Google Docs. It was a Word file. I probably should have put it on Google Docs, but I hadn't thought about it.

What boggled my mind was... Why were we sharing answers? It's not like the assignment was hard. It's structured like a test with matching and fill-in-the-blank sections. I've actually loved doing it, because it's helping me study for the upcoming Lifespan Development exam, AND it's going to get me extra credit points.

On top of that, each question provides the page number where we can find the answers. Literally all we have to do is turn to the page in our textbook, skim through a section that we should have already read if we've been keeping up with our work, pluck out the (usually highlighted) details we need, and then type the answer into the file we downloaded and change the color of our text so it stands out. I don't know. Cheating just seems so... pointless? I did arrive late, so maybe they weren't cheating, but I'm still scratching my head about that one.

I pulled out my notebook and tried to read through my Lifespan notes while we waited for one of our group members to return from the bathroom. That turned out to be more difficult to do with all the talking going on. The others started asking questions and I answered just about all of them, quick and fast and easily. 

Maybe it was helpful, but I was mostly getting antsy because I felt like I'd be covering more ground if I worked on my own. Especially if I spent the evening working on the extra credit assignment like I'd originally planned to.

The Supplemental Instruction or SI "super session" for the behavior psychology class was supposed to start at 6:30, so we packed up and made our way over there. As we went, my classmate told me that she hoped in the SI session we covered the graphs again, because she'd chosen not to attend class yesterday. Interesting. I asked her what her preferred method of studying was. She said cramming the night before a test. The worst method possible. Between those details and the sharing of answers on the extra credit assignment, I was starting to guess why having a study group was so important to her.

There was nothing inherently wrong with the study group- I just don't think it's for me and my learning style, and I don't think I'll be attending it again unless I'm really desperate.

SI was fine, only... not... super helpful. I hadn't really expected it to be- I regularly sit right next to the woman who teaches it, and occasionally I glance over as she's taking notes to watch her draw stars next to certain sections and write 'Use in SI'. I always think, "No, don't star that! That's an easy concept! Save your stars for something else!" Plus, I just think it's really funny how she flapped around her comparison graphs about why her class worked on the same day we went over "correlation doesn't equal causation".

So in SI, I sat in the front and called out the answers to the questions as they came up on the Powerpoint, after our instructor had read each one aloud (that seemed to be the system we were working with). "Willed actions! Science! Triangle! Charles Darwin!" - I'm the only one who got that one - "Pavlov! Digestive system! The body and soul! Metaphysical! Watson! Radical behaviorism! Skinner! Thorndike's cats and puzzle boxes! Actions of an organism! Topography!" ... I'm curious to know if the people around me thought I was showing off, since it looked and felt as though they kept stealing sharp glances at me as we went along. No, friends. I am just trying to learn things like you.

I bailed from SI early when the group activities came into play. Partially because I hadn't had the opportunity to eat since lunch and it was starting to get late. I still wanted to review my syllabus for my rat lab class since we're supposed to have a test on it tomorrow; I'd only looked at it once, and that was about a month ago. I guess I have my cramming habits too.

Demetria and I made some dinner and talked, and then watched the new "Star" episode that came out yesterday. There was a really cute quote in it that went something like, "I know it's hard to be the oldest one at the little kids' table, but you're not ready yet to be the youngest one at the grown-ups' table". 

Once it had ended, I read through the 23 pages of my rat class syllabus and pulled up my extra credit review work after that. Attending those study groups put me way behind schedule- I'd expected to finish the thing by now... but it's getting so late. I can catch up on it tomorrow. Maybe tonight... I'll just sleep...