Trip to Burlington

Burlington, VT

Wow! I cannot describe how crazy things are this year compared to last year. I am not even in the middle of my sixth week, but I have already had three exams. I also have a Technical Math exam this Friday, and a C Programming Exam next Wednesday. I am looking forward to vacation more than most people can understand. I have the rest of this week and all of next week, but then I have a whole week off for vacation time. To say it is well needed would be an understatement.

The amount of work I am given this year, including the new challenges, far outweighs the work from my first year. Computer Engineering Technology is believed to be the toughest major at Vermont Tech. It is so challenging that it apparently has a 57% failure rate. This means that 57% of those that originally entered my major didn't survive to see graduation. Of course, this includes all possibilities. People change majors, people have financial trouble that goes with any college, people get into bad habits (or get worse), and countless other things that go beyond the academic side of things. What does this tell me exactly? It tells me that I am going to have to work my ass off. I know this is what I want, and I want it enough to where I am confident that I will graduate with a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Engineering Technology and be part of that remaining 43%. :D

This year it seems like the stress, in part, comes from me developing my time management skills. My schedule is a bit different than last year. Last year I could hold off doing homework during the night, and this would be because I had time before my classes the following day to do the work. This year I am left to do my homework during the night, or immediately after class. College isn't simply about studying your given major. It is also about studying yourself. I am still in the process of discovering which study habits work best for me, but I just hope that I am not taking too long to do so.

I need to keep myself on track. I have some minor things that I feel like I need to get sorted out soon. I need to start using my binders now that my notes and handouts are piling up. I need to start sorting through my notes, rewriting them, and combining multiple pages of notes into single pages of ultra-useful notes. This process is something they preach during freshman orientation, and while it seemed like 'such a drag' having to listen to it at that time... I can tell that it is actually great advice.

For the most part I have been doing an amazing job with getting my work done correctly and turned in on time. The thing that I am starting to see now, although small, is the snowball effect starting. All college students know how dangerous the snowball effect is. You get a single late assignment, a single missed assignment, or a single class missed... it all builds up. At this stage I have nothing to worry about. I just need to do extra math problems every now and then. I am good with stopping the snowball effect in its tracks, and long before it gets out of hand.

Anyway, the picture above is a picture of me in Burlington, VT. The college sponsored a trip to Burlington this past Sunday, and I was quick to take advantage of it. I got to hang out with some friends of mine, and even a friend who I don't get to see too often. My friend goes to Champlain College for Electronic Game Development, and he gave me a tour of the place on Sunday. It is a pretty cool college. All of the buildings have extremely modern/fancy architectural designs, and the whole campus seems to be connected by stone walkways and buildings.

That is all I have right now. It is getting late... or early, so I should go to bed. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow, but at least it marks the end of the beginning of the week. ;)