Benefits

5 benefits of an online class

8:00:00 AM


It's summer. Do we really need to talk about school? For me, I really had a great trip (more posts are still coming) in the beginning of June. Immediately after I had gotten home, I was diving head first into an online math class. 
Gross, I know. 

 Honestly, math has never been my best subject, or even my "i'm just okay at this" subject. I mean I can do the basics, but just don't throw the quadratic formula my way. I also have really bad test anxiety when it comes to math. Which is why, for the last two summers, I have opted to take my math credits online. 
Here are some of the benefits that I found, while taking an online class:

 1. You can do homework at any time of the day. 

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 2. Usually nothing is due until midnight, which gives you plenty of time
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3. You can work ahead and get things done to make room for fun activities.

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 4. There isn't a lot of peer pressure. 
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 5. The teachers are really nice and quick to answer emails you might have. 
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 Taking classes like this is also nice because you can focus solely on one subject. 
What subject was your favorite in school? What one was your worst? 
My favorite is definitely English, and my worst was obviously math! 
I hope you're having a great summer! Make sure to leave a comment below, I love reading all of them! 
x Kenzie

Charleston

Making Lemons from Lemonade

7:00:00 AM


Chicago Illinois


 Hello everyone! I'm officially back from holiday, while I soaked in as much vitamin D as I could, I let this blog take a back seat. I honestly loved being off the internet, it was freeing not to have it with me and just have my nice camera, not to worry about if my phone was left behind and not checking what was happening every 15 minutes on social media. 

So, where was I? May 31st through June 14th I was gone, and I stayed near Charleston South Carolina on Kiawah Island. Near the end of our trip, we ended up getting into a bit of car trouble, extending our holiday and downsizing our wallets. While waiting for news on our vehicle that would take us home (Charleston is 17 hours from Wisconsin), we had no choice but to make Lemonade from our Lemons. And we did. I made up a list about Pros and Cons of being "stuck" in a vacation that will seemingly never end. 

 Pros:

 Eating out at restaurants you said "We'll eat there next time" to
Seeing sights you would have had to come back to
Having more time off of work and school
Being in the sun longer
Finding new things to do
South Carolina


 Cons:

 Not knowing when the vehicle will be done (we waited a long time around the shop)
Spending more money than you thought you would
Running out of Data for your phone 
Getting behind on classes and work
Having to go back to Charleston and get the car and drive it back
Not starting the drive back at a reasonable time 
Charleston South Carolina

 We eventually left Charleston on Monday at 6pm Eastern, drove about 6 hours and 15 minutes and then an entire 11 hours on Tuesday. Which is why there wasn't a post Tuesday. 
Even though we ran into some trouble, I really enjoyed being in the south, having more time to eat shrimp and grits, see the sights and spend time with my family. It may have been an unfortunate situation but I definitely feel like we all helped each other make lemonade from our lemons! We survived and made it home at last! 

I cannot wait to share all of the photos from the trip with you guys! It might take a while but I hope you'll love it! I hope you're all having a great month. Has there ever been a time where you have had to make a bad situation good? Have you ever been stuck on vacation? 
Can't wait to hear from you in the comments! 
x Kenzie

Break

Unwinding

12:30:00 PM



It's safe to say that the last two weeks have been quite stressful. Exams, projects, papers...all due within a short period of time. The things that had piled up on my desk were slowly defeated and conquered one by one. With a small amount of hope that there would be a break longer than two days soon. 
Luckily, there is. It's Spring Break this week, and that means it's time to spend an entire 8 days back in my home town, where my friends know me well and the coziest blankets await. 
Though, like last year, I may not be spending my downtime like many other college students across the states (I do wish I was visiting a nice sandy beach though), I will be working a bit, visiting my good friends and watching the last episode of Glee ever. It will also be spent catching up on blogs and hopefully reading a few new ones as well (leave your favorite blogs/bloggers down in the comments!!)
I did have a massive splurge in LUSH and found a Topshop section in Nordstrom at Mall of America when I visited the weekend before this. Those posts will come soon! So keep your eyes peeled! 
I'm happy to unwind, relax and see what this week is going to bring. Hopefully some new recipes to try out! I'll show you all those as well!
The best thing that Spring Break brings along after it's over is that small glimmer of hope that Summer Break is coming soon after. 

Anyhow, I hope you all are enjoying your weeks! Have you got any holidays planned? Yours are probably different than mine and I would love to hear all about them! Make sure you leave a comment! 
xx
Kenzie

anxiety

First Year Wrap Up

1:00:00 PM


  First I’ll start off by saying, I have written and rewritten this post so many times before deciding that it’s okay to send it out into the internet world for you all to lay your eyes on. Second, this is entirely my opinion based on my own experience, it does not and probably will not be the same as yours.

As many of you know, I have recently finished up my first year of college. A lot of people are asking “How did you find it?” “Was it fun?”
Let’s do a quick recap first shall we?


 The summer before my first year was incredible, I spent almost every weekend with my friends at their graduation parties, sitting around a fire until late at night. I took a trip to New York City, you can read the post about my favorite restaurant here. Before I knew it, it was time for school again. A lot of my friends who I had been hanging out with during the summer were packing up and moving away to four year universities. There were a few who decided not to go at all and take a year off to work.


 I had decided to go to a two year university. It was a good choice, save money, get acclimated to college life before throwing myself into completely unknown territory. My parents wouldn’t have to fret over me being so far away the first year. I still had expectations, as every student does during their first year. It’s a new school, you’ll meet a lot of people, make new friends. That sort of happened…but not really. I think I made one friend. It’s different going to a two year college where the majority live at home and commute to class and most of the students have grown up and just graduated high school with each other. 

The first semester was great, I didn’t have to wake up at 5am anymore, so that was really nice. The teachers were pleasant. Though I was not prepared for how long the homework would take. None of my friends really kept in touch by the time the second semester rolled around. We did get together during the holidays when everyone came home. They shared stories about their roommates and meals and events, me? I had no exciting tales to tell. Other than that one kid in Spanish class who told a girl she was “retarded” for asking a question. I was appalled. The thing with my friends coming back that put me off was that they would ask the generic, “How is your semester going?” and you’d tell them, but they would stop listening in the middle of it and move on. I felt I had been shrugged off for not going to a big university like they had, whether they had meant to do that or not.
The professors in college were alright, I mean I guess it’s the same with everything you get a good one and you can get a bad one. One teacher told me that I hadn’t done well on a previous test and that even if I tried I probably wouldn’t make it. The next day was the test, and I would like to point out I got a B on that one. I still felt upset that a teacher would say that. Don’t try, it won’t be good enough. Yea you get paid anyway. I told my advisor I have anxiety and she said “I don’t want you to feel anxious or freak out, but 80% of kids in this class don’t make it.” Yea okay thanks for the uplifting encouragement. I do want to say I really did like walking into class. I thought it was pretty. 
My school isn't called "Park" it's actually next to a big park!


I was excited about second semester, because after this one it’s summer! And who doesn’t love Summer? Unless you’re a vampire or something then I guess you wouldn’t like it. I had thoughts of “Why do I need college?” “What does a taking a test on factoring have to do with anything?” “When will I need to know how to do all of this fancy math stuff if my major isn’t anything to do with math?!” I don’t like math can you tell? I totally disagree that you need to spend time and money learning something you don’t need. Is it to make us more “rounded?” because if that’s it. Then what the hell was high school for?

I constantly had to remind myself that I’m doing this to study abroad. I have to do this to get a job, a good one and when I get a good job I can buy more dogs and I can live in England on a patch of green field and watch those dogs run around and have all the tea I want.


 The year ended with a sigh of relief that it was finally over. I know that this isn’t everyone’s same experience, and it’s totally unique to me. All of my friends, even some who stayed in town and went to the same school I did had a great time and met a lot of people. I am going off to a bigger University next semester and now I am only one step closer to getting to England. (and I cannot wait to write that blog post when the time comes!)
So with all of that being said, I really hope it goes much better than this year did. There will be blog posts about packing and moving and things that come with that later on.


Do any of you go to Uni/College? What was your first year like?
If you’re not in Uni/College and you’re worried about the fact that you can’t figure out something to study or major in…DO NOT worry. Try classes that you think look fun and I promise you’ll find something to do eventually.

Xx
Sorry this was so long. There will be more exciting blog posts because..ITS OFFICIALLY SUMMER FOR ME !!!!

Kenzie

p.s here's a cute picture of Sadie just because. 


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