Quoting: C.S. Lewis

Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement - C.S. Lewis

So true, but so tough to put in practise. I think it is just so hard for people to fail. Nobody wants to fail, you will be embarrased, or you will regret it forever.

But you need to go through it, and on the road to achievement, it may be a very important step. Cause when you fail, you will learn so much more. You can better fail 2 times, than succeed 20 times. When you fail, you will go through every step which led to the failure, and you will think over every step again, to know why you failed.

And no, we suddenly do not want to fail. But that is the best part about failure. Failure is inevitable, and we should love that. Cause we do not want to fail, but we have to.

2009 Week 2 January

This is the week that

• I quoted some french guy
• Wrote about the hot beverages in my exam week
• Wrote about the student bag. And what should be in it!

But it is also the week that

• Had a debate in class and scored an 8.8 (on the scale of 10!)
• Read about visualization, something I didn't read about a long time, and put it in practise with swimming!
• Learned that coloured marshmellows doesn't even come close to real marshmellow's in hot chocolate (just gross!)
• Learned that to-do lists DO work, and I'm going to use it more!
• Learned that Google Calender may be pretty handy in my examweek, and the rest of my life?

And of course the week that

• I was at the swimming pool at 6 am for training (yes, that is the usual bussiness with swimming in the Netherlands) and find out that my coach didn't had the keys, so I could go back to bed!
• The week that it was really, really cold in Holland, minus 13 celcius..
• The week that I went riding on a sledge with my girlfriend, and had a wonderfull time in the snow!
• The week I read something in the book Dracula, and find out that foreigners doesn't know anything 'bout Holland. Dutchmen's say: 'Mijn god', not 'Mein Gött' that German! Holland is a country, not the capital of Germany or something!

The second week of January? Full, sometimes stressy, but a good startin' up week!

8 things that has to be in every student bag

What should be in every senior's schoolbag?

Which things can't be missed in your bag?

There are a couple of things which are variable in my backpack. Like my books and my lunch.

But there are a couple of consistant things in my bag, what should be always in every student bag!

1. Your map with notes. I keep all my notes (and small assignments) in one map, all my notes from every class. And I will always carry that map. So I got always my notes I took in class with me, so if I have nothing to do, I can always look at that!
2. A pencil, or so you can underline your notes, or things in your books, which your hopefully carrying with you.
3. Agenda/diary, to set all your deadlines, know what you have to do and when you have to do it. You can also put something like your grades in it, or adresses, random notes/quotes. I actually don't use it. But it is in my backpack, all the time.
4. A pen, of course, you can use the pencil for everything. But I prefer the colour blue above grey. And it writes easier, and clearer.
5. Bottle of water, or just an empty bottle, which you can fill. But keep yourself hydrated, and you can concentrate better in class.
6. In this time of the year (winter on the northern hemisphere), some kind of lipsalve. Else you get bursted lips, what nobody wants!
7. Your earphones, for your iPod or telephone, so IF you recorded some notes you can always listen to it. Or just listen to some normal music, if you don't want to do something all the time.
8. A notebook. I just got an A4 notebook, where I write all my ideas in. If you are having a creative moment, capture it and put it down, so you won't forget. What I also do is taking a paper from it, and make some small cards from it. That is where I write my todo's on. This notebook can't be missed from my bag.

So, now you know the content of my bag, what about yours? Share it in the comments!

iPod Studying #2

A couple of weeks ago I posted something about iPod Studying with the promise that I would test it.

Well, I did.

I found some pro's and cons.

Pro:

• You can relisten it whenever you want. Like me, I listen to it when I am on the bycicle.
• You check your notes again. When there is something which doesn't make sense, you see it immediatly, cause you have to record it. If you read it, you wouldn't notice.
• You practice speaking. I talk to fast some times, and don't articulate good enough. Now I hear it myself.

Con:

• I takes a lot of time. It does, if you are not normal to make summary's, that will take a lot of time (well, that is a good thing actually ;)). And recording take also much time.
• You can not rely on it. When you listen to it on the road, you can be distracted. So studying on your iPod is not enough.
• I am a visual learner. So I can't just listen to it. But because I already looked at it, understood it, it is more like a repeatition of what I already know.

Conclusion

Yes, it is a good way of studying. But you can not study just on your iPod. You have to see it first, and repeat everything you learned in your ears.

I would recommend it!

How are your experiences with studying with your iPod?

I will try it more, and come up with more problems, or ways to use it better! Stay tuned!

iPod Studying

I have read something about recording the stuff you need to learn.

Call it mini-lectures.

After I have read that, I started to think. How can I use this, and how to apply.

I am actually a more visual student, I think. But I will definitly try it.

I have to cycle to the swimming training, every week. Then I have to cycle for a half an hour. So that is the perfect moment to relisten some mini-lectures. The perfect studying.

I will start the recording this evening. Just like the girl in the article did, I will start with biology. Things like math is hard to record, and to understand without any visual support.

How I will do it:

• Make a summary of the text. I will do this for biology. It contains over 90 pages, which I can reduce to less than 20. So that will be a good start.
• Add your notes to the summary. I will add the notes I took during class to it. So it will be complete.
• Record it. Record it in pieces. So you can choose the subject you want to listen, later. I will record it with my mobile phone, that is good enough.
• Play it, and learn. Cause I recorded it on my mobile phone, I will also play it on my phone. That will work. I will play it when I am on my bicycle, cause that is the time I am looking for something to do (without falling).

So, starting this evening! I am curious if it will work.

If it does work, I will defenitly use it with other classes also!

I will write another blog about it, next week I guess, when I have tried it!

I have tried it, and wrote something about it! Here are some pro's and cons

So I decided to become a hippy

Saturday I had to compete in the Dutch Championships debating for students, in Leiden.

Debating is something that is extremely underestimated in Holland, but it is coming up.

There were three kind of debates on the championship.

1. The Parlement Debat, the 'real' debate. 3 vs 3. Debating about a thesis.
2. The trouble speech. You get a situation, and you have to speech yourself out of it.
3. The balloonspeech. You are a person, and you are with 4 others in a balloon, which is descending. Four have to jump, you have to say why you aren't among those. The public has to decide who is going to jump.

I did the balloonspeech.

The first round I had to be Barack Obama. Not that hard. "Change we need", "I have hope" and "Yes we can". Ended third out of seven. It was a bit different than I expected. There was a jury who decided who had to jump. Pretty weird.

Second round, I had to be a medicinemaker. With thick glasses from my father (from the '60) on my head, I ended second! Yeah.

The parlement debaters won 1, lost 3, the trouble speecher ended 5th and 7th, bummer.

So we were in the great auditorium to watch the finals. And suddenly I had to compete in the finals! Wow! Great!

I had a half an hour to prepare myself. Now you can choose your personality for yourself.

I decided to be a hippy. Got my shoes of, some kind of ribbon on my head and put the two fingers in the air. Peace!

But I had to prepare my speech. If I wanted to have the public vote for me, I had to be funny. But I couldn't make up any jokes. I thought (after reading all those blogs about creativity) I just sing a hippy song in my head, the jokes will come. They didn't came. So I decided to sing the song. On stage. In front of an 500 heads counting audience. And with one handicap. I can not sing.

Just do it, with the nike slogan in my head I stood there. "Yo, I, euhm, decided to sing a song for you. "Here is a little song I wrote. You might want to sing it, note for note. Don't worry.. come on.. Be happy!"

And everybody sung with me! That was a great feeling!

But, unfortunatly, after a close call I was voted out of the balloon. Ended 4th. 

Nobody sung in that debate before, I heard afterwards.

I was satisfied. And happy. Don't worry.

I'm dutch, so my English is pretty good, but not perfect, please correct me when I'm wrong!

5 easy tips to make the teacher like you

I am not someone who naturally hates teachers. I do think it is important to be some kind of 'friends' with your teacher.

If your relationship with your teacher is good, he is more likely to help you. And eventually, he is the one who gives you your marks!

So here are some tips to make your teacher like you.

1. Greet every time. "Good morning sir". It sounds really simple, but the teacher does notice you 'That is nice he said that'. Simple, and it works.
2. Make your homework. Of course, you already should be doing that, but sometimes, you just can't do it because.. But you SHOULD do it. Cause if he asks 'who did do their homework' and you can raise your hand, he will notice you positively again!
3. Ask how he is doing. Just an extension to number 1. Also simple, but you have to do it in a 'later stadium'. When you said 'good morning' a couple of times you can do this. Ask how he's doing, how was his weekend, vacation, whatsoever.
4. If you want to know something about the stuff you need to learn, and you won't see him the rest of the week, email him! You show interest, and he will notice that.
5. And the last, and maybe the least, cause you might be busy enough. Ask for extra work. Say you want to improve yourself, and the work that is given now isn't enough.

These tips are not hard at all to use, and it does work. You don't have to put a lot of work in it, but you do get something from it. A better relationship with the teacher means that he is more willingfull to work with you, and that can only be in your advantage!

Visiting a University #2

This is part two in the (I guess..) three part series about me, visiting a university in Holland. Making my decision which one I should join next year..

I think it is wise to tell you that I live in a small city, with nothing like a university, so every trip is a trip to 'the big city'.

I've been to University of Utrecht friday. One of the best University's in Holland.

First I've been to the informative meeting of medicine, which fell short of my expectations. I thought Medicine in Utrecht was very, very good, but the presentation was not that good.

But the quality of the study ís good, there are every year 120 registrations who have an 8 average (so you don't have to compete in the draw). So pretty much motivated students.

And there are good abilities to study in a foreign country, something I would like to do.

After that informative meeting, I went to the meeting of Biology.

I didn't have any expectations, it is my favorite class in high school, but the study is nothing for me, I thought.

I was wrong. There are not only treehuggers in that study, and it is much more than just some flowers and some animals. You can chose very much, you can chose which way you want to go, so for me, the neuro-biology way would be great.

And here are some very good abilities to study somewhere else also great!

I have to check biology in more cities, if I wouldn't make it in medicine, I can always drop back to biology!

I didn't went 'down-town' Utrecht, cause I had to be somewhere in Apeldoorn, the place I live, so that's a pitty.

Everything together, I'm not that excited about Utrecht. But I certainly am about Biology. It was a very usefull day!