Don't believe the things you tell yourself so late at night.

I had a midterm today, and it was terrifying. Not because of the test (nope, I had studied!), but because the professor came over and caught the girl next to me cheating. I know I am probably in the minority (the minority that most people see as smug and boring), but I have never cheated in school. Partly because I have a disproportionate fear of authority and partly because it just seems wrong.

I know there are always polls and studies and whatnot claiming that most university students cheat, but I was living in an idealistic little bubble thinking that Nipissing students wouldn't do that. I usually resent the professors pacing the room because I find it distracting, but now it seems necessary.

Please Nipissing, restore my faith in Ugg-wearing, text-messaging, gum-popping humanity: don't cheat.

For the record, I can be smug at times (you don't want to see me win Trivial Pursuit...) and boring at others (please not my blog, please not my blog), but I'm not trying to judge. At 25, I'm divorced with two kids. It's not like I have much of a soapbox to stand on. I just feel like you're selling yourself short if you take that path, and it could eventually catch up with you. Cue after-school-special music.


Disney movies watched: 1
Number of times I stubbed my toe: 2 (the same toe!!!)

I know it's no good for me.

I am now in enough of a bad mood to post some of the things about Nipissing that annoy me.

1. The fact that university students still find it necessary to write on bathroom stalls. And the maintenance staff leaves it there.

2. When those with expired locker tags were warned to get new tags or their locks would be cut/their stuff would be removed, there was a final date this needed to be completed by. It arrived and....nothing happened. Weeks went by before the locks were cut. Anyone who has taken a psych course (or who has babysat) knows that you need to actually follow up on your "threats" or there is no point.

3. I don't know who thought it would be a good idea to switch the textbook provider right before school started, but that's what happened. And it sucked. For everyone: not just students, but the staff at the bookstore too. Don't do it again please.

4. How the computers, projectors, etc. in the lecture halls and classrooms never seem to work.

And now I have the hiccups, so I must go, but feel free to post your pet peeves.


Chapters I need to read to get caught up in all of my classes: 3
Number of licks it takes to get to the centre of a Tootsie Pop: too many

Start.

In the interest of full disclosure, I need to admit that my main motivation for beginning this blog is because that prize money is much needed. But I've also started to think that this would be a great way to see for myself just how therapeutic writing can be. You see, I am a psych major, and I have heard many times about the research studies conducted to investigate whether journaling about emotional events can have a positive effect on health. So far, the results point to this being true. I can use all of the stress relief/positive energy that I can get, so I will try to focus on the less dollah-dollah-bills portion of my quest.

I guess I could introduce myself: I'm a second year student in the Psych B.A. Honours program. I'm originally from NY/NJ down in America, but I found my way to North Bay in 2005. I have two daughters (5 and 3) who are the smartest, cutest, funniest, most amazing kids (I'm not at all biased...).

So far, Nipissing University has been pretty close to what my family and friends experienced when they went to college/university (in America, they're kind of interchangeable). One of the nice things about Nipissing is that it's smaller than a lot of other schools. Sure, professors might not know your name in an Intro class, but you'll actually know what your professor looks like. I also feel really lucky because university is a lot more affordable in Canada than in the US. I know everyone complains about tuition, fees, etc. (sometimes rightfully so), but OSAP and the whole Canadian post-secondary education system are pretty darn great.

I thought that I would post some stuff about Nipissing that annoys me too, but I'll keep this as a glass-half-full post. Night!


Caffeinated beverages consumed today: 2
Parking tickets spotted on the walk back to my car: 0