Tag: college

If We Were Having Coffee: The Fall Semester Edition

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One of my goals with each blogging year is to incorporate more lifestyle posts and life updates. I usually talk about some of my life happenings outside of my bookish and fangirl life in my monthly wrap-up posts and some blog and book tags. In 2020, I’d love to dedicate more getting to-know-me posts. But while there are still 3 weeks left in 2019, I am going to be starting this a bit sooner! I’ve seen the If We Were Having Coffee post float around the blogosphere, but I first saw it written by Jamie of The Perpetual Page Turner.

Some of you may have been able to tell from my monthly wrap up posts that life has been super busy since school started again back in August. This semester was super-rewarding while also stressful in a number of ways. I think it’s about time that I’d fill you on a few things that have happened over these few months, what I have planned for winter break, and some of my plans for 2020!

If were having coffee together IRL, I’d probably be drinking caramel or vanilla-flavored coffee. I’ve only had one holiday Starbucks drink so far this season, which was a Caramel Brulèe Latte.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that I am currently reading, The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black. I just started this one on Sunday before diving into my final papers again.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that my senior year has been my favorite year of college. This fall semester is definitely my favorite semester of college—here’s hoping that the spring may beat it! I spent so much time hanging out with my best friends and I seriously wouldn’t trade this time and memories with them for anything. Some of the highlights include nights out in our college town, apple-picking, our many Halloween celebrations (college students can’t seem to decide when to celebrate when it lands in the middle of the week, so we celebrate two weekends in a  row), and visiting one of my best friends at her school for the weekend.

I don’t want to give away too many details away because I’d like to still keep where I attend school private for now, but this semester I attended class twice in a week in NYC. I was able to learn more current topics and career opportunities in one of my majors and get to visit companies in the industry. I commuted about four hours per week, which made for the perfect reading time (and yes, homework time during peak stress periods).

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If we were having coffee, I’d tell you about my English senior capstone paper on Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give. This was my first time studying a YA book in college, and I discussed the tension between THUG as a novel and as a commercial product. While I ultimately decided not to go down the thesis route given my other commitments this year, I’ll be again discussing THUG and diverse books in my media and communications senior capstone.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that my senior year has been the most stressful year of college. I had the most amount of homework and research projects that I’ve ever had in college. My student life basically looked like this in the fall: 8 credit NYC semester, my English senior research class, my last literature seminar to complete my English major, and working two jobs on-campus. When it came to the coursework, I at least really enjoyed working on my senior research and NYC projects. I think it’s finally safe to say that I did not enjoy my seminar on British Romanticism in the least bit, but I unfortunately did not have at lot of options when it came to literature classes this year. I’ve also run into the more “typical” college senior stress, aka trying to figure out what I’ll be doing with my life in May, between applying to internships and entry level jobs and considering grad school.

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Forever thankful to my best friend for capturing part of my presentation on her Snapchat.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you about my upcoming study abroad trip in January! My 2020 will be starting in the best way possible because I will be going to Ireland during the first two weeks of the year! Going abroad during college has been a dream of mine and I am so happy that I finally have the opportunity to do so over winter break! Ireland has always been on my travel bucket list because of my heritage. This trip will also mark my first time going abroad. I’m definitely going to be leaving some room in my suitcase to bring back a UK book edition or two… or maybe the entire Harry Potter series, who knows. I’m going to have pre-scheduled content still up on the blog while I’m away, but I likely won’t be able to respond to comments and other blog-related things until I’m back in the US. I also plan on doing a post or two on my trip later in January.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that I’m trying to read as much as I can in December. I put a bunch of books on hold during Thanksgiving Break from the library in preparation for my winter break reading.

Although I was able to read more this fall semester than I have in previous years at school thanks to my semi-commuting life, I wish I was able to read as much as I had been in the summer. It was a rough transitioning from reading 14-15 books per month to adjusting back to 4-6. It’s not even so much that I was worried about the numbers, like hitting my Goodreads challenge, but I genuinely missed having more reading (and blogging) time.

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If we were having coffee, what would you talk about? What would be your drink of choice? What are you reading in December? Share in the comments!

I LOVE COLLEGE YA & HERE’S WHY: American Panda by Gloria Chao Review

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Summary: Mei has always tried to meet her parents’ expectations. After all, at seventeen year old, she should be a high school senior, not a freshman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her parents’ biggest expectation? Going to MIT as a biology major to then go to medical school at Harvard and become a doctor. Mei’s biggest problem? Mei hates germs. Her dilemma grows worse when she only has eyes for Darren Takahashi, who is decidedly not Taiwanese– only Taiwanese boys are allowed for Mama Lu’s daughter. After seeing her brother disowned by her family for dating the wrong woman, Mei can’t bring herself to tell her parents the truth, but she can’t live with lies either.

My Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

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College YA & American Panda Thoughts:

Spring break finally allowed me to read Gloria Chao’s American Panda. I’ve seen nothing but great reviews for Gloria Chao’s debut novel following a COLLEGE freshman. Why the emphasis on college there? BECAUSE I LOVE BOOKS WITH COLLEGE-AGED PROTAGONISTS OR CHARACTERS WHO ARE IN COLLEGE!

Young adults aren’t only found in high school, folks. YA, or at least YA contemporary, is typically categorized as such because the central characters often experience some sort of “first”. But let me tell you, college is filled with plenty of young adults and firsts, and I’m not just talking about having to do your laundry for the first time.

So why I am always on the lookout for college YA?

I’m a college student. Give me people who also live in dorm rooms and live away from home and have to operate on -3 hours of sleep and go to class.

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Growing pains. Yes, I love plenty of YA books with high school aged characters, but as I get more mature (fine, older), I find myself not being able to relate the problems that come with being a high school student and the drama as much.

So why did I love American Panda for being a college YA?

Mei is somewhat more able to stand up to her parents. Yes, potentially being disowned as a college student whose parents pay for your tuition has a lot of problems, but being away at school acted as some sort of barrier between Mei and her parents. I also appreciated her hot chocolate time with Darren.

MEI GOES TO CLASS AND DOES STUDENT-LIKE THINGS, INCLUDING HOMEWORK. Even though I still want to know if she goes to the dining hall or even has a meal plan.

The balance between school and family. I would say the biggest element of American Panda is family, but it was nice to see Mei be able to live her life at school and then spend time with her family. Contrary to her roommate’s belief, some college students (ME) don’t mind seeing their families on the weekend.

There’s no partying or drinking. Yes, this is definitely a no-no on her parents’ list, but I loved how Mei is never tempted to party and has no effect on the plot.

So what else did I love about American Panda?

Mei is Taiwanese-American, but her parents expect her to follow their Chinese traditions and expectations. I really enjoyed learning more about Chinese culture (sidenote: where can I found a Domaeron plush??), and I would love to see more books with characters and authors of such diverse backgrounds. While her family’s expectations drive Mei nuts, I liked how she still appreciated her culture. For example, a lot of Mei’s dancing is infused with Chinese dance, and she acts as a mentor/teacher for young girls of a similar background.

Mei’s mom’s voicemail intros for each chapter were hilarious. I liked how they became a bit more heartwarming toward the end (even though her wisdom and tidbits about Ying-Na were funny), and I’m happy about the state of Mei and her mom’s relationship at the end of the novel.

I read the entire book in a day! Plenty of people are able to read a book in just one sitting, but I haven’t had the opportunity to in a long time. Snow days are good for something! I also found myself not wanting to part with American Panda because I needed to know what happened then and there. I highly recommend reading American Panda for a readathon or de-reading slump motivation because it’s such an addicting read and on the shorter side (just over 300 pages).

While I loved American Panda overall, there were a few things I didn’t enjoy just as much:

There was a lot of MIT lingo that I felt could easily have been replaced with regular college lingo. For example, instead of Mei using the course numbers to say what class she was in, she could have just said Intro to Bio or Calculus 101. However, I think readers who are familiar with MIT/are current MIT students/are past MIT students/are MIT tourists like the ones we see in the book will really appreciate all the MIT-ness, and it was a cool personal touch from Gloria Chao, a MIT grad.

Some of the chapters, especially in the beginning, jumped around a tad much and I was quite confused. I’m specifically talking about Chapters 5 and 6, where Mei has to go to the medical center. I realize now it’s used as a jump start for Mei to realize she doesn’t want to be a doctor, but I felt like it was just thrown at us. We go from her having dinner to her parents to then going to the medical center at 3 AM and finding out she has herpes (trust me, not a spoiler) and having a weird encounter with Dr. Chang??? I really couldn’t distinguish between reality or if Mei was having a stress dream of sorts.

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Have you read American Panda? What college YA books do you enjoy? Share in the comments!

How to Read for Fun in College

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Between classes, clubs, and coursework, college is a super busy time. As an English major, I’m constantly reading for my classes, and I do my best to read for fun. If you’re trying to improve your reading game while at school, here are some tips for lowering your TBR pile!

Read before going to bed

Instead of scrolling through Instagram or watching one more episode of Gilmore Girls (I’m definitely guilty of this with Friends) before going to bed, try reading instead . By not staring at a bright light and focusing on the pages, you’ll feel relaxed and hopefully you’ll fall asleep easier. Unless you’re reading Crooked Kingdom and are way too invested in those characters. I think I cried myself to sleep after staying up until 1 AM on that emotion-filled journey.

Always carry a book on you

Always having a book on you is perfect for that half hour between classes or waiting for your next club meeting to start. If you’re not meeting a friend for lunch, pull out a book if you’re talented enough to not get crumbs or spills on the pages.

Use Goodreads as a motivation tool

Goodreads allows you to keep track of your TBR pile and keeps you up to date on the latest bookish news. The website has a ton of other features, such as giveaways, interaction with readers and authors, and setting reading goals.

Don’t stress out about reading or not reading

Reading for fun should be relaxing,not stressful. Don’t be worried about far along you should be in your reading goal. Don’t push yourself to keep when you have a paper to write or an exam to study for. While it’s hard to stop reading at times, my schoolwork is always my number one priority, even if it means not picking up A Court of Wings and Ruin the day it comes out.

Read books that you have a lot of interest in

Keep books at school that you are genuinely interested in reading. By doing so, you’ll be even more excited and motivated to read. Save books that you want to read purely for the hype or that you randomly picked up for breaks. If you start reading a book and aren’t liking it, put it down! You’ll have more time to pick up a book that you’ll actually enjoy.

What are some of your tips for reading during the school year? Share in the comments below!