College Hours

I'm back on campus in college now, and I'm about to wrap up my second week (first full week) of classes. Upon going into one class and listening to the professor's standards, I quickly became discouraged. He said that, for every hour that we spent in class, we should spend at least 2 outside of class studying for said class.

So, out of curiosity, I did the math to see what that would mean. I have French for an hour a day 5 days a week, Chemistry for an hour a day 3 days a week, Anatomy an hour a day 3 days a week, Genetics an hour a day for 3 days a week, and Seminar for an hour once a week. So, for French, that's 10 hours a week, Chemistry 6, Anatomy 6, Genetics 6, and Seminar 2, outside of class. I spend 3 hours in Chemistry lab, 3 hours in Genetics lab, and 2 1/2 hours in Anatomy lab. Adding it all up, I spend 15 hours a week in class, 8 1/2 hours a week in lab, and 30 hours a week outside of class (without counting work I'm supposed to do outside of labs, also) that adds up to 53 and 1/2 hours on school work. If I add the outside lab work (which would add up to 17 extra hours outside of class a week), that becomes 70 1/2 hours a week on class work without extracurricular activities, which my college highly encourages us to take part in. Assuming I'm awake for 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, that means I have 112 hours total to do all this stuff. To put some more things into perspective I'm an officer in 2 different clubs, I'm trying to work about 20 hours a week, I have friends and a boyfriend, I was just cast in a play with rehearsals 5 days a week, and I enjoy having a few hobbies (like video games, reading, writing, hiking, etc.).

I've learned something about college:

I feel like the social life circle can include hobbies and extracurricular activities. The problem is, I've been trying too hard for the past 2 and 1/2 years to maintain an even balance between the 3, and instead, it seems like I'm failing at all of them. But I've noticed that, if I don't get enough sleep because I pulled an all-nighter to do homework, I can't focus in class the next day. If I don't get good grades, I can't spend my time out and about with my friends. If I can't do stress-relieving activities, I'll get to frazzled to sleep or focus. Honestly, we need all three, but it doesn't seem like we can have it all.

It's not high school anymore, though I am having fun in college. But don't expect me to actually spend 70 1/2 hours outside of class on classwork. I'm trying hard to broaden my horizons and take care of myself while getting a degree, like the people who recruited me to come here told me to do. Now, I'm going to sign off my blog and do some anatomy homework while texting my friends and getting ready for bed. Hopefully, they all work out before I wake up in the morning.