It’s begun to feel like late fall in Portland. Cloudy skies, chilly mornings, and misty rain. The sun still peeks out in the afternoon, which means we haven’t started the winter season yet! I’ve started cooking more hot food like curry and pad thai. It gets dark before 6:30 PM now, and my housemates and I have been watching spooky TV shows and movies (currently: The Haunting of Bly Manor). As it gets colder I wonder if I’ll be able to go home for the holidays this year. Wisconsin is getting hit hard with COVID-19 outbreaks at the moment, so I’m not sure yet if it will be safe for me to go home to see my family. This would be my first winter break away from home.
When I was a freshman and sophomore at LC, I would see upperclassmen advertise their capstone or thesis projects with flyers around campus. I took their surveys when I could, and was excited to someday put up flyers for my own project! I posted some just this week and my capstone survey has already received over 200 responses. I’m really surprised and excited about this, and look forward to working with the data!
I met with my faculty advisor in the Psychology department last week to discuss class registration for next semester. She suggested I continue working with my Capstone professor next semester to expand my project into a publishable study, so I’m now working on getting this approved! I hadn’t heard of this option before, but it is apparently called a practicum. You can receive credit for working alongside a professor on a project in your field of study! Before registration for next semester’s classes, I’ll need to write a proposal for what this practicum will look like to get approval from the registrar.
Planning for next semester, I’m not thrilled that most, if not all of my classes, will be online. But I do enjoy the flexibility of attending class from my room (or kitchen)! Professors get to make the final decision, like this semester, about how they will format their classes.
I’ve found it challenging to switch between hybrid and online classes; especially being off campus, it can be difficult to get to an in-person class on time, then have an online class immediately after. I hope that next semester professors respond to students’ feedback about how this semester has gone, and offer more flexibility about attending either in-person or online classes depending on students’ schedules.
Finally, a little adulting win for me: I bought my first car! I’ve managed to get around Portland the past two years using public transportation and biking. The Pioneer Express is a great way to get downtown from campus! But with the pandemic making it difficult to take the bus, a dog to transport, and the cold weather, I decided it was time to buy a car. I ended up getting a used car from a dealership, and I’ve learned a ton about what goes into researching and purchasing a car that I had no idea about before! Lately I am enjoying loading groceries into my hatchback instead of my bike panniers, and having the freedom to get around the city with more ease.