Sorry to make yet another post on the topic, but there seems to be quite a few people out there looking for ideas on things to do during their summer this year, so I’m just trying to share as many ideas as possible.

Good luck to everyone, whatever their plans for summer may be, whether working, travelling or something else entirely. Please feel free to share your plans for summer in the comments section below.

There are a lot of people finding the site, or coming back to the site looking for some ideas on what to do during summer. I’m not going to write another post on the topic, because it would be very similar to the one I published last year. What I will do is link to some posts from GearFire and other sites around the Blogsphere.

Things to do During Summer

This is a post of mine from last year. This is just a few ideas about the sort of things you can do, from travelling and fun, to building a strong resume.

Start to Become Exceptionally Good at Something

Not strictly speaking a post on summer, but it is an excellent post from Cal Newport talking about how to become exceptionally good at that one thing, be it writing, music or business. Summer could be the best time to get a head start!

Summer Goals

This was a post from GearFire itself written last year by Maria. This gives you some ideas for the sort of things you could do during summer, and also suggests setting some tangible goals to help you make progress.

Have a read if your looking for ideas on what to do this summer. I still have a good few weeks before I break up for summer, but if you do have a long summer holiday, do not let it go to waste! Make the most of it; the start of next academic year will be rolling round before we know it.

But there is a key weakness to all of these resources:  they are designed to point you to documents that might have the answer.   Google can do some simple calculations and conversion from the search box, but in general you end up with links to resources that MIGHT have the answer you are looking for.

An alternative to your normal searches

WolframAlpha is different; very different.   The goal of WolframAlpha is to give you the answer, whatever your question might be.  More interesting to the computer scientists is HOW it gives you the answer;  WolframAlpha computes it based upon models of different fields of knowledge that have been built into the engine.  “The vision seems to be to create a system which can do for formal knowledge (all the formally definable systems, heuristics, algorithms, rules, methods, theorems, and facts in the world) what search engines have done for informal knowledge (all the text and documents in various forms of media).”

That’s nice, but what does it mean in practice?  Well, if you are studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics the engine can help you with your homework or verify your answers.  For example, I asked it “What is calcite”and was given the chemical formula and properties, structural diagram and even safety/toxicity. More interesting, it made the assumption that I was interested in the chemical calcite, but also offered, right at the top, the possibility that I wanted “a material or a mineral or a word instead”  Clicking on any of those alternatives changes the search and therefore the results.  Clicking on “a mineral” changes the display to include different properties that are more appropriate for geology than chemistry.

When it comes to mathematics and statistics, the engine will calculate complex formulas, graph equations and even, for some types of equations, show you the steps.  Social Science students can quickly find details about geography and socioeconomic statistics about the people who love there.  This data is available in many other places, but WolframAlpha puts it all into a single place and allows you to find the answer you need without searching through hundreds of unrelated facts.

What’s the catch?

There are always limitations to any tool, and WolframAlpha is no different.

• Its subject areas are limited, although growing.  Since it is computing the answers, it needs a model and those take time to build.
• Because the engine is calculating the answers, it works best for fields with definitive answers.  Philosophy, literature, religion, and historical interpretation are weak, through no fault of the designers.  If you want to know the author, publication date and any awards for “The Grapes of Wrath“, WolframAlpha can help.  If you want a plot summary, you are better off looking elsewhere.
• Formulating your question can be tricky.  The examples page is your friend; it can both help you correctly state your question and perhaps lead you to questions you had not thought of yet. Pay particular attention to the ways in which formulas are expressed without special characters.

Using WolframAlpha in an academic setting

I would advise students to be careful when using the site for homework.  If you use the engine to calculate all of your statistics problems, you won’t understand the material and will likely fail exams where you have to do your own calculations.  Faculty are aware of the tool and will likely change their courses in response.  If, on the other hand,  you use the engine to check your answers, you can verify your own understanding of the material and help yourself when you get something wrong.

Another issue with using this tool for homework problems is that there are often several ways to solve a problem, and the way used by the Wolfram engine may not be the same as the way taught in your book or by your teacher.  Worse, if you ask the question wrong of the Wolfram engine, you may not get the actual answer.

On the FAQ page, WolframAlpha recommends citing information found via their engine.  In the case of information used in papers this is good advice.  If you use WolframAlpha to calculate what a car, bought for $2500 in 1950, would cost in today’s dollars, than the engine is calculating a new value for you and it should be cited as a primary source.

In the end, WolframAlpha is worth adding to your tool kit (one of many) but not a “get out of school free” card; you still have to know how to ask the right questions and understand the answers it gives you.

I have 2 weekend, 3 weeks and 3 blue Post-Its until my first exam. Yes- 3 blue Post-Its. See:

My first exam is the first blue blue Post-It in the third row, and there are three blue Post-Its before it. The green Post-Its are the weekends I have to study (far right), and the yellow ones are days where I don’t currently have any event scheduled that will require my mental or physical energy. (I apologize for the blurriness. Walls are surprisingly difficult to photograph!)

Why all the Post-Its? Because I woke up on Saturday morning in a cold sweat, panicked about everything I knew I had to do, but was completely unable to conceptualize how much time I had to do it all. Everything was written down, but I couldn’t turn the words on the paper in my day-timer into anything that made events clear in my mind. It’s my very last exam set of high school (I’m graduating afterwards!) and I’ve been feeling/putting a lot of pressure on myself to go out with a bang. But I wasn’t anticipating the high blood pressure that my personal expectations would bring. So I took 10 deep breaths and tried to figure out how to get organized so I can maximize my productivity in preparation for my exams.

When it comes to my world, I like three things:

• lists
• colour
• Post-It notes
• and Tina Fey

Okay, so that 4 things, but lets pretend it’s 3. So, I combined all of these things and made a Post-It calendar. Actually, it’s not a full calendar of the month, but I leave on June 26 for a 6 week vacation travelling the other side of the planet, so I didn’t bother with the rest of the days. The day my plane takes off is the last thing I’ve written:

I like this idea because I can see at a glance when everything is, as opposed to flipping through pages. I do have a month-at-a-glace page in my planner, but it had gotten messy with “maybe-happenings” and “not-sures.”  I applied the GTD principle of only putting in concrete events. For each of the days I have an exam, I also wrote the time and place so I won’t forget. It helps to keep this from becoming another ambiguous list of things that may-or-may not occur so you then have to spend more energy sorting it in your mind. Whew, that last sentence was a mouthful!

This calendar is on the wall beside my computer, where I notice it every time I look up. So when I’ve been spending too much time on Facebook, out of the corner of my eye, I notice everything I have to do, and I log off :

This calendar is easy to replicate for yourself, using any colour combination you wish.

And also, since I’m using this to track school work, I put in fun events too, so I don’t forget that life isn’t a 24/7 study session. Like the day of my tattoo appointment:

It’s something to look forward to.

So tell me, what’s your strategy for conquering the mental clutter that exams bring?

I have read the eBook and must say I am very impressed. Having been a fan of Jonathans blog for some time, I enjoy his writing style and found his book equally easy to read and digestible.

The ideas in the book are definately worth reading, and focus on following your heart as opposed to the status quo. It aided me in making some upcomming decisions as a student about which courses I plan to take in the future, and I certainly plan to do some of the exercises in the book to make my decisions even easier.

The valuable information made it an excellent read, especially when combined with the fairly light approach Jonathan takes to a heavy subject, preventing it from being difficult to read. Having had the chance to read it to decide whether I felt it was worth featuring, I will soon be going back over the book again trying to suck out every valuable piece of information in it for my own life! I have been very impressed, and would definately point you over to Jonathans blog, Illuminated Mind, to see what you think of his ideas and if you like the look, take a look at purchasing the eBook.

When you come to planning what you are doing for the week (a habit I will talk more about at a later date), I certainly find it far easier to plan everything out on paper. Once you have done this first step, that is a large amount of the preparation out of the way; it is now simply a process of slotting the actions into your schedule. I find it best to work on paper - the source for my calendar templates? I print weekly schedule calendars off the following site:

 http://www.printablecalendar.ca/

There is a whole range of different calendar templates available for use, and can be a great help for planning. The half hour blocks weekly calendar is the one I use. It lets you look ahead long enough to plan properly but with short enough times you can schedule effectively.

Try making (and sticking to) a plan and see if you work more effectively.

All in all, I need to know what it is that you want as readers. Writing posts for this blog is not always easy, particularly when I don’t get a lot of feedback, so now is your chance.

What I want to know is what type of posts you are looking for? In terms of some suggestions, the ones that spring to mind are:

• ‘Student Philosophy’ style posts, based on ideas about how to live life as a student
• ‘Big Thought’ style posts, things like my recent posts about standing out as a student
• ‘Student Tips’, such as the earlier posts I wrote on things such as how to beat stress and revise effectively etc. etc.
• Polls - Getting more discussion going on the blog, having votes and discussions on student issues

Obviously there are a wealth more but that’s just some ideas for you to have a think about. What I really want is for as many readers as possible to get back to me and let me know what they prefer, what they think to the posts on GearFire as of lately, and what direction they want this blog to go in!

The blog is designed for YOU as a reader! The best way that we can do this is for you to tell us what you want. Post your thoughts in the comments section and I will do my best to make sure what I’m writing is in the style readers want to hear! Don’t be shy either, in case you can’t tell from the grovelling, I really need your feedback.

It may be rare for a student productivity blogger to draw inspiration from a film about card counting, but I have managed to do just that. I saw the film 21 a while back and absolutely loved it. If you want a little more background information on the film, (re)read “Do you dazzle? Do you jump off the page?” which I wrote last week. The part of the film I drew my inspiration from was when Ben faced a tough question in a prestigious scholarship application:

“Unfortunately - Desire doesn’t figure into this much. The ‘Robinson’ is going to go to someone who dazzles. Someone who just jumps off the page. It’s all about the essay - you need to explain to us, what makes you special, what life experience separates you from all the rest… What can you tell me Ben, that’s going to dazzle me?”

Since the post proved fairly popular, plus I had already promised a follow up post, here it is! Before you read on however; if you haven’t already, read the post linked above

A lot of you mentioned that the question “How do you dazzle?” and said that it was an interesting one to think about, which is why I am writing this post. My ideas in this post are also just that, something interesting (I hope) for you to think about, that is that I am not blindly saying this is the right thing for everyone, people may disagree with me, but I hope you will give the ideas some thought.

So how did Ben dazzle, how did he jump off the page?
(Slight spoiler warning if you planned on watching the film)

I let down my good friends, but as it turns out, they weren’t too bad at simple math either. I got beaten down by an old school Vegas thug who was having trouble accepting his retirement. But, I worked out a deal with him that got him a nice pension. And I lied to my mother, but I confessed the lie and she still loved me. For my senior year of college, I joined this team, and I learned this new skill. I went to Vegas 17 times to use it. I made hundreds and thousands of dollars. Then I got it all stolen from me… twice. How’s that for life experience professor? Did I dazzle you? Did I jump off the page? 

Now do not get me wrong, I’m not advocating that you take up card counting or gambling whilst at university! This did promote a few thoughts though.

 Extra Curricular Activities

First Thought

Oh, you are president of the ‘Watching Paint Dry Society’? Great!

Extra-curricular activities you find dull and boring, yet think look insanely impressive, are actually just dull and boring. When you aren’t engaged with the activity you are a part of, you tend to get very little out of it, which defeats the object of participating in such ideas. Try steer clear of getting involved in extra-curriculars’ you find boring or do because you think they look good, and instead do something you are really passionate about. This has one major bonus that it seems a lot less like work. Secondly, when you are passionate and engaged with what you are doing, you tend to be more successful at it. This means that you can take what you are doing a lot further, be a lot more successful and still have a great time.

Second Thought

Dare to be different

Activities such as being on the school band are things a lot of students have on their application form (but as I said above, if you enjoy them that isn’t a bad thing), but if there is something you really enjoy that is a bit different, there’s a better chance you will be remembered and sound more interesting at interview. This is saying that your life experiences do matter as well, and if you do the same extra-curricular activities as every other applicant, you have no unique life experiences and very little to distinguish yourself with. Even if you try something difficult and fail miserably at it, you have at least got a good story to tell out of it!

Examples include things such as starting a business or writing your own book. These are the sort of things most people could not imagine doing, and as such, give you life experiences that make you a stand out applicant.

University Admissions

Third Thought

When you reach the interview table, at university, you are over the first hurdle. At this point, your list of extra-curriculars’ is not going to help you. You have to demonstrate firstly, that you are somebody that the interviewer wants to teach, as lecturers are often the ones doing the interviewing. Furthermore, you have to show the inquisitiveness and thinking skills to be a competent learner. If your extra-curriculars’ add to this, giving you a great life experience, then that is great, but that alone will not cut it either.

As well as your school work and activities, you have to develop the other characteristics that make you the type of student that is interesting, having a good time, and has the key attributes that admissions tutors are looking for, things like ability to analyse information and good communication skills. The key here is balance, as you have to be able to develop all of these areas. Again, bonus points go to those people who have a great time doing it as well. It certainly makes them more interesting to talk to, and there’s the added bonus that you don’t feel burnt out by doing the things you enjoy!

Life

Fourth Thought
There are no re-runs in life. So many people see school as preparation for university, university as preparation for a job, all just one part of a big process. The truth is, this is all part of your life! It may be in aid of getting to an end goal, but you have to enjoy today otherwise you will end up burnt out and frustrated. Education offers you the chance to explore your interests and yourself, and it really is something to make the most of, not wish away. I know people who don’t want to be studying; they just want to be out working. This is the wrong attitude to be taking; you have to enjoy the things that you are doing now, not hoping to do. Anything less and there’s a good chance burnout is going to catch up with you sooner or later.

A quote for you to reflect on with this thought…

The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it
Anonymous

Thanks for reading, if you liked this post please Digg it, share it with friends and/or post your reflections in the comments section below. I am happy to answer any questions you have or elaborate on anything I have written.

1. Read Up. Read up about your study abroad destination. Try and read the local newspaper and familiarize yourself with the general state of affairs in the country and city you will be visiting. Pick up a travel book, like a Lonely Planet, to get to know the major monuments, transportation, local sites, as well as the good and bad areas of town. Read RateYourStudyAbroad.com’s reviews of your program and other programs in the area, as well as other blogs devoted to the student experience abroad. Check out Glimpse.org, abroadview.org, and transitionsabroad.com for first hand accounts of student expats and their experiences while abroad. Not only will you be able to converse with the locals better, enhance your own experience with insight into the cultural quirks of your country, but you will be more in the know compared to your other study abroad participants.

2. Travel. There is no easier time in your life to travel than when you are young, have the time, are willing to go the extra mile to save a few bucks and adventurous enough to check out the out of the way towns and festivals. If you are in Europe, head over to Munich for Okterberfest in the fall, check out hiking the Alps in October, before the ski crowds, high prices, and cold move in, go to the Greek Islands in May before the crowds roll in and when the weather is great or Southern Spain in the winter months. Investigate opportunities for cheap travel within your region. Check out RateYourStudyAbroad.com’s Helpful Links section for links to websites and resources for low cost airline, lodging, package travel, as well as travel blogs.Don’t forget that much of the world travels by train and bus, which can be both cost effective and one of the more interesting cultural experiences you will have. There is nothing quite like sitting on a 10 hour bus ride with a family and the family pet pig or catching a taking an overnight train to your destination and bundling up the cost of lodging and transportation all in one.

3. Student Discounts. Take advantage of student discounts if they are available in your study abroad country. Depending on the country you study in, student discounts can save you money at museums, tourist attractions, transportation, shopping outlets, and even the movie theater. Also, many hostels and other businesses have negotiated discounts for holders of the international student card or ISIC which you should take advantage of.

4. Communication Abroad. Figure out how you will be communicating with your loved ones and friends back in the United States, your new friends and the locals in your new home, as well as the local emergency number (it probably isn’t 911). For calling your friends and family in the United States, as well as others with an internet connection, VOIP options, including Skype and Vonage may be a great, cost effective option for you. You may have to invest in a microphone and speakers for your computer, if you don’t already have them, but these VOIP options are cheap, reliable, and you can call anywhere, as long as you are by your computer. As far as keeping in touch with your local friends, check into cell phone plans that are available. Some countries do not allow you to sign up for a monthly cell phone plan unless you have a local bank account, but most countries offer pay-as-you-go cell phone plans that can do the job for only slightly more than the cost of a monthly plan. Don’t forget to also check out the landline options while you are abroad, for calls made locally (from landline to landline as well as landline to cell) and internationally (from landline to landline as well as landline to cell). Sometimes landline rates can be quite reasonable.

5. American Food. If your idea of comfort food is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, chances are you should stock up on peanut butter before you leave the US. Most countries have either their own version of some American foods, or nothing at all. You may not realize until you are already abroad, but you will come up with food items you CANNOT LIVE WITHOUTand that you cannot find anywhere abroad. In my experience, living without a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup, brown sugar, real BBQ sauce, or even American ketchup made the one trip my mother made to come and visit that much more exciting because she brought these staple American items I had been missing so much.

6. Money. One thing you will notice after your first month of living abroad are the foreign transaction fees your credit card company charges on all purchases made in another currency as well as the transaction charge for most ATM withdrawals. Although the bank offers no service for these fees, which range from 2 to 3 percent of the charge, they can add up quickly. So if you are not planning to open up an account at a local bank, check to see if your American bank has any agreements set up with international banks and affiliates, to cut down on this expense. Capital One does not charge foreign transaction fees on credit card purchases, but does on ATM transactions. If your bank does not have any special arrangements with a foreign bank, another idea is to withdraw a large sum of cash each month and go through that as needed. Don’t forget that if your debit or credit card is lost or stolen, it can be difficult to replace quickly. Check out this article from the NYTimes Here to read more about credit cards while abroad.

7. Do Something Different. Many who go abroad are happy to spend time with other Americans, party until all hours of the night at different bars and dance clubs, and speak in English for the duration of the trip. However, I encourage you to do something out of your comfort zone, whether it is studying in the local language, living in a homestay with a local family, joining a local club or sports team, volunteering or finding an internship locally, or simply getting off the beaten path when you travel. Not only will you get a better flavor of the cultural nuances and how things work in the country you are living in, but you will be more resilient and gain a different view of the country you are in. Don’t forget that when you return to the United States, you and others will be most impressed and have the best memories of how you integrated into new environment.

8. If you Play a Sport, Get Involved. Although most Americans associate college sports with intense practice and competition schedules, the rest of the world does not think of college sports in that way. At most colleges, there are sports clubs and teams with more casual practice and competition schedules. Not only can you play a sport that you love, but you can meet other students and it is always a great study break. Depending on your skill level, you may also think of giving lessons in your sport, or volunteering your time coaching a youth team or league. If you do plan to play a sport overseas, don’t forget to bring your gear, as sports equipment can either be difficult to find or very expensive. Click Here for an article on one student’s experience with swimming while living in Paris, France.

9. Act Like a Local. You will always be an American, but it is worth reading up and respecting the history of the country and people you are living with. Take behavioral cues from locals, especially in regards to dressing more conservatively in churches and the local tolerance for public drinking. Know what is an appropriate tip when at a restaurant and for a cab ride.

10. Take Pictures. Studying abroad will provide memories that will last a lifetime, make sure you capture these moments to share with friends and family as well as to reminisce in later years. Using photo sharing websites like (ophoto.com, flickr.com, webshots.com, shutterfly.com, kodakgallery.com, etc.) may help you organize your photos, without taking up a lot of space on your hard drive. Many of these sites also allow you to create photo albums and photo books (check out Blurb.com for photo books, as well) that will allow you to create a hard copy version of your experience abroad.

I am a contributor for the website, http://rateyourstudyabroad.com/. RateYourStudyAbroad.com is a new open source database of student reviews written about the more than 7,000 study abroad programs open around the world. Check out “RYSA in the News” to read features about us in college newspapers and our latest press release.

• Read the newspaper: If your school has a newspaper, it probably lists some of the upcoming events. Check it out!
• Read the emails: Many colleges send out aggregations of what is going on around campus via email. Don’t just delete these emails, because there could be some really interesting events happening.
• Check the calendar: Your school website probably has a calendar listing events like sports games and orchestra concerts.
• Event invites: Don’t necessarily ignore all those Facebook or E-vites invites you receive. You could be missing out on a choral concert or karaoke night at an on-campus coffee shop. Relatedly, sometimes it pays to go through the events of your friends.
• Pay attention: Check out the flyers, posters, sheet sign, and chalkings that are probably all over your campus.

What other ideas do you have?