{"id":888,"date":"2014-10-28T22:04:05","date_gmt":"2014-10-28T22:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/?p=888"},"modified":"2014-10-28T22:04:05","modified_gmt":"2014-10-28T22:04:05","slug":"fun-fact-this-day-last-year-i-helped-an-elementary-schooler-draw-a-picture-of-how-drugs-affect-your-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/2014\/10\/28\/fun-fact-this-day-last-year-i-helped-an-elementary-schooler-draw-a-picture-of-how-drugs-affect-your-family\/","title":{"rendered":"Fun fact: This day last year, I helped an elementary-schooler draw a picture of \u201chow drugs affect your family.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

About little over a year ago \u2013 on August 24, 2013, to be exact \u2013 as I was getting ready to dive (get it?) out of my comfort zone and do a super science-y study abroad program, I made a goal to keep a sort-of-journal while I was there.\u00a0 Part of this was because I wanted to record my experiences abroad, of course, but mostly it was to maintain my ability to write creatively and hold onto my English-major-ness \u2013 I said it\u2019s a \u201csort-of-journal\u201d because it\u2019s predominantly for free-writing, not for recording my daily whims.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>

This time last year, I was wishing the UPS crew team good luck at this weekend’s Head of the Lake while underwater.<\/p><\/div>\n

I currently have that first green Five Star notebook sitting next to me.\u00a0 The front plastic cover, for some reason, is permanently curved and has been ever since my study abroad program\u2019s three-day camping trip among the ants and invasive coconut palms of North Caicos last October.\u00a0 Deciding to fill this notebook was easily one of the top four decisions of my entire study abroad experience \u2013 the other three being to take the Advanced Open Water SCUBA certification course, to do a homestay during my mid-semester break, and to help my younger sister organize a book drive for the schools on the School for Field Studies’ island.\u00a0 I finished the last page of this notebook on July 6, 2014, and have started a new one with the hopes of finishing it in less time than the first.<\/p>\n

The reason I bring this up is because I think that self-improvement is an important part of the college experience, and writing \u2013 whether creative or journaling \u2013 is, for me at least, the best way for self-reflection and thinking<\/em>.\u00a0 I\u2019m all about academic learning; I think it\u2019s extremely important and inherently valuable \u2013 something I probably picked up on from my grandparents, who have never stopped looking for knowledge.\u00a0 But your intellect is not the only thing that should grow in college \u2013 and that\u2019s why I go to bed about fifteen minutes later than I could on most nights. \u00a0And taking that much time to free-write is kind of a big deal when your alarm’s set for 5:30 a.m.<\/p>\n

It’s also interesting to look back through last year’s notebook and see what I was up to this day last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About little over a year ago \u2013 on August 24, 2013, to be exact \u2013 as I was getting ready to dive (get it?) out of my comfort zone and do a super science-y study abroad program, I made a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":386,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leah-shamlian-14"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/386"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":891,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions\/891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}