On Staying Productive And Sane At University | #BackToSchool LINK ROUNDUP

I haven’t been blogging for a month and I apologise for that. Ironically, my last post was on my 6th anniversary with WordPress. Well, life happens, and I will keep that for another post.

Another month has passed, and despite everything that has paralysed me to write here, I’ve been able to publish a few posts in my student blog. I admit I’ve been writing less, going from 3 posts a week to 1. But, at the same time, the semester gets more hectic by the hour for my fellow student readers, thus maybe it’s best to keep it at a post a week. For sanity.

So, as I’ve said before, I’m going to be compiling all the posts from my student blog once in a while over here, for those who haven’t caught up with everything yet.

How to Get the Best Experience Out of University? | NEW BLOG ROUNDUP

As you may know, for the past month, I have been working on my new self-hosted blog for University/college students. I’m aiming to create content that will help them get the best out of their university experience.

Basically, it’s like a survival guide for students.

In case you have missed the news completely, I’ve decided to do a link roundup here so that you can catch up with my other content. Maybe this will be a monthly thing.Besides, you could

Besides, you could also share this with students you may know out there who are going through college!

So here it goes…

Writing Hacks: Why You Need Grammarly To Ace Your Assignments

As you might know, I’ve enrolled in a writing course this semester… and I’ve not regretted this decision at all. It made me learn so much about my own creative self and pretty much revived my inner child. Now that it’s over, all I’ve left to do is to wait for the final grade.

Okay, so let me tell you a few things about being graded on a piece of fiction you’ve written. At first glance, it sounds like a very subjective process, which could make it unfair because we all wouldn’t have the same preferences as our teacher, but in reality, there is always a marking scheme for every type of assignment out there, at my university at least.

In the end, the actual creative story only comprises around 20-30% of the total grade.

But can you guess what else makes up 20% of the grade? Yes. Grammar and spelling. 

I Will Miss Campus Life

Last weekend, I met up with my university friends, both on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday our meeting point was at the campus itself. And after spending such enjoyable days with them, I realised that I will miss this after I graduate.

I will miss my student life on campus. I will miss the late nights I spend with my friends, living on the cheap. I will miss the feeling of walking to school. I will miss all of it. 

I have only one semester left. I’m graduating in July this year… and I might not be turning back. Which means that I might not pursue a Honours year/4th year, because I might prefer to work first and then do a Masters later on, probably somewhere else, somewhere new. After this, I am, most likely, moving on.

Nevertheless, with a heavy heart.

Wrong Major, Right Path

I figured that university was probably not for me. But I kept going, because it was not about classes and grades anymore, but about that sense of belonging among your peers, the community that makes the institution truly alive in the first place.

People have told me several times that I’m good at academia. But I chose not to go with it. I did not enjoy it as much as getting my hands dirty. Academia is too lonely for me. I enjoy teamwork and concrete projects, though I did not know that side of mine before I had actually experienced it.

In the end, I’m left doing a degree I have no real passion for; I have no idea what I am going to do after this, but at the same time, I know exactly what I am going to do after this. Taking a right turn, not looking back. The trip is set.

As the year 2015 is ending, I’ve been giving a lot of thoughts about my future and this is what I am at now. It’s all even more blur and unstable than before. Yet, I have grown to know myself more, my needs, my happiness triggers. All of me never stay the same and that is, I believe, the beauty of what makes us human: we are full of possibilities; we change because nothing is ever fixed and it is those uncertainties that are closer to the truth of who we are.

On that note, merry Christmas and happy new year 2016!

An Evil Nymph.

P.S.: Also partly published in my Dayre: dayre.me/dkwaye

A Writer’s World; A Writer’s Block

I always believed that writers had an imaginary world of their own, where every story, every place, every character they had ever created resided, because I do have one. J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis had one each, and now of course we would also think of George R. R. Martin’s. Mine also has a name, but not as fancy as ‘Narnia’, so I’ll skip that part. This phenomenon, I call it a writer’s world. All the characters and all the buildings or places I’ve ever invented since I was 8 still exist for me and are just waiting for my cue to jump out to the real world and onto paper.

The thing is, I’m currently having the longest writer’s block ever. I’ve written a few short stories at the start of the year but since then I didn’t open my word processor at all (except for assignments, no choice, obviously). So it’s been around 6 months (OMG half a year!) since I last put a story on paper. I rarely think about my writer’s world anymore but when I do, it looks chaotic and neglected, instead of being the little paradise I used to go to when I was in secondary school (my writing peak years) to pick and choose characters and what not.

One Year in Malaysia

It was this Friday July 17th that marked my one-year anniversary with Malaysia. Yes, I have been living in Malaysia, as an undergraduate student, for more than a year now. Not once did I go back to my home country, Mauritius.

How does it feel?

Someone told me that I would change after having stayed abroad for so long. Someone else added that while I would change, the people back in my country, my family, would not, which will give off a weird feeling if I go back one day. Today, I can say I completely agree. I’ve changed, no, I’ve grown.

Not literally obviously.

The End

This post comes a little late, but it was only after my last exams on the 24th June that it really hit me; that is, my first year in university.

The amazing but terrible thing about doing a Bachelor of Arts is that it is so flexible that almost no one undertakes the same unit sequence. In my case, no one else is majoring in psychology and in writing simultaneously.

First year was the year of getting familiar with the field of Arts therefore I studied a little bit of everything, from cold war politics to Game of Thrones analysis. I also met a lot of people but eventually only a few became what one could call my School of Arts gang. We met one another on the very first day of school and until the last day, on the 24th, when we had our last first year dinner…

Pizza!!! XD

The Busy Life of An Evil Nymph

Hey guys!

I know, don’t throw tomatoes at me. I haven’t been blogging at all since this uni semester started. Ironically, today is the last day of my one-week mid-sem break and it is only today that I finally decided to write here again! Don’t worry I am not quitting blogging; it’s just that my schedule has become very… unstable.

I was going through my old notes last night and I saw this excerpt from one of my Instagram #100happydays challenge image caption that I had written offline because Instagram had shut down at that time:

Have some of us become so pathetic that they can’t live without social media? Are we that desperately dependent upon sharing on the net? Is this what’s truly life?

I suddenly am even more impatient to start university. Or else people will have to literally rip my face off the screen.

This was written about one year ago. Now here am I, neglecting all my online social networks, except for Instagram I’d say but Instagram has become more like a supplement to life, not a dominant platform, while I’m completely immersed in a busy real kind of a life.

Half a semester has passed already and I feel that I’ve done so much! That’s because I’m…

1. In the Performing Arts Club!

Especially as a committee member, I’ve a lot to do and tons to enjoy 🙂

General meeting on Mondays, committee meetings on Tuesday, after meeting dinners and paperwork: yes very busy, but at least in something I love!

On Writing…

Another post in 2015 already, yeah! Anyway, today I just wanted to share my (perhaps overly) personal review of ‘On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft’ by Stephen King, because at the end of the day it will probably be found in my life-changing book list. Read further to see why!

This review has been published on Goodreads as well; my longest review ever written there, I believe! By the way, if you’re on Goodreads too, feel free to add my as a friend! I would be glad 🙂 Just CLICK HERE.

‘A Beautiful Mind’ Is Changing My Life

I have not even finished reading ‘A Beautiful Mind’, actually I am not even close to the middle of the story, but after I read the first few pages, I already knew that this book would have an impact one way or another upon me. In fact, as soon as I finished the prologue (yeah not even chapter one!) it was confirmed: the biography of the mathematical schizophrenic genius, John Nash, is going in my ‘books that changed my life’ list.

I am taking this book everywhere I go. It’s always in my bag. One night, I even decided to go to Starbucks at 9 p.m. on the spur of the moment just to read it with a *Christmas edition* peppermint mocha 🙂

But I don’t want to finish it. I am taking all my time to read it, a few pages – okay I can’t help it, a few (fortunately short) chapters – at a time. That’s mainly because, since after I got this life-changing epiphany from the prologue, it seems like the book is making me feel more… alive. More passionate, more ambitious… It simply sprinkles more stars in my eyes…

I Have No Online Life Anymore!

Okay, I have not been blogging for almost two months!

But I’m not dead. I’m still here!

I have also barely been on my Twitter and my YouTube. I kind of update my Instagram from time to time but it’s not like before anymore. My Facebook is the most active I believe because whatever happens in university is posted on Facebook.

And university life just took hold on me completely.

It’s not only about assignments and class tests and upcoming exams and putting my studies first, but also greatly about other activities I’ve been intensely involved with, like the Performing Arts club in school, and also travelling around, going to a music gig, tasting everything everywhere, hanging out with my new friends, dreaming about the opportunities here…

My life has never been so filled. Because for the first time ever since I discovered online communities in 2010, I’ve neglected this online life of mine, no, I’ve forgotten about it! That’s what being an international university student did to me. I have never felt more real and passionate; I have never felt so close to my dreams.

I feel so happy to be here.

I will be blogging from time to time to keep you updated 😛

About my YouTube channel though… I have no idea what it’s becoming XD

Anyway, have a great week everyone!

And don’t forget to LIVE!!!

♥

An Evil Nymph.

I Feel Busy

I think it’s psychological. I feel that I’m busy although I’m not.

I don’t have school and, except on the days that I go out with friends, stay at home most of the time! I’m still doing my Goodreads reading challenge 2014 and my 100happydays challenge on Instagram, but I’ve finished my bigger projects such as my Model Photography one and writing a 100k novel, which I’m revising on a few occasions.

Clearly, for me that lifestyle doesn’t define ‘busy’ at all.

I’m actually on a long vacation which extends from high school graduation to going to university.

Some Catching Up After My 19th Birthday!

Hello everyone!!! Welcome back to An Evil Nymph’s Blog!

I know it’s been a while since I posted anything here, and I intend to do some catching-up to keep my readers updated, and at the same time, give this blog something fresh to show off to those I gave my business card recently, hehe 😛

So, first of all, I am now 19 years old, since Saturday 3 May, and thank you for all the birthday wishes, to those who know me on Facebook or Instagram!

Now, if you are new to this blog, let me present myself before going to the updates: I’m currently in the time period that lies between high school and university and thus I spend time at home, aspiring to become a writer, and waiting for July to come, because then I’ll fly from my country, Mauritius, to Malaysia to study in Monash University, and more precisely to get a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology.