Deafinitely Thriving

One down, thirteen more to ago. The first week of spring semester was a whirlwind, and it feels like it was only yesterday that I was waking up for my very first 8am!

I’m definitely not a morning person, so I was absolutely dreading having to get up so early. Yes, 8am is early. Don’t judge. Even though I was in bed by 9pm, I spent Tuesday night tossing and turning, fearing (and somewhat panicking) that I would oversleep for my very first class of the semester. I even slept with my processors on! I usually don’t wear them to bed because I prefer a deep silence to mindless noises and doors slamming at 2am. It can also be painful sleeping with them on. Imagine sleeping on a pillow, and having a hard rock digging deep into your skin. It hurts. But, not only did I sleep with my processors on, I also set up two alarms! Now, if you don’t know this about me, but I use a sonic boom alert alarm, which has a vibrating disc placed under my pillow that wakes me up instead of a screaming radioman, because, well, I’m deaf and will sleep through anything, no matter how loud it is. So basically, I slept on rocks the night before classes. How fun.

Thankfully, I woke up in time. 6am. I was out the door by 7:30am and made it to class 10 minutes early. Praise the Lord.

But cue those four subsequent classes I had that day. I went nonstop, with only a one-and-a-half-hour break altogether, until 4pm.

Nonetheless, I’m glad this week went by fast. The first week of fall semester seemed like years, and full of chaos and anxiety. Fortunately, this week seemed easier and more relaxed, but not in terms of the workload though, no way.

I just spent my entire weekend doing homework, mostly readings and writing assignments. Unlike first semester, the work seemed more enjoyable. I’m taking a mix of writing and business courses, which all have topics ranging from money to news stories. I feel like the courses I’m taking now are much more relevant to my life and will come in handy in the future, thereby making them more enjoyable. Yes, the course load is and will be heavy, so I can only hope that the coming weeks go by faster. I’ve already looked at the syllabi, and noticed I have some papers and tests due on the same day. Dear God. Needless to say, I’m nervous about that, so I’ve been trying to get ahead this weekend.

Over the short week, I met all of my professors, and told them about my hearing loss. To save time and lengthy explanations, I gave each a bio-sheet, which explained my hearing loss, and the CART services I use. For those who are unfamiliar with CART, I have someone sit next to me during each lecture and discussion, transcribing everything being said and it gets displayed on a laptop in front of me. I rely on these services so much during lectures and discussions because I won’t always hearing the lecturer who has his/her back facing me or the mumbling student on the other side of the classroom. Thankfully, each professor was eager to help me, and make sure I had access to everything in the classroom. I’m very excited for the upcoming semester, and have jotted down some goals that I hope to follow and/or accomplish:

• Study hard
• Participate in every lecture/discussion
• Use FitRec more often
• Eat less pasta, more fruits
• Make more friends
• Maintain relationships with my professors
• Less binge-watching on Netflix
• STUDY, STUDY, STUDY!!!!!

As I sit on my dorm room bed writing this post, I realize that it’s now 7:30pm, and I have officially beaten my procrastination tendencies that I have been suffering from for the past two years. This is a miracle. As a reward for my hard work, I plan on watching the SAG awards, and will be rooting for Orange Is The New Black and Uzo Aduba (BU Alum!!!!) who are all up for awards!

Wish me luck for this upcoming semester! (:

-Alanna