Sorry I'm a Blog Hog.

I was never really a doodler. I knew it was just a talent I did not possess. End of story. So I learned early that my way of dealing with classroom boredom was with markers. I could make my notes all colorful and pretty, whilst keeping myself entertained and relatively in-tune with what was going on in the lecture.

I brought my markers with me to Chile, obviously. All who know me will not be surprised that I bought a planner in the US (to ensure it fit with my expectations), and my markers came with me. Everything is still color-coded. Same schema to my note-taking. The big change? I've become a Class-A doodler.

The best example is my Gramatica por extranjeros, or as I lovingly call it, "Grammar for Gringos." It's an intermediate class, and though I'd never say I have a decent command of the language, a lot of the things seem pretty basic. And it's at 5:20 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays, when the sun is setting and the last place I want to be is stuck in a chair watching the afternoon pass me by from a window (or, in some cases, without windows. Because our Wednesday classroom has. no. windows). However, I digress. I would like to share below the progression of my doodling, from the first day of class to the most recent. I realized today just how RIDICULOUS it has become. Hopefully yall will understand by the end.



August 12. First day of classes

From Doodle Logic

Clearly I'm still trying to impress people here. We don't even have colors. Typical first day of class perfection. Psh.

August 17

From Doodle Logic

Okay, now we're talking. Notice, however, that the notes are still pretty and organized and lengthy. Clearly I was still paying attention. But the pretty flowers and animals foreshadow the coming storm...

August 24. Clearly priorities are changing

From Doodle Logic

Oh, no. This circle isn't quite right. Let's try again

From Doodle Logic

Ohh, no. The trunk looks awkward. One more time...

From Doodle Logic

From Doodle Logic

THERE WE GO! I mean, graphing adjectives and their changing connotations depending on the verb used is important. However, we all know the orange elefante in the corner is what I truly went to class to accomplish. Landslide starts NOW.

Some random day when I didn't date my notes? That is a sign.

From Doodle Logic

Clearly, class got boring. The page on the left is a few notes. The page on the right, which you see above? PacMan Masterpiece.

August 31.

From Doodle Logic

From Doodle Logic

Started out relatively strong! Digressed towards the end, and truly made myself laugh out loud in class over my "Gram-ants." It's actually really funny, if you speak Spanish. To me.

September 9 and 23. Another solid effort

From Doodle Logic

From Doodle Logic

CHECK IT OUT! These class, I realized I needed to pay attention. So I used as MANY colors as I possibly could, thus forcing myself to focus on the lecture. And still entertain myself. Might this be a turn-around? Could I be changing my ways, and recognizing that though I'm abroad, I still need to focus in class in order to maintain a decent GPA?
These were a few days filled with hope for the future.

October 7. Rock bottom

From Doodle Logic

There were no notes taken today. None. My professor knew. He knew it was a penguin. He saw it. Multiple times. I almost told him "It's Pedro the penguin!" (His name is Pedro). Eventually decided against it.

So that is my scholastic life in Chile. Filled with some notes and doodles, ultimately culminating in nothing but doodles. Such a change from what I'm used to.


FYI: Life in psychology is no different

From Doodle Logic

Tomorrow, I'm leaving for Argentina for a few days. I think I'm going to be investing in a coloring book for that bus ride.


And to take to class with me for the second half of the semester.