While it’s pretty tempting to head for the beach, your hometown or to just hang around the ATX during spring break, I want to give South by Southwest the credit that it deserves and point out the major opportunities that come along with it. There’s a reason that people flock to Austin from around the world for this annual affair, in which the latest in music, film and interactive technology are debuted and utilized. It’s a chance to have great time, to check out the latest in your field, and to score some amazing experience and take advantage of pretty phenomenal networking opportunities. While you might think SXSW is all about music, think again. Panels this year include a presentation from IBM, a video conference, a workshop on startups, multiple events on business marketing and so much more. No matter what your major or field, SXSW surely has something great for you. And, you don’t have to limit yourself to just attending. Many of the panels need all the help they can get to handle the busy SXSW crowds. Scoring a mini internship during SXSW is very plausible and would be a great experience for any student that finds the right one. Along with these education aspects, SXSW in my opinion beats out just about anything else you could do during spring break for fun. Having been to the festival the past three years, I know that you can’t possibly go a South by without getting into some kind of exciting adventure. There’s free stuff everywhere you go, random concerts happening all the time, famous people strolling the streets and just endless chances to have a good time.
Even if you don’t have a lot of money to spend at the festival, there’s no reason that should stop you from enjoying it. You can easily find out about free SXSW events through promotional websites, by following the local press, by asking around or by keeping tabs on some of the many SXSW social media accounts. Keeping track of these 10 days of chaos is a challenge that journalists and event organizers take very seriously, and they’ll do their best to keep you updated via social media. Along with following @SXSW, the official Twitter account for the festival, I’d recommend giving a follow to @SXSW_TopNews, @SXSWPartyList, @SXSWedu, @SouthByFreeNOMS, @360sxsw and your student news sources, @OdysseyUTexas, @TweetTheHorn and @thedailytexan.
The people running all of them will surely be working round the clock to bring you the latest on festival happenings and updates. So, Longhorns, get out there and do work during the day, taking advantage of the amazing educational and networking opportunities that this festival has to offer. Then, party hard at night, with the many, many chances to have fun at South by Southwest.
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There are various stereotypes about college students, most of which revolve around the concept of your major. Unfortunately, we often let stereotypes precede our own judgments, and we take what information is immediately available to us rather than forming our own opinions after considerable reflection. If I got a dollar for every time my friends have made a joke about my major I could pay my tuition. One stereotype on campus is the sensitive, overly critical and rigid English major. Here are six telltale signs you are one of them.
You are basically a zombie with a pencil.
That student you see in the corner of the library with papers covering the table, a pencil in their hand (possibly a highlighter in the other) and a look on their face like they have risen from the dead? Odds are it is an English major. We have to read, analyze, write, revise and rewrite for each English class. Now multiply that by three to equate each English class we take in a semester.
You receive confused looks from others when you name drop an author/literary terminology.
Using "big" words around my friends never fails to entertain me. Some of my friends ask what the word that I used means, others may roll their eyes and the rest just continue the conversation. I could stop using complex words for the sake of casual conversations, but that would just be anomalistic.
You wear your suffering as a badge.
English majors are notorious for complaining about the amount of work we have to complete, while almost bragging about it. Our weeknights are crammed with essays, explications and reading whatever book is assigned to us. We will be stressed out, and we make that clear to everyone.
You proofread every text and social media post you write.
We have to keep our typos to a low minimum. Personally, I always triple check spelling, grammar and proper use of punctuation. I feel better about my social media post when I look at the caption and see a perfectly structured sentence. I am also the type of person that texts using proper punctuation and spells every word out.
You cringe when you read a non-English major's paper,
I have a lot of my peers ask me to proofread their papers. I am happy to help, that is until I actually read it. I can't blame them for this, but using the wrong word (i.e. the use of "your" and "you're" or "their," "they're" and "there") or tense of a word makes you want to curl up into a ball.
You could spend all day in a library.
There are just so many books I haven't read. If I don't read the synopsis of every book, I might miss an amazing book. Sometimes you want to spend the entire day finding books, but other times you can't leave because you haven't found a good book, or you have too many.
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Entertainment
27 Things 'The Office' Has Taught Us
"The Office" is a mockumentary based on everyday office life featuring love triangles, silly pranks and everything in between. It can get pretty crazy for just an average day at the office.
23h
2273
http://www.ssninsider.com/
When you were little, your parents probably told you television makes your brain rot so you wouldn't watch it for twelve straight hours. However, I feel we can learn some pretty valuable stuff from television shows. "The Office," while a comedy, has some pretty teachable moments thrown in there. You may not know how to react in a situation where a co-worker does something crazy (like put your office supplies in jello) but thanks to "The Office," now you'll have an idea how to behave ifsomething like that should happen.
Here are just a few of the things that religious Office watchers can expect to learn.
The good old days are always happening now, so live in the moment.
“Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica” are the three most important topics one can talk about.
The Dundies are cooler than the Oscars.
Everybody has a Toby, and they are just someone you have to learn to deal with.
Group pictures are hard to take (especially jumping pics).
It's never too early to eat ice cream.
Schrute’s are always prepared for anything.
Except pop culture references...
Holidays are important and a very good reason to host any kind of party.
There will always be cynical co-workers to deal with.
Putting things in Jell-O is a great use of your time.
Sometimes funny voices and personas make awkward situations easier (just ask Prison Mike).
That places you may not always love can bring you the people you love.
Determination is an important characteristic to possess.
I always get the feels when Michael tells Jim to never give up on love and Pam
by inDunderMifflin
Sarcasm is essential in everyday life.
Love can be really weird.
At Halloween time, it is trivial to come with your best costume ready.
Friendship is long lasting no matter where the future takes you.
Pranks are funny no matter the age.
Goodbyes are hard, but reunions are worth it.
Blogs are confusing.
"That's what she said" jokes will never get old.
Jim Halpert can say so much with just a look at the camera.
Bros should always come before hoes because...
Declaring bankruptcy isn't as hard as we all thought.
Office places can be weird and stressful at times.
Michael Scott loves Dunder Mifflin and the Scranton Office more than anything.
"The Office" truly does have a lot that it can teach us.
Whether you binged watched on Netflix, or on real TV, "The Office" probably has a special place in your heart and has taught you a lot in the time you have watched it.
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Student Life
10 Signs You’re A Pre-Med Student
Ah, pre-med: home of the dead at heart.
24 December
1424
TV Guide
Being pre-med is quite a journey. It’s not easy juggling school work, extracurricular activities, volunteering, shadowing, research, and MCAT prep all at the same time. Ever heard of “pain is temporary, but GPA is forever?” Pre-meds don’t just embody that motto; we live and breathe it. Here are 10 symptoms you’re down with the pre-med student syndrome.
1. You have forsaken all your friends for coffee.
Coffee: the sweet nectar of the pre-med gods. One cup used to be enough to keep you awake for as long as you wanted. Now, you cannot get through the night without at least six.
2. 8 hours of sleep? Try 4 instead.
Especially when the MCAT comes around -- the amount of hours you sleep will slowly average out to three every week.
3. Everyone asks you for medical advice, even though you’re not a doctor yet.
Friend: What’s going on with me? What does this look like?
Me: Oh, I don’t know. Might be a tumor. You might as well just check WebMD while you’re at it.
4. Your second home is the library.
You might as well drag your sleeping bag and toothbrush with you and spend the night at the library, considering how often you go there. Pre-medical students spend an average of eight hours a day come midterm and finals season.
5. Almost all of your nightmares are about school and exams.
It’s only a matter of time you start yelling “NO, NOT A C! ANYTHING BUT A C, PROFESSOR!” in your sleep.
6. You don’t see the problem with taking 3 technicals in one semester.
Biology, chemistry, and physics all at once? Or, better yet, why not just throw lab research and clinical volunteering into the mix? If I die, please hire Lorde to sing at my funeral.
7. Research, research, research, research, research.
If you’ve ever been to your school’s pre-med advising, you’ve probably heard the phrase “Ask a professor for a spot on their research team” at least once.
8. You volunteer more than any of your friends.
Pre-med volunteering consists of more than just medical clinics and blood drives. True pre-meds aren’t in it for the money -- we’re in it to save lives. So, community service is a common pastime for us, and we would love to help in any way we can.
9. You like going to labs more than going to lecture.
At least you’re up, out, and about during lab. During lecture, you’re sitting in one spot trying not to fall asleep. And, God forbid your professor calls you to answer a question during class.
10. But, you know it’ll all be worth the struggle the day you don that white coat and call yourself a doctor.
Despite all the whirlwind madness and nervous breakdowns, you know you have to stay strong and power through. Because your future patients depend on it.
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Entertainment
High School And College Sucked All Of The Fun Out Of Reading
Books were always about understanding for me, about learning the way someone else sees, about connection.
24 December
1052
Photo by Clementina Toso on Unsplash
I keep making this joke whenever the idea of books is brought up: "God, I wish I knew how to read." It runs parallel to another stupid phrase, as I watch my friends struggle through their calculus classes late at night in our floor lounge: "I hope this is the year that I learn to count." They're both truly idiotic expressions, but, when I consider the former, I sometimes wonder if there's some truth to it.
Now, I can absorb textbook chapters and assigned texts like the best of them — poorly, skimming, right before class and barely taking in any information — but it's hard to place exactly when I stopped reading for fun. I used to know how to sit for hours at a time, drawn into ever-growing worlds of fantasy and magic, inhabiting realms that someone else created. Books were always about that for me, about understanding and learning about the way someone else sees, about connection.
I ruined my sight as a child by never peeling my eyes away from the pages of my latest acquisition from the library. I couldn't tell you now where that library card is, though 10 years ago I had the number on the back memorized "just in case."
By the time I reached middle school, all I really read were the newest trends, like "The Hunger Games" trilogy, the "Divergent" trilogy, and whatever John Green book was popular at the time. It worked because everyone around me had heard of or read the books, or at least seen the movie adaptations, and it helped cultivate a new passion within me: criticizing things other people have created.
However, that big community of reading wore off as I continued growing, and I feel like it did the same for a lot of other people. I've heard from so many people that the last time they truly read was when they were ten. Granted, most of those people never read the books in our high school English curriculum, so they really haven't read a book, even for educational purposes, in a while.
It seems like a shame, especially when there's so much to be communicated through literature that cannot be expressed in an equivalent way through a different medium. It's like passion lost. There are whole worlds out there to find and explore, but many of us are not inclined or motivated to take the first step.
I brought a little library to college because I wanted to change. I picked the most interesting books from a shelf that I had never read, bought some cheap Amazon bookends, and planted them on the back of my desk. My little library functions as a sweet little decorative piece. It looks really nice when the light hits it just right.
Ultimately, I don't exactly have a point to this, besides the fact that I'd like to have that tidy little Pinterest aesthetic, in which I can carve out a couple of hours, sit with a hot beverage of my choosing, and read someone's memoir. I really wish I knew how to read.
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Entertainment
One Book Made Me Question Existence In Its Entirety
A book by the name of "The Stranger."
24 December
326
"The Stranger" by Albert Campus touches upon many heavy elements... but not in the way you expect. Although it touches upon the aspects of death and love, it also deals with a hidden philosophy similar to that of nihilism.
The story follows the short life events of Meursault, a Frenchman whose carelessness for his actions eventually ends him in jail and dependent on a jury of people to judge the ethicality of his decision and the punishment that he deserves. He eventually gets the death penalty and all throughout he is nonchalant and almost apathetic towards his situation. He finally snaps when the prison sends a priest to him to absolve him of his sins and to cajole him in confessing to the lord.
With this final straw, Meursault takes out all his anger on a system of forced belief into something so irrational and out of control. He angrily questions why he was evaluated as a bad person because he didn't cry at his mother's funeral or because he chose to not believe God. Especially in the legal field where everyone tried to make sense of his actions, he protests that this world is made of people who struggle to rationalize all the chaotic and unexplainable phenomena around them.
Albert Campus is quite famous, from what I've heard, for pioneering or at least revolutionizing the idea of absurdism. One important thing to note is that this is not to be confused with nihilism and existentialism. Nihilism is the idea of believing life has no meaning and that such concepts that try to bring meaning like religion are false ideologies. Furthermore, any meaning that we try to build for ourselves is false and fabricated.
Pretty miserable, if you ask me.
Existentialism believes that people can make their own meaning but holds the same amount of truth as religion. Existentialism can accept or reject religion. Absurdism, is usually the philosophy in between. It explains that while religion and ideologies we build in our minds can be completely fabricated and fictitious, there is a function in these beliefs. These beliefs are what allow us to move on from the chaos in our lives and continue on with living without the fear of an irrational and unpredictable universe.
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