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Monday, November 8, 2010

Gaaaaaah!

I am in an unpleasant mood, Blog, and I will tell you why: GROUP PROJECTS ARE THE BANE OF MY EXISTENCE.

This quarter, I've stupidly found myself enrolled in a class whose entire grade, unbeknownst to me, consists of five ten-page papers, to be completed with the "help" of several other group members. I volunteered to compile and edit four of the five projects, less out of the kindness of my heart than out of my need to be in control of my own grade, and have therefore spent at least two weeks out of every month this quarter stressing myself to the point of near combustion over a class I don't even care about.

I like all the people I'm assigned to work with, but only two of them have consistently put in their share of time and effort, leaving me and one other girl (Brittany; she's adorable) to write several supplementary pages at the last minute, every time. As a group, we've scheduled a few meeting times every week, and me, Brittany, and one other guy have spent the majority of these meetings shaking our heads and laughing about the fact that we are always the only ones to even show up. On top of that, out of the people who have sent me their work on time each week, the vast majority of emails I receive are written on about a third grade level. At the beginning, I chalked this up to the fact that I'm too harsh a critic, and I devoted a few hours to correcting their mistakes without mentioning it. But it came to the point in my editing process this weekend that I actually called my parents to read them excerpts from the drafts I had to work with. My dad couldn't speak through his laughter. My point is, if these guys were just horrible writers, that would be one thing. But they must be taking advantage of the extra editing time I put in, because if they turned in papers like that to teachers, they would be failing out of school. Either that, or I'm setting the standards for myself way too high and should stop working so hard for my grades, since writing like that can pass a class.

Meanwhile, everything I do in my French class comes out to a C, even when I trick myself into thinking I'm improving. My high school French teacher was this little quirky, lovable, crazy ball of hyperactivity, and while she had enough enthusiasm to be heard around the school building, I definitely did not learn enough to prepare myself for the level of course I'm taking now. The problem is, my college has three ten-week trimesters rather than two semesters, so by the time we stopped reviewing and launched into the new material, it was too late for me to drop the class and rework my whole schedule. And even if I could have switched to a lower level, I'd already spent over 200 freaking dollars on textbooks that were shrink-wrapped, so they can't be sold back to the bookstore once they've been opened. I had no other option but to stick with it, so I've been raking in the C's and crossing my fingers for my upcoming exams.

Tomorrow morning, I have to go into a room alone with my professor and hold a five-minute conversation with her, entirely in French, about a random question. She emailed us some examples, and these aren't questions like "Tell me about your family." A few of the options include "Do you believe celebrities deserve to be harassed by the paparazzi because they chose to be famous?" and "Do you believe in predestination?" These are things I'd have a hard time talking about in English for five minutes, and I still stumble when answering some yes-or-no questions in class. A few days ago, I wrote a paragraph in response to each of her examples, and I've spent the weekend going over them and practicing reading them aloud. I don't know how else to study, since I don't have any idea which vocabulary I'll need, and it's the grammar that confuses me. This exam accounts for 10% of my final grade, and I have one more written test next week worth 15%. It really stresses me out knowing that I'm currently resting at a C, and that a whole 25% of my grade is still up in the air. I don't know how I'm supposed to not freak out about this.

Meanwhile, it's November, and my cursed competitive nature would not allow me to make the mature decision to not sign up for this year's NaNoWriMo. It's an added stress to know that my novel's just a click away, itching to be written, but that I have to ignore it. It's more important to pass French than it is to maintain an impressive word count, and Nano will still be going on in two weeks when I'm home from school with nothing to do... but I still don't like this. I started off really strong this year, and I'm worried I'm wasting all my first-week energy by taking such an early break. Gaaah.

Also, to make matters more fun, the stress of school combined with Daylight Savings to throw me off my regular medication schedule, and I missed a headache pill today, which has resulted in one of the worst and longest I've ever had. It's 7:15 now, and I've had strong pain in my neck, face, and the right side of my brain since 3:30 this afternoon. I also had to turn down an offer from my friend Carina to go see Ben Folds tonight-- for free, since they had an extra ticket-- because of my need to study French and my unreliable group for that other class. It doesn't help that Ben Folds has been tweeting pictures all evening of a city right nearby, just to rub in my face that I can't be there. Lame.

Anyway, I appreciate you being here for me to complain to, guys. I needed this little break from squeezing my head between my hands and throwing my French book across the room. I can't predict when you'll be seeing me here again this month, because I don't know when everything's going to calm down, but I promise I haven't forgotten you. I hope you're all having an easier week than I am. :)

Chipotle burritos this year: 30
Subscribers: 36,640
Nail color: I've been bare for a couple weeks, just for lack of time.

71 comments:

Azucena Paloma Garza Garza said...

That ALWAYS happens to me. Team projects: I find myself in shock of the horrible, terrible, painful grammatical mistakes. Needless to say, all the copy paste is from Wikipedia. Dear goodness.

I quit NaNoWriMo today. Too much homework, exams... you know. Excuses. But true. I think I'll do it in December, when I'm having my winter break.

storminmay said...

I hate group projects. HAAAAAAAAATE. Because I'm the person who always ends up picking up for everyone else's slack. Oy.

I'm sorry your November has been incredibly stressful so far, and that really sucks about the horrible headache you had to endure. I hope you feel better ASAP!

Elle said...

I am a graduate student at a top 20 university (which you'd never guess by the students) on the West coast, and I can tell you that they absolutely do turn in work at the 3rd grade level to their professors. Coherent writing with or without a compelling argument brings tears to my eyes it is so uncommon.

If you are worried about your grade in your French class go to the instructor's office hours. I guarantee it will result in a higher grade and it may even help.

Elle

elfarmy17 said...

*sends you loving thoughts*
Ugh, I loathe group projects as well. The group I'm working with in English right now has two decent people, but the other two aren't doing anything.
And don't get me started about my Computer Programming partners...or my lab partner from Biology last year...
My NaNoWriMo is coming along pretty well. I'm ahead of where I was this time last year, I think, and I'm way busier this year than I was last time.
Best of luck with the French!

allyson said...

LET IT OUT!

It is SO that time of the quarter/semester. RANTING time. Last night I was ranting to a friend and realized after 30 min, I had let him say like two words.

And I'm so irritable! For no good reason! It's like a constant state of PMS!

GAHH!

Much love. :]

Quinn said...

Ugh I feel your pain. I just finished working with a group on a project worth 50% of our overall grade. There were a couple of girls who helped out, but for the most part, I just ended up doing the work.
In another class we have to submit discussions online every week...and some of the writing on there is absolutely appalling. It's like they don't realize they're in college.

Hayley, I hope that your headache goes away--it's hard enough trying to learn French, let alone with a headache! I know it can be irritating to work in groups, but just remember that you don't have to work with them forever :) Or, if things get any worse
(although that might be unlikely) you could always talk to the professor...which might be an option for your French class, too. :)

Just know that you have people sending many positive thoughts your way and hopefully that'll help.

JStarr said...

I completely understand. Group projects are the worst. I have a group test in calculus two tomorrow, and no one in my group has a clue what they're doing.

Newt said...

-hug-
I'm going to go to sleep right now in your honor.

Caitlin said...

Groups are the WORST! As a production major in college EVERY SINGLE PROJECT we did was in a group. Colleges like doing that to people. Teaches teamwork or some crap like that. All I learned was that if I want something done right, or well, I have to do it myself.
Keep your chin up. All you can do is what you are doing. College will be over soon enough.
I feel your pain.
Sending hugs!

Anonymous said...

I just got back from a meeting for a group project in which I was the only one that showed up. I sit down at my computer and here is your blog. I'm glad to know I'm not alone.

J said...

:( You'll get through it Hayley!

Anonymous said...

Turn the tables on your teacher, and ask her some (memorized) questions back! You can't have a one-sided conversation. Making lists of nouns and verbs that go with each topic is super useful. Also, study the grammatical structure of several different types of sentences i.e. cause and effect, present+future, was doing this, then that happened, "would" sentences etc, so you can then fill them in like a template with verbs and nouns of your choice. If verb tenses get to you, you can make flash cards for each tense and write out the conjugations, how they're used, and their "rules".
It's really frustrating when you can think complex thoughts in your head, but when it comes to speak you're at a loss due to language barriers. It gets better though, soon you will be past that stage, you can actually reap the benefits of knowing a foreign language.
If I still knew French, I would love to help you, but alas I take Spanish.

Bridget said...

I've been having quite the difficult week myself. I also have a group project going on for the most pointless class EVER, and one guy has never responded to any of e-mails so let's see if even shows up tomorrow... On top of that I have two essays due. 'Tis sucketh. :/ Your headaches seem like a whole lotta world suck, hope you feel better and good luck with French. I was thinking about taking French next semester despite not having any background, but after your post I'm thinking otherwise...

Miranda said...

get better hayley! *cyber hugs*

Abby said...

I feel like everyone who reads your blog understands because we're almost all the nerdy ones who have to pick up the slack.

Alexis said...

I feel for you, my dearest. <3 This is the thing that I am most terrified of when I get to college next year: group projects. Shudder.

And I have the most annoying need to maintain a several-day lead on my word count for NaNo as well. I only had to postpone working on it just today, so I could focus on writing this speech, and even *that* was immensely frustrating. (Especially when one of my writing buddies keeps leaping ahead of me at the end of each day when I think I've got it made. Whipping 3,000 words out of nowhere. *hairpull*)

And IDK if you remember me, but I'm the girl with the chronic pain who emailed you a good while ago. So I very much get the pain and the extra difficulty it brings to a situation when you've got a lot of work to do. That said, I very much hope your week improves. And good luck with that scary-sounding, in-depth French conversation.

Anonymous said...

Learn how to say "I've been suffering from a horrible migraine" in french and add that to your oral exam.

alyson said...

So there's this book called H Day and it's a wordless series of drawings inspired by the artists' migraines. It's pretty sweet. You might like it. Or not. You know.

http://www.pictureboxinc.com/products/727-h-day?loc=interstitialskip

Stefan said...

feel better! I had to the same 5 minute thing for spanish, which I was painfully bad at. I sucked at it but my teacher was very forgiving. good luck!

Mairead said...

I'm only in french 3 in high school, and I'm so done with it. I love the language but I'm sick of all the stupid work that is associated with my teacher. I have a 3 minutes thing Thursday, and I'm freaking out about it. Isn't french wonderful?

Group Projects: story of my life. I ended up writing 11 of a 12 page scientific paper freshman year of high school. I was "The Effect of Melatonin on the movement of Rabdotus alternatus". I did the experiment, I wrote the paper, I did the data, and I built the infrared censor circuit. I feel your pain.

I can't imagine doing all of that with NaNoWriMo. I didn't have a plot or anything yet so I decided not to do it this year. I don't write the rest of the year, so I doubt I'd be able to even make a story that lasted for 50,000 words.

Don't worry about complaining. It lets us know that we aren't alone in our struggles.I hope everything works out for you :)

inkstainedpages said...

Hayley, I understand how you feel right now. This semester has been horrible for me in almost every way possible, and I've had months like this before in other years. French sucks and missing an awesome concert sucks more. You just have to keep remembering that it will all work itself out and you'll pull off spectacular grades and get everything done magically. AND finish Nanowrimo. :) Meanwhile, I hope your headache gets better and you get everything done you need to tonight. I can't wait to read your happy November-break blog in a few weeks. :) *hugs* And by the way, you can complain to us guilt-free anytime you need to.

tranquilily said...

Group projects are the worst. And I'm in engineering, so that's all I do, and most engineering students don't know any grammar! I would rant more but I feel bad talking about my group partners on the internet. But I feel for you!

thisisasecret said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
thisisasecret said...

Its totally understandable that you can't update here frequently and i'm sorry your so stressed!

I feel very stressed as well, I'm a senior in highschool and I haven't applied to any colleges, I have no idea where I want to go or what I want to do!
EEPP

seems like were all feeling the heat this month Hayley.

I hope your month gets better :)

kaitlin said...

This is a totally summary of my school year to date. Every group project I've been in has been miserable, and we have one do every 2 weeks. The only reason I even bother trying is because I like my teacher. He's really cool, and practically hands out A's like they're going out of style, but I feel bad because so many kids take advantage of it.
And also, any semblance of academic stability I had has fallen to bits.
So ya-I feel your pain man.

comelygrace said...

Ugh, sounds familiar to me too. Sometimes my classmates in college astound me as to HOW SUCKY THEY ARE AT UNDERSTANDING THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. I proofread my roommate's 25 page Senior Sem paper for her last year and...I don't even know. It was bad. I also manage/schedule entries for my school's blog and I fix so many spelling/grammar mistakes (or just sucky sentences in general) it's not even funny. Crossing my fingers for the future of America to step it up a bit.

Bon chance avec your French stuff. You are a brilliant kid- you know you'll do fine!

Tass said...

I feel ya Hayley, I feel ya.
I've been studying my butt off for Astronomy (why I took it in the first place I can't figure out) and I keept getting Cs and Ds on the tests. It's just really frustrating. I'm not a D kind of person, I'm not even a C kind of person.
Also, my suitemate is an editor for my school's paper and there's some freshman girl who is always very enthusiastic to write articles but her writing is simply atrocious. She brought one of the un-edited articles back one night and read it to us. I was crying from laughing so hard. She spelt cultures as "coulters" and my favorite, "You have to really admire him for not letting his woud shrink but instead growing it. That is truely transcending bounderies."
We can't figure out how she even got into college.

Jess said...

Gaaah! I'm in a group assignment at the moment, it's torture! The other members have no respect for anyone else' grades nor their own. It's nothing but frustrating,

hang in there!

seurat2 said...

It sounds like you are making the right decisions Hayley, and you'll just have to follow through and hope it all works out. With the French at some point a light will go on and it will just flow. (Or not, but let's dwell on that.) I am continually amazed by how many People I run into who can't write a sentence and still get by, but you can't let those people depress you. You are a writer, and you've proved it already.

Anonymous said...

Just so you know-- I used to get headaches every day that were often egregiously painful and after about two years of my mother asking every day if I'd had a headache that day (I gave up complaining about it after about a week and just got used to it) and having several doctors semi-diagnose things such as "it's probably just dehydration, so try to drink more water," it finally seemed that fatigue headaches from lack of sleep fit best. This made sense, considering that my bipolar disorder causes periods of insomnia and otherwise restless sleep. I had a sleep study performed, and the result showed that I had ridiculously severe sleep apnea ("severe" is considered 10 apneas per hour for children up to 18, and around 20 apneas per hour for adults. I was at 50 apneas per hour, causing my brain to cease sleep 37 times an hour, obviously severely impacting my sleep). After this and a visit to an ENT, I recently had surgery removing my tonsils, uvula, and soft tissue in my tongue, palate and throat (my adenoids had been removed years prior to this with little affect on my breathing ability). Since the surgery, I have been physically sleeping through the night, I haven't had a single headache, I'm feeling much more rested and my bipolar has even decreased a bit!

In case any of this sounds familiar, you might want to get it checked out! I didn't mean to write so much...I guess the comment box has taken the place of a diary for me..

anyway, best of luck to you, I'm sure you'll be fine!!

Heather said...

I think my early application to the one college I actually care about failed to submit and the deadline was a week ago. >.< I feel your pain Hayley!


Also: group projects are the bane of any intelligent person's existence anywhere. I am thoroughly convinced that they are the invention of lazy, stupid people. Who probably passed all their classes! I will be forever bitter.

Anonymous said...

group projects are the worst...I had one for my major that had to be a 30 minute presentation with two other classmates and I did the whole project because I was the only one who cared...but it will get better

Cassie said...

I'm a fantastic student, but a very laid back person in general. When it comes to group projects I just play monkey. If no one steps up I do it all. If they decide to do it all I offer to be the writer and I change everything they say to something relevant to the project, but generally I'm fine with letting them fail us. My grade can take it. This doesn't really help in your situation. I know you can get through it. Lots of love<3.

Jamie said...

Oh Hayley, I feel you on the French thing. I'm in my 4th (and final!!!!) semester of French (it's a graduation req, unfortunately) and I just want it to be over with. It DOES get a bit easier, and you get a lot more used to talking in French, so at least take solace in that. I can't believe the questions you're expected to answer for your oral exam though, that's nuts!

Hope things slow down a little for you for the rest of the semester. :)

Anonymous said...

I was a teaching assistant for a spread of criminal justice classes (100 to 400 depending) and every time an essay was asked for, I cringed. Not only are they a tremendous amount of work to grade, but undergraduate students do NOT know how to write a paper to save their lives! Seriously, I witnessed some of the worst papers EVER in a 400 level class where I expected people to at least be able to avoid ending sentences in prepositions and provide me with sources that didn't come from Wikipedia.

Group papers are horrendous. I hated writing a couple in grad school... even though we all looked at it and went "This is going to suck, we all know it, so we're all going to peer review everything we contribute." Of course, we were all 25 or so, so I guess we were past caring about our self-esteem and more worried about passing the class.

Keep on keeping on Hayley.

Kelly said...

Group projects are totally awful, you're right. Shouldering all of that extra work must suck.

As for French, all you can really do is muscle through it. I'm a Spanish student, not French, but when I have trouble with a grammatical concept, the only way for me to learn it is just to do it over and over and over again. Eventually it will become second nature and your ear will be able to distinguish it when you've made an error (at least that's how it is for me in Spanish).

Don't let NaNo stress you out. There's still a lot of time left in November. Just think about how many words you'll be able to crank out the next time you have a free Saturday, once all of the stress of French and suck ass groups are behind you.

Also, sorry about your head. I hope it's feeling better.

-Kelly

Cody Ferguson said...

Group projects are annoying. They're supposed to help you develop skills in cooperation but it always seems like an excuse for people to either slack off and let the people that actually care do all the work. I had a major group project in my Studio class. This class is an upper-level interior design course and there are about ten people in it. You'd think since it's a higher level and it is specific to the major that everyone would want to do the project and get it done. Nope. We ended up cutting one girl out of our group. It was doomed from the beginning.

As much as I love foreign languages and want to take them at university, they require constant work, and I just don't have the hours of the day for that.

I hope everything works out for you though!

Anna said...

Wow, your life is SO hard.

Nicci Weasley said...

I hate group projects as well... I see why - theoretically - group work could be a very good way to learn things, but it just never turns out to work. I feel like I always end up in panic having to edit everything in order to feel okay with handing the paper in.
It NEVER works for me!

Nicci Weasley said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Zaphiie said...

Group projects - say no more. Even in high school, they're a load of crap. I admire your ability to type out a coherent blog post under that kind of pressure. Mine would be all asddffghk!!!!!!!!!!111!!!!

You're awesome for at least attempting French. I gave it up at the end of eighth grade, even though I was quite good at it, and it's sad seeing my friends getting more and more fluent each day.

Sending virtual hugs! You're so unlucky to have headaches like that :( I'm prone to headaches, although nothing that bad, but even the ones I get are awfully annoying.

Unknown said...

Hey Hayley,

If you need help with your french, I'm there for you (I am french and it would be my pleasure). To me, the best way to learn a language is to watch movies. I learned most of my english by watching Gilmore Girls.

I completely understand how you must feel about team projects, but there will always be parasites unfortunately...
My brother works with one, the guy is paid better than him, but my brother have to do half of his work.

Ne te décourage pas ;)
Laure

Caitlin R. O'Connell said...

Group projects are the world's most cruel scholastic devises. Whoever invented them needs to be shot. Or at least made to do a group project with a whole bunch of really lazy people.

*hugs*

Catherine said...

While it is always wonderful to hear from you, do your work! You'll feel so much better if you just get everything done that you need to do. I haven't had the pleasure of having a group project yet, but I have a co-teaching demonstration coming up soon. Not excited for that, especially because I'm the only freshman in the course so I really don't know anything yet. But I shall do my best. And I'm stressed about college as well. Scheduling is ten times harder than it really should be. So excited for my 18 credits of wonderfulness!

P.S. Don't forget your pills!

Marie said...

I am convinced that group projects are designed to make you lose faith in humanity. I'm convinced that's the reason why we have to do them. The only group project I've had to do so far ended up me & this other kid awkwardly meeting in the library, as we couldn't get hold of the other girl, and making a powerpoint presentation that was so basic and horrible I wanted to cry. I don't know what we got on the presentation, but I did almost all of the speaking. And in that class, my HONORS class, there are few people who speak up AT ALL in class. I feel like I'm surrounded by idiots, as nice as some of them may be.

As for NaNo, I knew November would be busy, but it's all the unexpected things that have caused my word count to be so low *cough9600cough*. Seriously, if you need to, study with someone else in the room so that if you go to click on the document, they'll slap you. A baby's gotta do what a baby's gotta do. Wait, that's not quite right...but you get the idea =P

I hope you get used to the time change and remember to take that headache pill. No more headaches for Hayley!

Also, breathe. Take time to sit back, take a deep breath, and think, "I am awesome. I can do this."

DFTBA, Hayley.

ashortgingerkid said...

Awwh Hayley, group projects are the worst. Good luck for your French exam. I'm sorry, really hope everything gets easier for you soon! <33

Rosanna said...

Awk Hayley, you crazy girl, trying to help everyone and ending up with too much work! I too am having trouble with anowrimo as I believe many people are. There are just not enough hours in the day, and if there were I would be too exhausted to stay awake through them :) Hope things get better xxx

Sidsel said...

I hate being stressed out by homework and lazy people. But this sounds like a lot, and now I'm afraid to study abroad (hopefully the US). Sound very, very stressful.

Carine said...

I Know how hard it is to learn another language (I had to learn english and spanish). I'm French (and not a I-don't-know-how-to-spell-in-my-own-language French :p), so if you have any questions about french-related stuff, you can shoot me an email ^-^ You seem pretty busy, don't go crazy :p

Sarahalala said...

Oh Hayley, I feel your pain! School is HARD, group projects are painful, and I totally sympathize (empathize?) with the struggles to learn french. Hang in there!! When I was in school, I had so many times like this, where everything just seemed impossible and I thought there was no way I would get through it all. And it all worked out in the end! Take a deep breath and ride the wave until this, too, passes. I will be thinking good thoughts for you. You can do it!

Kylie said...

Group projects annoy me so much!
Especially when teachers will put the smarter people with people who don't do their work to "motivate them", even though, isn't that the teachers job?
And you're not really helping them, you're just doing their work.
But, I feel for you so much! Good luck on everything, and you can neglect us blog readers for a while, we understand!

Aly said...

Group projects are the worst. We have like four per semester for one class and they consist of a paper, a powerpoint, and an oral presentation. And it kills me that this other girl and myself do all the work, and the other members get better grades because of their so called "enthusiasm" shown during the presentation...Its like "I'm sorry maybe I could be more enthusiastic during my bit if I wasn't up till 3 AM writing the entire freaking thing." -_- And I'm sorry about your headache and your french class :(

Anonymous said...

My whole course is group work orientated, the worst part of it is, is that our projects, case studies and presenatations which take up most of our week only account for a small percentage of our final grade, and we still have to find time to write an individual 20,000 word dissertation and find time to study for our 5 exams which will be FIVE hours long both exams at xmas and our finals which are 6 weeks after! :(

Scumbag Sam said...

Seriously - blogging is the best place to vent, so you should! It sounds like French is pretty hard. I never learnt much, as we used to use class time to torment the teacher rather than actually learn anything, but all you can do is your best - so study, practise, and then just go in there and make some shit up and hope for the best! C'est que Jésus ferait!

Anonymous said...

BARE NAILS?!
BLASPHEMY

beangirl1389 said...

I know how that group project feels. I'm going through one now, except that my entire group is very laid back. It's due Monday, along with a powerpoint but of course procrastinators unite. Also, Nanowrimo this year is going to be craziness because our finals are the last week of November. I hope you have a better week stressing out over classes. =)

Nora said...

you should have taken spanish! loads easier, imo.

Ardnaxela said...

Oooh, I have two Japanese exams tomorrow that I have barely studied for and my teacher hasn’t told us the content for the writing... this just reminded me haha. Anyway, I don’t know if this is helpful or relevant, but I used to get pretty bad headaches, as well as jaw and neck pain and so I went to an osteopath (and still do occasionally) and it really helped to relieve the pain and tension as well as reduce the headaches which I rarely get these days. I’m not sure if you’ve tried anything like that, or if that’s even the same kind of headaches that you’re getting, but it might be worth a try. Good luck on your French tests!:)

Marlena said...

I love you. I hope things calm down soon, or I am going to have to step in and stomp on your floor every morning to snap them back to normal. You're amazing, take a few deep breaths, and remember that your grades don't define you. Everything will be okay.

Danielle said...

Ahh! I know how you feel.

I'm always the one that has to put everything together for group presentations and I always spend hours changing everything!

I actually remember a few occasions when the other people in my group sent me through their parts on the evening before it was due. Ooh and I also did a presentation once and it was split into three sections and the girl that was doing the middle part didn't turn up. My part was the final section and made no sense without hers! Stress!

I hope everything is less stressful soon :)

Anonymous said...

I'm totally with you on the French thing. French is mandatory for me until grade 12, and we have tons of assignments involving improv speeches and conversations. It's terrifying, and it has made me hate french with a passion. Which is really sad because I think it's a wonderful language. I'm definitely below class average right now. So yes, we can worry about french together. As for everything else, I'm sure everything will go well. You can power through, there's only a few weeks left. Then you can write to your hearts desire (and beyond that).

Anonymous said...

Group projects are the worst, because I always end up being stuck with the people who do no work at all. And even when I'm with someone who is responsible, I have to do everything because it bothers me if I don't. Ugh!

Nela said...

Please write how you did in your French oral exam. Unfortunately I read this post too late to keep my fingers crossed for you (exams=no computer= no NaNoWriMo for two days! And I'm 7000 words behind, when TODAY is actually the day I was hoping to devote entirely to write-it's free from school, because of the national holiday. In reality I was trying to fight my writer's block through caffe latte ice cream and communitychannel). However I hope you did well and even if you didn't don't freak out! I think you should make the situation clear with your teammates - you can't work for their grades while you're the least interested in that particular class!
Hayley, could you share some excerpts from your novel? Or the general outline of the story? If it's okay of course. I'm dying out of curiosity.
I wish the upcoming weak will be better!

Alex Dahlberry said...

I considered writing my comment in french, so that you'd still be studying somewhat while reading it, but then I figured that might just be relating an enjoyable event (comments) to a horrible one (french).

BUT I HATE GROUP PROJECTS. SO MUCH. I always end up doing it all. And often it's my fault, like you said. I'm not going to hand something in if it's not up to MY standard. which sounds bitchy, but it's my mark too.
freaking science fair...i ended up having to write the entire research paper, and rewrite everything my partner sent me. and it's going to be like that all year. i just can't stand group projects.

yeah and french can be a total drag. i hate it soo much. the class, i mean. all the freaking grammar and ughhh. i live in quebec, so to get a JOB at all, i need to be able to speak french fluently. To work anywhere, I have to be able to have full conversations in french. NOT fun.

fuuu! homework is so obnoxious. and im not even in college yet.

ok, thank you for letting me rant (well you didnt LET me...but I did anyway.)
And I really feel for you. I'm sorry about the headaches too. :(

*gives enormous slow-mo hug*

<3 <3

alex

EJ said...

Group projects blow.

Courage, friend, December will be here soon.

Emily said...

I know how that feels. I have a group project in my scriptwriting class, which is the class that stresses me out by far the most, and for a long time, all we did was fight over details. It's so frustrating!

Rollinby said...

i really get what you mean about the grammar! I just shifted to study in India and the lingo people throw around is just terrible!!! AWFULLLL

Julia said...

Hayley! Cheer up! Charlie wants you to be his imaginary girlfriend!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbcgyPtYBY0&feature=sub

:D

Anonymous said...

OMFG CHARLIE WROTE A SONG ABOUT YOU<333333333333333333333333

the amount of jealousy i have write now is incredible. hahahaaha

Anonymous said...

Group projects are a legal form of torture. I spent 6 hours last weekend working on a project for Health. SIX HOURS FOR HEALTH. The entire rest of my group put in about 2 hours all together, all of which was done in class. My parents kept asking me how I got stuck with all of that work, but I actually volunteered for most of it, just because I'd rather spend 6 hours on a project than have my grade rely on someone else.

The_red" said...

hmmmmmmm.....