STUDY TIPS 🌻 from a straight A medical student!

1. Take good notes throughout the whole semester
At the end of every week, make sure you have perfect and well organized notes written down for everything you learned in that week. Add details to your notes from lecture slides, textbooks, and the internet. If you do so, you will have your notes already made once midterms or finals come up. So, you will only need to study from these already notes and nothing else! You won't have to find information last minute or try to cram a whole textbook into your head because you basically just have to study from your own notes! This will save you from so much unnecessary stress and make uni a lot more bearable (plus, you'll get better results!). 

2. Go prepared to every lecture
If your university has lecture slides uploaded prior to the lecture, download them so that you can take notes on them during the lecture. Same applies for if maybe for a subject there are notes from previous generations of students - they are so helpful and you can make them even more helpful by adding notes and markings on them throughout the semester. 
An app I like to use for this purpose is PDFelement which is an all-in-one PDF editor that is perfect for taking notes on electronics. In this generation, I myself like to promote protecting the environment yet also have a similar feeling to the traditional taking notes on paper. I feel like this app gives me this perfect balance. It is extremely versatile - in addition to the basic highlighting and writing on the text, you can also add text boxes, sticky notes, and a myriad other things to your PDFs making it perfect for taking notes during lectures and classes. At the end of the day, you can easily convert the PDF you made into a word or excel document which makes life a lot easier.


By the way, for those who are interested ... PDFelement is available on iOS and Android for free, while its desktop version on Windows and Mac is now on a limited 50% off sale!  

I'd definitely recommend y'all to try it out :) 

3. Study according to syllabus topic lists

The exams are based on those topic lists so its very helpful to use them as a guide to study throughout the semester. They are useful for when you fall behind and need a guide on how to catch up, and for when you want to study ahead! What I do before every semester is save the topic lists in a very easily accessible location (or even print them out) so I can come back to it a lot during the semester. 

 4. Work hard from day number 1 

 Don't leave the working hard til the week before an exam, 

that is just overloading yourself with unnecessary stress that could actually cause you to do worse on an exam. Cramming does you no good - plus, even if you do end up passing an exam, the knowledge won't stick into your head (if the exam was a semifinal, there will eventually be a final that includes this material - so its better to just spend time to absorb the information!) Study bit by bit every day from day number 1 of the semester - it is so so so worth it. On the left is a thumbnail of a video with all the notes that I made in my first month of medical school :)

5. Study with friends 

Find yourself a group of people to work together to get the best grades. It is always helpful to study with people because they may know something you don't and visa versa. I myself find it extremely beneficial when I get to explain a topic to someone because it imprints the topic even more into my brain. It is also so motivating to be in a group of people full of drive to do the best they possibly can in university. 
In addition, if you happen to have to miss a day of university it is so good to have a friend who took notes during that day! 

6. Make your surroundings motivating and put quotes all around to inspire you
Motivation - the key to success! If you are motivated, you study so much better and as a result you get a lot more stellar grades. Make studying fun, and fall in love with studying. If you love to draw, add drawings into your notes. If you love color, add a lot of color to your notes! Eat snacks that you love during studying (preferably healthy snacks) Surround yourself with people who love to study!


7. Always take breaks
Don't over study either, find that perfect balance between studying the bare minimum and over studying. Take breaks every once in a while to hang out with friends, go on a walk, or to have a self care time. These things will refresh you and make you able to study even more afterwards! Also, I would definitely recommend going to the gym if you don't yet - it energizes you so much and definitely recharges you after a long day of studying.

8. Never ever give up 
Failed a test or got a undesirable grade? Take a small break to be a little upset, then get up (or, well, sit down) and keep on studying! Never ever give up on your dream of becoming the best student you could possibly be - you can do it. 

Do you people have any study tips? Be sure to leave them down in the comments section! Good luck studying everyone! 
love, 
Kasey :) 

Link to my youtube channel : https://www.youtube.com/user/yuhua98/featured
I've got quite a lot of study related videos on my channel along with lifestyle, self care, and vlogs! 

15 Reminders for the New Year

1. This is YOUR life

So, stop looking for other people's approval for everything. It is your life, so love it and do whatever you want. Who cares about what other people think about your life? What matters the most in the end is if you have enjoyed it. 

2. Take care of your body 

Take good care of yourself because it's the only place you'll always live in. 

3. Appreciate what you have 

Take some time every day to give thanks for all that you have, because you do have A LOT. 

4.  Keep a journal is a good idea 

Doodle. Write. Chronicle your adventures. Keeping a journal is something everyone should do because your journal will become both a therapist and a good friend who will always listen to you no matter what time of the day and won't judge you or interrupt. 

Read good books, watch good movies, listen to good music

5. Laugh, smile, and laugh more

6. Be a loyal person

Be loyal to your friends, family, and in love. Stay true to your word

7. Spend more time outside

Take long walks, explore new places, the list goes on.

8. Read good books, watch good movies, listen to good music

When life pulls you down and you want a break, just dive into a good book with some good music jamming or into a movie.

9. Smile at people, even strangers 

Make someone's day!

10. Try new things 

Every day, try to do at least one thing that you've never done before.

11. You only live once, so live in the moment and HAVE FUN 

#YOLO So if you want to do something, do it. If you want to try out something new, do it. If you want to do something crazy, do it. Just do it #Nike And, don't forget to live in the present and make the most out of every moment of your life. Have fun and enjoy the ride that is life!
(Excuse all the hashtags)

12. Travel, see new places, have spontaneous adventures 

Every year, go to at least one country that you've never been to. Every week, go to at least one place you've never been to. Every day, have an adventure.

13. Take breaks to relax 

Every once in a while, take a break from working to just sit back and relax. We all need breaks.

14. Find a hobby, spend time on your hobby

Music. Photography. Basketball. Doodling. Painting. The list goes on!

15. Be kind, be gracious, be humble, be gentle. 

❤| Because life itself is a gift

With my computer still on my lap, I sit back on the sofa and let myself relax.

I close my eyes and let my lips curve into a smile, it was a long day but I chose this moment to just stop for a second and fully enjoy the moment. I had turned on some calm piano music just before and I just let the music consume me, erasing all signs of stress or worry. The fact that I stopped for a second, closed my laptop that I had been working on earlier, made all the difference in my mood.

I kept my eyes closed for a while and simply reflected over my day while eliminating myself of all stress and worry.

After that I opened my eyes and continued working, feeling a million gazillion times more happy all because of that short moment.

∞| A heart on my hand

Every morning, right before I walk out the door, I like to take a black pen out of my pencil case and draw a small heart on the base of my left ring finger.

A small heart.

The heart could represent many things, but for me it is a reminder.

A reminder to do all things out of love, to be more loving. It is a reminder to strive to be patient, kind, non-envious, non-boastful, and basically the definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

The thing is, I always desire to be loved by other people and often forget to make others feel loved. Whenever I see the heart on my finger, I am reminded of my decision as a Christian to do all things out of love for others.

A heart can represent many things but to me, in this stage of my life, it is a reminder to do all things out of love for other people and be as much a loving person as possible.

★| Health benefits of ALMONDS

Almonds are the seeds of the fruits of the beautiful almond tree that bears fragrant pink and white blossoms-- in fact, the almond fruit's cousins are the peach and apricot fruits. Almond nut actually refers to the seed of the almond fruit. Tasty and nutritious, almonds make a great snack and are loaded with minerals. Just by eating a small handful of almonds every day can help promote heart health and weight loss, fight against diabetes, and even act as prevention against Alzheimers! Read on to find out some major health benefits of this special nut, tips on eating it, and some fun facts about this seed-nut. 

✈| Zadar, Croatia

Some of the many pictures taken during our stay in the beautiful city of Zadar, Croatia. These are put in totally random order, so there's both scenery and people pictures. (: Zadar was truly gorgeous though and I hope I can go back one day in the near future. I even heard the sea organ for the first time in my life and it was magical. 

✈| Plitvice Lakes National Park

 The largest national park in Croatia and oldest national park in all of Southeast Europe, this place was truly stunning and awe-inspiring.

I'm back!

Oh my goodness, I cannot believe that I haven't been able to write in such a long time! I got back from a vacation in Croatia yesterday, though, so that's my excuse. Since I haven't really uploaded my pictures on my computer, I only have some random pictures that were taken now. I thought I'd post them now and I'll post the official pictures tomorrow. Croatia was beautiful though, and I enjoyed every second of my time there, well, except for the mosquitoes. We went to so many places-- including Split, Zadar, and Zagreb-- and had lots of fun. I wish I could post all the pictures now, but, alas, I can't.

I do have to say this though, I'm absolutely, completely in love with Croatia.

Although, I'm ecstatic about the fact that I'm now reunited with my violin and back in the beautiful city of Budapest that shall always be the most wonderful city in my opinion.

♛| Hanging out with a good friend at Margit

Hiya people! Today I got to spend a whole afternoon with a good friend of mine at the one and only beautiful Margit Island. It was super fun and, as usual, pictures were taken because I love using photography to capture memories in life. Today was a perfect day at Margit Island-- the sky was a stunningly beautiful shade of blue with wispy white clouds, the weather was warm but not too hot, and the scenery was stunning. Before I get into my extremely descriptive mood, let me start posting some pictures here. (:

This picture has a super awkward story behind it, to summarise it? I was taking pictures of this dude because I thought he was pretty cool. Then, he waved at me! Ha-ha, talk about awkward. I'm just the epitome of awkward.

★| 10 Reasons Why You Should Drink More Water !

Water is very important. In fact, you are up to 60% water, isn't that crazy? The fact that such a big percentage of you is water makes it obvious that you need water to survive. Water is needed for non-painful movement because it lubricates your joints, carrying off waste products in your body, regulating your body temperature, and myriads of more things.

Read this post to find out...
1. Some reasons why you should drink more water 
2. How to drink more water
3. When to drink water