Being a full time student is a very stressful thing. I do much more work now than I ever did when I had a job. When working, during my time off I can do whatever I want, but as a student, if I ever do something that is not studying, I start to feel guilty and then go back to studying. There is no more of this free time that people speak of.
This can have it's setbacks though, as I've essentially become a shut in. The only time I ever leave the house is to get food, walk my dog, or meet with a tutor. And since I get too uncomfortable if i'm doing something other than studying, I've fallen behind on a lot of my hobbies. I haven't even played a videogame since also around mid May. Gasp!
This sort of lifestyle does have it's benefits though. The biggest one being that I am highly disciplined. I do one hour of exercise each day, not because I enjoy it, but because it's the one time I allow myself to watch tv/movies. And I always keep my schedule with my tutors as it's the one time I get out to get some fresh air, and I allow myself to take a walk afterwards instead of taking the bus, so I can hopefully get some pictures for this blog.
As for how I actually study...well the more I know the more that has expanded. The core of my studying is still using the textbook and workbook, and going through that with my tutors, doing the homework and extra exercises, and trying my best to use those new things when speaking with friends. Over time though this has been supplemented by audio programs, podcasts, flashcards (both on computer and on phone), children's books, computer programs, websites, and various other textbooks, and just trying to read everything I see.
The variety is what has allowed me to put so much time each day into studying, as I'm never doing the same thing for too long. It's also nice when that new thing you learned in one, helps out with another. A few times I've been stuck in one, only to go away and do some work in another area, and come back to find out that I now have the tools needed to get through where I was previously stuck.
Pictured above is a Chinese learning program that the local library has. At the time I took a picture of it to go home and try and get more info about it, only to find that this program is now online to use for free. It's obviously aimed at kids who are learning Chinese as a foreign language, but it's actually well done. There are a few games which use vocabulary or grammar. Some of them are copies of those English vocabulary games I'm sure a lot of you have on your smart phones to kill the time.
If you'd like to check out the program for yourself, you can type in "fun with chinese learning" into google and it should be the first link that comes up. In the past I would say that you could probably do well comparing your Chinese ability to mine, but I am happy to say that this program is now too easy for me. Which really is a big step for me, cause I am pretty bad at learning language. My friends always say that I am so hardworking, but really it's because I am so terrible at learning language that it takes me five hours to learn what somebody else can learn in one. So this and the deep guilt I feel if I do anything else, keeps me putting in long hours each day. But it will all be worth it when I'm fluent in fourteen years!
"Add Oil!" - The Chinese saying for encouragement to keep going.
