how to revise :

Revising is essential. It is really important in order to achieve success. Indeed, when you are revising, you are encouraging yourself to learn new things or to perfectionate what you have already learnt and this is why it is so important, especially in an educational context. Withouth revisions, is it a bit more hard to revise so we can see how truly necessary they are. Maybe teachers already told you how truly fundamental revising is : well they were right, it is. And if you don't do it correctly then you will probably regret it. 

Now that you know my opinion on revisions, i'm going to show you a list of what I do when I have to work :

• take a long shower and try not to think about the long hours of work ahead.
• clean your room : a neat and and silent room can help you to be more concentrated
• light scented candles and try to focus on your chakra.
• listen to some 24/7 lofi hip hop radio - beats to chill/study/relax, 

• try to highlight all the key points of your lesson and write them on a fiche de révisions
• if you aren't psychologically ready to do your own fiche, ask for you schoolmates to send you what they did
• re-read the fiche, re-write the fiche, feel this empowering knowledge flowing in your veins
• if you feel like you won't be able to do it, take a deep breath and count the days you have left until leaving the oib

I hope my tips will be useful, 

Angela

How to survive the first OIB exam

As you can see, Charlie, we survived.

Here's a quick guide to help you :
1. denial until one month before the bac (but still working on your mind palaces as Beverly explained)
2. hard work, panic, crying for three weeks
3. one week of denial where you're revising other subjects
4. yoga and crying and finding everything that could potentially bring you luck (in my case : Saint Charles tote bag containing all my literature revision sheets + my best essay in Donne, Munro, Saint Joan and the unseen) the day before the exam
5. drinking chamomile tea out of the OIB mug (paradoxical, calm and OIB don't go together -> noticing you apply analysis to normal life -> feeling happy because if you do that you certainly can do it in front of your blank sheets of paper)
6. approximately sleeping and waking up early to be there at 7 (I failed I arrived at 7:10)
7. stressing because other people are missing and you're scared for them
8. four hours of writing all the time AND WRITE AS QUICKLY AS YOU THINK
9. getting out and calling Mrs Choffrut
10. hanging up and going to relax
11. starting to worry about what you thought you did right but now you're not sure anymore (I'm not sure this helps to survive though)
12. sleeping
13. oh you have a new exam in three days guess you should go back to work (nono not denial, work !)

Tip : don't drink much between the moment you wake up and 8 because then you'll want to go to the toilet during the exam. Bad idea I suggest drinking during the exam and running to the toilet as soon as you've signed the paper

Self-defense !

Hello Charlie !

On Sunday I went to a self-defense course at the Planning Familial on Boulevard National. It was for 14 to 16-years-old girls (I'm sorry guys, I think that's not fair and boys would have really benefited from it too...), led by two women, and it was great.

What we did was alternate sessions where we were talking, listening to stories and giving ideas of what to do in certain situations, and sessions where we were learning gestures and attitudes to either defend ourselves or to be able to run away.

It was very well explained, the moves were simple and when practicing on each other (not the parts where it involved hitting to be able to run away, but for example a part where one is holding the other's wrist and the other has to get out of her grip) we realised that they barely require any physical force and that it is basically impossible to keep holding, so they are VERY useful. I'd like to explain them but words are clearly not enough.

We also learnt to use our voice in a very firm and deep tone to impose ourselves and intimidate a potential agressor, and all the easy targets of the body, and what they can lead to.

 

We really looked at a very wide array of possibilities, going from one unarmed person to a group who is putting you in danger, facing bullying or problems in families or relationships.

I absolutely loved it and I recommend it 100% to everyone, because it really brings a lot of confidence and undoes certain clichés (no, there aren't more chances of being assaulted during the night than during the day, no, it doesn't matter on the way you are dressed).

The link of the association : 

http://www.leplanning13.org/Stage-d-autodefense-pour-femmes,438.html (they haven't planned their next season yet).

Stay safe ! (and if you're curious, I'd be glad to show you certain things if you ask me)

Judith