peer interaction – Page 2

[206-220; 224-237] For the rest of my classes, I have Mechanical Engineering Dynamics. My professor is very understanding and passionate about how he teaches. I really like the way he teaches. The very first day, I introduced myself to him, because I want to make that a habit. I told him about my mental health. He listened and simply stated, “I hope you feel comfortable in this class.” Not only that, but whenever somebody asks a question, he answers it thoroughly. This professor goes in depth and tries to answer everything concisely, so I’m not afraid to ask a question in class. He usually writes on the board. He has his own website where he posts certain things and programs some simulations for us to use. That’s really fun. Just being able to see some of these concepts. He has so much energy in every class that its contagious and makes me interested because he’s doing it in such an interesting way. Every time I go into the class, I feel engaged. I don’t feel like I’m just writing down stuff to write down. When I have a homework assignment from him, I can get through it and learning something really important for me. The other two classes I have are mostly math-based. I have Engineering Economics, which is interesting with a lot of math. I have Differential Equations. It’s my second favorite just because I have a good study group. I’m excited to work through those problems, just because I have a group that I can share it with. I feel like I understand Diff Eqau more than Econ at this point, even though I felt like at the beginning of this semester it was going to be the opposite.

[241-251] There’s this one person who I’ve been studying with since my freshman year. We’re more than just study partners. We’re really good friends. Spending time with them is fun. It’s also easy to study with them because I know them. Getting a study group together is hard because it’s about establishing a time and place, scheduling, and all the logistical stuff. I also have my girlfriend in the class, so I can study with the both of them and overall it’s during that time it’s fun and it feels easier to me to express my ideas.

[250-258]And more often than not, the thing that relieves my stress the most is just getting something done. Such an insane concept, just finishing something. I think for me, procrastinating is a double-edged sword. It provides temporary relief, not long time, and I still need to get over that.

With the health insurance and the physical therapy, that I’m still kind of salty about, but I can’t really do much right now until the stay-at-home order ends. Then dealing with all the COVID business, still dealing with it. I’m on campus, which I think is healthier for me versus staying at home. I still get free food, even though I’m out of a job the University is still paying me, so I feel like I’ll be fine. It’s just the schoolwork that’s really going to suffer. Procrastinating was a problem before and it’s been a bigger problem now.

[274-279] I do have a therapist on campus and they’re currently trying to get a teletherapy thing started. There were a few places on campus where I knew that my friends would be because they worked there, so I would go there often. The arena itself, the E-Sports computer lab, I use that place a lot for general relaxation and sometimes studying. It’s just now that I’m cooped up in the dorms it’s just like I have to rework my mind and make sure I don’t fall asleep in the same place where I do my homework.

[301-303] I don’t have many interactions with my peers in engineering. I wish I had more because I’m a little shy and intimidated by my peers. I’m not sure if there is a reason, I know personally I can talk to girls a lot easier than guys, I’m not sure why, I just can. Because there’s not that many girls in Engineering, it’s just harder for me to approach people.

[307-310] My intimidation may be due to an inferiority complex-type thing where I’m constantly comparing myself to other people. It’s just like, I know I don’t need to do that, but it just happens. Then what else? Yeah, some part of it is like I don’t want to sound stupid. It’s just a lot of little insecurities that you add up and then I just don’t have the ability to talk to somebody who very well could help me.

[328-333] Overall, I think I’m making some good steps, good progress. It’s hard to say that I’ll be done next year, I think I’ll have at least another year, which I am completely fine with. I’m taking advances to improve me, my mental health, my physical health. I’m taking steps to improve me, rather than continue on my degree as fast as I could. I could have taken two more engineering classes if I really wanted to, but I decided to work on myself. Hopefully, by the end of my next two years I’m at least a healthy person, if I’m not an engineer. I’d rather make sure I’m okay.

[342-347] In addition to ensuring that I’m okay, over the summer, if all of this COVID stuff goes by, I hope to be a camp counselor or a camp instructor. The instructor pays more, so I hope to be that more often than not. That job opened a lot of doors for me, so I want to continue on with that one. Then getting out of college, I hope to do something similar to the company I visited last year where it has a lot of those opportunities to be in the engineering design process.