work hard. dream big.

eloise // 16 // y12 VCE // au // links in menu // i track #eloyselook // studygram: @2amstudy

[2am-study]

7 things I learned in high school

hi everyone! it’s eloise, and i just finished high school. it’s been a profoundly difficult journey, but there were definitely a few things that I picked up along the way. and who knows, maybe they’ll help you? so this is how i graduated with an ATAR in the top 2% of the state, an intact social life, and my sanity. 

Don’t underestimate yourself! In Year 11, I had extraordinarily poor time management. In fact, I recall that we had an English essay that was split into two periods. In the first period, I read the book, and wrote the actual essay in the second. In Year 12, English was my top subject and I had an average of 95%. So what I’m saying is, things can change, and you can change. Work around your obstacles and target your problem areas so you can improve on them. 

Finish things once you get them. The worst thing is when things pile up and you end up not doing anything. When that happens, don’t just leave all of it and decide it’s a lost cause- try and do just one thing at the very least. But if you want to avoid this, do your work once you get it. It really helps. 

Don’t burn out. I got very tired towards the middle of the year. I’m not a morning person, so I found school very tough when I went to bed at 3 and had to wake up at 7. What I would suggest is pacing yourself and using pockets of spare time to finish up your work. Find a way to finish everything while still getting enough sleep. Turn off your phone once it hits 1AM. Trust me.

Everyone’s different. I know a guy who scheduled his entire exam study period into blocks, with allocated breaks and subject study times. On the other hand, I took a rather simple approach to my study: just finish it. So I would work on a subject for a few days, get tired, switch to another one, do a few papers in between, etc. And I ended up scoring higher. So if your approach works for you, it works for you. Don’t worry about what other people are doing, even if it seems like they’re right- you do you. 

If you can’t change it, don’t worry. That SAC score, that exam, that test? It’s over. Don’t worry about your mark, focus on your next one and excelling in that. 

Have fun. This is the last year you’ll spend with all your friends together. Rely on them for support, for banter, for comfort- enjoy yourself. Working yourself to the bone and cutting yourself off from everyone won’t do you any good. Give yourself time to relax. 

Don’t allow anyone to put you down. And that includes yourself. Don’t let people tell you what you can and can’t do. Don’t let people scare you. Don’t let anything scare you. Chase what you want and follow your dreams and believe in yourself because at the end of the day if you’re going to think about something, why don’t you just do something about it? 

Good luck with your high school journey! My apologies if this post is slightly incoherent, I’m severely jet lagged but I hope this helps a few of you in some way. If you’ve got questions, I’m more than happy to help! Bonne chance!

[gravelyhumerus]

reblog this 4.0 gpa for good luck on all of your finals

[2am-study]

CALLING ALL FRENCH STUDYBLRS!!

Hi everyone!! My name is Eloise and I'm studying Year 12 French. Myself and a friend are looking for native French speakers or others studying French to chat to and improve our French!! If you'd be interested, drop me a message :D thanks for reading!! ❤❤

[matissie]

espresso days ig: fleurilie

[studyinginstyle]

My bullet journal spread from last week :) I’ve been really loving baby pink for January 💕

[matissie]

espresso days ig: fleurilie

[post--grad]

👩🏻‍💻

[mymymylovelife]

today’s setup

[jiyeonstudies]

4.24.17 - 22/100

just found out two extra topics that we haven’t covered in lecture yet are on the midterm LOL

[teacomets]

APRIL 16TH 2016 • finished an essay!!!! All thanks to the ‘Forest’ app! Hehe I have a lovely tree garden because of my productivity & I feel really motivated to complete the last remaining essay way before the end of semester 💭✍🏼

[teenytinymoss]

March begins and is rainy! Ig: cafeblossoms

[studyguideverified]

46/100 days of productivity + SUN 10.2.16 // 2:43pm

theme of the week: human anatomy. october sciences  (¼);;;; this week was insANE and really really long but im so grateful that it’s the weekend and really thankful for the people (&&& my quiet times) that helped pull me through +++ anatomy is such a beautifullll subject,,, our physical bodies are essentially just bones and muscle and cartilage and blood and it’s amazing how they function so perfectly togetherrr amirite??

[tbhstudying]

i recently got some whitelines notebooks + i fiddled around with the whitelines app to scan some of the stuff i wrote :’) it doesn’t work too well with super light colors but the rest of it got transferred!

// also posted on my studygram

[roachpatrol]

i should make a low-effort cookbook

like you get those ‘i hate to cook! 101: easy meals for the kitchen novice!’ and it still wants you to make a three-cheese spinach casserole

mine would be like

did you know you can put chocolate chips on a spoonful of peanut butter and obtain the perfect snack

did you know if you crack some eggs into your pasta sauce and stir there’s more protein in it so you can go longer without having to make another goddamn meal

did you know you can mix a cup of cooked rice to any condensed soup instead of water and now you have dinner and breakfast

also put cheese on it

put cheese on fucking everything

and finally here’s a list of things you can microwave in a short enough time that you won’t walk out of the kitchen, go back to bed, fall asleep for four hours, and totally forget you attempted a lunch

[isozyme]

frozen pizza is expensive but!  biscuits in a can + last dregs of jar of tomato sauce + some shredded mozzarella cheese = EIGHT MINIPIZZAS

dump all your chinese delivery into a hot pan and crack two eggs into it, stir, now it is soft and good

if you add a kraft single to mac and cheese from the box it’s magically more delicious (and if you also add hot sauce then it’s spicy)

nachos: chips + shredded cheese + salsa + rummage in fridge in case there’s other things?  and then under the broiler for a minute or two.  if it’s hot it counts as a meal!  works good on stale chips.

an incomplete list of vegetables that won’t instantly rot on you: anything frozen, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes (they get wrinkly but u can still eat them), carrots, onions…i throw away a lot of veggies that have gone soft :(

i love parchment paper.  $4 for a roll but lay it down on ur baking sheet and know you’ll never have to scrub cheese or cookie crumbs off it again.  perfect for cooking with low spoons.  nothing sticks to it!

[mhyinblogs]

THIS IS SO IMPORTANT

[ursavorpalis]

also: mug cakes also also: if you cook rice you might as well dump some canned tomatos and canned beans in it. TADA NUTRITIONALLY COMPLETE MEALS in the list of foods that last: apples. apples can last an entire fucking winter. also also also: cottage cheese + bell peppers + crackers = what I ate for dinner for like a year

[leahazel]

1. You cook the rice in a pot. No spices, no nothing, just water oil and rice. 

2. Just before it’s ready, when there’s about a pinkie fingernail’s worth of water on the top, add in a tablespoon of peanut butter. 

3. Stir. Cook the rest of the way. 

4. It’s a meal! It has carbs and protein, it’s filling, it tastes good and it looks and feels like a legitimate dish, which is great for lifting the spirits a bit. 

5. If you feel fancy, add a teaspoon of honey or a handful of crushed peanuts. 

[hagar-972]

Alt., mix the rice with lentils. Cereal (rice, wheat) + legume (lentils, beans) = complete protein. Most people’s bodies will accept that in lieu of animal products.

Since no-one explained how to cook rice: (1) put bit of oil in pot, heat up on medium flame, (2) add 1-1.5 cup rice, mix up and add a bit of salt (you may need to reduce flame), (3) while you’re doing that, boil water in an electric pot, (4) add 2 cup water for each 1 cup rice; reduce flame a few seconds before you do that and mind the steam won’t hit you, (5) cover and set a 20min timer.

Pasta: (1) boil water, lots of water (covered pot goes fast; you can also use an electric pot for a shortcut and bring to a full boil on the stove - experiment), (2) up to 100 gr pasta per 1L water will work, but the more water per pasta the better, (3) reduce flame to medium (light bubbling), add pasta, set time to 10min, (4) check and add time as necessary - you may not need to.

Egg or bean noodled cook faster than pasta - like, half the time.

Easiest pasta sauce: 20-50gr of butter, melt; 1-2tbs lemon juice, homogenize; dump in pasta (and possibly peas, boiled from frozen). Taken 5min or under and will liven up pasta that’s been sitting in the fridge.

Easiest cream sauce: 1 standard (250ml) cream carton, 1 tsp shredded cheese (keeps well in freezer) or more, 1 tbs cottage cheese, spices to taste. Heat in a small pot on a small-to-medium flame while stirring constantly (if it’s too hot to stick a finger in, it’s too hot). Takes maybe 5-10min. Will keep in fridge up to 1 week.

Rice freezes well. Pasta doesn’t. Plain pasta (and most noodles) will last for up to a month in the fridge, though, and just dump it in the pan with some ketchup/tomato paste(+oil + water) and you’re good.

…nobody said that dry onion lasts? Dry onion lasts. Fried onion freezes well and keeps forever. So does diced garlic. If you like ‘em but worried about them going bad/don’t always have the time or spoons to deal with ‘em, there you go.

Fresh bread freezes well. Keep emergency bread in your freezer, sliced. It’ll thaw in the fridge/on the counter overnight, or you can stick a slice as-is in the toaster (just turn it up 1 notch relative to your usual preference).

Potatoes in their peel are the single most nutritious food. (You can, actually, survive on mashed potatoes.) A boiled potato will stay good in the fridge for a couple days. Boil partway (should still somewhat resist a fork), turn over/toaster oven on 150C (350F) or higher while you do the rest, slice potato(s), spread like deck of cards, brush oil over (with the sort of silicone brush one uses for eggs - costs next to nothing and you’ll be glad you got it), bit of salt, stick into oven and come back 20-40min later. Will re-heat well.

All of the following are good in eggs, just (1) dump them in the pan before the eggs, (2) the more you fluff up the eggs the betters: cubed semi-boiled potatoes, sliced/cubed tomatoes, tinned garbanzo beans (<-legume), tinned/frozen corn. Tinned and frozen stuff lasts forever. A pre-boiled potato and a couple eggs will save your ass on a cold, miserable morning.

3 shortbread cookies + 2 glasses of milk = 500kcal balanced dinner. Or breakfast.

1 cup cooked pasta + couple fluffed up eggs + shredded cheese (from frozen) to taste, in a stove-top pan or in the oven for ~20min = full meal.

Black lentils, cooked, will last nicely in the fridge - and unlike other legumes, they don’t need a pre-soak and only take 20min to cook. ½ bowl + 3 tbs oil + 2 tsp lemon juice + ¼ onion = dinner so nutritious you won’t believe it.

Cottage cheese and honey. No really. You only need a couple tsp honey for 250gr cottage tub.

1tbs peanut butter (flat as you can make it) + 3 tbs soy + 2 tbs maple/honey + 1 tsp vinegar = marinade for ~500gr of whatever. Takes ~5min to mix, 20min-2hr to soak, 5-10min to fry (non-stick pan and you don’t need oil). This + pot of rice (<-make while chicken/meat soaks) = lunch for a week. (Or dinner, if dinner’s your main meal.)

A tin of mayonnaise will last for months in the fridge. Hardboiled eggs last a nice while, too. 3 hardboiled eggs, chopped + 1tbs mayo + 1/3 onion chopped = 5min of work and egg salad for a few highly nutritious meals.

Ever make yourself hot chocolate? Make it with milk instead of water, for fuck’s sake. A large cup of hot chocolate is a legit small meal.

[m-winnike]

Buy broccoli and green beans frozen. For a couple dollars you can get a big enough bag of either to get at least 8-10 servings out of it and it keep for at least 6 months if you keep the bag closed. Buy a jar of chopped garlic in olive oil as well. That’ll keep in your fridge for months and adding a little bit to a handful of broccoli or green beans and sauteing(lightly browning them in a pan or pot on the stove) them together until everything is warm is a cheap, easy way to have a flavorful snack or meal. 

Also, ramen, drop an egg and a handful of some kind of frozen veggie(the previously mentioned ones or even some mixed carrots and peas) it adds a lot of nutritional value to your ramen, makes it so much more filling, and makes it have way better flavor than plain ramen. 

Buy a jar of Better than Bouillon. Amazon has them for as cheep as $2.99 a jar and one jar has enough in it to make a couple gallons of broth. Just one teaspoon of this stuff added to 1 cup of water will give you a deliciously broth for soup. Pick your flavor and drop whatever veggies or noodles you’ve got leftover in the fridge and you’ve got dinner. It’s also great to add to the water you’re cooking your rice in to give it some flavor as well. 

Don’t buy boxed Kraft mac and cheese. It may seem like an easy approach but there is a cheaper approach. A 3 lb bag of macaroni noodles is only a couple dollars and you can get a 1 lb bag of the powdered cheese just like in Kraft for $10 on Amazon. I bought a bag of cheese powder that size and it lasted me more than a year and I made mac and cheese once a week. You can also mix it with milk and broccoli and you’ve got a great dinner of broccoli cheese soup. 

My biggest tip for saving money on food is to make things that will freeze well. Say you make a pot of spaghetti. You could get 5 or 6 servings out of a full pot easily, if not more, but you’ll get tired of spaghetti before it’s gone. Stick servings in plastic baggies(which are fine to rinse and reuse!) and freeze them! Then you’ll be able to take out just the amount to eat for a meal and have some back up meals for when you’re loaded down with work, homework, etc and have no time to make a meal. 

[lovelylovelyartist]

ALL OF THIS

[quonunc]

fried rice:   cook a ton of rice, get some frozen veggies, whatever you like.  Fry the veggies in olive oil for a couple minutes, add the rice.  whisk two eggs and about a tablespoon of soy sauce.  Add in.  Cook until no longer wet. 

Tada - comfort food, you can freeze it, it tastes good, complete meal.

Also rice and pasta sauce is surprisingly good.

[idolsidle]

Sweet potato –> rinse –> stab all over with a fork –> cook in microwave for 8-10 minutes, turning once –> BAM baked sweet potato, top with cream cheese, yogurt, or any kind of cheese you damn well want go crazy and get that protein

Rice + sunny side up egg –> drop egg on top of warm rice, roughly chop at it with your fork until the yolk starts to run and it’s all in pieces –> mix thoroughly –> that’s arroz a la cubana baby and it’s filling and delicious, add hot sauce for flavour points

Frozen fruit –> eat frozen blueberries plain –> it’s a little harsh on sensitive teeth, but they warm up fast –> frozen fruit is just as good for you as fresh and it’s an incredibly refreshing snack/dessert

Get steel cut oat/plain quick oats/oatmeal of whatever kind you want –> cook a LOT of it to a reasonably thick texture –> serve out one portion and keep the rest in the fridge –> it will stay good a fairly long time and all it needs is a quick nuke session and some cinnamon, maybe apples

Frozen peas are the best –> they go with a surprising amount of things –> italian dishes, asian dishes, aforementioned arroz a la cubana –> they cheap as hell –> they are legumes that are more vegetable-y than your average beans so go get those greens

In terms of flavouring –> miso paste –> it can be expensive but a little goes a loooooong way and it will never go bad as long as you keep it in the fridge since it’s already fermented –> use it in marinades, soups, salad dressings

Make pieces of meals and piece them together as needed –> e.g. marinate some tofu, fry/bake it up and have it ready in the fridge –> maybe the next day you make some stir-fried kale or chard or whatever green is cheap as heck that week –> next day you have to run somewhere but you need lunch –> grab some of that tofu, grab some kale, a granola bar, water –> it’ll do

Baby carrots –> I don’t really buy the big carrots anymore because I’m lazy as heck about peeling –> if I want diced carrots in something I just chop these up –> and they’re also always ready for snacking –> alternatively you can get a big bunch of carrots and make them all snack-size all in one go and then do what I do e.g. cutting them up smaller for dishes when you need it –> this may be cheaper but I’m not actually sure

Compare prices per 100g or kg –> grocery stores should have this price listed in itty-bitty writing on every label below the advertised price –> generally, no surprise here, larger bulk items will cost less per 100g or Kg than the smaller ones and on the whole it saves you money if you plan to use it again in the future

Finally, never underestimate the goodness of an old-fashioned grilled cheese

[2am-study]

- crack an egg or 2 in ur instant noodles and stir it in so the broth is thicker - wraps last longer than bread - fry rice with chicken stock n frozen veggies and also things like shrimp

[studyplants]

MARCH 11

My math notes were inspired by the flowers on my desk! 

[athenus]

10.22.16 // i have a chemistry test on tuesday so…

[studystory]

Seriously not ready for my AP Bio exam tomorrow. Hoping for the best, but I just can’t cell it to myself (honestly ignore the pun)