Lifestyle – isabel notes

My Vienna, Austria Travel Diary

Here it is! The third installment of my Europe Travel Diary 2015! (I know, it took me that long to upload this haha!)

This footage was taken when my family and I visited my aunt and uncle in Vienna, Austria in November. My mom helped me film this, so you’ll see me a lot more in the footage. Hope you enjoy!

Filmed with the iPhone 5c and iPhone 6.

The links to the other two Europe travel diaries are at the end of the video.

London Travel Diary 2015

I’ve always wanted to go to England. I’m kind of obsessed with all things British. So I was so excited to finally get to visit in November! My family and I spent 4 days in London, (including a trip to the Harry Potter studios!!!) and it was everything I hoped it would be. Here’s a little snippet of my time there. Videos on our trip to Paris and Vienna are coming soon!

Top 5 Studying Tips and Tricks

I’ve been homeschooled most of my life. And I love it. It’s taught me a lot about having a solid work ethic when it comes to school.

I am now a senior in high school, but I’m taking dual credit classes at my community college. I was really nervous about it at first, but surprisingly the jump from homeschool to college wasn’t so bad. Plus, I got a system down.

Here are my top 5 tips on studying.

Cell Control

Let’s just – as a generation – face the truth. Phones are distracting. Unless you have super-ultra-crazy self-control powers, one little “ding” or “bleep” (or in my case, “medieval horn noise”) and all of a sudden you’re out of your studying zone and into the consuming world of technology. There’s always a new app to look at, a new social media platform to check. So will we ever get things done?

The best way to stop yourself from using your phone is by using your phone. Hear me out on this.

There’s this app called “Forest”. Really modern and simple, which I love. You “plant a tree”, and it sets a 25 minute timer. During that time span, you can’t leave the app or your tree will die. You can also set it to more than 25 minutes by planting multiple trees, and soon you’ll have a “forest”. It’s a great way to stop myself from doing anything on my phone for a while so I can concentrate on whatever it is I’m doing. There are also a lot of other apps similar to this one, but this is my favorite.

2. Mynoise.net

I know a lot of us love to study with music in the background. It’s just more fun that way. But sadly, science says it’s not the best way to study. It’s distracting. You can’t retain as much information while listening to music.

But with no music, my mind tends to wander off. So what do I do? There’s this website called mynoise.net, and it is a life-saver. It contains a whole bunch of different background sounds that are great substitutes for regular music.

The noises are stimulating but not too distracting. There’s so many fun ones to choose from. You can hear the sound of rain, the ocean, a waterfall, even things like a cat purring or a cafe restaurant. You can even adjust each sound to your preference. It’s just awesome. Click on the picture above for the link!

3. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat

Repetition is probably the best way to study. Writing out something over and over again is a good way to remember things. Also, recording yourself reading your notes aloud and listening to them over and over does wonders. I just use my voice memos app.

4. Make Your Notes Good

You probably know, I’m an artist. I like things that look nice. I like to try and make my notes look decent. In a way, it kind of motivates me to look at my notes. Is that weird? Oh well.

Anyway, I like to write my notes like I’m writing a textbook. I write as if I have a friend who is taking a test and all he has to study with is my notebook. I also go crazy with sticky notes and color code my highlighting 😉

Things you can do in your notes that help:

highlight
underline
doodle and illustrate
make mind maps
make lists!

5. Plan and Strategize

I. Love. My. Student. Planner. I think it’s just so important to stay organized. To stay on top of deadlines and everything.

I am really forgetful, so writing down all my deadlines and things I need to read is super important. That way every time I have time to study, I know exactly what I need to do for each subject.

Oh, and here’s a picture of my backpack. I like to think it’s secretly cow-printed.

That’s all for now, folks! Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment or share… you know….

Random Questions to Ask Your Friends

Watch out, awkward silences.

P.S. I made these up all by myself 😉 you’re welcome

If you had to be renamed based on what you ate for breakfast, what would be your new name?
What’s the first thing that pops into your head when I say “don’t do it!”?
What restaurant have you probably eaten the most at?
What’s a unique skill you have that you wish you could get paid for?
What’s your spirit animal when you’re angry?
Which celebrity do you want to be friends with?
What TV or movie family you think you’d fit in with?
Would you rather fight off 3 toddler-sized adults or one adult-sized toddler?
What’s your fictional dream job? (super spy, superhero, mermaid…)
Would you rather have to act like you just won the lottery every time you saw a vending machine or cry a single tear every time you forget someone’s name?
What time period would you most like to live in and what one thing would you want to bring with you from the present?
If you had to be roommates with a movie villain, who would it be?
If you had to take a bath in a breakfast food, which one would you choose?
If you had to be renamed after a name of a restaurant, which restaurant would you pick?
What song describes your relationship with food?
Would you rather be a bird that can swim or a fish that can fly?
Which do you think is the most unnecessary letter in the alphabet?
If you had to trade places with one of your friend’s parents, who would that be?
If you had to dress like one movie or TV character the rest of your life, who would that be?
Which pop star would make the best math tutor and why?
What’s the nicest house you’ve ever been in?
Would you rather have an ugly car, an ugly house, or ugly clothes?
What board game do you wish you could earn money with?
What’s the nerdiest thing you’ve ever done?
What’s the smartest thing you’ve ever done?
What cartoon character describes you when you’re tired?
Weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten that you actually liked?
Which historical figure would you like to have as a sibling?
You’re stuck in the last book you read. What are you doing?
If you could master 3 skills right now, what would they be?
What commercial would you love to be in?
If you had an exercise routine based on the last book you read, how fit would you be?
During a zombie apocalypse, would you rather go to an office supply store or a craft supply store?
If you had to/got to relive a day from last week, which one would you choose?
If you got to scroll through your Instagram feed from 1 year into the future, would you do it?
What book would you love to live in?
If you had to switch lives with one of your grandparents, which one would that be?
Who do you wish could sing you to sleep every night?
What store/restaurant would you rather be the manager of?
You have to spend the next 24 hours on one app. Which one?
If you had to change languages right now, which one would you pick?
What first comes to mind when I say “favorite”?
If you had a superpower based on the last restaurant you ate at, what power would that be?
If you got to talk to your childhood self but only got to share advice using song lyrics, what would you say?
What would your autobiography called?
What movie genre would your life be and what would it be called?
If you had to perform a commercial jingle in front of a live audience, which one would you choose?
What would you choose as the theme song for a sitcom based on your year?

That’s all for now, folks! Let me know if you’d like more, there’s a lot where that came from! Thanks for reading!

Adventures in Alaska- Part 2

The day we got to the camp, the Hope Youth Corps leader told us that we had 5 days until we had to actually run a church camp. There were 30 kids from 2nd to 10th grade coming to stay with us for 3 days, and we were totally in charge. (Obviously, there was adult supervision, don’t worry, but we called the shots.) 22 teenagers were supposed to be the counselors, lead lessons and activities, feed the kids, and we had to plan all of this on our own while doing the 8-hour-a-day blue-collar labor. This was our big second task. Kids.

We thought it was impossible. At least, I did. I was shocked that they were giving all these responsibilities to us. We had just gotten to know each other, now we were expected to run a camp? We were just teenagers!

But we had no choice. We had to pull off this camp for the kids. We each thought of our experiences with church camp and wanted to give someone else that great experience. I was so surprised at what we were capable of. I think the world has such low expectations of teenagers sometimes, and things like this reminded me of how much of an impact we can make with God and each other.

We had a blast those three days. It was great. It felt like one big play date. We got to know each kid and spend time with them, play with them, teach them, talk to them. It felt like a big family at the end of it.

Yes, there were smores. What else would we do in the woods in Alaska?

On one of the weekends when we drove down to Anchorage, we got to climb Flat Top. Being from mountain-less Texas, I had never climbed a mountain before. (The picture above was taken probably when we were a third of the way up. ) I’m not going to lie, it was super hard. But I’m glad I did it. I’ll spare you a cheesy mountain analogy.

What’s a mountain adventure without a motivational speech? This is my friend, Nathan, giving the best mountain speech I’ve ever heard. Yes, he was very intense.