New goals, new aspirations

To start off I should explain where I am. I am now a third year university student who does school, jobs and extra-curriculars. Most people tell me I do too much of everything, however it’s doing so much that makes me happy. I have been working hard to really make the most of life and accomplish as many goals during my short time on this earth. And to do that I have to stay organized, keep on track with everything and work harder than I have ever before. Since first starting this blog my list of goals has morphed and changed so much to reflect the person that I have become over the years.

As a third year university student many things have changed since I last wrote in this blog especially in terms of goals. And as the new year approach I figured I must refresh the list of goals I once had.  Thus, I shall start of the new blog post with a new list of goals, some of which are inspired by my old list of goals.

• Ski in 10 of the loppets around the world and complete the worldloppet: as of yet I have skied one of the ten loppets, but am hoping to ski another this coming year in France. It will be a 68 kilometre skate ski race through the countryside
• Bike through Scotland/England/Wales
• Grad School in Scandinavia: I have always wanted to return the place I was born. It would be so amazing to be able to complete my masters in a school where I admire the culture, lifestyle, history and more around it.
• Ski to the North Pole
• Hike the Camino de Santiago
• Complete research and publish work on the research
• Visit every continent
• Sew 50% of the new clothing that I wear as of 2016
• Care for the people around me: I know this sounds a bit ambiguous but it is important all the same that we care for each other. Looking out for those around you can truly help make this world a wonderful place
• Spend at least an hour each week creating things
• Travel to India
• Backpack for a month in a single place
• Beat the 2015 cross-country skiing race times
• Follow my Grandfather’s footsteps in WWII
• Bike across Canada
• Receive the Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
• Learn to speak Welsh
• Re-learn Norwegian 
• Make the most of living near the Rockies
• Read at least 100 different medal-winning books from all 6 continents
• MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!
• HAVE FUN!!

This is my current list of goals however it is highly likely to change within today, tomorrow or even the next hour depending how the future unfolds.

As of today, I shall be starting to write on this blog to talk about my successes and failures. Because failures are just as important as successes in life in that each one helps you strive for a better version of yourself.

Time to leave

Tomorrow morning at 8:00am I will be leaving to travel across the province for a training camp. Don’t worry I will make sure to bring along something to write in so that I may write my blog for the day. Unfortunately along with this wonderful trip I have a bunch of homework. They day after I get home I have a test in Chemistry and Histoire du Canada. As well, I have to practice both Math 3207/pre-calculus and physics. In order to reach for my goal of getting 90% average or higher I must practice a lot!

Tomorrow is going to be a boring day. I start the day by waking up at 6:30am, not a fun time! Then I must get ready and arrive at the meeting place at 8:00am. From there we are driving for 8 hours to get to the training camp. During this time I most likely be studying and learning physics, math and histoire. My guess is that I will spend around 6 out of 8 hours on histoire alone and the rest on the rest of the subjects. This means that I will be doing more work during this trip than during a full day at school… It will be so much fun!

Why am I spending so much time on Histoire du Canada? It’s simple, we have absolutely no notes. This means that I must learn everything by reading the book and making notes. By the end of this course I believe way more time will be spent making notes than actually doing stuff in class. This means that I better start making notes early or I am screwed for the final exam in June.

As for my other goals, that are not physical activity wise, I have been working on them as well. I have spent a bit of time playing the piano lately. A Whole New World isn’t an extremely hard song right now. I have only made it through the first line though. I am still reading the same book, which is weird for me. I usually finish a book in two or three days but not lately. I am going to bring it to Gros Morne so that I might read a bit more. Other than that I haven’t really gotten much farther on the other goals.

A Slow Day

Today has been one of those days when you don’t feel like doing much. Tonight I have completed all of nothing on my goals. I did write down a few more scholarships, did a little bit of core exercise, and looked more in-depth at the websites for Cambridge and Durham. Other than that I pretty much spent the whole day listening to music and chilling out in my house.It doesn’t sound bad, but once you have your day-to-day schedule planned out and full of activities it is.

There is one thing “bad” about the Shad Valley Program. After you leave and return to normal life, you see everything as being slow. For example during the first week of school when we were just starting off learning about the subjects, I felt as if we were doing nothing at all. As well some courses it has stayed like that such as francais and histoire. It feels weird to be wishing to have more work to do. Shad Valley has made want to take on so many tasks all at once, so that I may have something to do each and every single day.

Tomorrow is a busy day which is exciting and thrilling. This means I will have something more to write!

Chief Commissioner’s Gold Award

In Guiding, during your high school years, there is a an award available to you called The Chief Commissioner’s Gold Award. One of my goals during my journey of a lifetime is to complete this award. To complete it you need to finish18 challenges (I will DEFINITELY do more), one from each of the seven program areas, The Cookie Campaign Challenge and The Ranger Service Project. The hardest part of this project will be the Cookie Campaign since I am not a big fan of selling cookies in places such as Sears, etc.

Right at this moment I am working on this award. I have decided to work back to front, in the Ranger Program Booklet. (Just in case you don’t know, Rangers is a branch of Guiding for high school students in Canada) The first program area I am completing is called The Future. I decided to do this one first since it will give me a head start into getting into my choice university. The challenges I have chosen are Independent Living, Living in the Real World, Student Loans, and Canadian Ingenuity. Two of these are about expenses. They will help me to understand how much it will cost for my dream university. One I have already done and the fourth one will help me learn to live by myself.

Here is an overview of all four:

Independent Living – Being independent means being able to problem solve and do thing by yourself. Try things such as fixing a light bulb, patching a hole,  removing stains, unblocking a toilet, etc

Living in the Real World- Create a monthly budget appropriate for a young women who is going to University. Choose the location. Don’t forget about both the set-up charges and regular charges such as rent, utilities, etc

Canadian Ingenuity – Invent something to solve a problem in your life. Research ways to get your invention to market.

Student Loans – Research the options available. What is the difference between government and bank loans? How much do you need to borrow? How much do you feel comfortable borrowing?

Along with this I have a new goal in life. A day ago I got an e-mail from WordPress about something called National Novel Writing Month. From a very young age I have had an interest in writing books and just writing in general.  I have decided that I will partake in this challenge. To get me prepared for this I will be writing in this blog every single day starting from today.  Are any of you joining me?

As for all the other goals in life, I have started a new book called Blood Red Road by Moira Young. As well I have started learning A Whole New World on piano and I have been doing lots of exercise.