Going into the summer of 2020 I had no idea what to expect, but I did know that all of the summer plans that I had made were no longer going to happen. I had originally planned to go to London with the Viterbi Summer Overseas program, but unfortunately the trip was canceled due to covid. (PS if you are interested in going abroad during your engineering experience at USC you should look into the Viterbi Overseas program! It’s a seven week experience where you get to take two engineering classes at a rotating European location) Since I had already expected to do classes over the summer I ultimately decided to take online classes through USC instead of trying to find a summer internship. I am very thankful that I had the opportunity to take these two classes during the summer. It ended up working out that they were both six week courses that luckily didn’t overlap. Even though it took more time out of my summer, I preferred only having one class at a time because it helped me become more comfortable with the online format. I was able to figure out how to best make online schooling work for me without having to balance five classes like I’m currently doing this semester. I was also able to pick up new study techniques (like the pomodoro method) which I am continuing into this school year. Because I was taking my classes in the same space I was doing my outside of class work, I felt my productivity severely decrease. Implementing the short work periods with small breaks in between really helped me stay on top of my work throughout the summer. In addition to taking these two classes, I also re-found my love for reading, my appreciation for outdoor spaces, and cooking. These became the activities that I filled all my free time with. With everything being moved online I found it so important to find things off of a screen to help maintain my motivation to do my school work. With school continuing online this fall it will also be important to continue this!
