how-to-get-away-with-study

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Early Summer in Milan, Italy 🌸

pressed some oleander flowers, not much effort in the weekly aestethic but let's try and make it look cute anyway 💞

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twoo weeks summary 🌸 and, obviously, spring!

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It finally feels like summer.

Featured: my own strawberries, basil and parsley, excessive amounts of coffee and a cutiepie

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Cute café for studying and buying books 📚

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congrats on grad school ! i’m almost in my last year; here’s my advice if you’re still in the market:

1. you need to sleep. sleep is sacred. sleep is what allows all learning. never let ANYONE convince you that an all-nighter is reasonable or acceptable. protect your sleep schedule at all costs.

2. decide what you want from grad school before you get there. do you want a broader network for job opportunities ? do you want time to specialize your field of knowledge ? do you want to try out lots of jobs in the academic sphere ? do you want to publish a ton? knowing what you want BEFORE you get there (or even having an idea) will make your time feel more worthwhile and will allow you to prioritize. speaking of which:

3. you (almost certainly) won’t get to everything. when you look at your to-do, it’s worth asking yourself: what will make today better? tomorrow easier? next week smoother? commit to those three actions. once those are complete, pick another three. you can also prioritize by what you came to grad school for! if teaching doesn’t matter a ton to you, don’t feel the need to spend seven hrs lesson planning. so on and so forth.

best of luck in grad school !!

This is such thoughtful advice — thank you for sharing it! 🙏 That’s something I’ve been learning too — it’s easy to get caught up in everything and feel like you need to do it all.

And yes, sleep is sacred! (Damn I love sleeping) I've made the mistake of sacrificing it before and learned the hard way that burnout doesn't help anyone.

Thanks again for putting this out there — it’s comforting to read, especially at the start of this journey. I hope it helps others that will read it 💛

Have a lovely day!

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I just found your blog and it's so lovely and wholesome 💞

I just got accepted into higher education program to do my MA. I'm so excited and nervous at once. What do you advise me? How should I start? What is the effective way to study since I have a job too.

Thank you so much for your kind words 💕 And huge congratulations on getting accepted into your MA program! That’s such an amazing step — and it’s totally okay to feel a mix of excitement and nerves. (I’m currently in the same position, so I really understand how you feel!)

Balancing work and study can definitely be challenging, but it's absolutely doable. For me, the key has been setting a realistic schedule, reminding myself that it’s okay to make mistakes, to take breaks, to sleep, and even to step back when I need to. Being gentle with yourself is part of the process.

My biggest piece of advice is: Plan your week in advance. Use a planner or calendar to block out time for work, study, and rest. Be honest with yourself about how much time you can realistically commit — even just 1–2 focused hours a day can make a huge difference.

But here’s something that really helped me: don’t plan every little task or minute of your day. That level of micromanaging can become stressful and damaging to your mental health. Instead, use your planner to track priorities, not to control every single hour. Focus on the key pillars of your day — work, study, rest — and allow space for flexibility and how you’re actually feeling.

Micromanaging might make you feel in control of everything at the moment, but in the long run it's just preparing you for a burnout. And nobody works well with a burnout!

When you’re feeling overwhelmed and don’t know where to start (which happened to me all the time!), try using a priority system like a “must-do, should-do, nice-to-do” list. It helps you see what’s urgent and gives your brain a place to start.

Flashcards are a great tool too. I used apps like Anki — even just reviewing a few cards on my phone while at the bar or even during breaks or dull moments at work really helped - small dosing what you need to study it's great (the app it's completely free and you can add pictures and audios as well)

If you already have the reading list, feel free to start exploring the materials in advance. But don’t stress — I’m personally reading a book on academic writing since I’m coming from a different academic background and want to brush up on essay structure which I know nothing of. But if you’re already familiar with the basics, even a quick recap is enough.

(The book is: "they say / I say" by Gerard Graff).

Any other suggestion might sound obvious to me but I will list some: pomodoro timer (the Forest app), counting pages till the day of the exams and having a fixed amount of pages to review everyday, talk to students in your course and meet them to review the topics when there's time. Remind yourself why you're there and why you're doing it (also to choose what is best to put your energy and focus on - for example, if you don't want to be a teacher do not put too much effort into TAing etc.)

Lastly — and maybe most importantly — be kind to yourself. You’re entering a new phase, and there’s no perfect way to navigate it.

Progress is progress, no matter how small. You've got this, and I’m cheering for you every step of the way! 🌟

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woke up a bit too early this morning, trying not to waste it 🔆

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2/12 months of reading - February

Posting this a bit later than planned, but here are my February reads! With a shorter month, I opted for shorter books—my mind was filled with thoughts while anxiously awaiting (hopefully good) news from grad school. I choose lighter, nostalgic reads: Winnie the Pooh was the best for this. Wishing everyone a book that brings them the same sense of comfort and peace!

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I want to study everything.

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Hello! Your blog is so lovely !! I'm thinking of joining grad school myself but I was wondering if it's okay to do so in my late twenties 😭 your bio says your born in 96 so i thought I might get some tips since we're almost the same age! Is it pretty common for late twenties to join grad school where you are ? I want to join so badly but I keep thinking stuff like this. Thanks in advance for answering, have a great day 😊☺️

Hello to you! 💖

Thank you so much for your kind words about my blog—that's super sweet! 😭

Absolutely! It’s completely okay to start grad school in your late twenties. In fact, it’s more common than you might think. I was in the exact same position mentally—feeling like I had wasted too much time and was "too old" to go back (for reference, I’m 29 now). But the truth is, most universities understand that after earning a bachelor’s degree, many people take time to work, save money, explore different paths, or figure out what they truly want before committing to grad school.

We are all humans after all and life takes the time it takes 💖💖 (maybe you needed a year off to recover mentally, maybe you had problems within your family, lack of financial resources, health issues etc. - these things are part of life and it's okay to take our time for them, there is not a due time for anything).

In my program (and many others), there’s a mix of ages, and honestly, having life and work experience can be a huge advantage. When I had my grad school interview, my age was never even mentioned—they didn’t care about it at all. Instead, they were more interested in my experience (both academic and professional) and whether I had a clear idea of what I wanted to research. I shared some research ideas, and even though they weren’t fully developed or groundbreaking, they still appreciated that I was already thinking about research as my primary focus rather than just coursework.

So don’t worry—you’re not behind at all! If grad school is something you truly want, go for it. Your experiences will only enrich your journey, not hinder it. You’re definitely not alone in this, wishing you the best of luck with your decision—I'm cheering you on!

Hope you have a wonderful day too! 😊✨

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A work trip Is still a trip, right? 🥺🩷

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Got finally accepted into my chosen Grad School and I'm so excited to start! 🥳

What are your tips or things you wish you knew before starting grad school? 📖

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Doing art today 🎨

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Coffee brought to you in bed is something else ☕

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1/12 months of reading - January

This year I want it to be a year of books. I finished my bachelor's degree and for a while I want to read books not school related, that were not someone else's choice for me. So I immediately accepted it to make my new year's resolution to read more. These are the three books I finished in January (the Brothers Karamazov was started months ago, I wish I was that fast at reading 💘).

But my favourite of the month was Mary Oliver's Felicity. Highly recommend! ❤️‍🩹

Let's see what February has for us!

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you know sunlight in the kitchen?

during a long winter, while you make your first coffee on Saturday morning, all still calm and silent, sunlight filters through the trees outside your window and your bad thoughts haven't approached yet?

yeah that kind of brief peace of mind, you know that right?

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The beauty of Winter 🌞