Chinese Dramas to watch!

I've been a fan of korean dramas since 2009 but lately, I tried watching Chinese Dramas. I saw a certain chinese drama entitled "The World Owes Me A First Love" as an advertisment. The clip was great and I watched it until I browsed on the net and look for other chinese dramas and here are the dramas I have watched and enjoyed so far: 

1. A Crazy Little thing Called First Love

This drama was actually an adaption of the Thai Movie Crazy Little Thing Called Love. So far, this is what gave me kilig the most! Hahahaha! It's super light! (Actually, Chinese drama is lighter than Korean drama. They're more simple with the plots and they're more true to life, like the scenes can actually happen on day to day lives.) Though it is an adaptation, It's more like, they made their own story and then got some excerpts from the Thai version. Only few scenes were adapted. The story is about Xiao Miaomiao, a Grade 11 student who just got transferred to her new school and Grade 12 student Lian Young, the smartest student in the campus. The story went a looong way until they reach college! The makeover of Xiao Miaomiao was not drastic but rather realistic. It was a gradual makeover! Hahahaha! Supporting characters were also great. This drama inspired me to do well in studies and to strive hard in achieving my dreams! 

2. A Love so Beautiful 

This one is also light, cute and super fun to watch! It is a very popular drama actually and is based on the novel To Our Pure Little Beauty by Zhao Qianqian. It's about high school classmates and neighbors Chen Xiao Xi and Jiang Chen. Xiao Xi, a cheerful girl who doesn't excel well in academics who has a crush towards Jiang Chen - the typical popular, smart and handsome guy. The story went a looong way too from high school, college and after graduation. Hahaha! Supporting actors were great too specially Wu Bo Song, the second male lead who has a crush with Xiao Xi. 

3. My Girlfriend is an Alien

I love this drama! Hahahaha! It's super hilarious! It's about Chai Xiaoqi, an alien from the "Cape Town Planet". When she arrived on earth, he saved Fang Leng, a CEO of a big company in a car accident. During this time, she lost her signal and decided to stay on earth to look for it. Due to the accident, Fang Leng suffered "rainy weather heterosexual amnesia" which made him forget all the females around him. This is one of the best romantic comedy dramas I have watched so far! 

4. Put Your Head on My Shoulder

This one is light, sweet and funny drama! It tells a story of Situ Mo, an accountancy student who wants to pursue a career on advertising and a genius physics student Gu Weiyi. They met accidentally on the school campus and ended up living together because of their parents. Characters were very charming in this drama. They really portrayed their character well. I love this drama and I learned a lot on this on taking risks and making decisions.  

5. The Love Equations

I watched this drama when it is still on going! Hahahaha! I actually waited for the last four episodes of it! This one is really cute! The main characters were very opposite hahahaha! It's about Zhou Xiao, a literature student who loves detective novels! (I really find it cute cause she loves Detective Conan in this drama and it happened to be one of my favorites too!) Since she really love detective novels, she is really interested with what Forensic majors are doing. There he met Zhao Fanzhou - a dedicated and cold forensic major. They fall in love and experience different struggles together. I love this drama because supporting characters were all main characters' dormmates! Hahahaha! The drama has side stories too with their supporting characters! 

6. Love 020 

This drama was recommended to me by my brother's girlfriend. It's a drama from 2016 but it's unique and great! No wonder my brother's girlfriend recommended it to me. The character's love story started in online game. Hahaha! It's about Bei Weiwei, a smart student and the computer department goddess of their university. She plays an online game, A Chinese Ghost Story with the user ID Luwei Weiwei and was the only woman who was in the top 10 of the best players. In the game, she was dumped by his online-husband Zhenshui Wuxiang, the richest player in the game and an heir of a large technology company in real life and married another woman player. The number one top player with the user ID, Yixiao Naihe, suggested that he and Weiwei should get married in order to win competitions in the game. Little did Weiwei know, Yixiao Naihe was Xiao Nai in real life. Xiao Nai was a senior computer science student in the same university and was famous for being handsome and excellent in sports and academics. When they decided to meet each other in person, the love story between them flourished. 

7. My Girlfriend

If you're fond of watching behind the scenes of TV shows, this one is a great drama. It's simple but fun to watch because also of the supporting characters. This drama is about Ding Xiao Rou, a window design artist and narcoleptic. She believed that no one will ever fall in love with her because she made a lot of confessions but always rejected which she thought that it was because of the pregnant woman who cursed her when she was 15 since she was mistakenly identified as the mistress of the woman's husband. In a car accident, she met the TV producer Chi Xin who happened to be the newly transferred guy just below her apartment. 

8. The World Owes Me A First Love 

This is the first ever Chinese drama I have watched. I didn't expect so much since it's my first time but this didn't disappoint me. It was a great drama about Xing Yun, an independent woman who was the first ever employee of a successful gaming company owned by Xia Ke, son of a wealthy family. Things got complicated when the boyfriend of Xing Yun turned to be the ex-boyfriend of Xia Ke's sister. This eventually brought Xing Yun and Xia Ke closer. I'll never forget the supporting character of this drama. Their love story was funny and unconventional too! Hahahahaha!

Hope you can watch one based on my suggestion. Happy watching! 

Biology Student Tips: How to Study Effectively?

Hi everyone! How's your quarantine so far? It's been months since naglockdown but ngayon lang ako nagkaroon ng time to sit and write for this blog. What I am busy with? Mag-aral! Hahahaha! It is so hard to be in the field nang hindi ka naman magaling dito but what's education for, di ba? I have learned that education is not about studying what you master or what you have been doing for so many years but also learning what you haven't learned, focusing on your weaknesses. And yes, for me, it's science! That's why I choose to be a Biology student - a struggling biology student, actually! Hahaha! 

So what's my study habit? Some of my classmates saw na nagmamyday ako about what I'm reading, syempre textbooks binabasa ko though tambak ang novels ko from Manila International Book Fair pa last year huhu. I have no choice though. I need to study para pumasa plus the fact na mataas ako mangarap so aral lang. Hahaha! 

There are so many study hacks and study habits that you can see online but to be honest, not all of it is applicable to everyone. You need to try each of them and see what works for you. So, I'm sharing my study habits because maybe, there are few tips from me that you can also try and see if it will work for you too. 

1. Prepare yourself. Specifically, your mind. 

    

For me, this is a must. In order for me to keep my momentum in studying, I have to train my mind to focus on my goal and read some encouraging words. Reflect on the purpose why are you really studying? What keeps you going? I tell myself that I can do it. I can pass the exam, graduate on this course and soon enough, pass the NMAT, be a medical student and become a doctor. As a person who is struggling on my mental health, I always go back on my purpose so i can have strength to continue on my journey as a student. 

2. Clean and organize your desk or your study place. 

I have read somewhere that having a study place is an option for you to study effectively. In my case, I can study well on my desk in my room and on the dining table (Hahaha!) if and only if, it is organize. I can think and focus more if my desk is clean. I am also fond of using sticky notes to note the words I am not familiar with and to add a mark to what chapters I have to read. 

3. Create a study plan.

  

This will be your guide as you study. Mahirap mag-aral nang wala kang sinusundan. You can decided whether you can read one chapter a day or 3-5 lessons on a certain chapter a  day depends upon the topic of what you  studying. (I got this from my former schoolmate who's now studying med. She saw my IG stories and told me that in med school, you have to read a lot of handouts and textbooks.) So I think, it's good that I can already train myself to read in an effective way. In my case, since we are still under quarantine and I stay at home, I read one chapter a day, 4-5 times a week and 2 or 3 days of my week will be allotted in answering the review questions at the end of every chapter. It helps you recall and review what you have learned. If there's a lesson or text you can't understand, you can just google it, look for pictures or journals about it. 

  

 4. Use Highlighters effectively.

                                                       

Anyone who's also fond of using highlighters like me? If you're using one, use it effectively like you can use certain color for definitions, examples, etc. so you can easily find the important paragraphs you are looking for when you review that certain text again. Don't be afraid of seeing your books full of highlights. It's just a proof that you are really using your book! Hahaha! Don't be afraid to write important words or notes on it (make sure to use pencil instead of ballpens in writing!)

5. Practice what you have learned. 

In case you are studying numbers-related like solving equations, you have to practice on how to solve it. Like what's the old saying say, practice makes perfect. You have to try solving exercises and when you don't understand and not sure of how to solve it, look for the examples that were usually given and analyze it. With regards to the concepts or principles that you have to know, you can practice them by answering the review questions. 

6. Share what you have learned.

Share what you learn to others or in any other platform like social media. This helps you to understand more the lesson since you should explain the concept to someone. Of course, explaining requires better understanding to a certain topic. In this way, you are not just capable of remembering the topic but also capable of sharing information to someone.

   7. Take a break at some point.                                                            Some say Pomodoro Technique is effective wherein you allot 25 minutes of studying then take a break for 3-5 mins. interval after it. This technique doesn't work well for me because I easily lose focus on what I am reading if I stop after 25 minutes so I usually take a break when I feel like my mind is already heavy with the information I had from studying. When this happens, I feel like my brain can't take any more information from the textbook. I usually rest for about 10-30 minutes by laying in bed and close my eyes or sometimes refreshing my mind by playing random games on my mobile phone.

8. Acknowledge your accomplishment. 

After you finish studying all the lesson based on your study plan, you can do things that will acknowledge your accomplishment. For me, I share it on my social media accounts because it gives me the sense of success! Hahaha! I feel happy knowing I accomplished something so I shared it with the people I know through my Instagram. Some also do this acknowledgement by rewarding yourself like, after finishing a chapter, you can watch an episode of your favorite series or drama or maybe, you can finally use your social media accounts and eat a certain food you want to eat. 

            

            Studying effectively is one of the most important things that students should learn. Your studying habit equation should not just study hard = passing and learning but study hard + study smart = passing and learning. Studying smart makes our lives easier than studying hard alone. Learning is fun too so don't stop learning! Read your text books and achieve your goals!  

You: Entry 006

Time check: 1:35 AM

I guess there is always something about 1:35 AM. When it hit the clock, I always find myself writing about you. I clearly remember that night - the first time I wrote about you. Nagbago man ang mga pwesto ng appliances sa loob ng kwarto at nagbago man ang hitsura ng kwarto ko mismo, tandang tanda ko pa rin kung paano ako niyakap ng dilim ng gabi at malakas na buhos ng ulan. Hinanap ko ang mga piling salita para lang maipaliwanag ko ang nararamdaman ko.

At heto nanaman ako, nagsusulat, nag-iisip ng mga salitang sasakto sa nararamdaman ko. Matagal-tagal na rin akong hindi nakakapagsulat dito., maging patungkol sa'yo.

"Happy Birthday."  

Iyan lang ang sinabi ko sa'yo kanina. May 21. Birthday mo nga pala. Halos nakalimutan ko  na rin dahil masyado akong busy mag-aral. Pati na rin marahil, dahil sa katotohanang matagal na tayong naghiwalay ng landas. Ikaw, patungo sa kanya at ako, papunta na rin sa iba.

Nasa iisang university lang tayo pero bibihira nalang kita makita. Madalas man akong nasa school dahil sa schedule ko na hanggang hapon at sa mga activities ng council ng college natin pero bibihira kitang makita. Makikita lang kita kung pinag-usapan nating magkita tayo dahil magpapatulong ka sa lesson na hindi mo maintindihan kahit senior kita, hihiram ka ng lab gown ko, uutang ka or uutang ako at isang beses ay maaga kang lumuwas mula Laguna at naghahanap ka ng kasabay mag-almusal. Madalas ay magpapalibre ka.

Pati na rin pala kapag sasamahan mo ako sa SM Manila sa tuwing may bibilhin ako pagkatapos ng klase. Kapag masyado ng gabi at tatawagan ako ni Mama, kung ikaw ang kasama ko ay kampante sina Mama. Nung minsang inatake ako ng anxiety at depression ko, sinamahan mo ko. Ikaw din yung kasama ko noong unang pagbili ko ng antidepressants ko.

Noong gabing kinulong ko sarili ko sa cubicle at pagbaba ko ikaw yung nandoon sa corridor. Nakasuot ka ng jacket ng College of Law at tinanong mo ako kung anong nangyari. Umiyak ako sa tabi mo. Nakinig ka lang at konting tapik sa balikat at udyok na tumahan ako. Sobrang dalang na magkita tayo pero lahat ng 'yon tumatak sa puso't isip ko.

Malapit na ako maniwala sa sinasabi ng nanay ng bestfriend ko - na baka kahit sino pa man ang makatuluyan natin, mayroon at mayroon tayong taong pinahahalagahan natin nang sobra at hinding-hindi natin makakalimutan at sa bokabularyo niya ay greatest love.

Sa totoo lang, halo-halo na ang nararamdaman ko. Meron na akong siya at meron ka na ring sa'yo. In fact, masayang-masaya ako para sa inyo. At peace na rin ako dahil merong siya. Hindi ko alam kung bakit ganito ang pakiramdam ko ngayon - there's a lump forming in my throat and my eyes hurt so bad.

Hindi ko alam kung bakit.

Hindi ko alam.

Hindi.