The time for summer internships applications has arrived. I had not thought much about this up until recently. The idea of applying for internships frightens me probably more than the idea of applying to colleges frightened me. I honestly have felt so lost and overwhelmed with the whole process. Thankfully there have been some wonderful people who have stepped up and given me some great advice. The internet has also helped in answering some of my most detailed questions. This is what I've learned so far.

*As a physics major, a lot of these resources are physics oriented but with a little adjusting could work for any STEM major

I always see book challenges floating around the internet and they're always super great. As a fan of classic science fiction, I've been looking for an excuse to try and read more modern science fiction. This science fiction reading challenge is perfect because it plans for just one book per month and covers a wide variety of topics within the sci-fi genre. I'm super excited to get started. It might be useful to plan out the 12 books you plan on reading this year or even pick each book as you go!

12 Science-Fiction Books in 2017

• A classic book
• A self-published book
• Published this year
• Going to be a movie this year
• An unread sci-fi book from your collection 
• Recommended by a friend (feel free to ask me!)
• A long (more than 500 pg) book
• A short story
• A book involving time travel
• A dystopian novel
• Young Adult Sci-fi
• Set on another planet

This semester was a pretty good one. I was a bit nervous at the beginning, mostly because I signed up for chemistry and the lab. I may love all things STEM but I've always had difficulties in chemistry. However, I put in a decent amount of studying and ended up doing pretty well.

I also took calculus which I was REALLY nervous about. Calculus is something that is vital for my major and I knew that this semester would be super important in seeing if I actually have what it takes to major in physics. I studied the most for this class and it really payed off. During the semester it felt like a true sacrifice to spend all my weekends and evenings doing practice problem after practice problem... but it was worth it. I consistently aced each exam and understood the topics easier that I had thought. I'm glad I put in the effort and made that foundation quite strong before I move on to the next levels in the math sequence.

Overall it was a great semester and I can't wait to take physics and calc II in the spring!

It's been a few weeks since school started, professors are assigning more homework, and the first wave of exams are right around the corner. For me, exam time is the most stressful part of the semester (who can study effectively when Netflix is just a click away!). So here are a few tips and tricks that I use to keep my focus and encourage me to get the grades I want.

There's been a lot of news about the ExoMars mission by the ESA this week. The program's goal is to understand the atmosphere and environment of Mars and learning more of possible past life on the planet. The European Space Agency has been working hard for the launch of it's ExoMars mission Orbiter and Module. The mission is one headed by the ESA with help from Roscosmos.

I see a lot of monthly favorites posts on YouTube all the time and I think it is something that would also work in blog form. Do people commonly do this? Here are my favorites of February 2015.

American Astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko return to Earth after a full year in space on Tuesday (March 1, 2016). Their year in orbit has been so momentous in space history. With their return, there are a lot of exciting things to keep up with this week. NASA will be actively covering Kelly's return with several events available for viewing and participation.

The third and final day of the Adult Space Academy at the US Space Camp in Huntsville was a fun half day of eating star shaped breakfast foods, launching rockets, and saying goodbye to new friends. It's a transitional period of leaving the make-believe world where we're kids pretending to be astronauts and entering the real world again. Here's that happened:

Astronaut Applications opened on December 14, 2015 and are schedule to close on the 18th of this month (February 18, 2016). Now is the perfect time to live out that childhood dream and start your career as an astronaut!

In June of 2015 I had the amazing opportunity to attend a NASA Social Event. According to the website NASA Social is "a program to provide opportunities for NASA's social media followers to learn and share information about NASA's missions, people, and programs... NASA Social program includes both special in-person events and social media credentials for individuals who share the news in a significant way." So, basically, NASA picks social media users to attend exclusive events related to current project that are going on within the agency. The lucky people who are picked get to learn about cool NASA stuff and then post about it on their own social media. Sounds great, right? RIGHT. Heres everything you need to know about these NASA Socials.

So I know I'm new to blogging and everywhere I've read for advice has said something about consistency with your posts. Right now I have been posting solely on Saturdays and since it is Saturday I know I need to keep up with the schedule. So here it goes. This is more of a journal entry about going back to college.

The funny thing is that I grew up in Alabama as a space obsessed kid but I never went to Space Camp. There always seemed to be one reason or another from preventing me, mostly my crippling social anxiety. Last year I finally decided to just go and exactly one year ago today went! I bought my ticket in November 2014 and then two months later I drove to Space Camp to accomplish a childhood dream. I actually wrote up three posts about my three days, which I posted on Tumblr. But I thought it'd be nice to post them here too. (It's mostly pictures, but that's okay xD).

So I've been reading a lot of blogs and definitely want to try for myself. Of course I've had a few personal blogs over the years but I want to use this blog as a more free/easy way to connect myself with the science/fandoms/travel communities.