How to study and have fun?

Despite being considered a good student, I've always hated studying. I only found it tiring and extremely boring. In the past, my studying method was the one and only: read and repeat, read, underline every single sentence, and repeat until you know everything by heart. Nobody has ever told me how to study. I've always tried to be a good student to please my parents and until secondary school my "method" worked but as soon as I started university I realised something was wrong. I studied Foreign Languages and Literature in Cagliari, Sardinia. Usually, we had to pass the language exams first, and then we had to study from a huge literature textbook, we had several literary criticism books and almost ten or fifteen novels to read. Long story short, it was impossible to continue studying everything by heart, as I had always done. I started feeling frustrated and hopeless because I couldn't pass my literature exams and didn't know what to do. Every exam was torture.

One day I met a new colleague and was soon impressed by her motivation. She was older than me and already had work experience. I immediately noticed how different her attitude was from ours. She took notes during the class, but she only took meaningful notes, while I was used to writing everything I could without making any selection. She asked questions to the professors, while most students seemed never to have any doubt. And, on top of that, she studied for pleasure. The moment I realized it I felt shocked. I've never studied for pleasure but only because I had to: it was my duty. Her studying style impressed me and I tried to copy her, creating my new style step by step.

Here's a summary of the best of this new studying style that helped me survive the following university years and more.

When I was at secondary school and university I usually was very distracted during the lessons, that's why I had to do the most part of the work at home, which didn't allow me to enjoy free time or play sport.  Now I tell my younger self: "Try to be focused for almost 10 or 15 minutes, during the most important part of the lesson!".

At first, I was used to writing confused endless sentences, like a nonsense novel, while our notes should be selected and meaningful. At home, my handwriting seemed almost unreadable. Then I tried to only write what seemed really important, the key concepts, in clear handwriting. This also sat me free from recording the lessons and transcribing. 

I still remember the sudden awkward silence when the teachers asked the famous: "Do you have any questions?", at the end of every lesson. But only when I became a teacher I was able to understand the frustration of teachers when nobody asks questions. Sometimes I had questions but, being shy, I waited and hoped that someone else dared to ask. Asking questions is a great way to clear doubts and it also allows the teachers to express their potential. So, don't be shy, ask questions!

Another technique that can help us memorize concepts while we study is to explain them to a person who does not know anything about the subject. This is a good test to make sure we really master the topic we are talking about. 

I wasn't used to making connections among subjects, for example, history and literature, or literature and history of art. My knowledges were separate entities, stored in different files. For this reason, I was always afraid of unexpected questions, because I wasn't able to make connections. In fact, this is good training for mental elasticity and also tells how we are capable of thinking out of the box. 

Since I am a supporter of studying for pleasure and life-long learning, I'm still perfecting and improving this studying method.

Would you add more suggestions?