Make New Friends, but Keep the Old

So everyone sees all of the teens on television going off to college and making a huge group of friends that eventually become their bridesmaids and best men and so forth. That’s great, but it may not happen right away. Don’t feel discouraged if after the first day of class you haven’t made a ton of new friends. If you go join clubs, play a sport, or just try and talk to people in your classes then you will have friends in no time. Trust me. After my first week of classes I could count the number of new friends I had on one hand. I immediately thought “oh my gosh I have no friends! What is wrong with me!?” Don’t do that.  I joined two clubs and made a few more friends. Then I tried to talk to people in class and I made a few more. A mob of people aren’t going to swarm around you the first day demanding you be their friend. Well, unless you’re famous or something.

Making new friends is always fun, but what about the people you grew up with? The one who was at your bus stop the first day of kindergarten?  The one who you ate lunch with every day from first grade until you graduated high school? The ones that you hugged and cried with when you left for college? Hopefully you didn’t forget these people. I admit that I have already lost touch with some of my high school friends and it seems like some people have forgotten about me. With things such as Facebook and web cams it’s easy to keep in touch with people who aren’t nearby. You just have to find the time. New friends may be great, but don’t forget about the ones who have been with you longest.

Procrastination

I was never one to have a big problem with procrastination. I wouldn’t start homework as soon as I got it, but I wouldn’t wait until the last possible second either. Lately, that has been changing. I no longer have my parents to say, “Is all of your homework done” as I am leaving the dinner table every night. I have to remember to do my homework on my own. My problem is not remembering though, it’s actually doing the work before last minute.

If you have trouble remembering to finish work I would definitely get an agenda or a planner to keep track of your homework. Even a small notebook will work. Make sure you write down EVERYTHING. It may even be helpful to highlight really important things like research papers and projects. Make sure you check your planner each day as a reminder of due dates. It doesn’t help if you just write down an assignment and then forget about it.

Make your own due dates. If a teacher says a big assignment is due on a Friday, tell yourself it’s due on Wednesday. This way you will make sure to have your assignment done on time. You will also have extra time to check over your work for mistakes and ask your teacher any questions you may have. Waiting until last minute to write a paper is never a good idea. You may think you will have enough time but something unexpected may come up. Whatever strategy you use the most important thing is that your work gets done on time.

Make Sure You're Covered

My college has an insurance plan that you can sign up for, or you can use your family’s insurance. I chose to stick with my family’s insurance. I thought, “Why get a different insurance when I already have a good plan?” Well, I found out the answer to that question last week when I shut my finger in my dorm room door. I went to the wellness center, the on-campus doctors’ office, and showed them my swollen finger. The doctor suggested I get an x-ray as soon as possible. My insurance plan did not cover an x-ray at the hospital closest to my school because it was out of our network. I probably should have looked into that before I chose not to get the insurance the school offered. I had to wait until the next day to drive home and go to the hospital that was in my network. My finger was only a bad sprain but I would have saved myself a lot of time and frustration if I had compared the school insurance to my insurance more closely.

Whether you are clumsy, like me, or not I would look closely at all of your insurance options. I was lucky that my finger wasn’t more badly injured and I was able to drive myself home.  I suggest you ask your parents or someone you trust about the insurance plan that would be best for you. Make sure you’re covered by your insurance just in case something goes wrong.

Dirty Business

While at college I have discovered something. I have discovered that some people are complete slobs. Luckily I have a clean roommate, but I cannot say the same about some of the other girls on my floor. The way my dorm is set up is that each floor (about 20 girls or guys) shares one bathroom. We had to have a meeting a few nights ago with the housing director because the janitor that cleans our bathroom told him it was gross. There was a pile of dirt in the middle of the floor! Seriously? How does a pile of dirt get in the middle of the floor without someone noticing they brought it in? People need to just clean up after themselves. People also have cereal or soup in their rooms and when they wash out the bowl in the bathroom they just leave the leftover food in the sink. Gross.

So my advice to you is to clean up after yourself. You may think, “Oh it’s only a few cheerios in the sink. No one will notice” but cheerios add up and they clog the sink. Trust me, the janitor will notice. If you just clean up after yourself than you won’t have to sit in a boring meeting listening to people tell you to clean the bathroom. If you notice your bathroom getting dirty I would recommend that you talk to your floor advisor right away so that things don’t get too out of hand. Maybe you can suggest putting up signs to remind people to clean up after themselves. Whatever you do though, don’t make a mess.

Saturday Night Lessons

So this past weekend my roommate Angela and I learned a few very valuable lessons.

Lesson number one: just because someone is ringing the doorbell to your floor does not necessarily mean you should answer it.

It was about 11:30 on a Saturday night and my roommate and I were watching the movie 17 Again, which has the adorable Zac Efron in it, but anyways about halfway through the movie we heard the doorbell ring. We ignored it and figured if someone on our floor was expecting a guest they would answer the door. Well a couple seconds later it rang again, and again, and again. Finally whoever was ringing the doorbell decided to just lean on it for a couple minutes, which got very annoying very quickly. Turns out there were only two other girls on the floor besides my roommate and myself. I went to answer the door at the same time as one of the other two girls on the floor. We opened the door and a group of guys were standing there. We let them in to the hallway and they told us that they were participating in a scavenger hunt. We didn’t understand how that involved us until they said they needed a ten second video of one of them grinding with one of us.

Lesson number two: If you do not follow lesson number one and you answer the door, find out what the people want before you let them onto your floor and it is too late to slam the door in their faces.

So the other girl and I exchanged a look that said, “no way am I doing this” and told the guys we would be right back that we were going to get our roommates. So when we returned with our roommates the guys explained again to the four of us exactly what they needed. Without saying anything the four of us girls all touched our fingers to our nose (the nose goes game). Then we all ran down the hall and locked ourselves in our rooms, leaving the guys standing in the hallway. After a few minutes of roaming up and down the hallway asking if we were coming back and  getting no response the guys got the picture and left. This could have been totally avoided if we had only followed lesson number one.

Plan Ahead

Before I started college I heard so many horror stories about the cafeterias having bad food and that the good food on campus was pricey. Well I’m not sure who started passing that around, but in my school’s case that isn’t entirely true. I’ll admit the student cafeteria isn’t amazing, but most days it isn’t entirely horrible. The best part is they have tons of choices. My friends’ colleges also have lots of choices in the cafeteria so there’s something for everyone. Make sure that you get a meal plan if your college offers one. Even if you are commuting it would be good to have one. My friend commutes and she is always hungry after class. Who wants to drive on an empty stomach?  When you’re picking your meal plan make sure you choose carefully. Don’t pick a huge plan if you don’t usually eat a lot because it will just be a waste of your money.  With my meal plan I get 14 meals per week. If I go home on the weekend I have some extra meals to use during the week and it isn’t so much extra that I won’t be able to use them. So, I’m not wasting my money paying for a huge meal plan.

            If you are not a morning person and somehow wound up with an early class then I would advise you to keep cereal or pop-tarts in your room. I have a class at 8:30 in the morning and I am not in the mood to go get breakfast that early, especially if there’s bad weather. On weekends it’s nice to get a nice hot breakfast from the cafeteria but it’s not so nice when you find yourself deciding between breakfast and an extra half hour of sleep.

            Okay so I don’t want to sound like I’m preaching or anything but it’s so important that you don’t skip meals. I haven’t even been in school a full month yet and I have done it quite a few times. Sometimes it’s by accident. For example, one night I was working on a paper and I was so absorbed in it that I totally missed dinner. Sometimes it’s not on purpose though. Once it was raining and I didn’t feel like going out so I didn’t eat. It caught up to me though because at ten o’clock that night I was digging through my room for snacks because I was hungry. Along with some cereal for breakfast I keep some peanut butter and bread in my room just in case I miss a meal.

            If your campus has more than one cafeteria, check if the school has a website that posts the menus so you can find the place serving something you will actually enjoy. Go to http://www.dineoncampus.com/ and see if your school has posted your menu on the website. It has a whole list of schools to choose from. Bon Appetit!

The Dirty Truth About Laundry

If you’re like me then your mom has done your laundry for you for your whole life. If not, well then you’re lucky to know how to do laundry before going to college. If you don’t know how to do laundry though don’t freak out. It’s actually not that hard. With laundry the most important thing is to not shrink your clothes. Some people hang certain types of their clothes on a clothing rack to air dry to prevent shrinking, so make sure you know which of your clothes can’t go in the dryer. Personally, I wash everything in cold water and if I’m not sure if something can go in the dryer then I hang it on a rack just to be safe.

            Another important thing about doing laundry at college is to not wait until last minute to do your laundry. You may think, “Oh there’s tons of washing machines. I can wait a few more days to do my laundry.” Well my advice to you is that if you have some free time during the week, do your laundry.  In the beginning everyone waits until the weekend to do their laundry, so if you do your laundry on a weekday then you won’t have to stand in the laundry room with your wet clothes waiting for a dryer. Trust me, it isn’t fun.

            Here is a very important tip: DO NOT leave your laundry sitting in the washer or dryer for a long time after it is finished. If all of the other washers or dryers are full the people WILL take your clothes out of the machine. It can get very frustrating when all of the dryers are full of other peoples’ already dried clothes, and it can be even more frustrating to walk into the laundry room and find your underwear on top of a dryer for everyone to see.

            If you find yourself sitting in your dorm one day and you totally forget how to do your laundry there is a website that has some great tips. www.campusclothesline.net has a video tutorial on how to do your laundry plus tips on stain removal, how much soap to use, and how to care for your clothes. Good Luck!