Helping Out the Fishies

Alright, I tried to find other suggestions, but Niko is the only one that gave me any! Come on guys, gotta keep up here ;)

Niko suggested that I also write a post about how we upperclassmen can help out those younger than us. This was another great suggestion, so, by gosh, I'm gonna write about it!

How I imagine Niko's reaction now.

This is a very good point, especially since I kind of feel like there's an invisible separation between the Freshmen and upperclassmen. I remember when seniors thought I was cool my freshman year. It was like Christmas...or like Jonah Hill:

gifs make me happy.

Anyways, to answer Niko's question and avoid posting more gifs, I think that the best way you can help out the underclassmen is to just be friends with them. I know that, personally, I sometimes get irritated at all the campus tours we have and have overheard the phrase "well, you know, freshmen" on several occasions. this is the attitude we need to avoid.

It doesn't do a whole lot for school unity or the community element of a small university if we spend the whole time judging, ignoring and separating ourselves from others. So, my recommendation would be to just reach out to the younger students: talk to them, sit with them in the Student Center, etc. The scariest part of the transition into college is being on your own, made worse if you're alone in it. So, if we can reach out and be their support, that can be the most helpful thing.

I'm not saying that you need to spend all your time hanging out with freshmen, but just being available to them to recommend professors, classes, majors or something like that can be the best thing for them. Just think about all the times Freshman year you had no idea what was going on and try to save someone else from that. We're all in this together; we might as well start acting like it.

What do y'all think? Good advice or bad? Too many gifs? Not enough? The comment section invites you!

The Necessity of a Meal Plan

*WARNING: This Post is .gif happy.*

I've been talking a lot about finals, scheduling and other such things, but a comment on my first blog post from Niko suggested that I take a different approach. He said:

"I'd like to hear your opinion on how students should attempt to procure food for themselves. Given the option, would you recommend students just get a meal plan, or, if they can afford it, is it worth it to buy groceries and make your own food instead?"

This is a very good idea, so, Niko, I am going to give you my opinion!

I imagine your reaction is something similar to this

 As we are all painfully aware, that piece of paper we're working so hard for is not cheap. Tuition, housing and the meal plan they force most of us to get is a little more expensive than I ever would have thought, but that's the price of an education.

While paying for classes and a place to live is necessary, a lot of us question the necessity of a meal plan while living on campus.

I think of this every time I type the title.

The cost of our trips to the dining hall seem even more ridiculous when you factor in how often we eat at fast food restaurants or buy snacks for the dorm room. It seems feasible that we could just live off of this, does it not?

Well, that really depends. There's a lot of elements that come in to play when you shop for food to live off of instead of just snacks to quell the late night hunger pains that come with those late night TV, er, I mean, homework marathons.

"Yeah..."homework".

Because of these differences, and also what's required to live off your own groceries, there's a lot to consider before you just drop that expensive meal plan. There's a lot that it does for us that we really take for granted.

For starters, I would not recommend ditching the meal plan unless you have your own car. This is for several reasons. While it's possible to tag along on wal-mart runs with friends who are going, it's a lot to ask for them to take you every week or so, especially if you're buying a lot of food. It takes a long time to gather all the stuff you need.

I would also not recommend ditching your meal plan unless you have a well-providing job, or the means to spend (on minimum) a hundred dollars per trip. As someone who lives off of his own grocery list, my trips never seem to be under $150. It's somewhat painful, not going to lie. So, unless you're able and willing to pay for that, I would recommend sticking with the meal plan.

Now, it's true, being able to pick your own food and make your own meals is an incredible, freeing and adult like feeling. However, it's not really what you would expect. I found that I was able to cook for myself about once every two weeks this semester, and even then it was usually only frying something real quick. I ended up eating a lot of sandwiches and throwing away a lot of food that went bad before I had the chance to eat it.

That's the beauty of a dining hall that you don't really realize until it's gone. While the variety starts to wane and you feel like you're eating the same thing every week and it may not be as great as you want it to be, it's a) made fresh for you, b) there's no clean up and c) you have some variety. For these reasons, I would personally recommend staying on the meal plan unless it's absolutely necessary for you to not have it.

However, I would also recommend that, if you enjoy cooking and want to cook for yourself, I would recommend trying to prepare a meal for yourself occasionally. Decide what you want to make and invite a few friends, make a shopping trip to wal-mart for the ingredients and then all cook it together. This is a nice study break and a good way to hang out as well as a way to get out of the dining hall and embrace adulthood.

What'd you think, Niko, and everyone else? Is this clear? Is this good advice? Are there too many .gif's? Let me know!

Skipping Class: The Biggest Temptress

We've all been there. It's 7:30 and your alarm won't start beeping. You've hit the snooze three times already but you still can't find the strength to pull yourself into a sitting position. Class is in 30 minutes and you need to shower, dress and maybe squeeze in a pop-tart if you can. Then, the thought comes: We're not really doing anything in class today. Why don't I just skip? I can get notes later. No sooner has that passed through our minds than we're back on the pillow, drooling away in dream land.

Truth

And that's just the nice scenario. We've all been there in the afternoon when we're tired or stressed or working on a project and decide to skip that one pesky afternoon class. It's no big deal, we'll catch up. Skipping class is the biggest temptation in college a lot of the time (unless you count the ice cream bar in the cafeteria). It's easy to do and let's us procrastinate even more than usual, justifying it with "This project is so important!" or "I NEED sleep!" and we do it at the drop of a hat, but I'm here to suggest that maybe we...don't.

As a disclaimer, I have used all of these excuses and done all of these things (several of my professors will back me up on this), as I have with all the blogs I've posted here and I take my own advice, so don't think that I'm just suggesting you not skip class while I sleep in tomorrow. We're in this together, soldier!

Sgt. McMeow reporting in!

So, skipping class, we shouldn't do it. And here's why:

School is pretty much our job, y'all, despite the freedom of being on our own or the joys of getting to hang out late at night and the various activities we can participate in. No matter how much fun we have, we're here to learn and it's our job to get that done. Worse than our job, we PAY to learn.

We've all heard it before: "Skipping class only hurts you!" and it's true but that advice is easy to forget when coming from the teacher. But, go ahead and take a look at how much each semester costs and realize that we're gonna have to pay most of those loans back ON TOP of what we're already paying. When you think about it that way, there's no way I'm going to miss a single day!

"Holy Guacamole! That's a lotta dough!"

At least, that's what we tell ourselves. It's impractical and setting up for failure to assume that you're going to go to every class ever, but it's a wise choice to pay close attention to the amount of absences you have and to ration them if at all possible. This is also helpful to think about whenever you're trying to stick to your schedule (that you're totally making because it's super helpful, right??). Knowing when things are due, and what classes would need to be skipped in order to get them done if they're procrastinated is a pretty good motivator to get them done, especially if you're out of absences.

Now, all of this stuff is pretty much exactly what teachers will tell you at the beginning of the semester when going over the syllabus. I'm simply reminding you and summarizing: Know that you're going to skip but try to use the absences wisely.

That's all I've got for tonight. Was this post helpful? Was I rambling since it's 2:15am? Do you have any non-skipping advice? Did you like the cats? Comment and let me know!

Counseling: There to Help, Not Embarrass

As we march ever closer to the end of the semester, a lot of us probably feel like pulling our hair out as the test, papers and homework due dates start to close it. Final week can be a lot to handle, and honestly, it's not uncommon for whole semesters to be difficult on us, threatening to push us to the breaking point.

Yikes

Yikes

 

 

 But you don't have to let it get there. A lot of the time, we seem to think that being on our own means that we have to do everything ourselves, even handle the stressful and difficult moments without anyone's help. That's not true.

Campus counselors are there to help, there to listen and are only going to encourage you. It seems that a lot of people are hesitant about going to see the counselor because they think that they'll be judged or the worst will be assumed if they're seen walking out of that office.

I can understand that being an issue as some people can be rude and insulting, but those people shouldn't stop you from getting help if you need it. I know that, specifically on my campus, the counselors office is located with the career development and academic support offices, so there's no reason for people to assume you're meeting with the counselor. Again, don't let imagined judgement stop you. The counselors are there to help, to be your lifeline. Your meetings are confidential and you can talk about anything. So before you're ready to curl up and cry, take some time to go see the counselor; sometimes talking is the best and easiest fix.

Naptime: Not Just For Kids Anymore!

We're all too familiar with the lack of sleep that college students suffer from. It's a wondrous occasion when we can sleep more than a few hours a night, especially when finals roll around. So, how can we beat this lack of sleep and stay healthy, happy and not want to punch things everyday of finals?

POWERNAPS! That's right, power naps. Generally, when people say "nap" I think of kindergartners asleep with their little mats and blankets on the classroom floor...then I think of how awesome that is!

They look so comfy...

 Seriously, sleeping is so rare in college students' life sometimes, I get ridiculously excited when I think about getting to go to bed. Yes, it is very possible that I'm just incredibly sleep-deprived, but most college students get less sleep than we'd like to. This usually goes back to the idea of procrastination, an affliction many of us also suffer from. We tend to procrastinate to the point that we're forced to finish assignments right before they're due, causing us to get up early or go to bed late the night before a class, resulting in a lot of yawns and desperate fora nap. So, why not take one?

Naps are actually really help, if used effectively. I'm not recommending you go and skip class and sleep for three hours. Instead, try taking a break between or after classes to lay down for thirty minutes, put the phone and iPod away and just relax. Sleep isn't necessary, but if you do crash, just set an alarm to wake you up after 20 minutes. 20 minutes is the optimum time for your sleep cycle to complete and you wake up rested and refreshed.

But even if you don't sleep, laying down and having some time to yourself can be just as relaxing, letting your brain chill and stress to disappear. Like everything, use these breaks in moderation but hopefully this is helpful so you can rest without thinking you need 3 hours for a nap.

What do you guys think? Is this helpful? Are there other ways you relax? Let me know!

Procrastinate! ... practically

Let's face it: as college students, we all like to procrastinate.Ironically, I procrastinated writing this blog. Oops.

But, seriously, college is way too fun for homework! There's too much going on, too many clubs and organizations to be a part of. Homework definitely gets pushed to the back burner more often than not. And now, it's a week before finals. Extra credit is due, term papers need to be turned in and exams need to be studied for... And we also have final club meetings, end of the year parties, late night Whataburger runs, laundry to do and friends to hang out with! This is why finals week is so stressful and scary, but there's a way to make it better.

In my last post, I talked about scheduling time over breaks and I'm going to offer a similar suggestion now. If you can attempt to schedule out time for each assignment throughout the week, managing time becomes a lot easier. Of course, there is still plenty to do, and tons of things come up (Whataburger is a necessity after 11pm) and so it's almost impossible to schedule out time for every little thing that you possibly want to do.

Instead, I recommend just planning out your assignments based on priority. If you can look at your syllabus and determine what is due when, you can designate time for each subject. For example: it's Monday and you have a paper due on Friday. On Tuesday and Wednesday you can schedule time to write the paper, but plan to have it finished by Thursday. This gives you enough time to write, without devoting your whole day to it, and you can also take breaks to study for other things as well.

This isn't a perfect system by any means, and getting used to it takes some practice, but it's something I've found helpful to keep all my hair in place during the last few weeks of school.
What about you? Any finals advice of your own? Does this advice just suck? Let me know!

Bring on the Break! ...or not.

It's that time of year again! Turkey is cooking, Christmas lights are lining the building and plans are being made for every relative you've ever met to come visit. Ahh, the holidays! It also means that school is almost over! That's the best part, honestly.

The fall semester always seems like we're just jumping from one break to the next, even more so as these final weeks tick away. Unfortunately, in between Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks we have finals. *cue scary music* As such, every professor likes to pile insane amounts of homework onto us that need to be accomplished in this little amount of time. So, how do we get to enjoy our break and prep for finals? It seems a hard task, since a stressful activity such as homework doesn't really help relax on our time away from school.

There's a simple solution for this: time management. Now, personally, this isn't my strong suit. There's always something more fun to do, especially with a younger brother who owns every XBOX game that came out in the last two months and already gloats about how much fun they are and how good he is at them...punk.
My weakness for movie theaters and time with high school friends also rears its ugly head whenever I go home. So, yeah, homework rarely gets done whenever I'm break, which results in my having to come back to campus early to pull an all-nighter on Sunday. Who wants to do that? None of us.

But we do. The Student Center is packed out almost every Sunday, full to bursting after an official break. How do we break this cycle and actually get to sleep before class on Monday? Again, time management.

A good way that I've found to accomplish the things that I need to do, as well as the things I want to do is to make a schedule. Plan out your trip and schedule times for different activities. For example, homework can be done in the morning, friends seen in the afternoon and family in the evening. If you can do this, and stick to it, giving yourself time to accomplish homework, your breaks become a lot more productive, instead of just lounging around and gorging yourself on mom's cooking. I mean, that will happen too, but you'll be productive so it's less depressing.

What do you think? Is this is a helpful idea or do you just hate the idea of working on a break? Do you have any tips or strategies to stay productive? Comment and let me know!

Getting Started

Hey there!

So, you're probably looking at this and going "okay, what is this all about?" Let me tell you!

I was looking at blogs recently, specifically blogs for college students, and I noticed that there was a serious lack of weblogs that were focused on students that aren't freshmen. Everything's all about "prepare for college", "get ready for college", "what to pack for college", etc. Well, I've been in college about a year and a half now. Where's my website? No one answered that question, so I decided to write one.

Numerous studies have shown that college students hold a significant influence when it comes to internet usage, proven by the amount of time my friends spend on Facebook alone. Social media is a large portion of this, as college students, and people in general seek to connect with others over the internet. The sites we visit usually have a level of communication with other people, even if only in comments that we look at, but it makes us feel connected. We connect, learn, live on the internet.

And, as college students, sometimes our option of "learning" from the internet seems like a bit of a rip-off, we rarely find anything actually helpful or new for us to learn. And some days, we're okay with that. We pay school enough for them to teach us something. A lot of the time we just want to look at cats.

You're welcome

And I get that. I understand. But, I want this blog to be different. Here, I'm hoping to create a place where things can be learned, useful, helpful things that college students can all use and benefit from. We're more than freshmen, and I want to start showing that on the internet.

So that's this blog! Check it out when you need some help, or just want to talk to fellow students. And talk to me! Do you like this idea? Would you use it? What kind of tips would you like or benefit from? And if you want me to post a funny or helpful story, email it to me at spencerstephens1@gmail.com!

Next time, I'm gonna talk about how to use your break productively; get stuff done and have fun!