Is There Enough Fun To Be Had In College?

Pursuing new academic interests is one of the often mentioned goals of college. But what about finding new hobbies? That’s actually another benefit that comes from school. While college will always be about expanding your educational horizons, it’s also a great time to pick up a few new activities that you enjoy doing. 

Before going further, perhaps it seems college wouldn’t be such an ideal time to discover new hobbies or interests. After all, a significant part of college life involves schoolwork. That being said, though, you’ll still take time—and need time—to unwind. And for such reprieve, college offers the perfect environment. 

You know that, even if you go to a small school, there will be plenty of extracurricular events occurring at all times. Have you ever tried rock climbing? How about painting? You’ll be in an environment where there are always new things going on, and opportunities to try them all will be in abundance. Best of all, since it’ll be a school club, it’ll be free!

You might not think you need any help finding new forms of fun or new hobbies, but what if you discover something that you really like? This same concept is often applied to learning; you’ll frequently hear that college is a great time to explore academic interests, and it’s part of the reason why your school probably has diverse general education requirements. So take this same spirit and apply it to your hobbies, as you won’t know what’s out there until you try.

At the very least, you’ll certainly hear friends discussing TV shows and music that they like, and you’ll probably check out what they’re interested in, too. This will lead to further discovery of new interests, and while becoming a fan of a new favorite show isn’t exactly going to be life-changing or one of your best college memories, it’ll serve as a minor example of the sort of connections and new experiences that college life fosters.

And if you’re one for sports or other recreational physical activity, college again provides the best time to try something new. It might not be the easiest to get into, say, touch football a couple decades down the road. So don’t miss out on such activities while you can! 

Staying Green in College: Tips For Environmentally Friendly Dorm and College Life

It’s been trendy for years now to live as environmentally friendly as possible; there are even some rather extreme green methods of green living out there! Yet, assuming you’d like to do your part and help out the earth, you don’t need to live a plastic-free life just to have a more green lifestyle in college. There are a variety of simple, effective, and college-related means of staying green.

Unplug Your Dorm

No matter if you spend plenty of time in your dorm room or go there mainly just to sleep, many of your electronics, or devices related to your electronics, will always remain in your dorm room. Your charger for your cellphone and for your laptop, for example, are probably lying in some tangle on your floor. Aside from being a tripping hazard (which is a topic for

another day), those chargers can be doing damage if unchecked. OK, they’re not really a safety threat, but they’re an earth-health threat. Don’t leave them plugged in when not in use, as you’ll drain unneeded electricity. No, you don’t pay an electrical bill for your dorm room, but since it’s so easy to just unplug those chargers, don’t leave them needlessly plugged in. The same goes for your electric pencil sharpener, printer, and other electronics that you might not use often. Sucking up unneeded electricity is like pouring water down the drain. Why waste?

Keep it in Park

While you’re on campus, you might have brought a car to school, even if it’s your first year. Maybe you need to drive to sports practice or to club meetings off-campus. Either way, don’t use your car when it’s not needed. In fact, you’re likely not even adding to the convenience factor when driving when you consider parking, gas, traffic jams, and possibly a fender bender. Even if your campus is spread out, it’ll never be out of the question to walk, ride a bike, or take a campus shuttle if available. You know that walking and biking will also combat freshman-year weight gain, so it’s a win-win.

Finish Your Food

Speaking of weight gain, that all-you-can-eat school cafeteria will be beckoning at all hours of the day and night. Usually it’s a quick swipe of your student ID, and plates of plates of food are yours for the taking. Hopefully it tastes good, and if it does, that smorgasbord of plates can pile up quick on your cafeteria tray. There’s plenty to be said about healthy eating in college, yet also consider reducing wasting food. A few bites of a sandwich here, half a cookie there, and some spoonfuls of soup might comprise a meal, but consider how much you just threw out. You might think uneaten food is helping your figure, but you’re also wasting and hurting the environment with every tossed bite. Instead, take only what you plan to consume and avoid sending half your meal to some landfill. Some green-innovative schools collect food scraps for compost. How about getting that started in your school?

Plenty of Paper

Along those lines, avoid tearing out 15 napkins, using two, and then tossing the rest. To save paper further, you can look toward the classroom. You’ll receive plenty of syllabi and paper handouts throughout your college career, which means lots of felled trees. You probably won’t be rushing out to plant more trees, but you can certainly recycle all those papers. (OK, you might have to resist the urge to burn a folder from a particularly loathsome class.) Recycling a whole course-load of papers can really add up. And it’s not like any extra work is required—just drop it in the recycling bin instead of the trash!

If At First You Don't Succeed, Get Organized!

It was freshman year of college, my very first semester. Although I was nervous at first, everything began to run smoothly and I thought I was poised for success. I say “thought” as my confidence came crashing down at the semester’s end. It was a Tuesday.

That morning at 9 AM I got a text from a friend asking why I was not in class to give my final presentation. My final presentation. I was supposed to present at 8 AM and had essentially missed my final exam. It was all I could think about as I trekked up the three floors to my professor’s office, trying to think of a way to explain that I had mixed up my schedule. It was a Tuesday/Thursday class, and I thought the exam was on Thursday. After a tearful apology, my professor informed me that he would give me an F instead of a zero, it was all he could do. I understood, it was a presentation, how could I make it up, but I was devastated nonetheless. After a reasonable amount of crying and sulking I chalked it up to a learning experience and told myself it would never happen again. That is until it did happen again on Thursday of that week. I got to my class, ready to ace the final, but was the only one there. Apparently, all Thursday classes had their exams on Tuesday. Two Finals missed in my first semester at college.

To make an even longer story short, I felt the repercussions of my disorganization when my grades in those two classes fell and I was kicked out of Honor Society. While this was devastating to me at the time, I did learn an important lesson: To succeed one must get organized. It doesn't matter how smart you are or how much you have studied,  if you don’t know when and where things are, you will get yourself into some sticky situations. After resolving to never EVER let something like that happen again, I made some changes. I got organized. Here’s how:

Buy an Agenda

In middle school teachers are always harping on their students to carry and use an agenda. They try to get students into the habit so that they will be organized for high school and beyond. Some students take this advice and others don’t. If you haven’t yet made your peace with the agenda, it’s time to do so now. The agenda/calendar will be your most important tool in college and beyond. Don’t believe me? Think about it. You have at minimum 5 classes, all with different assignments and different due dates. That’s a lot to remember for anyone, and even harder for a college student who has to juggle work, practice, and other important social engagements.

Color Code

If you’re running out of your dorm room or racing to school from work, you are bound to grab the wrong black notebook. What you thought was History 101 will actually turn out to be Intro to Writing. Color coding your notebooks and other college essentials will make your life easier. Guaranteed. You won’t have to spend your precious time looking for things as you will have a visual and won’t be reading through names until you find the right one.

Make a Physical List

Sure, you mentally catalog everything you need to accomplish in a day, but you are bound to forget at least one of those things, and it could be the most important to-do on your list. If you are writing down what needs to be done, you won’t forget, and will even come up with a plan to get everything done in time. This not only helps with your organization, but your time management. Get a dry erase board and put it next to your bed or desk, that way you can add to it when you think of things.

Organize Your Work Space

There are tons of supplies for college that will allow you to get organized. Some essentials are even color coded - bonus! Whether you’re at your dorm room desk or the one in the spare room of your house, organize your work space. This will allow you to concentrate when you are working and focus on the task at hand, without being surrounded by clutter. Buy cheap bookshelves to store your books and notebooks or get individual shelves on which to store all of the supplies for each class. Find color-coded bins that will collect the work you haven't finished for your classes, so that whatever you do, you’re not folding up your work and putting it in your textbook.

Organization for college may seem like the most basic of things, but it is the most important thing you can do to ensure that you are successful. Take it from someone who had to learn the hard way. After I saw the error of my ways I made the dean’s list every semester, but I first had to learn the importance of staying organized.

Commuters are Students Too, So Get Involved!

When thinking about college life, it’s easy to get caught up in the Hollywood ideal. Sure, Elle Woods made studying all night seem fun, and yeah, Bartleby Gains did seem to live it up while exploring education and throwing endless parties. Becca even made becoming the star of an A Capella club seem not only easy, but probable, and who could ever forget Notre Dame star, Rudy Ruettiger. Rarely, however,  is there the thought that students don’t actually live on campus. The glorification of on-campus living does a disservice to the millions of commuter students who travel back and forth to school each day. Hey, they’re student’s, too! While it’s easy to feel disenfranchised as a commuter student, there are many ways to take part in college life and feel like a valued part of your school community.

Go Ahead, Join!

Joining a club or taking part in the volunteer activities offered at almost all colleges and universities is the first step to enjoying the college experience. Yes, in the beginning you may not know anyone, but joining a club centered around an activity you enjoy assures that you will be with people who have like-minded interests. Instead of standing around awkwardly hoping that no one notices you’re new, you can strike up a conversation about your experiences. Attempting to get to know people without having any shared experiences can be tough, that’s why joining an activity is crucial - you will already have something to talk about. Even more compelling is that you won’t have to stretch your interests to find something that is appealing. Most colleges offer hundreds of clubs - from music and sports to art and even horticulture.

Work On Campus

Commuters usually commute for a reason: it’s cheaper, there are responsibilities at home, housing elsewhere is more appealing, etc… However, almost all commuters have jobs, and most often, they are off-campus. So here’s an idea: try working on-campus. If you can finagle a position at your school, your co-workers will be fellow students or even classmates, allowing you to know more people and feel more involved in the campus community. Working on-campus also assures that you are familiar with the various buildings and departments at your school, as your duties will include working in places that you may have never thought about entering otherwise. Sure, you may have never set foot in a gym to workout, but working the front desk will give you contact with many students you may not see in your daily routine.

Take Part in Campus Sponsored Activities

Every college has departments dedicated to enhancing the student experience and they will regularly host events that are free to students or can be enjoyed for only a minimal fee. These include concerts, athletic events, comedy shows, and trips to off campus sites, such as museums. As a commuter, you may have to come back to campus to enjoy these events, which undoubtedly means getting out of work early, getting a ride, or just getting off your couch, but it will be worth it. Sharing new experiences with your fellow students will only help to make you feel like you belong and will enhance your overall college experience.

Although being a commuter can sometimes make you feel like you’re on the outside looking in, there are many ways to get involved and shake the feeling of being an outsider. Getting involved in clubs, campus-sponsored activities, and working at school are all good gateways to becoming more socially adept in an unfamiliar place. So the next time you have an opportunity to join -  do it - Bobby Boucher did, and look how he turned out.