Beer Pong

Beer pong has got to be my all time favorite game, though I tend to take it a bit too seriously at times. Interaction at parties is great; it helps you relax, have fun and meet new people. There are many different rules for pong, and everyone plays a little differently. The important thing to remember is to always respect house rules; if you're at someone's house and they play differently than you do, suck it up. Play the way they play, or leave. Remember, it's about having fun and interacting with new people.

Music for My Soul

If there is one thing that has helped me keep my sanity during tough times at school, it's definatly music. Music is my getaway from life..I can chill out and relax and enjoy what I'm listening to. I love all different types of music, and I have music for all my moods. Listening to soft, instrumental music is very beneficial to me when I'm trying to study or having a hard time falling asleep. When I'm angry, I like to throw on some rock or metal and it helps me release some of my aggression. When I'm in a fun, party mood, I listen to rap. The list goes on. My advice, find something you love, and use it.

FINALS....and Procrastination

Every semester is full of homework,tests, projects, powerpoints, and papers. At the end of each semester is what every college students dreads; FINALS. It always seems like I have a lot of stuff going on throughout the semester, until the last 2 weeks approach. Then I realize how LITTLE I had going on (atleast compared to what I have going on at the time). My biggest problem is that I am a procrastinator. I hold everything off until the last minute. I always think to myself, oh, I have time to do that tomorrow so I'll just work on it then. Tomorrow turns into the next day, which turns into next week, etc. Then it seems like everything hits me at once and I have so much going on that I barely have time to sleep. Dont' get me wrong, I definatly get all my homeowork and projects done. However, I add a ridiculous amount of stress onto myself that could be avoided if I just used my time wisely. I've been doing this since I was in 7th grade, so you'd think I'd learn by now and change my habits. Every year I say to myself, next year I'm going to do it differently. Then I start the new year/semester the way I should by using time wisely and getting things done ahead of time, but that doesn't last long. I easily and quickly slip back into my old ways. If you haven't gotten anything out of any of my previous advice, please, get something out of this. USE YOUR TIME WISELY..because it's not something you can get back.

Advising Week

Every semester, before a new semester begins, your school has Advising Week or Advising Day. This is your chance to sit down with your advisor and evaluate where you are in your program, and figure out what classes you need to take in order to graduate on time. Don't blow this off! If I wouldn't have met with my advisor, I'd be totally screwed. I transfered schools and a lot of my credits didn't transfer, but my advisor was able to over-ride a lot of my classes which allowed me to take certain classes that had prerequisites that I normally would not have been able to take. He also helped me put a perspective on what I needed to get done to get done with school on time. If it wasn't for him, I would not be able to graduate this Spring and attend Viterbo next Fall. Thankfully, he steered me in the right direction and I'm ready to accept my Associate Degree and head off to start my Bachelor's.

Books

One essential part of college are your text books. What you may not have been told, is that your books can be rather expensive! My semester, first year, of college I spend $850 on my textbooks! I later found on that I could have gone to HalfBooks.com and gotten them waaaaaay cheaper. The next year that I purchased my books, I used Halfbooks.com to buy all my books, rather than purchasing them at the college book store, and I only spent $300 on books. BIG difference, especially for a struggling college student. So for future reference, search around a bit before you buy your books. You can get used books that are in mint condition, for half or less of the price of it brand new in the store. You can use HalfBooks.com, Google, Amazon and more to search.

Freshman 5

Your Freshman year of college usually isn't the healthiest. Ever heard of the Freshman 5? Basically, the average Freshman gains 5 pounds during their first year. Why is this? The simple answer: The food they eat. Most students are not used to being on their own so they aren't sure how to cook nice meals or how to balance their nutrition. They end up eating out at fast food restaurants more often then they should, and since they are normally broke, they buy cheap foods. Unfortunatly, cheap foods like Ramen, Mac n Cheese, and hot dogs, are very healthy for you. So be wise and buy some healthy things like salads, fruits n veggies, and try to eat the proper things from the food pyrimad. If eating in the cafeteria, just pay attention to what you're picking out.

Facebook

If you haven't already noticed, social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter are getting huge!!! Businesses are beginning to spend more money on advertisements within these sites, and more and more people are starting to use these sites for communicating with friends. Having a Facebook is fun, and it's really good in establishing a large network, but you need to watch what you post. Companies are beginning to look at applicants Facebook pages to see how they "really are". If you post a bunch of pictures of you drinking, doing illegal things, or posting controversal things, you can lose out on a job opportunity. Be smart, and realize that you aren't the only person in the world with access to your page.