6 College Necessities for the New Freshman

In the next few weeks, some of you will be headed to college for the first time! I remember my first few days at school, it was so exciting! My parents dropped me off the morning of move-in day. My dad hauled all of my stuff into my room and my mom helped me make my bed. I met my roommates for the first time and our parents exchanged numbers in case of emergencies.

Before I got to college though, I enjoyed stocking up on stuff I’d need there. I wish I could go back and give myself a few hints as to what I needed and what I didn’t. Believe me, I spent a lot of money on things I never even ended up using (besides textbooks). Here’s six things that I wish I had known to buy my freshman year.

1. Room diffuser- You can’t burn candles in your dorm usually but you’ll still need something that smells nice
2. Watch- So old school, right? Wrong. Wear a watch during the day to be on time for classes and other activities. Plus, if you have strict professors, cell phones will be a no-go in class. You’ll need something to make sure the time is actually passing and the clock isn’t at a stand still.
3. Coffee tumbler- Do I really need to explain this one?
4. Agenda- Whatever you do, don’t rely on your phone to keep things straight. Writing things down helps you remember them.
5. Dorm shoes- The floors in your dorm will probably be hard and cold. Keep your feet warm and cozy with some slippers that have fur on the inside and tread on the bottom so you don’t slip (I’ve done that).
6. Pencil case- My boyfriend laughed when I told him about this one. I didn’t use it just for pens and pencils, I put everything in there- loose coins, lip gloss, mascara, basically anything I didn’t want rolling around in my backpack that I’d have to dig for.

For my post-college readers, leave a comment about your college must-haves!

Liz Morrison, BA: I Finished Undergrad

Today is a day that’s been four years in the making. Today I submitted my last assignment of undergrad. I’m done. In May, I’ll walk across the stage to receive my diploma, shake hands with the chancellor, and then continue walking straight into my future.

It’s crazy how fast the last four years have gone. I don’t know where the time went honestly. The last thing I remember is packing up my stuff to move on campus and now all of the sudden, I’m a bachelor’s degree holder. I started this journey back in August 2010 when I was just a kid on campus trying to figure out where the heck my classroom was. I can’t believe what a dork I was!

After all this time, I’ve grown so much. College turned me into an adult. It taught me how to think, write, feel, respond, engage, and so many other things. Most importantly, it taught me that no matter how difficult something is, it’s never too difficult to overcome. Some of the most challenging days were when I had to juggle my full time internship with my course load. I often wondered if that would be the day I just gave up and quit. As you might have noticed, I didn’t give up!

The experiences I have had showed me new things about myself I didn’t know. They showed me about life and how things change and progress differently than you might have expected and planned for. More importantly, these experiences created great memories and life isn’t worth living without them.

I gathered a few photos from the last four years to commemorate this day I have worked so hard for. Hope you enjoy them!

Finals Week Study Session Checklist

Last week and this week I’ll be preparing for my final exams in my final semester of college. This time of the year is exhausting and full of sleep deprivation. I have a paper to work on right now actually. It’s usually about finals week when I find a new show I have to watch on Netflix or a hobby I find interesting. Anything to distract myself!

In true college kid fashion, we sport our sweatpants and a Starbucks coffee cup every day of the week leading up to when we take our finals. There are always a few who found ways around this or even prepared months in advance for these all-important few weeks. These are the same ones who look at you perplexed when you say you’ve barely slept all week and have been eating easy mac and cheese at least once a day.

For your convenience, I’ve included a checklist of things to bring with you to the library for your 8 hour study sessions:

• Highlighters
• Spare notebook paper
• Index cards
• Fine tip pens
• Antioxidant enriched teas to keep your immune system healthy
• Motrin for headaches
• Tissues for your emotional breakdown
• Earbuds
• Chargers
• Small blanket because the library is always cold
• Carryout/Delivery menu for late night cravings
• Cheap pair of reading glasses to use when your eyes start to strain
• Protein Bars
• Travel mug
• Textbooks

How I’m Paying Back my Loans Early

Today is the last warm day of the season I’m thinking. While parts of Minnesota got 40 inches of snow, my hometown in Maryland sported a breezy 68 degree day with abundant sunshine. Towards the end of my afternoon I noticed the breeze was getting a bit brisk for my taste. I don’t do brisk. I do warm breezes and sunny days. As much as I adore mittens, warm coats, Ugg boots (I know, so tacky), and PSL from Starbucks, I just prefer 75 degrees and a shorts and hoodie combo. How chic, right?

In my efforts to embrace the coming holiday season, I splurged at Starbucks and bought their new Chestnut Praline Latte and a snowman cookie. All I can tell you is to try that latte! I’ve never had a drink from there I enjoyed so much. The cookie, eh, well it was made in a factory far away from here and doesn’t have that home-made sugar cookie taste. But, hey, it’s sugar. I’ll take it!

This time of the year I enjoy window shopping and taking a look around stores to see what Christmas-y things they have on their shelves. I have the worst time restraining myself. Today, I think I did rather well. I’m trying to save money for after my graduation when I have to relocate to who knows where. Spending money is so easy, making money is next to impossible. In my endeavors to do the latter, I found a few freelance writing gigs. Now, if I could only get people to respond to emails faster then I know I would be on the fast track to getting out of the red.

Speaking of getting out of the red, if you’re like me you have some student debt to pay off from college. I’ve always wondered how on Earth I would be able to pay back every cent I owed to the government, but I’ve found a clever way to do it that I bet you’ve never heard of. It’s called FundUcation.com and this website hooks writers, marketers, designers etc. up with short-term freelance work with small businesses. The cool part is each time you get paid for a job the money you make goes directly towards your student loans. When you sign up, the website will ask for your lender’s name and your account with them. After you get your first job done, the payment will sync with your account and pay back some of your loans. The jobs don’t pay thousands, but they do pay up to $100. I talked to the founder of the website, Chris, and his vision was to make paying back student loans easier and faster.

There are so many brilliant people out there and I’m working my hardest to be one of them. Do any of you have clever ideas on how to make money? I’d love to hear them. Comment below and share with your besties!