Did You Get Your Classes?

I can’t even begin to express how important the day you get to pick your classes for the next year is. You see, this small act of typing a few numbers into your computer has the ability to control your happiness for entire the semester to follow. It may seem to you that I’m making this whole process out to seem much more crucial than it truly is, however, this is no exaggeration.

The moment you pick your classes, you are determining countless aspects of your life. You have to take into consideration what time you want to wake up, when you want to have lunch, whether or not you want to have breaks between your classes, how much homework you can handle each week, what your major requires you to take, how late you want to have classes until, how the professors you are choosing teaches, and (last but certainly not least) whether or not you can find a way to avoid Friday classes. Unfortunately, even if you can manage to make the perfect schedule, tending to each of the above factors, you still have to pray to the schedule gods for your classes not to fill up before you get to sign up.

The day of picking you schedule is the worst. You find yourself constantly looking at the clock, counting down the minutes until you can log into the program (which, by the way, makes the time go by even slower). Also, you can’t stop yourself from constantly checking the seats available list; just to make sure that’s there’s still room for you in your classes. If the number is smaller than the last time you checked then you freak out because some how you have rationalized that the last 12 seats are going to fill up in the next 15 minutes. Even worst, if the number is the same as the last time you checked than you begin to wonder how long it has been since the list was updated and you start to question whether the class has been filled.

But, on the bright side, if you manage to overcome all of these obstacles you may find yourself with Fridays off, time to each lunch, and a lot less stressed out than some of your friends.

11 Days Left!

With only eleven days of classes left before my summer vacation begins I don’t know whether to rejoice or crawl up in a corner and cry. While I’m sure that you can think of a few reasons why I would celebrate the near completion of this countdown, you may be questioning why the second option I listed has crossed my mind.

Let me break this thought concept down for you. Eleven days of classes can be broken down into about four more meetings of each class, four more papers (each a very import element of my GPA), two more presentations (both weighing heavily on my grades), a model of one of my designs, and the completion of all of my wood fabrication projects (which have all yet to be finished). To top it all off I also have to fit in enough time to adequately study for each of my finals. See, eleven days is a very short period of time and a seemingly endless amount of work to be done.

Today I managed to ease some of my stress by making a very detailed schedule of the next few weeks. While this deed brought me relief by making it clear that it is possible for me to complete all of these assignments, it also made it clear that free time is not a luxury I will be enjoying for some time. While I’m thankful that after a few days of hard work I can look forward to three and a half months of vacation, it still stung a little when I had to decline the invitations I was given to go to the movies and beach today.

Not Again!

The worst thing about procrastinating here in the dorms is that usually, when you’re ready to work, the internet isn’t. It’s hard enough to motivate yourself to get stuff done, but when the internet is down on top of that, Forget It!

I can’t even express the feeling that you experience when you try click on the Internet Explorer icon the night before a paper is due only for the “Error Can Not Connect” screen to up. The event is actually quite similar to that of being pulled over by the police. It’s the sudden realization that you got caught rushing something that deserves your time and concentration. As your heart drops to that uncomfortable position between your stomach and your butt, a million things run through your head; I should have know this would happen, how bad are the consequences going to be, what kind of excuse can I come up with to get me out of this situation, why me, maybe it won’t be that bad.

You would think that were college students, were smart kids, we should learn from these experiences. Next time we won’t wait until the last minute to write or reports or story. But sadly, it doesn’t work like that; as silly as it is we would rather risk the stress of experiencing such a catastrophe in the future, than do our work ahead of time.

Different Rooms for Different People

When you walk into someone’s dorm room, you never know what to expect. Everyone chooses to decorate their room differently, depending on what kind of atmosphere they work the best in or feel the most comfortable living in.

One of the most popular way students choose to decorate their room is by surrounding themselves with their past. It’s not often that I walk into a room without a single picture of the resident’s family or friends from home. Sometimes you even find their walls covered from top to bottom with these types of photographs. These sorts of people usually have some kind of scrap book in or on their desk, made for them by a loved one to remind them of all of the good times they had and that there will always be someone around to support them. Also, sentimental knick-knacks and stuffed animals are never hard to find.

Another common theme is the present. Some students choose to decorate their walls with pictures they have taken with the new friends they have made in college, and memorable quotes that they feel should never be forgotten. In fact my wall has the construction paper title of “That’s What She Said..” and is covered with random things my suitemates have said that I found unbelievably funny for one reason or another. These rooms also posses their fair share of mementos from those unforgettable times had with their new friends.

Finally, you have the rooms which are decorated just to look good. Covering their walls with the most up-to-date posters and most stylish fabrics, these people want their room to look good at all times. These are the types of rooms that when you walk into their beds are always made and everything is in its rightful place.

No matter how a person chooses to decorate their side of the room, the second you walk in, you get a good idea of what kind of person they are.

Yay Summer?

As my spring semester comes to an end I can’t help but count down the days until summer. There’s only twenty more days of classes left! However, this year I find myself in a predicament I have never faced before. Do I look forward to the end of this count down, or do I dread it?

Tradition tells me I should be excited for the summer months ahead. Ever since I was little I have looked forward to this vacation from teachers and homework. Summer break has always been a time to hang out with friends, sleep later, and just be lazy. In the past, summer was always a symbol of freedom.

Unfortunately, this year, summer can actually be viewed as just the opposite. Yes, there is the fact that I will no longer have to worry about the stress of classes, papers, and projects, but I fear that my lazy summer days are long gone. All the friends I have become closest with over the past year are all going back to their homes hours away from me. Also, chances are I won’t be sleeping later because I’ll be heading into work way earlier than I ever had to wake up for class. And being just plan lazy is what I did in my dorm room! During the summer I’ll have to work my butt off in order to pay for this lovely college education I am receiving. Finally I think we can throw the idea of summer freedom out, considering I am about to move back in with my parents after living on my own for the past eight and a half months.

I’m not saying that summer will be all bad. I am looking forward to seeing a lot more of my boyfriend and family who I miss very much. It’s just that I’m going to miss a lot of the aspects of this new lifestyle I have been living, and even more than that I will miss the friends I have made who have managed to become, in many ways, my family.

My Sweet Suite

When I first moved into my suite early last September, I found myself living with some strange characters. Some of which I knew I would get along with, others who I thought I was guaranteed to butt heads with, and finally a few I may have given too much credit to.



I made my initial assumptions within the first week. I had decided that one of my roommates was a cool person who I would hang out with often, while the other lacked social skills and would hopefully move out as soon as possible. I thought that one of my best friend’s roommates was a nice girl but a little uptight while the other was gorgeous, rich, and very fun loving. I came to the conclusion that the girls at the end of the hall were slightly reserved, (which is expected to happen when best friends move in together) but they would become more comfortable with me as time went on. Last, but not least, after a few loud nights I decided that the girls in 409 were the party type and it wouldn’t be long until I confronted them about their disrespect for the people they shared a suite with.



As time went on I realized that some of my assumptions couldn’t have been further from the truth. Ya, I did become close with one of my roommates, but the other never moved out as I had hoped, however she did open up a little. I was way off when it came to my best friend’s roommates. The nice girl who was slightly uptight turned out to be very dramatic and moved out because she had had “enough” of us. Oh, and the fun-loving girl, actually turned out to be an alcoholic with more issues than I could have even began to imagine. The girls at the end of the hall ended up making more friends, but not with their suitemates. And then there are the girls in 409, I couldn’t love them more. They turned out to be some of the greatest people I have ever met.



After weeding out a select few, the girls on the fourth floor have become like a family. As the year winds down it has become an unfortunate reality that I will not be living with all of these girls next year. I will have to go through this entire process again, however any new friendships I will make in the future will never compare to the ones I had with the girls in my freshman suite.

Trade Ya

Living in the dorms makes it easy to find something to do other than your homework. However, sometimes it isn’t that simple to find something fun to do. Therefore, we have to resort to extreme measures.

Lately, I have noticed that some students are even willing to work on another student’s homework rather than their own. I am aware that this type of decision doesn’t seem to make much sense. I mean, why not do your own work if you’re willing to work? It’s just that, sometimes helping someone else with their work allows you to forget about your own stressful assignments. This is, admittedly, not always the best way to manage your time.

This afternoon I actually found myself editing one of my suitemate’s papers. I chose to put two hour of my time into her paper over writing this blog. But that’s not the worst of it, it wasn’t even her assignment, she was actually working on the paper for a friend! I guess when you break it down; I edit the paper of a friend of a friend because I wanted a reason not to do my homework.

Yet, I can’t say that I haven’t benefited from this extreme form of procrastination. In fact, just last night my roommate found it better to use her time quizzing me for my midterm rather than working on her lab. I think it’s clear that college students can be quite dumb at times.