Homesickness

Homesickness is a real thing that many college students struggle with, just nobody likes to admit it. Homesickness is when a person misses the familiarity and security of home - they miss their family, their house, their town, friends, and pets. It usually happens when a student moves out of their home for the first time and goes to live at their new university. But honestly, any college student can experience homesickness at any age. Below are some symptoms of homesickness:

• Feeling down and depressed
• Thinking about family members at home often
• Wanting to go home whenever possible
• Crying for no reason
• Getting stressed out easily
• Having difficulty sleeping
• Lack of motivation
• Loss of confidence
• Depressive thoughts
• Frequent mood swings
• Nothing seems fun
• Nothing in life is positive

Here are some ways to cope with being homesick...

Stay in Contact with Family/Friends:

It’s ok to call your family or friends when you’re feeling sad. Sometimes, just talking to your loved ones can make you feel a little better.

Make New Friends:

Although you may not feel like it, make yourself meet new people. The more activities you get involved with, the more people you will meet and the more friends you will have. Always try to seek new friendships. Being around people can make your homesickness go away.

Explore the Place:

Get out and explore your college campus or town and see what it has to offer! Find something that you appreciate about your new location.

Don’t Visit Home Too Often:

This is what most people who are homesick want to do, but it can only make matters worse. Going back home too often will not allow you to adjust to life at college. So, make sure to stay in your new setting a few weeks before thinking about visiting home.

Invite your Friends and Family Members:

Have your friends and family come visit you, and show them around. It can be good to make memories with your loved ones in your new place.

Keep a Positive Attitude:

When you're feeling down, try to find something positive about the day. And always tell yourself, “I can do this!”

Seek Help:

If the homesickness is becoming unbearable, you can go talk to a counselor. Most colleges offer free counseling service for their students. Talking to a counselor can help alleviate symptoms of homesickness - a counselor can give you further insight on how to cope with it.

Make sure to give yourself time. Be patient with yourself as you are adjusting to life at college and know that you won’t be homesick forever. Eventually, your new setting will begin to feel comfortable and a little more like home. But don’t be afraid to ask for help if you’re feeling really down, and remember, homesickness is quite common, so you’re not alone!

Entertaining Websites

For those of you who get tired of looking at Facebook and Youtube in those minutes when you should be doing your homework, here are some new fun websites to check out instead:

Stumbleupon.com - Seriously, stumbleupon can keep you occupied for hours.

Theoatmeal.com - This website has funny comics and pictures.

Newsoftheweird.com - Features the weirdest news you’ve ever heard of.

Bored.com - Let’s you play mindless little games.

FMlife.com - Read hilarious accounts of what has gone wrong in different people’s lives.

Collegehumor.com - Pretty much says it all in the title.

Have fun visiting these sites, but don’t let them get you too distracted from doing your work! Ha. Good luck with that J

Laundry 101

There are many methods of getting your laundry done.  If you’re a guy, you can beg your girlfriend to do it for you. Or, can save it up to take home during a break to overwhelm your mom. Or you can learn to do it yourself!

If you live in a dorm, you’ll want to save up all the quarters you can because chances are, the washers and dryers are coin-operated.  You need to purchase some laundry detergent.  You don’t need anything expensive, although brands like Gain always smell nice. Liquid detergent is a little easier to work with.  You can also purchase fabric softener, but the dryer sheets are the easiest to use.

First on the agenda, empty all of your pockets. Pens, money, and lipstick left in a pocket can be a recipe for disaster. Second, check the tags on clothes to make sure that you can machine wash and tumble dry.  If the tags say any else, take them home at break and ask your mom for help.  Third step: your clothes need to be sorted by tones and shades; darks, lights and whites.  Remember to keep the load sized small to medium.  If you put too many clothes in one load – not only will it stress the machine and possibly not spin out excess water during the spin cycle, your clothes will not be clean.  So sorting 101 . . . jeans, dark blues, greens that sort of tone goes in one pile.  Pinks, light blue, other lights go in another pile.  All white go in a third pile.  Sheets will usually go with whites or lights.  Wait for a break to wash your comforter at home.  If you veer from the advice on the sorting, you could end up with a load of pink whites or some other catastrophe.  Remember, for a new article of clothing:  if the colors are pretty bright, rinse it in a sink to get the color to run out of it first or it will run over all the rest of your load!

The washing machines usually have instructions written on them somewhere.  If not, it’s a great way to make new friends.  Many a budding romance has begun in the laundry room.  Put your clothes in the washer.  Pour a little less than the recommended amount of detergent over the clothes.  (Again, do not try to overstuff the washer with your clothes! Bad idea.  Take it from one who knows) Put your quarters in the slot, if needed.  Select cold water for darks, warm for lights and hot for whites.  All machines take different amounts of times to go through a wash cycle – so you if you head back to your room or out for a jog, you can be pretty sure the load will be finished within 40-50 minutes.  If the laundry room is really busy, someone may remove your wet wash and throw it on top of a counter somewhere.  If you forget it, it may be fair game for anyone looking for a cool new  t-shirt, or it can also end up smelling really rank if it sits around wet. 

After removing your spun out wet clothes from the washer you can pile them into a dryer.  Some dryers take a while, so again make sure you’re back to check on your dryer within about 40 minutes.  After this, you can either stuff them all back into a bag to take back to your room, or take a few minutes to chill out and fold each article of clothing and make your mother proud. 

Not only will these laundry skills help you to gain independence, confidence and appeal, but you will smell good, look good and feel pretty darn good about your newly acquired skills.  Good luck!

How to Pull and All-Nighter

Every college student will at some point, experience an all-nighter. That is, studying like crazy before a test or writing a 10-page paper the night before it's due. It's not the best strategy to get work done, but sometimes, it's necessary. Here are some tips for how to pull an effective all-nighter:

1. Plan what you are going to study or write. Make a little schedule for yourself.

2. Sit upright in your chair.

3. Make sure you are alone. It's easy to get distracted by other people. Also, don't listen to loud music. Playing classical music is a better idea. Classical music is soothing and not as distracting as other types of music.

3. Keep the temperature in you room cool. Warm temperatures will make you feel sleepier.

4. Don't drink coffee. Too much caffeine will make you feel jittery and hyper. Instead, opt for water or chocolate milk, which contains just the right amount of sugar and caffeine.

5. Have a light snack. Eat something with protein in it to fuel your brain.

6. Take a 10 minute break every hour to stand up, stretch, and walk around. But don't get distracted by Facebook!

7. If you're studying for a test, and when morning comes and the hour of the test is close, take a 30 minutes nap. Getting a little sleep before the exam will help what you just learned sink into your brain a little. But remember to set a loud alarm!

8. After you take your test, eat a big breakfast and go to sleep! Your body needs it.

Now that you know how to pull an effective all-nighter, don't make this a habit! It really is not the best way to study or write a paper, but sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures.

Eat Healthy

College can be known for causing students to gain unwanted weight. With so many unhealthy food options at our fingertips, sometime eating the wrong kinds of food is just easier. But, with a little self-discipline, there are things you can do to maintain a healthy diet and a healthy weight. Here are some nutrition tips:

1. Do not skip breakfast. Many people assume that skipping the first meal of the day will help them loose weight. But it could actually do the opposite. Our bodies need fuel first thing in the morning to get our metabolism going. When we do not eat breakfast in the morning, our metabolism will remain slow, and a slow metabolism = weight gain. So, eat your breakfast!

2. Eat healthier snacks. Instead of chips, candy, crackers, and other starchy foods, try snacking on nuts, dried fruit, raw fruit, popcorn, or rice cakes. Also, try making your own trail mix. You can mix cheerios, raisins, nuts, and m&ms together for a sweet and salty snack. Homemade trail mix is much better for you than pre-packaged, store-bought trail mix.

3. Eat less. The easiest way to loose or keep off weight is to eat smaller portions. Limit yourself to only one helping and make sure that each portion of food is no bigger than the size of your palm. This may be hard, but after a while, your body will get used to eating smaller portions.

4. Eat whole-grain bread. Whole-grain bread is better for your body than pure white bread. White bread is starchy and contains extra sugar. Whole-grain bread contains fiber, essential fatty acids, and magnesium.

5. Get 2-3 servings of fresh fruit and veggies everyday. Fresh fruits and veggies contain so many nutrients that are wonderful for our bodies. So, pile them on!

6. Drink more water. This is a huge thing. So many people drink soda, juice, or energy drinks as their way of staying hydrated. But these drinks will make you thirstier because the sugar they contain makes your body use up more water. Besides that, the sugar can cause unwanted weight gain. And diet soda is not any better for you than regular soda. So, drink water. It will flush toxins out of your body, help you loose weight, and it’s good for your hair, skin, and nails.

7. Eat protein. If you get hungry often, make sure you’re eating enough protein. Protein can be found in eggs, meat, cheese, whole grains, fish, and nuts.

8. Chew gum. If you have a hankering to snack on something, popping a stick of gum in your mouth can quench your snacky urges.

So, in a nutshell, eat breakfast, eat fruits and vegetables, cut down on the sugar, drink water, and eat protein. It can be difficult to eat the right things sometimes, but in the end, it will pay off. After all, you are what you eat!

Dorm Room Necessities

Dorm room living is something that every college student should experience. There's just something about learning to live in such a tiny, cramped space with another human being. I think it builds character. While dorm living can be a little uncomfortable at times, there are things you can do do make it more manageable. Here are some basic items that every college students should have in their room to make living in that tiny space more bearable.

Plastic storage drawers: You can buy them from Walmart, Target, Big Lots, or the Doller Store. Plastic bins really help clean up the clutter and can give you more floor space in the long run because you can store so much in these babies.

Small Refrigerator: some colleges dorms already provide these, but some don’t. A small fridge is a must for dorm living since you can store snacks, drinks, and left over food in it.

Microwave: Once again, some college dorms will provide them, some won’t. If you think you’ll use one for warming up soup or TV dinners, making popcorn, etc, then get one.

Beds heets: You need at least two different sets of bed sheets, and make sure you change and wash your sheets at least every two weeks, no less. Bacteria, bugs, and all kinds of unidentified objects can begin to appear in your bed sheets if you go too long without washing them.

Dishes and Silverware: Plates, bowls, and silverware are nice to have handy for those days when you don’t feel like trekking to the dining hall and instead want to dine in. Plastic dishware is fine for dorm living since it's affordable and won't break when dropped.

Floor lamp: If you don’t like feeling like your being interrogated with the bright, concentrated light of the overhead, you can switch on your floor lamp instead. It gives the room a nice ambiance. (You can buy one for as little as $7 at IKEA. Note: IKEA is a great place to purchase your college essentials. They have awesome prices!)

Shoe hanger: Instead of piling all of your shoes in your closest, under your bed, in a basket, or simply scattered around the floor, invest in a shoe hanger, the kind that has pockets. This will clear up a lot of floor space. (You can buy one for $15 at Target)

Clothing hangers: Buy as many as you can! Hanging up most of your clothes is a nice option because #1, when getting dressed in the morning, it’s easier to find what to wear when your clothing is waiting for you on nice little hangers rather than balled up in a drawer, and #2, your clothes will get less wrinkled.

Wall Art: this is what really makes your dorm room feel like home. Buy posters, make your own wall art, make paintings or drawings, rip pictures out of magazines, do anything you can to add some kind of art to your walls. This will add a nice personal touch to your room and make it feel more like your own space. (Check out this website for affordable wall art: http://www.allposters.com/)

Brita Water Filter: For those of you who drink water like crazy (like me) invest in a Brita Water Filter. That way you can drink from the bathroom faucets but the water will be clean and filtered in your Brita Water Filter. (You can buy one for as little as $10 from Walmart.)

These are just a few basic things that make college dorm living a little more manageable. Check out several stores to see where you can buy these items for the least amount of money. As I stated earlier, IKEA is a great place to start. If you an IKEA store nearby, I would definitely recommend shopping for most of your college items there since they have just about everything you need.

What's Your Learning Style?

Everyone has a specific learning style that effects how they take in information, study, and perform during a test. Knowing your learning style will be extremely helpful to you as a student because you'll understand how you personally process information. Then, you can alter your study habits to fit your learning style, which will help you become a better student.

There are three basic styles of learning styles: Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic.

Characteristics of the Visual Learner:

• Is good at remembering faces but forgets names.
• Needs quiet study time.
• Has to think awhile before understanding lecture.
• Is good at spelling.
• Likes colors & fashion.
• Understands/likes charts.
• Usually detail oriented.
• Needs to be able to see the instructors face/body movement to learn.

Suggestions for the Visual Learner:

• Make lists like crazy.
• Take notes in class.
• Watch videos on YoutTube to further understand a subject.
• Color code words in your notes or textbook.
• Re-write your notes.
• Flashcards are your friends – take time to make them.
• Use highlighters, circle words, underline.
• Sit near the front of the class – you may dread this, but it will help you.

Characteristics of the Auditory Learner:

• Likes to read/speak to self out loud.
• Is not afraid to speak in class.
• Is good at explaining things.
• Remembers names.
• Enjoys discussions/debates.
• Easily remembers lines/quotes from movies.
• Is good at grammar and foreign language.
• Reads slowly.
• Follows spoken directions well.
• Can't keep quiet for long periods.

Suggestions for the Auditory Learner:

• Use word association to remember facts and lines.
• Record lectures.
• Describe aloud what is to be remembered.
• Participate in group discussions.
• Use audiotapes for language practice.
• Ask questions.
• Avoid auditory distractions – don’t study with music on.

Characteristics of the Kinesthetic Learners:

• Likes and is good at sports.
• May talk fast and use hand to communicate.
• Can't sit still for long.
• Is not great at spelling.
• Good internal compass for finding their way around.
• Does not have great handwriting.
• Studies with music on.
• Takes breaks when studying.
• Is fidgety during lectures.
• Studies effectively laying on floor or bed, fidgeting, tapping fingers or touching objects.

Suggestions for the Kinesthetic Learner:

• Study in short blocks.
• Study with others.
• Use memory games.
• Use flash cards to memorize.
• Engage in hands-on activities.
• And it’s actually ok to tap your foot or finger while in class, just try not to distract others too much.

Try to figure out what type of learner you might be and then alter your study habits to fit your learning style. It may really help you in the long run. J

Shopping On A Tight Budget

When it comes to shopping, you don’t necessarily have to pay the big bucks to look good. It is possible to shop and buy stylish clothes without breaking the bank. Here’s what you do:

1. Get online or look through magazines for the latest styles of the season. Take note and make a list of a few clothing essentials that you want to purchase. 

2. First, try shopping at thrift stores like Goodwill, Salvation Army, and Plato’s Closest. Yes, these are second-hand clothing stores, but you can find some nice clothes (that are in style) for really cheap. You may have to take a little more time to hunt for clothes you like, but it'll be worth it in the end when you find out how much money you saved.

3. Also, try shopping at off-price stores like TJ Max, Marshalls, and Ross. You can find name-brand clothing and accessories for great prices. These types of stores purchase overstock clothing from big brand-name stores and then sell them for half-price. It’s a great deal.

4. Buy only what you need or really, really want. If you think you won’t be interested in an item of clothing two weeks down the road, don’t bother buying it. It’s smart to stop and really evaluate what you’re about to buy so that you don't waste your money.

5. Set a price limit for yourself and don’t go over it. Before you walk into a store set a limit for how much you will spend… like $40 for example. If you set a limit it can actually be easier when choosing clothing to buy because you’ll know what you can and cannot afford.

6. Also, for those of you who may be embarrassed to tell people that you shop at thrift stores, here’s what you can do: look at the label on the item of clothing and find out what store it originally came from. When people ask you where you got your shirt, you can say, “It came from Express”, and you won’t necessarily be lying J

Happy shopping!

College Clubs and Organizations

One of the many things that I love about attending a big university is there’s always some way to get involved on campus. Many universities offer a number of club and organizations for their students to get involved with that range from sports clubs, to theatre clubs, to academic clubs, and so on. Most universities have clubs that cover just about any interest you can think of. 

Getting involved in a club on campus is probably one of the best things that a college student can do. And here are the reasons why:

#1. You get to meet people and make friends! If you’re a freshman or transfer student, getting involved in a club is a fast and easy way to make friends. There’s also nothing wrong with joining a club your senior year! When you join a club, the chances of making new friends are inevitable.

#2. You’ll feel like you belong somewhere. And who doesn’t want that? It’s nice to feel like your part of a group.

#3. It looks good on a transcript/resume. Some clubs or organizations are prestigious enough to go on a resume or transcript, which is always a plus.

#4. You might get to travel! Many clubs, especially sports clubs, travel around the state and sometimes the country.

#5. You get to help others. Some clubs/organizations focus on doing volunteer work. Helping others is a great way to spend your time.

#6. You get to develop or continue a skill/interest/hobby. Clubs usually let anybody join no matter their talent or skill level, which means you're free to give a few different clubs a try!

Now, joining a club or organization may seem a bit daunting. Like, where do you start? Easy. Most colleges have information about their clubs and organizations on their website. You can usually find information about them under the student life category. The club info page should list all the information you need to know about joining the club. 

So, if you're looking for a way to make some new friends or develop a skill/interest/hobby, go join a club. You won't regret it!

College Students Need Sleep!

Sleep.

This word is so appealing to college students like myself. We love the thought of getting any extra sleep that we can get. So many of us are walking around campus exhausted to the point where we are catching our z's in class! (HINT: This does not score extra points with the teacher.) But honestly, no wonder we are all so tired... I mean, who wouldn’t be after spending endless hours taking in information - sitting in classes, listening to lectures, reading textbooks, writing 10-page papers, not to mention hanging out with friends until 3:00 in morning? College life can wear you out, man. 



 So, as educated students, we need to be smart about our sleeping habits. We have to take care of ourselves so that we can be functioning at our best every day. It's critical that we get adequate sleep every night. Researchers have found that students who get at least eight hours of sleep every night have higher test scores than those who get less than eight hours of sleep. This is because sleep is good for our brains! It improves our memory. But that's not all. Here's what else sleep does for us...

1. It reduces stress




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2. It helps keep extra weight off - during sleep, the body produces more leptin hormone, which keeps the body from gaining extra weight
3. It’s good for our health - the body makes cytokines during sleep that help the immune system fight infections
4. It’s good for our skin and hair - the body rejuvenates during sleep
5. It lifts the mood!

Try getting at least eight hours of sleep every night. Why eight? Because the body completes two complete REM cycles within eight hours and this is the “magic” number that our bodies respond best to. The more REM cycles your body completes, the more rejuvenated it is. So, for those of you who like to go to bed at 3:00 am but have to wake up by 7:00 to make it to class, try going to bed a few hours earlier. You’ll be amazed at how much more awake you feel during the day. Also, taking a power nap every afternoon has proven to increase alertness and can help you catch up on needed rest. And get this: a 20-minute nap is all your body needs. Researches have actually found that people who take a twenty-minute nap feel more rested than those who take a 2-hour nap during the day. This is because, with a 2-hour nap, your body dips too far into the REM cycle and it is harder to wake up. But with a 20-minute nap, your body is getting just the right amount of rest it needs to feel recharged.

Also, are you having trouble with falling asleep every night before bed? Here are some tips to help you feel more sleepy before bed in the evening…

1. Get some exercise during the day; this promotes restful sleep during the night.
2. Don’t take two-hour naps. The longer your naps are during the day, the less you will sleep at night. You disrupt your body’s natural sleep schedule by napping for too long during the day.
3. Go to bed at the same time every night. Pick a good time to go to bed. If it’s at 11:00, go to bed every night at 11:00. Your body will get used to this time and will naturally begin to feel sleepy around 11:00.
4. Don’t take a hot shower before bed. A hot shower will only wake up your body more.
5. Stretch. Doing yoga or gentle stretching relaxes your body.
6. Keep the room dark. Our bodies sleep best in complete darkness. You can even buy a sleep mask to block out light if necessary.
7. Don’t do school work on your bed. Train your body to view your bed as a place only for sleeping. If you read or study on your bed, your body will begin to think of it as a place to do work and not to sleep. So, read or study either at your desk in your room, or better yet, the library!

BOTTOM LINE: DO try getting 8 hours of sleep every night, even if this means going to bed earlier than you normally do. Also, DO take power naps - they help recharge your body during the day.

So, here's to getting more rest!

Sources: psychologytoday.com