As my first year at a university comes to an end, I can easily say I have learned a lot about life and school overall. I would now like to share with you all some of those random thoughts and bits of knowledge I have acquired over these past two semesters.
1. Programming on a netbook is annoying.
A desktop, a desktop, my kingdom for a desktop! I actually have my main computer with dual wide screen monitors on campus with me, but 9 times out of 10 I am programming on or using my 10″ netbook for the convenience. Hell, I am actually writing this article on an iPod Touch right now!
2. Buy a good pair of shoes.
My first semester here, I had bought a new pair of Vans which lasted me a whole week before they started falling apart on me. By the end of the semester, I had ruined a brand new pair of shoes by just walking around. Suffice to say I got some new shoes which are doing much better.
3. Organize and schedule EVERYTHING!
Seriously, stick to a schedule for homework, studying, and sometimes even fun. I keep tabs on everything I do and it is the only way to really keep things in order. It isn’t easy to juggle homework from 3 classes, projects, reading, and studying for exams without a piece of paper to write all the stuff down.
4. Take care of your health as a priority.
This one may seem pretty obvious, but it very easy to forget all about your health(Mental, Physical, and Social) when you are going from class to class every day. Make sure you keep your hygiene good as well, that TOO is easy to forget about. Nobody likes convention funk, especially when you are no where near a convention. The topic of health leads me to my next two points…
5. Say good bye to sleep!
Well it was fun while it lasted, but this whole sleeping thing has gone on for far too long and this past year has taught me the true value of a good cup of coffee.
6. De-stress often.
If you don’t take time to force yourself to relax, you will drive yourself insane. I know I have personally brought myself to the edge of sanity, so I played some violent game to help take my mind off of wanting to strangle the exam I am studying for. It may seem counter productive to take time out of studying and being productive, but consider it an opportunity cost.
7. Lecture halls are hot and smelly.
There are some serious problems with lecture halls and regulating temperature. During the spring, it can go from snowing one day to being 70F outside, so they just turn off the AC and heaters. Add 200-300 people into a room and that is a recipe for an oven. As for the smell, see point 4 for my thoughts on hygiene. Only you can prevent making a lecture hall smell like shit!
8. You WILL grow tired of free pizza.
When I first started here, I was amazed; every club that met had free pizza. They were handing it out as I was walking through the student center, pizza was everywhere! By now, I am so sick of pizza, I won’t actively seek it any more. I know if I wanted it, I could join clubs and snag free pizza every day but at this point I only have it once a month and I am perfectly fine with that now.
9. I miss my dogs so much 🙁
I will see you two little guys very soon ok?(Yes I am including this in case my corgis learn to use the Internet and read. See picture above)
10. All of the hard work, expenses, headaches, and bad times have been worth it!
At the end of the day, I am glad that I am here. Moving out has been an invaluable experience for me and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I still wish I had free home cooked meals and a comfy bed to sleep in though.
Regardless of what I have learned thus far, I am still new to this whole real life thing, so who knows what I will have learned a year down the road!
Also, sorry for not posting more. School has been killing my time!
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