college life Archives - Macarons & Mascara

13 Things Not Allowed In Your Dorm Room + What To Bring Instead

June 28, 2016Jasmin - Macarons & Mascara 4 Comments

things not allowed in college dorm rooms and what to bring instead

So it’s the summertime and one of the most exciting things about it is getting to go out and buy things for your soon-to-be awesome college dorm room! But more important than the fuzzy purple rug you’re going to have on the floor, or the TV and and gaming system you need to bring is the list of items you can’t have in the room. Paying attention to prohibited items can really save you money when dorm shopping, and it can save you from getting written up during room checks!

Of course, while most colleges have some standard prohibited items that they can agree on, there are still some items that may be permissible at one college that aren’t at another, so definitely please keep your specific college in mind. In any case, here’s a list of items that aren’t allowed in dorm rooms and what you can bring instead!

1. Candles

I know you want to add a little ambiance to the bland room, but it is entirely possible to get caught up in your daily life and forget to put out the candle. Unattended burning candles can start big dorm fires, which is why these are prohibited items.

Instead, bring string lights. String lights are an easy way to spice up your corner without going overboard. They’re really cute and can make the room look and feel just as cozy as it would with a candle. Keep in mind that some (but not all) universities also prohibit string lights — check with your RA or housing office to find out if the rules also ban string lights. If you can’t have string lights, you can hang paper lanterns (without bulbs in them). They won’t emit any light (so it’s dorm-friendly) and they’ll still make the room feel warm and friendly.

2. A space heater

I’ve had the experiences of dealing with very cold dorm rooms *shudder* during the winter. Unfortunately, if the rooms don’t come equipped with their own thermostats, there’s nothing you can do about the lack of heat other than file a report with an RHD or maintenance. Never bring a space heater if your college prohibits it because it can be knocked over and start a fire.

Instead, bring a thermal blanket. Thermals are relatively inexpensive and are great alternatives for keeping warm. It’s not a space heater but at least it’s also not a big, puffy winter jacket that you have to wear indoors.

3. An iron

Irons are super useful for straightening out the wrinkles in the button down you need to wear for an interview in the morning, but most colleges don’t allow irons in the dorm rooms because of the possibility that a user might forget to to shut it off and pretty much accidentally burn down the room. To combat this, some colleges actually allow irons that have an automatic shut off feature.

Instead, bring a mini steamer. Irons are clunky anyway. Mini steamers are really easy to use (I used one during my freshman year). All you have to do is fill it up with water, plug it in and wait for it to heat up, and run the steamer up and down the garment to get the wrinkles out. Yes, steam can burn you if you aren’t careful, but at least it won’t set your room on fire! *thumbs up*

4. Dumbbells & weights

In college, it can sometimes be difficult to find time to hit the gym for a workout, and having some equipment on hand so that you can squeeze in a workout while you binge-watch Supernatural in the comfort of your room is a great idea. Unfortunately, dumbbells and weights and some other strength training equipment aren’t allowed in most dorm rooms.

Instead, bring a yoga mat. You can still work toward some of your fitness goals without weights. You can use your yoga mat to get in your daily round of push-ups, sit-ups, leg lifts, and other exercises.

5. An air conditioner

The only way you can really have an A.C. in your dorm room is if your room comes with one already installed. Believe me, I know how wonderful air conditioning can be in a hot, stuffy dorm room in August. The good news is that even without air conditioning, you don’t have to put up with the heat until winter!

Instead, bring a fan. Even a small desk fan is really helpful! In fact, it’s easier to make space in an already crowded room for a small fan than a big one. Plus, the majority of the semester is during months where air conditioning isn’t really needed — August, parts of September, and, if you’re lucky, right before the semester ends in May are the only times when it’s a bit uncomfortable in a hot room.

6. Live plants or flowers

It may be your dream to decorate your future apartment with flowers, plants, and small, live trees, but this isn’t your apartment. Plants can be nice for therapeutic purposes, and for adding some aesthetic to a room (I’m actually considering getting little succulents for my dorm room next year!) I’m not completely sure why live plants wouldn’t be allowed (mess from the dirt? desire to keep nature outdoors? if they catch on fire they’ll burn like there’s no tomorrow?) but you probably shouldn’t have them no matter how home-y it’d make your space feel.

Instead, bring fake plants. They may not seem as therapeutic as the real ones, but if you’re just looking to make your room more attractive then you can easily do that using fake foliage. If you need live plants for therapeutic purposes, however, you can notify the housing office on campus so that you can be allowed to have live plants.

7. Hoverboards

Hoverboards have been banned in places beyond the college campus — restaurants, city streets, etc. They seemed like a cool, new way to get around, but they’re also really dangerous because of the fire hazard they pose. You’ve probably heard horror stories about Hoverboard chargers exploding or the product catching on fire; it’s a no wonder why they’ve been banned in some dorms.

Instead, bring a regular skateboard, or even a bicycle. Hoverboards are really just another way to easily get from point A to point B without walking, and you can do that with a regular skateboard (that doesn’t need to be re-charged!) or a bicycle (which will actually give you some exercise!) Some residence halls don’t allow you to store your bike inside your room, but you can lock usually lock them up in racks outside the building.

8. Nails/screws for the wall

Nails are super helpful for hanging pretty picture frames and other things. As much as you might try to think of your room as your second home, that excuse won’t fly with an RHD. You aren’t allowed to damage the walls in any way because other students will live in that room after you. It might be nice if dorm rooms came with pre-installed hooks or nails so that students and parents don’t feel inclined to take a hammer to it to hang a mirror or something, but until that happens you’ll need to put the hammer and nails away.

Instead, bring Command Hooks. They’re like temporary hooks on the wall for holding up important things — bathrobes, bath towels, jackets, scarves — without leaving holes in any walls. The one caveat I’d give when dealing with these hooks is to be very careful when removing them. There’s a little tab at the bottom for you to pull the adhesive out and remove the hook cleanly, but if you pull too hard and rip the adhesive, the hook will actually get stuck on the wall!

9. Wallpaper & decals

These are affordable ways to make your space cuter, but wallpaper isn’t allowed in many dorm rooms because they tend to peel off the paint from the walls. The university will bill you for damaging the room, and that’ the last thing you’d want to have to deal with!

Instead, bring personal photos and posters to decorate the walls with. You can easily put these up with painter’s tape (which won’t damage walls) and it’ll come off easily. Another fun way to dress up the walls of your dorm is to print out fun or inspirational quotes and tape those to the walls. You can use decorative tape to create pretty borders around them too!

10. Toasters, electric frying pans, microwaves

Toast in the morning sounds great, especially when you really want to do your best to have a filling breakfast before you start your day. Toasters and the like aren’t allowed because, like most of the stuff on this list, they can start a fire if they are left plugged in, turned on, and forgotten. I know people try to bring their own microwaves and toasters because they don’t want to go downstairs to use the communal kitchen, and I’ve seen people try to get away with some other prohibited items on this list, but this is a rule you DEFINITELY DON’T want to mess with.

Instead, bring a regular frying pan. You can go down to the kitchen and fry anything that needs to be fried or toasted, and you don’t even have to worry about getting caught for having something you’re not supposed to have. Just make sure you always turn off the stove before leaving the kitchen. As for the microwave, just use the one in the communal kitchen. It honestly isn’t that much work to walk downstairs or use an elevator.

BTW…I’ve also got some pretty awesome tips for cooking in college that will definitely save you so much time and grief!

11. Alcohol

Alcohol is prohibited if you’re under the age of 21. Some colleges even have designated residence halls that are substance free (I’ve lived in a substance free dorm for the past two years). These rules are so strict that they don’t even allow alcohol paraphernalia as decoration in the rooms.

Instead, bring soda, juice, sparkling water, or other non-alcoholic beverages. Just stock your mini fridge some of your favorite everyday beverages. I promise, you won’t get written up for having soda in your room!

12. Plug-in air fresheners

A nice-smelling room is great to walk into, but little plug-in air fresheners can actually cause big fires, and that’s not great to walk into. Hence, the reason why they aren’t allowed in dorm rooms.

Instead, bring a regular can of air freshener, or even one of those solid air fresheners. I’ve used a solid air freshener in my dorm room before and it kept the room smelling fresh until all the solid was melted. You don’t even need to remember to spray anything because it does all the work for you! Just throw it out when it’s all melted.

13. Water bed

I mean, the only reason you might want a waterbed is if you plan on having guests over in your room during the semester, but even so, waterbeds are difficult to maintain and can pop or leak in the room, which leaves a huge cleanup duty for the cleaning staff in the building.

Instead, bring a sleeping bag. This might not be the same as sleeping in a bed, but at least you don’t have to worry about your sleeping bag springing a leak. They’re really easy to store and carry — you can even take it with you if you plan on sleeping over at a friend’s dorm for the night. Plus, you’ll definitely be able to allow your guests to use it, and you don’t have to worry about it taking up any space in the dorm.

From one college goer to another, navigating dorm room policies can be a bit sticky, so I really hope you found this list of alternatives helpful.

What other dorm room alternatives do you have?

How To Leave High School With No Regrets

June 22, 2016Jasmin - Macarons & Mascara Leave a Comment

I’m not a super sentimental person, so I’ll just skip the whole ‘new chapter of your life,’ ‘best four years of your life,’ ‘leaving behind friends,’ ‘congratulations,’ stuff (because you’ll get enough of that at graduation and before you head off to college!) As you can tell by the title, I’m going to give you a few tips for walking away from those lockers, those hallways, and that cafeteria regret-free. Regrets don’t necessarily have to be huge screw-ups or major opportunities missed — sometimes we look back and think about that one small thing we forgot to do before leaving. These aren’t exactly life-altering, future-changing things to do, but they can make you leave high school feeling even more satisfied.

1. Add your favorite teachers on social media.

You don’t need to leave them all behind after high school. On Facebook, I friended a few of the adults from my high school that I really looked up to and really liked talking to in my free time. Later down the road you might find that you have a career-related question for them, or just need insight on a subject and they were the experts you got to know.

2. Do something you’ve always dreamed of doing in high school.

As long as it’s legal and allowed in school! I was a band geek and our band teacher has this tradition of letting two graduating seniors conduct the concert band during graduation. Since freshman year, I’ve dreamed of being one of the two seniors. Sure, I had some doubts because I didn’t want to accidentally mess up the beginning or fall off beat. So when he asked if anyone would like to tackle the job, despite everything inside me, I couldn’t bring myself to raise my hand. What a chicken. You only get one chance to do certain things, so make sure you take advantage!

3. Sit down for a conversation with your high school principal or vice principal.

My senior year was the year we got a new high school principal, and not many people cared to take the time to try to get to know him — they only cared that he was good-looking and so nice because he greeted the students at the door every morning. My senior year, I was able to sit down for a quick conversation with him, and I got to see pictures of his family, learn about his values in life, and I received valuable pieces of advice from him. I found that not only did everything he said resonate with me, but they were also great life goals to hold onto going forward. There are some wise words to be spoken in your high school, and they don’t all come from an English textbook!

4. Actually try to look good for graduation.

You don’t need to wear a super poofy Cinderella dress or the heels you wore to prom, but try to look neat and put together. I know a lot of people don’t care about graduation, but still try to look nice for all the pictures you’ll be taking later with your family and friends. Plus, this is literally the last time you’ll be in front of the entire graduating class, so you might as well show them how fabulously you’ll go off to college.

5. Don’t spend your last few days obsessing over the boy or girl you liked.

You probably aren’t going off to the same college as your crush, but maybe that’s for the best. Don’t think about countless ways to say goodbye to them, or how to ask them to hang out over the summer. Life goes on and you need to go with it. You’ll only be sad if you tried so hard to make that move and didn’t get to do it. Instead, have a good time with your friends and make plans with them this summer.

6. Wear your new college apparel to school one day.

Most high schools actually have a specific day for doing this, but if your school doesn’t or you missed it the first time, do it now! There’s just this great feeling of pride and accomplishment when you show off a university t-shirt or hat around the halls — it often tells people that you’re proud of the choice you made and proud of how you got there. And when you do this, take a picture! Don’t be one of those people who think they’re too cool to do this.

7. Take pictures with all your friends.

Take all the pictures you’ve ever wanted to! It’s nice to be able to look back at your high school self and your friends’ high school selves and see how much you’ve grown. It sounds cheesy, but personally, I wish I had taken more pictures of myself in high school because I barely have any that I feel shows who I really was in high school. Plus, this is a fun way to spend some time with your buddies!

Don’t walk away from high school without making sure that you’re really, truly satisfied with what you’ve been able to do in the last few weeks of your high school career. Even the little things count so don’t hold back!

How do you plan to leave high school with #noregrets?

A College Student’s Ultimate Guide To Resume-Writing — With Examples!

June 6, 2016Jasmin - Macarons & Mascara 2 Comments

So you’re in college now and, well, shit’s getting real. Like really real. Like, you need to find a part-time job or internship to gain experience real. One of your most valuable assets when applying for said job and/or internship is your resume, and truthfully, it can be really hard to write one! I’ve written and re-written my resume so many times this past year in college because every time I thought I had concocted the perfect way to show employers why they should hire me, I realized that no, I hadn’t — I was always missing something, and that something can really make your resume! So to help you not make the same mistakes that I did, here’s my little guide on resume-writing so you can totally land that position.

P.S., I may or may not also have a guide specifically about internships. Be sure to check out Part One and Part Two!

Use a simple and clean format.

Your resume really isn’t a competition to see which applicant has the best decorating ability. Even when you apply to really creative or expressive positions you shouldn’t try to add fancy borders and garnishes. I do agree that a very monochromatic resume can be bland, so what I like to do is add a single, colored line right at the very top underneath my name and contact info — like this:

Don’t mind the blue bars, they’re just there to hide my more personal info. My pink line is a nice break from black and white, and it’s really simple and doesn’t require much thought. It also nicely separates my name and contact info from the rest of my resume.

Put your name where everyone can see it (and know that it’s your name!)

See that? That is a very painful screenshot of my first resume *shudder* that I prepared for my college’s job fair. In case you were wondering, I did not walk away from that job fair with a job. My name and contact info are all formatted to the lefthand margin. I also included my phone number, my email address, campus address, and permanent address. As you can see, my email couldn’t fit in the tiny space so it took up two lines. Same goes for my addresses. This all just looks cramped and just NO. A lady at the job fair even had to ask me if that was my name up there in blue!

I highly recommend centering all your essential information. My name is written in big, bold, black letters where everyone can recognize it, and write under it I have my address, phone number, and email all in one single, convenient line that doesn’t look cramped in any way, shape, or form.

Stay away from fancy fonts.

And use fonts that are easy to read, too. Nothing on your resume needs to be written in any form of script, nor do you need bubble letters of any kind.

Keep your profile short and sweet!

You’ve probably heard that employers only spend about 30-60 seconds looking over your resume. While I can’t speak for employers, people probably say this with good reason! Make sure you get right to the point with your profile. It should essentially be a summary of your best qualities and what you hope to do with those qualities. Here’s mine:

So I basically described myself (diligent, fast learner, etc.) and said that I was looking to contribute my skills to a well-rounded team. Short and sweet! Note that my profile is literally two sentences long!

Make sure everything is READABLE.

I used to be under the impression that your resume should be one page or less. That actually applies to cover letters (which I already knew) but I was literally stressed about having a resume that continued on a second page. So to combat my worries I’d type all my words in size nine font. Never do this. Don’t sacrifice readability for space. Honestly, it just makes your resume look very cluttered and hard to read, and an employer would probably give up on trying.

Use bold face to set sections apart.

Where does your list of experiences end and your skills begin? Playing around with bold face can make sections stand out better for the sake of organization, neatness, and ease of access. This is what I did:

Now, I definitely should’ve made ‘Profile’ and ‘Experience’ black instead of gray, but that’s what happens when you use a resume template that comes with your computer!

Ah, that’s better. Another way I would try to improve this part of my resume is by going easy on the all caps. I find that all caps all over the place is a bit hard visually and not always appealing.

Really think about all of your relevant experience before you hit ‘send’!

This is probably the biggest reason why I had to keep revising my resume in between applications. I thought that my roles as an EIC, contributing author, college CERT member, and teaching assistant were the only things I should include. I completely forgot about the articles I had written for Thought Catalog, Thought Couture, and I had forgotten to list my social media experience as a Snapchat content creator, even though it was a one-time thing. Hell, I even forgot to list THIS BLOG as relevant experience! Even though I had only written one article for Thought Couture and two articles for Thought Catalog, they were still really excellent pieces of experience that I FORGOT to add earlier. Remember, you can’t hit ‘send’ on that resume attachment and then email the employer again like, ‘jk I forgot to add something.’

Be able to say what you did for each piece of experience in two sentences.

I know, I know, you want to really show potential employers that you learned so much from your past positions and you can’t possibly fit all your knowledge into a couple of lines. Honestly, try to save your learning outcomes for the interview. Use your resume to say exactly what you gave to your past organizations.

Bam. There you have it — exactly what I did as a Snapchat content creator. I showed that this particular project was for a major event, I showed that a major media organization trusted me to use their company’s social media tools, and I used adjectives such as ‘fun,’ and ‘informative’ to describe my work — all in just two sentences! Here’s another look at how I kept things concise:

On this version of my resume, I did NOT forget to mention the fact that I have a blog!

Don’t include any type of high school information.

I got this pro tip from a career advisor at my college’s career center. When I went to see her, I was a sophomore (no longer fresh out of high school) so she told me not to mention high school information. I didn’t even need to list the name of my high school under my Education section. Not even the names of my honor societies. You’re in college so you need to show what you’ve been doing in college. The only reason you should have for including high school experience is if you’re a freshman and don’t haven’t held a position during your college years yet.

Don’t include references on your resume.

This is also a pro tip from the career advisor (and a mistake that was written all over the first 30 copies of my resume I printed). If an employer asks for a list of references (at all), it would be after receiving your resume and cover letter. If you’re asked for a separate list of references, be sure to give your separate list the same format as your resume’s!

Include social media handles.

Yes, you can totally include your Twitter and Instagram handles on your resume…as long as they will help you and not hurt you! If your Twitter profile is full of curse words and content that employers wouldn’t consider professional, you definitely don’t want to include this information. I’m a journalism major and a lot of my tweets (almost all of my tweets!) are article links to my content and links to other extremely enjoyable articles I’ve found. I probably should’ve included my handle with my contact info…oh well next time! Likewise, if you’re seeking a photography or visual position, it would do you good to include your Instagram handle…as long as your Instagram contains quality photos that are representative of what you can offer the company.

Don’t be modest about your skills!

And don’t forget about some of the ‘basic’ ones like Microsoft Office and Google Apps (because I did at first!) It’s actually good to see that you understand and can use these updates. I also label this section as my ‘Skills/Credentials’ section because as I have gone through two years of college already, I have gained some certifications that would be great to talk about during an interview. This is also a good place to say what languages you’re fluent in, or have conversational ability in.

I like separating my skills using a semicolon. One thing I’d do differently in the future is tighten up my organization. I start off by saying ‘writes effectively’ then I get into some skills I’ve picked up, then somewhere in the middle I describe myself as ‘punctual,’ ‘effective listener,’ etc. It feels a bit choppy to me, so in the future I’d definitely put those ideas closer together.

Don’t bullshit about your skills!

When I wrote my first resume, I stated that two of my skills were HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I tried to self-teach HTML and CSS and I forgot half of what I looked at, and I had taken a college class on JavaScript (which I did terribly in). My rule of thumb if you’re not sure if something should be added as a skill is: if you need to essentially completely re-teach yourself how to do something, it shouldn’t be on your resume. If you get the position, you’ll likely have to use those skills ASAP so there’s no time for tutorials on YouTube. Needless to say, I got rid of those ‘skills’ from resume.

These are some of the things I’ve learned when crafting a resume that will make employers interested. Of course, I’m no professional resume writer, nor do I claim to be, but the great thing is that this is all spoken from my (good and bad) experiences!

What are your tips for writing resumes? Comment below or tweet them to me @jay_su_ using #macaronsandmascara

13 Tips For Cooking Meals In College

April 27, 2016Jasmin - Macarons & Mascara 1 Comment

Becoming an adult entails many, many things: filing taxes; doing your own laundry — those things. But we’re going to take baby steps here and backtrack to something that we should know how to do in life: cook meals. Cooking meals when you’re an on-campus resident who actually doesn’t have a kitchen just outside their bedroom door can be pretty difficult. As someone who has taken to cooking often, but does so in the communal kitchen in the basement, trust me, I know the struggle. But I think I’ve gotten ~~pretty freaking amazing~~ pretty good at cooking meals in college, so I’m going to give you some pointers that’ll put you on your way to cooking meals in college like a pro. You’ll completely forget that microwaveable meals even exist!

Search for recipe inspo. Gathering utensils and ingredients and walking all the way to the kitchen can seem pretty annoying, so find amazing recipes for delicious looking food to motivate you to actually cook! I like finding recipes and how-tos from BuzzFeed’s Tasty on Facebook. Because of Tasty, I’ve made garlic bread meatball sliders, fajita stuffed chicken and more! They definitely put creative (and even tastier) spins on meals, so they’re fun to make. Plus, you don’t need to be a world class chef to create their recipes; everything is easy to follow.
Assemble a ‘kitchen kit’. No, I don’t know if kitchen kits are actual things; that’s just the term I’m using to make myself sound more like a pro with tips. In any case, assembling your dorm room kitchen kit will help you keep all of your cooking supplies and most of your ingredients in one, tidy place, so your roommate won’t find bread bags on the floor, and you won’t have rice in your underwear drawer. The easier it is for you to gather your utensils and ingredients, the easier your cooking experiences will be.
Be prepared to wake up early to make breakfast. Don’t expect to have homemade toast, scrambled eggs and potatoes for breakfast if you aren’t willing to get out of bed and get things started! Cooking really does take time when you don’t have a kitchen at your fingertips, so you need to allow yourself enough time to make it down to the kitchen with everything you need, cook, cleanup and go back up. Also, be cautious of cooking in between classes and/or events. This past weekend, I thought I’d be able to make five pieces of stuffed chicken breasts in between taking a trip to Dunkin’ Donuts (for cookie dough iced coffee) and meeting with a friend to see Deadpool. Let’s just say I only had enough time to fully cook just one piece of chicken…
“All-in-ones” are typically a good purchase. You’re probably thinking, ‘what the hell do you mean ‘all-in-ones’?’ Quick story: This past weekend I wanted to make fajita-stuffed chicken (thank you BuzzFeed for making this my goal) and when I went home to do grocery shopping, I brought everything I needed back to my dorm, but realized when it was too late that I had forgotten all of my seasonings at home. Now, I’m not a fan of bland chicken, so I had to take a trip to grocery store to buy seasonings. I was looking to buy garlic powder, chili powder, cayenne, black pepper, and the like, which would’ve meant purchasing like four different bottles. We should all know by now that our daily goal is to make the best use of what little space we have in our dorms, and creating a collection of seasoning bottles on my desk just wasn’t happening. Lucky for me, I found a bottle of Trader Joe’s “21 Seasoning Salute” which includes, well, 21 different seasonings in one bottle! Purchases like these are a great way to save space and money while still getting exactly what you were looking for.
Mix your dry ingredients at home. If you insist on never, ever buying boxed brownie mix and instead baking explicitly from scratch…you might run into a few walls. I adore baking from scratch, but in college it’s hard because you’ll have so many ingredients to find a place for in that (once again) small dorm room. If you go home every so often, you can buy your ingredients and mix all the dry ones together and seal them in one container that can be taken back to college with you. Ta-da! It saves space and will still satisfy your made-from-scratch ego (it’s ok, I know I have one too).
Remember to defrost things (if they need to be defrosted). So the day I had planned to make the chicken, I went to Trader Joe’s in the morning and completely forgot to take the chicken out of my freezer to defrost. I returned to my dorm around two and had planned to start cooking in a couple of hours. Oops. Forgetting pre-preparation preparations like this can set you back big time. My fix was pretty quick (stick the chicken in a bowl of hot water) but it could’ve been worse if I didn’t remember in time!
Know common substitutes for things you don’t have or can’t buy. No eggs? No problem; use oil instead. Don’t have cornstarch? You can substitute flour. Sometimes recipes call for items that, in college, you don’t have ready access to, or just don’t want to accommodate for in your mini fridge. Cooking a meal shouldn’t cost you a finger and an arm, so using ingredients that you already have is a money-saving option so that you can still cook your favorite meals without creating clutter.
If it’s going to take a while, bring your work with you. I promise you will get bored standing in front of the stove, staring at your pot of pasta. There’s probably some type of homework or reading you can squeeze in while cooking, so use this time to be more productive. And if you’re cooking alone and need to run back up to your room to grab your books, TURN THE STOVE/OVEN OFF FIRST. Never leave a flame unattended because everyone will hate you for setting off the fire alarm in the middle of their nap or shower. Not to mention the fact that you could potentially start a fire in the kitchen. Better safe than sorry!
Always have dishwashing soap. I was running dangerously low on dishwashing soap, but then I was able to purchase more to wash my dishes. I know that not everyone uses soap when cleaning dishes, but it does help you get out those tough grease stains better — more so than water. Science fact of the day: soap has both a polar end and a non-polar end, where as water is only polar. This is why soap can fight grease and oil stains better than water can. So you don’t have to struggle to clean your dishes, which leads me to my next tip…
Always wash up after yourself. Okay, who else will eat food and then leave the dirty dishes on the table to basically rot for a week before they decide to wash them? Yeah, I’m majorly guilty of this. Try to break out of this habit by cleaning up after yourself as soon as you have dirty dishes. That’s because first off, when you need those dishes again, you’ll feel like washing them even less. Second, clean plates = clean conscience — yes, those dirty dishes can be rather haunting. And third, it’s common courtesy to whoever you live with; I doubt they want to see moldy plates on the table. Also, don’t leave dirty things in the kitchen because the people in your building will think that you have no home training.
Always have utensils on hand. When you need something the most is when you never have it, so make sure you always have forks, spoons, knives — even plastic ones, because you never know when you’ll need to dice peppers *ahem, me this past weekend.*
Be courteous to other cookers. The kitchen is for everyone to use, so don’t be rude and hog all the space! Always ask fellow cookers if they need you to make room, even if you don’t think they do because it’s common courtesy. Your cooking experience will be much better if you’re nice to people. Courtesy also includes not accidentally dropping pasta sauce on the counters and then leaving it there! You wouldn’t want to come down to the kitchen to find a mess when you’re about to cook, so down go down to the kitchen and leave a mess when you’re there.
Stock up on resealable bags and/or tupperware. When I didn’t have enough time to cook all five pieces of chicken in one go, I had to pack it all up and refrigerate/freeze it all again. Thank goodness I had resealable bags (because I certainly didn’t have tupperware!) You never know when you might have to pack it all up and postpone cooking for another day, so be prepared with methods of re-storage!

Do you have any tips for cooking in college? Let me know in the comments!

The Confused College Student’s Guide to Good Note-taking (Part 2)

March 2, 2016Jasmin - Macarons & Mascara Leave a Comment

So now you know which method of note-taking will survive the abyss that is your lecture hall of knowledge. Congratulations. But if you’re not yet sure how to select the fittest method of in-class note-taking for each of your classes, be sure to check out my previous post. As I was saying, so now you know that annotating lecture slides is your go-to note-taking method for that chemistry class, or typing your notes on your laptop is the best way to keep up during a history lecture. Now we have to take things one step further to ensure that you’re grabbing all the important info (a.k.a. stuff that will be on your exams) you need.

You rarely (if at all) get anywhere in life by cutting corners — looking for the easy way out, trying to skip the hard stuff. But when taking notes in class, sometimes you might want to trim the fat off of some edges. I’m pretty much talking about finding ways to make your note-taking easier, which includes learning how to write quickly and efficiently to ensure that you record only what’s important — that unnecessary fat can really weigh you down! So here’s how you can ensure you’re only writing down the necessary information:

Throw capitalization to the wind. You know how it’s just the law of basic grammar to capitalize the names of people, important places, states, etc.? Sometimes when I’m typing my notes I do this instinctively, but sometimes my fingers fumble on the keys when trying to hold the shift key and press a letter. This may sound stupid to you but it does happen and it does waste some time. Your notes are only for you — you aren’t submitting them for an essay contest! You don’t need to get caught up with capitalizing names of people, cities and the like.

What comma? Punctuation marks such as commas and semi colons are not crucial when it comes to note-taking. You’ll still understand your sentence without a semi colon, so doing away with this kind of punctuation doesn’t take anything away from your lecture notes.

Use ur abbreviations! Put your texting skills to good use in the classroom! Okay, actually, some people write out full sentences when they text, contrary to what many think, but that’s a story for another time. You’ve probably heard this ad nauseum at any school you’ve ever been to, but truthfully, abbreviating really does save you a lot of time when writing. Sometimes I instinctively write out full words when I could have used an abbreviation that would save me less time so I could focus on writing down other important points.

Arrows are more than adorable boho print. I like incorporating simple arrows (like this one –>) into my notes to show cause and effect relationships. It’s way easier than writing, “and this lead to the downfall of…” #timesaver.

Focus on points that demonstrate change. Demonstrating change over time, especially if you’re in a history class or other liberal arts class, is very important for exams and essays. I have a Professor who likes to give a lot of biographical information, which is cool and all (I totally want to know where George Washington got the majority of his teeth from) but I’m not going to write an essay about that! Looking for points that demonstrate change is a good filter to use when trying to figure out what to write down.

List equations in the margin. If you’re in a math class or chemistry class or some other class I find horrid (because I hate math) then you’ll be working with a ton of equations. Making a list in the margin of your paper specifically for equations will help you single them all out so you don’t have to keep writing them down every time the professor presents a problem with them. This saves time like you will not believe!

These few points are rather simple, but super useful! They’re great ways to effectively cut corners without taking away from your learning experience, and I’ve definitely found them to be extremely useful! Do you have any other methods for ‘trimming the fat’ from your lecture notes? Let me know in the comments!

The Confused College Student’s Guide To Good Note-taking

February 22, 2016Jasmin - Macarons & Mascara 3 Comments

Note-taking is essentially a ~~hated~~ part of college life. So would you believe that many college students – freshmen, sophomores, juniors, even some seniors – still have no clue how to take down proper notes for classes? In my last four semesters of college, I have practiced and witnessed many different methods of note-taking, because I’ve had many different professors with many different styles of lecturing. What’s more is that not every single one of my classes has been a large lecture hall with 500 students, so that contributes even more to my professor’s style of lecturing, and thus my method of note-taking.

Really, it’s kind of like a ‘survival of the fittest’ sort of thing – only the better adapted methods will survive (and help you survive!) I’ll walk you through the methods I hail as ‘the best’ for taking good notes, because I believe in helping out my fellow college-goers. You can totally thank me by telling everyone you know about my blog! (Just kidding…but not really).

For the lecture hall with 300+ people:

This was one of the first classes I experienced when I first started college. It was a general chemistry class and the lecture hall was huge, though admittedly not the largest lecture hall I would have a class in. It may be easy enough to succumb to our beloved high school habits by whipping out the looseleaf and pencil (which is exactly what my first instinct told me to do) but here’s why this might not be the most efficient way to take notes:

The professor will likely move very quickly. He or she has, like, 50 powerpoint slides of material to teach to hundreds of students in one sitting, and usually within about an hour to an hour and a half. So don’t be surprised if your professor doesn’t do you the courtesy of spending even close to five minutes on every slide.
Your handwriting may become a little…unrecognizable as handwriting. At some point during the scramble to write down every single thing written on the slides, your notes might actually start to look like a bunch of squiggly lines on a piece of paper. Unless you are fluent in the reading and writing of the squiggly language, this won’t be very helpful during your ~~cram~~ study session.
You might lose stray pieces of paper. Sometimes even the most organized people have a bit of trouble keeping their heads on their shoulders, and things might get misplaced. Wouldn’t it suck to have an entire page of biochemistry notes go missing right before a midterm?

Solution:

Type your notes on a laptop. Most people can type faster than they can write, so the fact that your professor spends exactly two minutes per lecture slide won’t be as big of a deal, and you won’t have to break as much of a sweat to get important details down. Plus, there are no stray pieces of looseleaf paper that can get lost, and you will always be able to understand the font you use in Pages or Microsoft Word.
Pro Laptop Tip: Type your notes in Google Drive. This semester, I realized that typing my notes in Google Drive is easier than typing them in Pages or Microsoft Word. You will have your Google Drive documents anywhere there’s a computer, and everything you do in Drive saves automatically, so you don’t have to worry about losing 11 pages of unsaved notes because your laptop shut down mid-sentence. Plus, some universities give you an unlimited amount of free storage space. I also found that using Google Drive to take my notes allowed me to keep everything really organized because I can see all my folders laid out right in front of me.

For the professor whose lecture slides are mostly images and diagrams:

You have to pay particular attention to these classes. The lecture slides may only have images of people or objects or whatever, but the professor may be saying a mouthful while on that one slide. Don’t let the simplicity of the powerpoint fool you! These kinds of classes don’t really allow you to skip on taking notes and just look at the slides on the class webpage later – you won’t know what the hell the pictures mean later! I actually have a professor like this right now, and I prefer to actually know what his lecture slides mean at the end of the day. I mean, don’t expect to study a picture of Samuel Adams’s face and know all about his role in America’s journalistic history. Still not picking up what I’m putting down? Here’s how this kind of class can really screw you over:

You have nothing concrete to study. You literally cannot rely on images and charts to do well on your exams for this class. Your professor probably wants you to think that you can but, believe me, it’s not going to happen. You still need to take notes for this class because, like I said, when you go to your class webpage later because your professor considerately posts the useless image-heavy lecture slides, you’ll have extremely little to no recollection of what was even discussed in class.
This style of lecturing requires you to have a sharp ear. I suck at auditory learning. Even if I’m trying to pay really keen attention to what I hear, I still won’t be able to retain as much information as an auditory learner can. If there’s very little to no text on the lecture slide, you can bet your Starbucks iced vanilla latte that pretty much all of the crucial points are coming from the professor’s mouth.
The images should be supplements for what you write down. I’m somewhat of a visual learner myself – somewhat – but even so, I still only like to use images as supplements for written notes. I will definitely draw accompanying diagrams because I know they will help me better understand the material, so you can’t completely discount images in lecture notes. So if you can’t discount them and you can’t rely solely on them, what the hell do you do!?

Solution:

Print out and annotate your lecture notes. This is my favorite method of note-taking for any class! If your professor posts lecture slides before class, printing them out beforehand and annotating on the sides is an efficient way for you to focus on what the professor is saying (the important stuff) rather than getting caught in the crossfire of diagrams, talking and all that confusing nonsense. Plus, your attention can only be divided in so many ways. With this method you can focus on the professor speaking and still be able to refer back to the images later on!

For the class that’s basically like high school:

This is the class where the professor handwrites everything on a chalkboard and you sit there and either type it all on your laptop or jot it down in your notebook. I call this the ‘like high school’ class because these classes – even if you go to a college with 20,000+ students like I do – are usually smaller with about 30 or so students in them – just like the good old high school days! I’ve had a few of these classes now and in the past. My Italian class from freshman year was like this and the law class I’m currently taking is like this, too. Many college math classes are like this, though some may have that large lecture hall component.

Even so, you can’t really go wrong if the professor lectures like this because now you have the ability to match the professor’s writing speed rather than lagging behind and cursing under your breath. You can’t really go wrong with this kind of class. The only caveat I have to offer is…don’t get used to this. Not all of your classes are or will be so forgiving when it comes to note-taking!

Hopefully I have brought you a little closer to note-taking success. Remember that this is only part one of my Confused College Student’s note-taking series! Stay tuned for part two, and let me know in the comments what kind of college lectures you’re taking and how you take notes for those classes!

10 Lessons I Learned Two Weeks Into The Spring Semester

February 8, 2016Jasmin - Macarons & Mascara Leave a Comment

This weekend concluded my first two weeks back for the spring semester of college, and let me tell you, I’ve already learned quite a lot and not just from my lectures! I’m always writing about lessons you can learn from your experiences, as you might have read in my post about things I learned during the fall semester. I wasn’t really expecting to do a pot on lessons learned this early in the semester, but a few things worth mentioning definitely came up – for good or bad!

There is no shame in dropping a class. There’s this one class in particular that I’m currently enrolled in that I thought would be a cool elective for my minor, but it turns out that, due to the set up of the class and the teaching style of the professor, getting a good grade will be extremely difficult for me – even if i strain every brain cell I have to my name. I really should have dropped the class before the deadline because dropping a class after the deadline has passed would result in a ‘W’ on your transcript. Now I’m left with a miserable class for the rest of the semester that I need to somehow find a way to pull things together in. I mean, I could have walked without any collateral damage since there was no required textbook for the class and I’ve only dedicated my time to a couple of lectures. But I guess it was either my stupidity or my personal pigheadedness talking, convincing me to power through it. FYI, there are very few times when you shouldn’t listen to your gut telling you to ‘power through’ something and this is one of those times!
‘Only’ taking 12 credits isn’t such a bad idea. If I had dropped the previously mentioned class I would have been taking a total of 12 credits this semester – just enough to be a full-time student. I admit that this is where my pride got the best of me (and totally kicked my ass, too). I guess there was just something about settling for the minimum that I’ve never liked (if you haven’t already guessed, I grew up as that irritating little overachiever). But if taking 12 credits meant that I wouldn’t be swamped with work and filling every minute of my schedule with a new task or meeting then I should have just swallowed my pride. And to think that I had wanted to take 22 credits, keep my job as an editor, plan a TED Talk, stay on the emergency response team and keep writing for a magazine!
Don’t be so quick to buy or rent a textbook. Last semester, I began the wonderful act of renting my textbooks instead of buying them, because who doesn’t love saving money? This semester, I kind of went all rent-crazy and automatically sought after cheap rents…until my friend – who is in like half of my classes – told me that he just borrowed the required textbooks from our school library – free of charge. You can’t even begin to imagine how many times I kicked myself for not thinking of that! Even though I was able to rent my textbooks for relatively cheap, I still spent a total of 100 dollars for all of my classes when I could have spent extremely little to nothing if I had attempted to borrow the books from the library. Well, now I know the importance of being more frugal and a little stingier with my money!
Actually, don’t be so quick to obtain textbooks in any way. For this one journalism class, I rented, not one but two, textbooks only to find that even though they were ‘required’ texts, we didn’t need to have them because the professor doesn’t plan on using them much at all. I heard this with my own ears. The professor actually encouraged us to refer to the PDF version of the online textbook (which is free) for times when she will actually use the text. That’s another reason why I’m learning to not jump the gun when it comes to textbook gathering. It may be a bit of work but I think hunting for PDFs and borrowed texts will be much easier on your wallet!
Your closet should contain at least one fancy party dress. A few days ago, I got a Facebook invite to this on-campus Masquerade Ball and I was pretty excited to go. The only thing I had that was even remotely close to how you should dress for a black tie kind of event was a short, fitted black dress with white polka dots. I paired this with tan boots and a red handbag and headed to the dance with my friends. It didn’t take long for me to feel like my wardrobe choice wasn’t my best call that night, but it was what I had. You’re probably wondering, ‘what girl doesn’t even have an LBD in her closet?’ Well, now I know the importance of a nice LBD, and I will certainly begin my search for one ASAP. College events that require formal dress don’t happen often, but they aren’t nonexistent.
Stay a million miles away from sick people. I am literally coughing and sneezing my brains out as I type this. My cold medicine has been my BFF for the last few days and I’ve given up on homework assignments and readings because I literally (and I absolutely mean this) cannot. Stay the hell away from people who don’t have the decency to cover their coughs when in close proximity to other individuals. Yeah, I know that getting sick is a natural thing and it happens to everyone, but if someone clearly doesn’t make even the slightest move to protect others from catching whatever they have, then you better make damn sure that you protect yourself from whatever they have. I just experienced firsthand how much of a struggle it is when you have 450 pages of text to read, articles to write and edit and a quiz to study for while you have snot dripping down your chin and your lungs in your throat. Life is much easier if you can avoid the common cold.
Submitting crappy work will make your life harder. So for that class I mentioned before, I had a lab assignment due this weekend and I really tried to use the resources to the best of my ability. I even sought extra help and resources but to no great avail. Even though I knew parts of my assignment were done crappily, I had a headache and my cold just wasn’t cooperating with me, so I submitted the lab the way it was. Not too long ago, I received a message from my professor telling me that I should resubmit the assignment. Yep, I deserved that. I had felt as though I had no choice because I was in terrible shape and was pressed for time, but even coming back to the assignment later when I’d (hopefully) feel better would have been a better option. Haste makes waste, so do things right the first time around and you won’t have to bear the consequences.
Even when you can sleep in, don’t. Sleep is such a wonderful, precious thing, but it can really eat up your time! On some days, I start class in the afternoon and I always make a list of everything I’m going to do before the start of my class, but I take my dear sweet time to wake up and get dressed in the morning, which always throws my schedule off. In the end I always angrily roll my eyes as I storm out of the room to start my day because I know that I should have been out the door at least an hour ago. If you got your eight hours for the night, it’s high time you get out of bed and tackle the day. Believe me, I always fall victim to a nice, toasty bed in the dead of winter, but when you have things to do, you want as few delays as possible.
Laziness is no excuse to stop taking care of yourself. This is going to sound really bad, and I definitely do know better, but sometimes I’m too lazy to go through my entire facial care routine before going to bed so I just take off my makeup and hit the hay. That’s it. Without a doubt, this has delayed my skin’s progress and never fails to make my face feel crappy every time I put my cheek to my pillow. There is absolutely no excuse for not taking care of yourself, at least no valid excuse.
You don’t have to be top dog in every little thing on campus. I like to be part of every little thing because I enjoy getting involved and meeting new people and making friends. I feel like I have a lot I can contribute to whatever organization I lay my creative little hands on, so naturally I’m a go-getter. At the same time, this doesn’t mean that I seeking to conquer basically everything on campus is a good idea! Being careful of biting off more than you can chew is something I’ve always warned others of and have always tried to warn myself of. For the most part, the responsibilities I held last semester just carried over into this semester, so things were already set for me. I really only took on one new task (planning the TED Talk) and everything else (aside from my schedule) stayed the same for me. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t half-dying with everything right now. Knowing when to step back and be content with what’s already on your plate can really conserve your energy (and sanity). There’s nothing wrong with not wanting added stress!

You can probably say that these are lessons well-learned, because I certainly won’t be making the same mistakes twice! I’m currently working on ways I can combat whatever mishaps I can because doing nothing is way worse than trying and failing. Please let me know what you think and also what your new semester experiences have been like by leaving a comment below!

What College Actually Did To My Sleeping Pattern

January 5, 2016Jasmin - Macarons & Mascara Leave a Comment

College can do some…interesting…things to a person. Maybe you were once a slob but after a few years of being forced to learn how to conserve every ounce of precious space, you picked up what you were lacking in the organization department. Or maybe once upon a time your outfits were always on point but college has introduced you to the beauty of wearing your pajama pants to class when you just don’t give a rat’s behind. For me, my sleeping habits have been altered in an interesting way.

I was always used to waking up early. I wouldn’t call myself a happy early bird that sings with the bright morning sun (to be honest, sunlight annoys me) but waking up early and getting my butt out of bed and on my way to getting dressed for school was a normal thing for me. While my high school peers complained about waking up ‘early’ at 7:30am for class at 8:20, I always took pride in shutting them down by adding that I got out of bed at 5:30am to leave the house an hour later.

It’s rumored that 8:30am college classes are the absolute worst, but I thought I was up to the so-called ‘challenge.’ This past semester, though, due to the availability of some of my classes, I ended up with days when I didn’t have my first class until 1pm and then no class at all on Fridays. It was a relief knowing that I had class late in the day because for me that meant that the night before I could stay up as late as I’d like to do assignments and study. Plus, because I took a lot of evening classes this semester, I was usually more free at night to do work. Going to bed later than I was used to nudged me to wake up a little later.

I also found myself sleeping in later than normal because I had a little extra time in the morning. Okay, more than just a little extra. Previously, ‘sleeping in’ to me used to mean waking up at 9am. After this semester, it got to a point where waking up at 11:30 in the morning on weekends and on those glorious 1pm class days became ‘sleeping in.’ I cringe a little at early morning classes and do my best to avoid them because I learned that it actually feels kind of good to not wake up with the birds.

But then I brought that habit home with me for winter break and that’s when it actually hit me that this was something that I developed. All those years of waking up early like it was my job turned into sleeping in, which now seemed so easy. Is this just a habit or is it a bad habit because of the misconception that millennials are lazy and I’m basically adding fuel to the fire by sleeping in? I surprisingly don’t know where I stand on my feelings toward this change. I have just come to realize that college forces us to adapt in interesting ways. Besides, I would assume that someone with the opposite situation would become accustomed to waking up early and thus it would now be easier for them to do so. If we pay attention enough, we might find more changes and different habits forming.

I truly do wonder if I’ll be able to get back into that once-familiar grind of waking up annoyingly early. Maybe. College, after all, is full of push factors that can influence any aspect of our lives.

What’s your idea of sleeping in?

7 Surprising Lessons I Learned During The Fall Semester

December 29, 2015Jasmin - Macarons & Mascara 1 Comment

7 surprising things i learned fall semester

It’s that time of year again – the time of year when we can rot our brains on Netflix, wake up as late as we’d like and breathe a sigh of relief (unless you failed, like, half of your classes and still haven’t told your parents yet!) This is probably the second greatest time of year – after Christmas and the holiday season, of course. I’m talking about winter break. I actually took my last final just over a week ago and, might I add, it felt ah-mazing to walk out of there knowing I won’t have to touch another chapter of Java programming for (probably) the rest of my college career.

After finals, some of us were probably at that stage where we contemplate everything that went on during the fall semester – just before hitting the grief stage where we wonder what could have been if we had just gotten up for class every morning like we promised ourselves we would at the start of the semester. Looking back at my fall semester, I can definitely say that I’ve learned a few lessons that you can’t be taught in the classroom.

Your quiet, comfy room can be the worst place to study. My room used to be my ultimate sanctuary – at home and away at college. I could get anything done in my room no matter how much attention the task required. But then my mini fridge filled with delicious food happened. Then my warm bed in a cold college dorm happened. Then the tiny piece of paper on my desk that wasn’t bothering me at all but I felt the need to get up and throw it out happened. Simply put, my dorm was just the perfect breeding ground for distractions. I found my new favorite study spot: the Starbucks at my college. In my opinion, it’s the best place for me to study and get things done. The dim lighting actually doesn’t make me want to fall asleep because I’m not a fan of bright light (I’m basically a vampire), there’s light noise that isn’t overwhelming and I’m not inclined to get up and do things for no reason. Realizing this helped ensured that I didn’t just squander the free time that I had.
Saying ‘no’ to a friend is a little easier than we might think. Fun fact about me: I tend to look at a situation from all possible perspectives in order to determine the best course of action. I’m pretty much a really reasonable person. This being said, it boils my blood when I can see that someone is being completely unreasonable – especially when it’s a friend! I don’t appreciate having to work hard to be where I am and then someone else purposely slacking off and literally expecting me to make their life easier. Um, no. You’re barking at the wrong tree, buddy! I’ve had my fair share of saying ‘no’ to friends this semester, and it is actually easier than you might think it is. I know you don’t want to disappoint that person because they’re, like, you’re bff, but saying ‘no’ isn’t the end of the world. Honesty is the best thing you could give someone and if they don’t appreciate it or insist on putting you in an unreasonable situation, they can find a new friend (but they probably won’t find one as good as you are because you’re awesome!)
Asking questions can sometimes lead to more than just answers. Quick story: I had been reading articles from a completely cool platform called Odyssey and I wanted to know how their open submission process worked. If I was able to submit an article and have it published on their site I’d be super psyched! Now, I know that you 8 times out of 10 will not receive a response when you contact sites through email and such but I decided to take a chance on this. A quick response lead to a phone call, which lead to me becoming the Editor in Chief of the newly established Odyssey branch at my college! I truly expected nothing as amazing as this to happen as the result of a simple email. It just goes to show that you don’t lose anything from asking a simple question. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Staying connected to people is a big responsibility. I met so many cool new people this semester who I really would like to get to know better and become friends with, but to be honest, that’s actually a lot of work. When you have your own classes to worry about, meetings to attend, articles to write and edit and a full staff to manage, any amount of free time you have would like to be spent watching Orange Is The New Black on Netflix, or even just sitting in your bed scrolling through Twitter. Sure, I have tried to grab dinner with some people sometimes (because we all have to eat, of course) but even then, we all have very different schedules. I took a lot of evening classes this semester so when some peoples’ days were ending, mine were just getting started. Sadly, it seemed as though my social life could only accommodate my immediate friends even though I really wanted to make new friends.
Netflix can be kryptonite – even for the best of us. I never understood when people talked about being “addicted” to Netflix. Just stop watching and get your butt up and do some work, I used to think as I rolled my eyes at my friends who were seemingly complaining about nothing. But then, I got into a few really good shows – I mean, really good shows. And when I wasn’t doing work I wanted to pick back up where I left off on Netflix. I never imagined that I would be that person because I have always been extremely studious and never let things get in my way. Yes, Netflix is a cool way to chill, but you’re picking a very deadly poison if you can’t control yourself long enough to realize that you might have an exam you need to study for. Might.
Everyone should stop believing in multi-tasking. I used to think that I was great at multi-tasking, no matter what I was doing. I have literally, in the past, baked cupcakes while cooking dinner, listening to music, helping my brother with homework and doing my own assignments. Easy-peasy. Piece of (cup)cake. But then in college, the work got more intricate and therefore required a more fine-tuned focus, in some cases for an extended period of time. I realized that I could not write a 10-page paper while scarfing down pasta and listening to Katy Perry. I mean, I could, but that’s just not the most efficient way to do things. Sure, you might be killing two birds with one plate of spaghetti, but truthfully, the more divided your attention is, the lower your performance on your tasks will be. Yes, eating food does require attention. Yes, listening to music does require attention. Focusing on one thing at a time made my life way simpler!
Everything happens for a reason. Another quick story: When I realized early this semester that I wanted a career in writing, I went to the job and internship fair at my school (every single one of them) in order to seek an on-campus writing job. It’d be a great way for me to get my work out there, learn some new things and practice. I applied for many positions but there was one in particular that I had really wanted. The position consisted of a student writer producing articles about technology at our school. Awesome! I felt I was a very strong and versatile writer so I applied and, plus, the woman who would have been my boss seemed very impressed with what I could offer. A week went by and I hadn’t received any response. I emailed the woman (thank God for business cards) and I was told that the position had been given to someone else. I was sad but I pushed forward. That’s when my story from #3 happened – Odyssey. I was psyched to be an editor. I had the complete power to hire new writers and oversee everything. One day I received an application from a girl and, wouldn’t you know it, it was the same girl who got the writer position I had wanted a few months earlier! I was now her boss! Wow. I was stunned by this interesting twist of fate. So you see, not everything will work out on the very first try, but that doesn’t mean we should stop trying. Things happen for a reason – and often, really amazing stunning jaw-dropping reasons!

What’s your idea of sleeping in?

What did you learn this semester?