Staying Organized in College

It’s a strange concept but in college you are having the time of your life but it’s also one of the most stressful times as well. Managing everything that you have going on can be a challenge.

This semester, I am taking 16 credits along with working and being an assistant director for a student organization I’m involved with. And obviously I like doing other stuff such as running an anonymous blog and watching Netflix. It’s a lot, but I have found a balance.

Being in my second year, I do have some perspective that helped with the process. You really learn a lot in your freshman year of college. Here are some things that I am doing that are helping me to stay on top of things.

Wake up earlier.

I have earlier classes in comparison to last year, so naturally I have to get up earlier. But I have found that even though I am not a morning person, waking up at a time that will allow me to not rush is the best way to start off my day. I get up between 6 and 7 a.m. every weekday morning. I try to give myself approximately two hours between when I wake up and when my class starts on my earliest days.

Manage your time wisely.

The weird thing about college is that you feel like you have so much free time but really no time at all.

I try my hardest to take advantage of the free time that I do have. When I have a larger gap between two classes, I start work for another class. I could take a nap or perhaps watch YouTube videos, but I realize that I need to have my priorities straight. Note that it is important to not overwork yourself and it is totally fine and good to take a break every so often.

Set yourself reminders/Keep a schedule

I honestly don’t know where I’d be without my planner. I am constantly whipping out my planner and adding important dates and assignments down. It really helps to have a visual of both my short term and long term schedule. And if you don’t think that a physical planner is for you, there are other options. Simply adding important dates into the calendar on your phone will help you so much. There are also several planner app options. Find what works best for you.

Have a place for everything

Having a set place for all of your things will help you better keep track of them. I have a file cabinet with files for all of my important documents such as banking and medical papers. I also have a drawer extra school supplies and another that has different medicines and a first aid kit. If you keep all of your things in their correct place, it won’t take a long time to find them and that way you don’t have to waste precious time looking for it.

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I hope that this post was helpful! Organization is really a crucial component of being successful during the academic year, as well as the rest of the year and life in general. I hope your year is fantastic!

Thanks for reading!

{Meredith}

Fall 2016 Semester!

I am officially done with my first week of my sophomore year of college! Time sure seems to be flying by.

For my fall semester this year I am taking 16 credits

• French 202
  •  I tested into French 201 for my freshman year. At the time, I was considering doing a double minor in French and Public Relations. Now I’m just doing the Public Relations minor, but I still love French and French 202 is the last standard language class they offer so I figure I may as well take it. After 202, it’s linguistics and poetry/literature basically. The class seems pretty standard and a girl that I took 201 with is in the class so I’ve already made a friend which is nice.
• Women’s Glee [again]
  • I took Women’s Glee in my second semester of freshman year and fell in love with it. I really missed singing and performing I did theatre in high school and I really enjoyed the class. You’re allowed to take it up to I think 8 times and it’s only a credit so. . .We have a different conductor this year so that should be interesting! She was the assistant conductor last year and I really like her. I’m singing second soprano I sand first alto last semester but I have a wide range so I can hit a lot of first soprano notes as well but I’m most comfortable at second soprano.
• Social Studies
  • This is a general ed class and it focuses on the Americas. I chose my specific section because it has a focus of indigenous peoples in the media over the course of history. I think it should be a good learning experience. I can tell already that there will be a decent workload, not hard work but just a lot of it.
• Communication
  • Well, obviously I’m taking a class for my major. This class is an “Introduction to Organizational Communication”. . .I think that would mean that we’d be focusing on communication in the workplace but what do I know? Looking over my syllabus, I will be taking notes in both lecture and recitation and there is a group project along with individual assignments.
• Public Relations
  • This is the last prerequisite for applying for my minor and I’m excited to apply for that at the end of the semester. The other PR class I took focused on writing, and this one is about the principles regarding it. My friend Joy took this class and from what she told me and what I’ve read about it, I think that I’ll gain a lot of knowledge from it. The only downside is that it’s an 8 a.m. Last year my earliest class was at 10:20 so this should be torturous interesting. The professor also is a CEO of his own company he teaches part time so I’m sure he will have a good insight on the profession!

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Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!

{Meredith}

Meredith’s Awkward Life S2E1

Hello lovelies! I’m not even through with my first week of classes but of course I’ve managed to found myself in an awkward situation okay more than one but I can’t write about all of them because there would be too many and besides only so few can make the cut.

I hope you enjoy! Stay tuned for more and if you want to read my previous awkward stories, here you can find season one of Meredith’s Awkward Life!

{Meredith}

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I am living in a new dorm this year, with new roommates as well. I really like my roommates already; things are so much better than they were last year.

Anyway, so of course I know people that go here besides my friends. . .

On the day we moved in I was walking around and I saw a guy and realized I knew him from somewhere and then it clicked that we had been a bunch of our high school freshman classes together and he ended up moving away and I hadn’t seen him since.We will call him Parker. Of course I didn’t say anything, but then I saw him again, but he still was too far away to say anything. Plus, I didn’t even know if he would remember me.

Fast forward to a couple of nights later, I was chilling in my dorm with another girl from my floor. We will call her Kathy. I was super sweaty and gross due to the temperature and the inadequate air conditioning there are currently two giant fans on in my dorm right now. I also didn’t have any makeup on and my hair was in a really messy bun.

I was over by my bed getting something and all of the sudden I hear boys’ voices. I then realize that they’ve stopped at my door and I hear them ask if we want to play cards. I come to the door to see Parker and two other guys standing there.

I immediately say “Hey Parker,” and realize how far I’ve stuck my foot in my mouth when I see the look on his face. I then go into full panic mode and explain that we had a bunch of classes together and gave a condensed history of our friendship and such. Thankfully, he remembered after I jogged his memory and he was able to remember my full name and some other stories. We then quickly went over some other people from our class that now go here as well and different updates on them.

I felt kind of bad that his two friends and Kathy were there just totally out of the loop.

But, on the bright side, this story does have a nice ending. I had to decline cards because it was already late and I had an 8 a.m. lecture the next morning and I was already exhausted. But he told me his room number he lives in the same dorm and to come over sometime and stuff.