My Best College of Advice

     It's strange to think I hadn't even experienced college this time last year, but I'm no longer the graduating senior.  I do have many friends who are though, and they will be taking the step I just completed in a short while.  For their sake, and to memorialize my supposed wisdom, I'll take a blog post to share the college advice I have so far:

Things you will need but might not think of

1. Paper towels or napkins

2. Earplugs

3. Letters and stamps

4. A knife (No! Not for THAT reason!  For cutting my apples silly!)

5. A fan, two fans, three fans: however many it takes if they say there is not air conditioning.  Believe me: if that's the case, you can't have too many fans!

6. Sunscreen!  You don't want to be the wrinkly prune at your class reunions in 20 years.
7. Air freshener!  You're not really going to do laundry every week, are you?  :)
8. Stain remover- this is super helpful when its not plausible to throw in a load of laundry just because you got ketchup on your shirt.  You can still get the stain out if you've got some OxyClean or Tide-To-Go

Tips for College Preparation:
1. Buying books as early as you can means lower prices.  Just don't take the wrappings off until you are in class the first day.  Check out the website I used to purchase books, and highly recommend: Slugbooks.  It makes the process brilliantly easy!
2. Starting your packing list in June doesn't mean college will be there any sooner, it just means you will be prepared when it is.  Just keep adding stuff
3. Figure out when your roommates are moving it so you aren't all there at once.  I brought a crew of four with me, and thankfully, my other two roommates weren't moving at the same time.  Four in the room is plenty good when its 95 degrees in the dorms!
4. Set up times to talk to people you don't want to get out of touch with, but might not remember to chat with when things get stressful.  You'll look forward to those times, and not feel like you "have to" text your friend whenever you find the time.  Yes, text your friends, but plan ahead so you can have quality conversations too!
5. Look at what supplies you already have!  I'll admit, I'm super jealous of the "cutesy" rooms I see when walking down the hallway, but I speculate that all the extras cost a bit more than I spent.  My family is already spending a bit for my college education, I think I can sacrifice and reuse a desk lamp and some school supplies!


     I hope this was worth a quick read-- I promise, all these things will help you in your preparation and transition to college life.  While you can't control most of the new world you will enter, you can do a few things to make it a more enjoyable experience!