1. Make friends with the people on your floor. You may find that the girls across the hall are your friend-soulmates.
2. Don't microwave red solo cups. Just don’t.
3. Do your laundry every week. If you don’t, you’ll end up looking like an idiot while you drag your overflowing laundry basket all the way to the basement.
4. CLEAN UP YOUR HAIR AFTER YOU SHOWER.
5. Take advantage of your dorm’s events in the lobby. Even if it sounds weird, like “The Do's and Don'ts of Sex," there is ALWAYS free food.
6. Learn to take the stairs. Don’t expect to eat meal plan food and not gain a few pounds.
7. Regularly clean out your refrigerator. My roommate and I actually found an applesauce that was frozen to the wall of our mini fridge.
8. Take food from the dining halls. Yes, it is frowned upon, but you are a broke college student. The school can afford to lose a few bananas.
9. Buy a roll of duct tape for your room. You will need it at some point in the year.
10. Learn to stop caring about your appearance. You don’t need to put on a matching outfit and do your hair to walk down to the lobby to get your pizza.
11. Keep a bottle of ranch dressing in your fridge. It's delicious.
12. Keep cleaning supplies (carpet cleaner, stain remover, etc.) in your room. There will likely be a lot of food spilled on your carpet. You may have to clean up after your friend who got too drunk and had to stay in your room.
13. Get in the habit of regularly putting your student ID in the same place when you come into your room. When you’re late for an exam, you do not want to be even more stressed out because you had to overturn your entire room looking for it. Also, you need that thing for literally everything. You can’t lose it.
14. Make sure you have a desk lamp. When you roommate(s) is sleeping, turning on the light is the rudest thing you can do. There will be many mornings you need to get ready for class while he/she is still asleep, and many nights when you get back from a late night of studying and he/she has already gone to bed.
15. Keep a huge bottle of ibuprofen, cold medicine, and bandaids in your room. You will get stress headaches and want relief. You will get sick more in one year than you probably have in your entire life, and need a bandaid more often than you would think.
16. Take your trash out weekly. Just do it. Trust me.
17. Leave your door open. You’ll make a lot of unexpected friends this way.
18. Keep healthy snacks in your room. You will binge eat when you are stressed, but it is much better to eat a whole bag of almonds than to eat a whole carton of ice cream.
19. Keep sweets in your room, too. Sometimes you need to eat an entire Ben and Jerry’s in one sitting.
20. Make friends with your RA. You don’t want to be on his or her bad side.
21. Enjoy the balance between freedom and still being taken care of. You likely have housekeepers that clean the floor bathrooms for you. You don’t have to worry about paying rent just yet. However, you have no curfew and can eat whatever you want, when you want. This is a blessing. Live it up.
