As college freshman enter the big world of "college life" at USF, they tend to have to learn and find out campus secrets and solutions on their own terms. As a USF college freshman starting out in the Summer B term, I have learned many useful tips and tricks that can help other freshman out who will be starting in the fall or spring. Here's a list of eight life hacks I've discovered for USF freshman:
1. Five Star Pizza.
Five Star Pizza is a local pizza place by USF that offers delicious pizza that, most importantly, delivers until four in the morning! Whether you're up studying late for that midterm exam tomorrow morning, throwing a movie party in your pod or you're in need of a pick-me-up from a bad hangover, Five Star Pizza will always be there for you. You can get a 16" cheese pizza for only $11.99 and the pizza is cheesy, fresh and massive. You truly get your bang for your buck while getting to pig out on college-style pizza at four in the morning.
2. Hang-dry your clothes.
The laundry rooms at USF don't provide state-of-the-art machines when it comes to drying. It costs $1.00 to dry your load of clothes, and they are still soaking wet after the first dry. Typically, you will have to dry every load of clothes at least twice before they're mostly dry, costing you $2.00 just to dry a load of clothes, which can get pricey when you need to do laundry one or two times a week. I have personally found a solution that will save you some cash: hang-dry your clothes. After two dries and your clothes still are damp, take a bunch of your extra hangers you'll end up bringing to college with you and hang all of your clothes to dry on your bed frame. Sure, you might not want company over for a day or so, but you'll save yourself some serious money. Your bed frame provides a perfect amount of space for your load to dry efficiently, and I personally do this every week for laundry day.
3. Suit-a-Bull.
Suit-a-Bull is an on-campus suit rental program that can be very handy when you're broke. At Suit-a-Bull, you can rent clothes ranging from suit jackets, pants, skirts, ties and dress shirts. The catch? There is none! Suit-a-Bull is totally free to rent for 48 hours. All you need to do is bring your valid USF ID and you're good to go. Suit-a-Bull is located in the Student Services Building, Room 2060. Suit-a-Bull might not be something college freshman would think would come in handy, but it's definitely a life saver if you're on a budget and need a suit for your job interview, a Greek formal or even for a project. I'm definitely using Suit-a-Bull for models for my art project coming up and it's truly a life saver.
4. SkyPad Lounge.
The SkyPad Lounge is located at the Marshall Student Center on campus, and it's surely a place you want to visit. Located on the fourth floor, the SkyPad lounge provides an energizing, fun atmosphere that offers comfortable couches, tons of electrical outlets and private corners for ample study space, many snack and drink vending machines and multiple gaming pods provided with LCD TV's and gaming systems for some free fun with friends.
5. All About Puppies.
All About Puppies is a local pet store that I guarantee you'll visit at least every week. All About Puppies has tons of puppies that you're free to roam around and look at, pet, hold, cuddle and even play with in fenced in play pens. You're allowed to stay there as long as you want and play with each dog as long as you wish. They truly take care of the puppies, monitoring and walking around the facility. This is the perfect place to relieve your week's worth of stress from your exhausting job, four exams and annoying roommate. I visited here a few days ago because I miss my dog hours away at home way too much. I played with and held dogs for three hours and when I held a puppy that looks exactly like my dog, I burst into tears. All the puppies here are good-natured, healthy, sweet, friendly and often give you kisses.
6. Create a print schedule.
This idea of mine has really saved me time, money and stress. I create a "print schedule" every week and plan out what I need to print each day for my classes, how many pages each will be and when I'll need to print. You're allowed 22 free black and white prints per day, so I either create excel spreadsheets or write on a loose leaf piece of paper my prints for the week and coordinate which days I can print what. This way, I have a schedule of what I need to get printed, when I'll have my assignments by, and I never have to waste a penny of my own Bull Bucks on prints. I strongly encourage all freshman to try it out.
7. The Bookstore only uses Bull Bucks.
While I was on a walk one day, I stopped in the USF Bookstore to pick up a snack at the convenience store-like food section. Thankfully I had extra Bull Bucks on my USF ID because I found out that even on food items, the Bookstore will only accept Bull Bucks, not Dining Dollars. Do not go to the Bookstore to buy food items and expect to use your Dining Dollars as many students have made this mistake far too many times. You can buy the same exact food items at a POD Market and use your credited Dining Dollars, so only buy food items from the Bookstore if your ultimately must.
8. Free writing guides.
On the second floor of the Library houses the Writing Studio that offers one-on-one help with essays and papers. However, without further inspection, many people overlook a little paper filer right by the entrance to the Writing Studio. This paper filer houses the key to amazing and thorough essays and papers. The filer is filled with free paper handouts that provide guides, outlines and examples of different writing techniques, formats and linguistic aspects. For those students who may not be the best of writers, you can stop by and take home free guides ranging from APA and MLA formatting help, resume help, comma usage help, essay introduction help and much more. My suite mate was having trouble switching from APA to MLA format for one of her classes, so I stopped by and picked her up an MLA format guide, and it has really helped her improve her essays without feeling obligated or pressured to get one-on-one help or spend hours on the computer trying to figure out how to format her essay.
So there you have it; I have just revealed to you eight hidden secrets and gems for freshman year at USF that are true life hacks in the world of "college life." If you happen to use any of these life hacks or have any more you would like to share, feel free to contact me for a possible "Part 2" article.
