1. The Do Not Disturb Button on the iPhone

The Do Not Disturb button the iPhone is easily one of the greatest inventions Apple has ever created. By clicking it, your phone silences all your alerts so your phone will not ring or buzz when you get a text, and the screen will not light up/open when you get any other kind of push notification like an instagram like. I personally use it for two reasons. One, I set it up to automatically turn on around 10 PM and turn off at 8 AM every morning so that if my west-coast group chats want to send 30 messages right as I am going to sleep I cannot hear my phone buzzing. I also manually turn it on during all my classes throughout the day, and often when I am in the library as well so I do not get distracted or tempted to look at my phone when I hear it buzz. It is also like a little reward for studying because when I do choose to look at my phone during a break I often have the surprise of seeing texts from friends instead of already knowing they were there because of the vibrations.

How you can use it (only for iPhone users!):

1. Open the control center and click on the moon button. That is it!

2. For more settings, click on the do not disturb column under settings to set it for certain hours every day and decide whose calls you will still allow

2. Bluetooth Headphones

Even though I have not yet upgraded to a phone without a headphone jack, it seems like that is the future of cell phones, so I thought it might be time to invest in some bluetooth headphones. I also like being able to watch Netflix or listen to music while doing chores in my dorm like putting away laundry, but this is not possible when my roommate is in the room- unless I wear bluetooth headphones. Bluetooth headphones make this task very easy, and also make listening to music and walking slightly easier.

3. Challah for Hunger

At many schools including Columbia, every couple weeks or so students get together to make challah of many different flavors which students can buy and some of the money goes to charity. I have not yet participated in baking the challah, but buying it is one of the best parts of my every two weeks. On those Wednesday nights I’ll walk to Hillel, pick up my challah and then go to the library to finish up some readings while eating fresh, warm, homemade chocolate chip challah.

How you can do it:

1. If you're in college, search for if your school has a chapter you can come to for braiding or just buying.

2. If you're not in college, or your college doesn't have a chapter: here is their recipe so you can make some yourself.

4. Lanyards on zippers

Ok, this one may seem silly, but at the beginning of the semester I got a new backpack and decided to put a lanyard someone made me at camp on the main zipper. I did not put it on for convenience but more for the memory of camp to be with my always, but realized soon after that is also very convenient. The lanyard makes it a lot easier to open my backpack, which I end up having to do in tight lecture halls multiple times a week.

How you can use it:

Here is an instructional video on how to make a lanyard.

5. Regularly texting and calling people from all aspects of my life

Something that naturally started happening to me in college when it felt like I had less friends at the beginning of the year (or honestly now still) than I had in high school is that I began to get in closer contact with not just my high school friends, but also a lot of my camp friends and family than I used to. For some reason I used to kind of operate on the idea that high school friends were for high school and camp friends were for camp and I didn’t talk much to the other group when at the other place. I’m now realizing that it is really nice to have all of these people be my friends all year round, along with it being nice to have friends where I am now.

6. The Head and the Heart

I already liked this band before coming to college, but their music and lyrics have been like lullabies to me in college after going to their concert. I highly recommend all three of their albums and most of their songs, but some specific lyrics I want to present now during this somewhat trying time for America are:

The sun still rises, even through the pain

(from the song Another Story)

But I can see the sunshine's rays

Gleaming through the clear water

Telling me you gotta hop in for this chapter's ride

There will always be better days

(from the song Library Magic)