Looking back on the past four years, University has been the most impacting experience of my life. My personality, preferences, habits, education, maturity, passions and friends have all changed SO much that I'm almost a completely different person! I remember the first week of Freshman year my school had all the Freshman on my hall meet with the Hall Supervisor, who was a Senior, and she gave us some tips from "the other side" of a degree. Some of her tips were: get into the habit of exercising right off the bat, make time for studying but also make time for friends and prioritize sleep & Jesus.
Now that I'm the graduating senior I'd like to pass on a few tips of my own.
1. Take Life One Day at a Time
This is honestly the best piece of advice I can give. College isn't like high school, you have different schedules almost every day which effects your daily amounts of sleep, meals, homework and social interaction. So really, take your daily routine one day at a time. Focus on tomorrow's assignments, not next week's. Worry about the next meal, not who your meal dates are for the next week. It's much easier to enjoy college if you're living in the moment instead of stressing about an entire semester every day.
2. Use a Planner
It's much easier to take life one day at a time when you've put all your assignments into a planner. If you take a couple hours at the beginning of the semester to put all of your syllabi assignments into one place. Then for the rest of the semester, you can whip out your handy-dandy planner, look at your assignments for the next day, get them out of the way then go on enjoying your life!
Also, take time on the weekends to look at the next week's assignments and look at the monthly assignments at the beginning of the month. Putting your assignments into a planner is the most effective way to plan out a day, week, month and semester.
3. Forgive and Forget
Only stress about assignments until you turn them in. Once you've done your best...forgive yourself, accept the grade and move on to the next assignment. If you let one bad test or assignment ruin your work ethic for the entire semester then you're really just shooting yourself in the foot. Forgive yourself, forget what you can and move on the next assignments! Just keep putting your best foot forward one day at a time instead of trying to hobble through an entire semester with a shot foot.
4. Eat What You Enjoy
If you enjoy vegetables, eat vegetables. If you enjoy pizza, eat pizza. If you enjoy ice cream, eat ice cream. If you enjoy drinking water, drink water.
Food, the "freshman fifteen," dieting, mindless snacking, dates, "hanging out with a guy;" what you eat is all so emotionally driven in college. Eat what you enjoy when you're hungry with people that you enjoy and food-stress will be a lot more manageable in college.
5. Get Some Fresh Air
I've found that getting up about once every hour when studying really does help me focus better. Try and go for a walk, have a conversation with a friend, get a snack or just get on Pinterest for a little while but try to take a mental break every once in a while when studying because it really does help make studying easier!
My humor board on Pinterest went from less than 200 pins before college to its current massive size of 1,800+ pins! Find a de-stressor and enjoy it!
6. PRIORITIZE SLEEP
Sometimes the most loving, caring, studious thing you can do is go to bed.
You. Need. Sleep.
7. Go Out of Your Way to Make Friends
College is a busy time, if you don't try to make friends (especially if you're an introvert) you'll easily go days without meaningful human interaction. All work and no play will make Jack or Jill a lonely and depressed college student. So really try to make and keep good relationships even with all the stressors of school. Loneliness can lead to depression, eating disorders, anger and a ton of other mental problems.
Make plans with people even if it feels unnatural, even if you're cozy in your dorm and don't feel like going out, even if you're in the middle of a movie or Netflix series... make the effort to make friends.
8. Don't be Afraid to Try New Things
Whether that be foods, classes, social activities, sports, anything! College is a whole new world and one you get to shape, so don't be afraid to try something new just because it isn't familiar to you.
Second semester "Senior Cienna" is almost a completely different person who is dating someone completely unexpected and enjoying foods that were totally foreign to "Freshman Cienna" and loving it!
9. Define Your Faith
For most of us, college is our first time away from home and parents and it's the perfect time to form your own opinions on things. Don't be afraid to question parents, teachers, mentors, siblings, friends, even God, but make sure that you're looking to the right places for answers. Don't rely on google or your (also young and subjective) best friend, look to a variety of sources for answers to your questions.
The Bible has stood the test of time, controversy, ridicule and persecution. The Bible is where I look first to answer life's questions and it's never failed me. Sometimes I get frustrated with God and His Word because they aren't giving me the answers I necessarily want, but God's Word has always proven to be correct in the end (much to my chagrin and embarrassment sometimes.)
Also, parents really are kind of smart. Who knew.
Whatever conclusions you come too, make sure they're proven, accurate, and as objective as possible. It's your faith, your beliefs, your worldview. What do you believe?
I think I can summarize my advice to: be friendly, be adventurous and be smart! Also, try to fit some fun into your packed schedule.