A Few Little Things...

Now that I’m a few months into college, there are a few things that I have just figured out that I wish I would’ve thought of earlier. Just a few helpful things that would’ve made the first few weeks of classes a little bit smoother. First of all, if you are taking classes in college that you took in some form in high school, bring your materials! I ended up bringing up high school study materials and notes just a week or two ago and I wish I would’ve done it earlier. High school teachers tend to put together nice concise study guides and easy lists with ways to study things that are way easier to understand than your college professor who may or may not speak your language. I would also strongly suggest saving all of the major papers that you write in high school. Chances are they had the opportunity to be proof read a few times by teachers and classmates in high school, and you don’t get that luxury very often with papers in college. Plus, if you took classes in high school that are somewhat relevant to your college courses, there’s a pretty good chance you could end up with a repeat topic for a major paper. One of my good friends recently got assigned a 7-9 page paper on stem cells but it was no problem because she already had 5 pages to work with that she had written in high school.

One last thing about college that I wish I would have realized that is completely irrelevant to academics: people don’t dress up for class! I bought a bunch of new clothes for college that are the cute everyday kind of clothes, but I wish I would’ve bought only sweats, t-shirts, and going out clothes. Maybe that’s obvious to some people, but I didn’t realize that the people in your classes aren’t necessarily the friends you hang out with. No one cares and you usually don’t have anyone to impress, so be smart – save money and go comfy.

"Off" days

On days like yesterday and today I am so thankful for the people who care about me. I woke up yesterday with a horrendous headache. It was one of those headaches that leaves you unable to formulate complete thoughts or function properly. My roommate offered to take notes for me in the two classes we have together in the morning so I could sleep some more. It was so sweet of her because those few hours of sleep helped my lessen headache. Today I was feeling pretty down because I was really tired (I only got 3 hours of sleep because I a research paper due today), I was not feeling well still, and I was frustrated over one of my classes.

But I have had several things throughout my day today cheer me up. My friends really made me feel better. They have been in my shoes and knew how to cheer me up. I also felt better after blessing some little kids. I am in science student council, and we did science experiments today for young children at the West Lafayette public library. We made “disappearing” bubbles with dry ice, “vomiting” pumpkins, and other Halloween “explosions.” Seeing the little kids be amazed by the simple experiments we did for them was so fun. Doing the experiments for the children cheered me up. I also felt better after talking on the phone with my sister and my boyfriend. They always know the right thing to say. I am so grateful for the people in my life who love me , care about me, and cheer me up even on my “off” days. I should be better about appreciating them. One good thing about crappy days is that they can remind of the things you have to be thankful for.

Football, costumes, pumpking carving...what could be bettter?

I am having a weekend of goodness (which is exactly what I needed after this stressful week of midterms). First I went to the Homecoming game earlier today and watched the football team beat Northwestern. During the second half the momentum really picked up. It was fun to join in the crowd chanting Boiler Up, singing the fight song, and throwing my hands up and yelling “Shout!” It was an enjoyable game and I got to see Neil Armstrong (his pep talk turned the game around J ).

Tonight I am going to a Halloween party at my boyfriend’s house. Each year the guys in his house always come up with a theme. This year the theme is toys and games of our childhood. Some of the different costumes are the Operation game, a Lego man, Raggedy Ann, and a Battleship ship. My boyfriend is being a yo-yo, and I am going as a Scrabble piece –the letter L. It should be interesting to see all their costumes. I love coming up with a costume and making it. It’s fun to be creative when making your costumes. I like seeing the different costumes people come up with.

Sunday I am going to the MythBusters show at Elliot which is very exciting. And the best part of the weekend will be Sunday night. I am going to a pumpkin carving at my boyfriend’s home. His parents always throw a pre-Thanksgiving get-together. It is one of my favorite traditions. There is pumpkin carvings, home cooked food, and family time. Once the sun sets we all light our pumpkins and admire our creations. I know most if not all the dorms have a pumpkin carving of their own. I would encourage anyone to do it. It’s really fun!

Halloween at Purdue

Halloween is always a fun time of year. As October approaches I always find myself counting down the days until the 31st. It may be obvious as to why Halloween is such a fun holiday, but to name a few you get to dress up, have a reason to get free candy and eat as much as possible, and of course the haunted houses and scary movies that accompany it. All of these things and others add to the spirit of this fun holiday.

I don’t know anyone who complains of getting dressed up on Halloween. It is the one time a year that you can get dressed as whatever you want, and trust me when I say whatever, I have seen some pretty crazy things. People can get pretty creative with costumes and being that we are all at a college campus yes, we will see some pretty funny costumes. It is always exciting to see what people come up with though. If you are still looking for a costume and don’t know where to look here is a few places. First there is the obvious, the Tippecanoe Mall. Here there are stores like Spencer’s and Hot Topic which, from what I have seen and heard have some costumes. If you are at or by the mall area you can also check out a couple places right next to the mall. One is named Halloween Express and the other is called Spirit Halloween. Both of these stores I have been to and they both have a large selection of Halloween gear, from costumes to accessories to party favors, if you have to pick up some last minute Halloween things these places can be of use.

My personal favorite thing about Halloween is the haunted houses and other haunted trails, barns or mazes. As an article in the Exponent describes, there is a haunted house that will be running from the 20-21 and 26-28 of October at the Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds. This actually takes place in an old barn on the fairgrounds. It is supposed to be pretty scary, as children under 12 are not recommended to go. All of the proceeds also go toward funding for the Jefferson High School Choir. Another article in the Exponent describes another haunted experience, but this ones right on campus! The union this weekend will be trading its more formal surroundings in to create the look of a prison. It is described as bringing together the ‘virtual and real’. The PSUB and the Envision Center will jointly be sponsoring this event, which takes place from 7 to 11 pm on Saturday night. It sounds like a spooky but fun event that is being offered, so if you want to be scared but do not want to go very far to do it, set aside some time on your Saturday night to make sure your spooked and fully ready for Halloween.

So do you think you have a crazy or creative Halloween costume? If you do and you want it be known, send it into the exponent. They are looking for students to submit their crazy, creative, and creepy Halloween costumes to be featured in the Exponent’s upcoming Halloween guide. If you are interested you can email your costume idea and contact info to features@purdueexponent.org to be featured in the exponent.
Maybe all the scary haunted houses isn’t for you and you would prefer something a little quitter and less spooky. Well, that’s okay, this Sunday at the Long Center in Lafayette the Purdue Symphonic Orchestra will be performing their fifth annual Creepy Classics Halloween Concert. The concert is said to include a lot of traditional Halloween music. So you will still get the whole ‘Halloween feel’ although you are sitting in a chair in normal clothes. This also sounds like a fun Halloween event. There are numerous events that are taking place not far from campus for the upcoming holiday. Halloween seems like it has gotten pretty hectic in recent years, especially at college campuses. So maybe opt for another way to celebrate the holiday and attend one of these exciting events.

I hope that some of these ideas help you gear up and get ready for this upcoming holiday. It is always fun to do things related with Halloween because after all it does only come around once a year. So grab a couple friends and get a costume, go be scared, and eat lots of yummy candy! Remember to be safe and have a great Halloween!

Realistic Tips for Staying Healthy...

So, most incoming college students have the thought of gaining the Freshman 15 in the back of their minds, but most don’t realize just what it is going to take to keep these unwanted pounds off. I wrote a post earlier of some basic tips to stay healthy, but I’ve discover a few more simple ideas that will actually help make working out and eating healthy a bit more realistic.

First of all, know what you’re eating in the dining halls. Stick to simple rules such as only having one portion – about the size of your fist for entrees such as meats. I also discovered online on the on campus dining website that they have a calorie calculator for a lot of the foods served in the dining halls. Also, at the On-the-Go locations there is a piece of paper taped to the checkout counter that gives the nutritional facts of the foods offered. Even if you aren’t super obsessed with calories and what not, I would suggest checking this stuff out – that simple sandwich that you have for lunch every day that you thought was healthy quite possibly costs you about 600 calories – ouch!

Here’s a few working out tips that I have found to work fabulously for me. My first discovery was stairs. If you go to the football stadium its easy to find an entrance that has 2 or 3 flights of stairs right together. If you run up down these (or even walk down) for about 30 minutes you’re pretty much guaranteed to be sore the next day – unless of course you’re super fit in which case you probably don’t need to be reading this post in the first place. But for the majority of us, this can serve as a quick workout that actually makes you feel like you accomplished something – and something is always better than nothing. Another idea: do homework while working out on cardio machines in the co-rec. I have found it’s really easy to read assignments while working out on the elliptical. If you have an exam to study for, studying while working out is a great way to multi task. Studying takes your mind off working out, and before you know it 40 minutes will have passed; at the same time, working out for 40 minutes designates a focused time period to study in which you really can’t be distracted by much else.
That’s about it for the few healthy tid-bits that I’ve decided work well for me. I’ll keep trying to add to the lists as I can..

Under-recognized

I was really hoping to get to the PU women’s soccer game against Illinois yesterday, but I had a prior commitment and could not go. I have never been to a women’s soccer game, but I had been told by a fan that Sunday’s match up was going to be very exciting. I decided it would be a good first game to attend, and it was senior day. It definitely sounds like I was right –it was a good game. Today when I read in The Exponent about the game I was bummed I had missed the game.

The women’s soccer team beat Illinois 2-1 which placed the team 5^th in the NSCAA National Rankings and ahead of all other Big Ten schools. When I was reading the article about the game I could tell the game had been intense and exciting. Unfortunately one of the seniors, Jill Sarbaugh, was injured while passing to another player. Sarbaugh nutmegged an Illinois player when she was injured. (Nutmeg means you pass the ball through the defender’s feet. I did not know this term, but it definitely sounds challenging to me.) The other girls pulled through and scored two goals after the scoreless first half.

It would be hard to be completely thrilled about the victory and top ranking when you had a fellow teammate injured at her senior day game. One of her teammates Stapleton was quoted in The Exponent as saying, "When you lose your best player, you go out and play for that person who can't be out there." In the article it said Coach Rob Klatte was sad along with the other players about Sarbaugh’s injury, but he said he knew the other girls would be playing for her and wanting to bring home a championship ring for her too. He also said she will be a great “vocal leader” on the sidelines. I think this is really great of the whole team to help Sarbaugh focus on the positives and give themselves wholeheartedly to winning the championship for her. It would stink to be injured when you were doing so well especially as a senior, but I would want to be surrounded by the encouraging teammates and coach it sounds like she has supporting her.

I think women’s soccer deserves much more recognition and appreciation for there accomplishments. I should have done a better job in the past of getting to the games, but I am going to try to go to future matches. The girls play here at Purdue on Friday, November 2 against Indiana who is ranked 24^th overall right now. I would encourage anyone who reads this to write the date down on your calendars so you don’t forget. Plus it is free admission.

Oh where to live sophomore year...

As a freshman in college, housing is probably the easiest decision you will make. You pick the nicest dorm, the dorm closest to your classes, or the dorm that is most recommended by older students that you know. However, for kids attending college for the first time, finding housing for sophomore year can be very confusing. Personally, I am the oldest child in my family so college is a new experience for all of all. I feel like I’m way too young to get a place of my own, but this is something that is approaching quickly. Joining a sorority or fraternity can be an easy way to figure out where to live sophomore year – a sorority was not for me since I’m not very girly, but a lot of my good friends became involved in greek like and are very happy with their decision. At first I was really stressed out about how I should pick a few girls to live with next year, but now that I’ve figure it out, I have a few guidelines that have worked with me so far.
First of all, I looked for girls in my dorm that I knew that had similar personalities to me. The girls that I found have the same work hard, play hard personality that I do; if you are very into classes and aren’t much into going out, I would suggest finding roommates who feel the same way. This will minimize the probability of conflict during the week about partying and things like that. Also, I kept cleanliness in mind. I’m not a clean freak my any means, but if my roommates left their stuff all over our apartment it would drive me nuts; once I found out who I wanted to live with next year I investigated their dorm rooms to get a feel for their habits and their general cleanliness.
Figuring out who to live with is only half the trouble; finding the right location is scary and frustrating. The best advice for me came from people that I knew who are older than me and who could suggest different areas around campus that are great places to live. Purdue also offers a few housing fairs once classes get started, which is a great way to discover different places to live. Also keep in mind that you have to be pushy when it comes to housing. You have to have the initiative to call the different housing companies to find out information and set up meetings.
One last suggestion…. Don’t wait until last minute! The good housing goes fast, so definitely figure out where you want to live and who you want to live with ASAP. The worst thing that could happen would be getting stuck with a crappy apartment in a location that you didn’t want…