Music for Studying/Doing Homework

Hey Guys! Long time no talk!
This is going to be a bit of a short post today...sorry about that.So if you're in college, then finals are either happening right now or they are about to happen. And if you're in high school, I'm guessing that you have a lot of AP Tests coming soon and finals sometime next month. I was never a procrastinator in high school but sadly, college has changed that. But today, while last minute doing a cs project due at midnight, I was listening to Lana Del Rey and finished the entire project in about 2-2.5 hours. Now, I'm fast, but I wasn't expecting to be that fast. And yes, I know I'm late on the Lana boat but I just started listening to her like two or three weeks ago and the music really helps me to focus (which is extremely hard for me by the way, I either have 100% focus or 0% focus. There is no in-between). So I'm sharing this playlist with you to hopefully help you with your focus.

Here you go:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLUYFDT7vPkqBZQsTGBpGCjIoePETnOxi

Happy Studying!

Lauren Anderson

P.S. I uploaded a tour of my dorm room completely full of my stuff on my youtube channel. If you have time, you should go check it out!

P.P.S. I'm going to be moving out of my dorm in the next few days so if you guys want, I'll upload a video of my empty dorm so you guys can see what an empty freshman dorm looks like!

Ten Lies They Told You About College

Hi all, 

So this is something I think needs to be made since a lot of high-schoolers are now getting their acceptance letters or turning in their last few college applications. So, I now present:

Ten Lies They Told You About College!

1. It's a lot harder than high school.

You hear this one from your teachers all the time..."Be happy I'm letting you have a retake...You won't get this in college" or "Teachers aren't as forgiving in college" And it makes you feel like if you were to get shot, you'd still be expected to attend class. In reality, a lot of the teachers realize that you're just coming from high school and that its a different experience. They may not allow retakes, but they do drop the lowest grade or let you substitute a new grade for one of the older ones. Some even allow open note tests. However, this could be true for a slacker student. But, if you took at least one AP class in high school, you should be good. Truthfully, my AP Economics class senior year was harder than any of the classes I've taken in college so far.

2. Professors don't allow redos.

I kind of addressed this with the previous point. A lot of them allow revisions and drop low grades. Some teachers have curves. Most likely, if you have a good English professor, they will allow revisions. I don't think I've had a single teacher that doesn't drop grades or have curves!

3. Dorm rooms are tiny.

Okay, dorm rooms aren't huge, but it's all about how you use the space. If you loft your bed (it doesn't have to be all the way up at the ceiling. I'm short and I couldn't live like that.) then you have a crap ton of storage space under your bed! Honestly, my dorm is bigger than my room at home and I am in a freshman dorm so it's not like I have the extra space like in upperclassmen dorms. I can make a separate post on dorm room organization if you want! Let me know in the comments!

4. Homework takes longer to do.

Well, not really. Some classes give you one big assignment per week. If you work on it little by little during the week, it will be done and you'll feel like you hardly lifted a finger. It's all about time management. And other classes will give you some long readings but if you just do it as soon as you get it, then you're left with a bunch of free time!

5. You drift away from high school friends.

Now for me, this one is most definitely not true. When my friends and I come back home, its like we never left but it honestly depends on how much you're willing to stay in contact with that person and how strong you're friendship was before you went away. Just make sure you leave on good terms or else you may drift.

6. The freshman 15.

DUN DUN DUNNNN! Now as long as you eat a normal amount and don't gorge on junk food, this is not true. And if you feel like you're in danger of gaining the weight, most college campuses have at least one gym and most of them are free to full time students. Just think about going 2-3 times a week if you feel your midsection start to expand. Also, many colleges offer club and intramural sports which will definitely keep the pounds off!

7. All sororities and frats are evil/will haze you.

Okay, the few bad ones give all the other ones a bad name. Now, I am not in a sorority nor do I want to join one at this time but I do know people who are in them and they are having the time of their lives and love it! There are sororities/frats based on your major or your academics. It just depends on what you want to be a part of. If you think you want to be in one, I encourage you to go to your college's web page and try to research what sorority/frat you would like to rush; it starts very soon in the fall semester for some schools!

8. You need to know exactly what you want to do when you enroll.

No. No no no no. That is the reason you do your general studies your first two years of college before you get all the way into your major. If you're undecided, don't worry. Take a few classes from different departments that may interest you! You never want to force yourself to do something you don't want to do because think about it; what you choose to do is what you'll be doing for the next 30-40 or more years unless you decide to go back to college or get another job that doesn't require a different degree.

9. Everyone finishes college in four years.

Well, no. It can be more than four or it can be less. It really depends on your major and the number of credits you take. I encourage you to take at least 30 credits a year to meet the minimum graduation requirement of 120 credits. If you do more, maybe you graduate a semester or year early. If you do less, you may be in for some summer courses or an extra one or two semesters.

10. Jobs care about where you went to college.

Not really. Or at least, they shouldn't. As long as your school is accredited (that means that your degree is worth something if it is...or else you're a bit out of luck) then it shouldn't matter. Most of them will just care that you went to college and got your degree and had a gpa above a 3.0 (I came up with the 3.0 and some jobs may require more or less). 

 So there you go! I'm thinking about turning this into a youtube video. If you have any questions for me feel free to talk to me on twitter or to follow my college and organization boards on pinterest!

See you later and good luck!

The Difficulties of Making Friends in College

Okay, so I had to write a personal narrative for my English class and I figured that since it had to do with college, I would upload it here as well. Please do not let this narrative scare you. Although not having friends in college sounds scary - and I kind of made it more scary in my essay, it's not nearly as bad as it sounds. I get my work done on time and I never have to worry about turning anything in late. And plus, if you need friends, I'll be your friend ^.^

p.s. I had to sound somewhat professional in the narrative so that's not how I really talk. I use a lot more sarcasm :) Without further adieu, here's my narrative:

Making Friends: An Unanticipated Hardship

I never thought that I would have a difficult time making friends in college. I had looked on several websites trying to prepare and they had all said that everyone is new in college so everyone would be looking to make friends. Because of those websites, I came into college with the notion that making friends would be easy. I was horribly mistaken.

I had always prided myself on being a nice, friendly person that people could easily approach. However, I hadn’t realized that one of the reasons I was previously so approachable was because everybody at my high school knew each other. I had a large class at my high school, there were over 500 people in my grade and over 2,000 in the school. However, I knew many of the upperclassmen as we had been in the same schools since elementary school and preschool. I hadn’t realized that I had become very comfortable with my long term friends and that I was out of practice with making new friends. I didn’t remember how to approach somebody I didn’t know or what level of sarcasm is appropriate for somebody I didn’t know. I also learned, maybe I didn’t look as nice as I was.

When I arrived at my first class, I sat down, hoping someone would sit next to me and we would have a good conversation. However, I slowly noticed that everybody was choosing to sit in every other seat. Nobody wanted to sit next to each other. It was as if everybody wanted it to be known that they didn’t want to be bothered. As I went through the next few days of class, I realized that this was the social norm in most of my classes. Nobody wanted to talk, or they only wanted to talk to people they had known in the previous semester. After this, I began to look for friends in other places.

I began joining clubs and attempted to join a club sport. However, everyone on the sports team was already friends and therefore, they only kept people that had previously been on the team. Some of the people in my clubs were just as antisocial as the ones in my classes. However, it seemed as though I was on my way to making friends in my clubs. But then the worst possible thing happened: I got sick.

Getting sick in college is a horrible thing. People tend to avoid you like the plague if at all possible. I know this because I would avoid people I saw coughing and I would see others go out of their way to avoid them as well. I went back and forth from my classes to my dorm and nowhere else, not even to eat. I was sick for about a week and a half and missed 4 or 5 club meetings. When I came back, it was as if nobody remembered me. I was long forgotten in favor of people who didn’t get sick. I began to give up hope of ever making friends in college. I began to wonder: Was I doing something wrong?

When I was younger I had braces. Because of this, I didn’t smile much as the novelty of braces wore off after the first year and a half. My mouth doesn’t turn up naturally so sometimes it will appear as if I am frowning when, in fact, I’m probably just thinking about school work or what was on television last night. I constantly get asked, even now, if something is wrong. My answer is always no while my head screams that it’s just my face. I began to realize, maybe I seem unapproachable like every other face in some of my classes. Maybe there were people like me in my classes who felt the same as me and thought nobody wanted anyone to sit next to them. So I began trying to force myself to smile in class, or at least not frown and be hunched over my phone like everyone else. But it wasn’t working. Was I ever going to have someone to talk to?

Towards the end of the semester, something strange happened: Somebody sat next to me and started talking. And it happened again and again and again. I don’t know if I began to seem more approachable or if people just got tired of sitting alone, but suddenly, I had people to talk to. I began to feel more comfortable in college knowing that it was possible for me to make friends.

Sorry!

Hey guys,

It's been a while. So, exams are coming up and all of my teachers decided our last few assignments would all be due on this Friday, Dec. 5th. This means that I am completely swamped and last week, I was at home for 3 days for Thanksgiving and I was helping my mom and dyeing hair. So basically, I've barely had a minute for myself.

I already have the next blog post planned so I know exactly what I'm going to say. I plan on writing it soon but don't be surprised if you don't hear from me until after the 16th as that's when my last exam is.

Again, really sorry for the neglect and I hope whoever is reading this continues to read. But if you want any updates from me at all, I'm on tumblr procrastinating sometimes as reblogging doesn't require thinking as much. My tumblr is: tattooedinyourveins.tumblr.com. See you!

-Lauren

Advice on Saving Money

Image taken from: http://tattooedinyourveins.tumblr.com/image/99363578315

Saving money is very important. Especially in college. I'm personally not in college on a scholarship no matter how much I'd like to be. It would make life so much easier if I were. But since I'm not, I have to pay for college myself. I don't make that kind of money working in the summer. So I've taken out loans in my name to help me pay for it. Of course my mother is helping me but I would never let her sign her name on my loans. So I was scrolling through my dashboard on my primary blog on tumblr, and I came across this picture. And I felt like this idea was genius. So from now on, I will be doing this. It might help if I start paying with cash instead of a debit card now though...Anyway...Hope you all have a nice day!

P.S. If I come across any more life-saving money tips, I'll be sure to post them :)

This is something all of you need to read

This post helped me feel a bit better about college and getting older. Even if you're not 19, like me, I'm almost 19 though, this may still be something you want to hear.

http://www.collegethought.com/19-things-every-19-year-old-girl-needs-to-hear-right-now/

Making Friends in College

So this is one thing that I have had a struggle with. Luckily I’m getting over it now. So when I first came to college I was like “omg I’m gonna make so many friends!!!” Didn’t exactly happen that way. A lot of people in my classes had that “do not talk to me” attitude and it made it difficult to approach people. I was really lucky that me and my roommate are friends and we get along. Anyway, I felt really left out and lonely. Then I realized that since I had the same group of friends since middle school, I may have to try a bit harder to make friends. So I joined some clubs related to my major and started talking to people more. I won’t say I have a lot of friends in college but I’m on my way to making a few ^.^ Hope you guys have good luck making friends. Remember, college isn’t as scary as people say it is. Unless you go to a school full of murderers or something. Then it’s scary.