8 First Week Of School Tips

Monday the 23rd of August was the dreadful first day of the Fall Semester at LSU, which means it's no longer summer and I've been forced to recognize the days of the week.  So for the first time since May,  I'm rejoicing because it's FRIDAY!

 Anyway, since it's my 5th semester (uhh seriously, where is the time going?!) I've come up with a short list of tips for the first week of school.  Take it or leave it.  Some of my things apply specifically to LSU, but probably make sense any other school as well.

• Don't buy your books before school starts.  Yeah, okay, I know some people get like super stressed about waiting until the last minute to buy books, and if that's your personality, then buy the books early.  But if you're like me and change your mind about everything, you should wait on it.  Every semester so far I have added and dropped classes at the last minute in attempt to give myself a better schedule.  If I'd purchased my books early, I would have had to worry about keeping my receipt and returning them amidst the mayhem of everyone trying to buy books last minute.  That being said...

• Buy books online.  Seriously? Why would you want to go to a bookstore the first week of school? The lines are ridiculously long,  the stores run out of copies of the books you need, and you have to pay a crazzzyyy sum of money for something you may not even use much.  It's so much easier to just get on Amazon.com, order your books (for a fraction of the price that bookstores offer) and have them delivered to your place in a day or two.  You never even have to leave your living room. Speaking of leaving...

• Walk everywhere that you can.  Okay, maybe your campus is a low traffic zone, but not LSU.   It took my roommates and me almost an hour to get from the north gates of campus to the Co-Op.  I mean, I know most of you don't know what I'm talking about, but that's not a very far distance.  Traffic sucks.  And everyone can use a little extra exercise.  

• Bond with your roommates!  I really think this is an important thing to do.  Whether they've been your roommates for years, or it's your first time meeting each other, take the time to hang out with them.  I missed my roommates so much! They are my best friends, and after not seeing them a lot over the summer, I was so excited to finally get to hang out.  We took advantage of not having much homework by playing board games every night which may not sound like the coolest thing to do, but we had so much fun! Board games not your scene?  Don't fret, just find something you and your roommates all enjoy. 

• Don't let yourself get behind in school.  Sure, it's easy to be lazy the first week of school, but just because you don't have any tests doesn't mean you need to cut class or skip out on doing homework.  It's so easy to just review your notes a few times, and it's actually really helpful. If you study a little bit every day, you won't have to cram everything into your brain the night before a test.

• Study during the day.  Okay so this applies to every week of school, not just the first one.  I know it's tempting to get out of class, head straight to your apartment, and lay on the couch watching E! for three hours, but trust me on this one: getting your studying done during the day is such a good idea. The things you learned in class will still be fresh in your head, and you won't have to worry about being too tired to study later in the evening.

• Get some sleep.  Okay, I get it, most college kids like to party all night and whatnot, even though they have 9 AM classes.  I don't want to sound like a Mom or anything, but you need sleep.  If you are used to staying up late in the summer, take a Melatonin to help get your sleep cycle on track.  I mean, you know that during midterm week you're probably never going to get any sleep, so you might as well get as much as you can now.

• Keep an eye out for clubs and organizations you may want to join.  It's a new semester, so it's a perfect opportunity for you to get involved in school.  There are so many options, it would be hard not to find something that you're interested in.  If you love traveling, maybe you can sign up to Study Abroad or even participate in a National Exchange Program.  If you want to help people, there are so many opportunities.  I was part of the Best Buddies Program last year, and it was such a great experience.  I can't wait to find something new to try this year!

 So that's my tips.  Hope they are beneficial to someone.

Bye

:]

Revamped Room for the Fall Semester

So, yesterday I took a little trip to my apartment with my roommates so we could clean up and rearrange for a fresh start this semester.  Although it involved lots of procrastination, Taco Bell, and more giggling than actual work, we ended up getting a whole lot done.  We rearranged the living room furniture so that there is now a separate space for studying, complete with a desk and bookcase, which is going to be great.  And I finally got around to hanging up some posters and artwork in my room that had just been sitting around under my bed.  And I cleaned out my room and closet.  Sweeeet

Well this is my bed and the wall above my bed.  I really like how the arrangement of my stuff turned out.

This is on the wall on the side of my bed.  New York, Paris and London :]

Here's my desk and bookshelf.  With my lovely John Lennon picture, and a poster of Central Park in the winter

This is a close up of my bookshelf.  I spy a Buddha statue,  a picture at Tavern on the Green,  books, and Miss Marc.

Here's a close up of my desk, where you can spot Aphrodite, a framed autograph from Fall Out Boy,  a picture of Julian and I at my senior prom,  my brown box of art supplies, and a book that I painted pictures in.

A long time ago my mother wanted to get rid of this vase, so I took it and painted it.  It's messy but I like it.

My cousin Amy got me that awesome John Lennon poster.  And I got the awesome Mexican Day of the Dead stuff in San Antonio.  And the rest, I made myself.

And there's obviously room for lots more, I'll keep searching for sweet things to put in my room.

Anyway.  That's my room :] 

Bye!

San Antonio; Trip 2

So right when I got home from the beach with Julian's family, we left with my family to go to San Antonio again, which was awesome because I looove San Antonio.  And I still haven't even posted all of my pictures from the first time I visited the city, but it's okay, I'll just put the new ones.  Again, this is another post about vacation memories :]

This is on the way there, my family rented a minivan so we could all fit, and it was so fun ahahha and wayyy more comfortable than riding in a car.

This is our first night at an amazing Mexican restaurant

This is my sister and my mother, I look tall because of my awesome 6 inch platform heels

 This is my family at Sea World

This is Molli, Julian, me, Kiri, and Hannah in the minivan after Schlitterbahn, which was the coolest waterpark ever! Oh and I'm drinking a Diet Coke, not a beer. 

 This is at another Mexican restaurant in Boerne, which has the most amazing refried beans I have ever eaten mmmmmm! It's called El Chapparal

This is the amazing Market Square in downtown San Antonio.  I got so many cool Mexican room decorations and even a new booksack for school.  It was super fun, they had the coolest stufffff

Julian and I wanted every single one of these

 This is Julian and I in front of the Market Square holding all of our cool stuff we bought

 The Alamo!!!

And this is my adorable little cousin, Mercee, who I got to see in San Antonio

Anyway that's it for now :] Maybe next time I'll post all of my new cool interior decorations that I recently purchased

Bye!

Beach Vacation Memories :]

So I'm back from the beach! Which is sort of sad, because Louisiana is like really really hot, and there's no oasis of cool blue water to jump in and beat the heat.  But I had a really good time, and this post is basically just some of my favorite pictures from the trip!

This is on the pier, which was really cool, despite the doubts I had about it:

This is Julian on the pier, he is really cute:

This is on the very end of the pier, it was so far out on the water!  Like, people caught sharks when they were fishing there.  Oh, and my dress is from my awesome sister, Hannah, who bought it for me in Mexico:

This is Julian and I at the beach:

This is me with Noelle and Cali, both of them making me look like a little short 12 year old:

Julian found little cute sand dollars!

Julian tried to teach me to skip rocks, I didn't succeed and my arm was sore for 3 days:

Noelle, my future sister:

The coolest other girl named Cali ever:

Hanging out in the elevator with my funny little friend, Andre:

On the balcony with the girls:

The boy team, losing at Mad Gab, you can see the defeated look in their eyes...:

The Girl Team, kicking butt:

Reading on the beach, such a fun place to read:

Speaking of reading, I read the first book of "Pretty Little Liars", which is really really good, even better than the show!  And when I finished it, I went to the store and bought "Eat Pray Love" which I haven't finished yet but I will soon.  It's so easy to read and you kind of fall in love with the author after about the first sentence.  I recommend it for sure!

Okay I guess that's it.  Oh yeah, I leave Thursday to go to San Antonio again!!!! Yayyy! And I think this time, Julian gets to come!

Bye!