The two sinks were overflowing with soap, creating a mess of bubbles all over the floor.

The culprits also left a suspicious looking pile of toilet paper in one of the stalls.

This is exactly why I stay in my dorm room, people.

Anyways not so much has happened recently besides spring/summer seemed to start out of nowhere!!  Going to a school near the beach has its perks although I have yet to go!

Seriously how many people can say this is less than 20 minutes from their school?!

But still this weather has been SO relaxing and nice.  My favorite thing now is to relax on this bench outside of the gym afterI finish my workout and call my parents to chat. I even instagrammed it the other day

I also randomly took a picture of my lunch the other day because I realized I haven’t shared a picture of one of my gourmet dorm meals yet. haha But yeah this is what my lunches usually look like, sometimes I’ll switch it up and have an egg white, jelly, and cheese sandwich or if the dining hall has salmon then I’ll be alll over that!

Turkey, lettuce, and mustard on a 100 calorie sandwich thin with a side of cukes, carrots, and Special K popcorn chips

Another meal I had this week- the chicken cobb salad with avocado from Panera. OMG this was sooo good!  My dad was down here near my school this week because of his work so we got to hang out a lot this week which was awesome! Anyways on Thursday we went to Panera before he had to leave and I got this. Definitely a new favorite, although avocado is one of those foods where I’m still kinda iffy on.  In sushi I’m fine with it, but by itself? Eh, it’s too mushy for me or something I don’t know.  But in this salad it was pretty good! I just cut it up into tiny pieces.

Sorry for the random crap in the background, My desk is where I eat 90% of my meals unfortunately lol

Another awesome thing this week was when my dad was dropping me off back at my dorm after we got sweet frog.  We were passing another dorm building and saw this girl walking all these dogs! Keep in mind this was around 10:15 at night. Anyways the one leash had 3, yes 3, wiener dogs on it! So cute.  I look to the other leash to see what kind of dog that was…only to find out it wasn’t a dog at all! It was a teacup pig!!!! My dad and I freaked out. It was so stinking adorable!   I felt weird taking a picture but I just had to because one of my roommates is obsessed with teacup pigs and she freaked when I showed her!

SO CUTE!!! Look at his little harness leash!

That’s pretty much about all the exciting things that happened this week.  I cannot believe that this is our last full week of classes already! It’s crazy to think that 2 years of college has already gone by and that I’m halfway there!

Have a great week!

°o° Clarice

The top step is the last one I had sure footing on…
Any way not to attempt to study and find food…. hhmmm 1:30 and I am the only one out of bed.

Things You Need

1. Sriracha sauce.  Everything tastes infinitely better with good condiments.  Don’t skimp and get the cheap Asian sweet chili sauce – it’s not the same.  
2. Black leggings.  Great at hiding how much weight you’ve gained.  Also, quick to throw on when you wake up 5 minutes before class.  Bonus: matches all of your t-shirts and sweatshirts!
3. A reliable, lightweight laptop.  Duh
4. A watch.  Will come in very handy when you write an exam in a class without a clock.
5. A water filter.  
6. A fake ID (substitute: upperclassmen friend).  For the procurement of adult beverages.
7. Make-up remover wipes (girls).  These are a life-saver when you get home at 3 in the morning and just want to pass out.
8. Presentable tote bag (girls)/non-flashy backpack (guys).  Sometimes you need to go to professional events and will have to carry stuff with you.
9. Emergency credit card.  For “emergencies” such as buying a last minute sorority formal dress or getting bottle service.
10. Dry shampoo.  Sometimes you just don’t want to shower in the morning.  This will ensure that you don’t look like it.
11. Ear plugs.  For when your roommate starts blasting Maroon5 at midnight and you have an exam the next morning.
12. Voice-recording app.   Because let’s face it, who can actually stay attentive/conscious for 80 minutes of Biology 101.
13. Industrial-sized garbage bags.  Multiple uses (packing up dirty clothes to send home, picking up the leftover McDonald bags in your room, etc.)
14. Lamps (and spare light bulbs).  Most college dorms have very poor lighting, and eventually you’re going to have to read your textbooks/notes.
15. Throat lozenges and Emergen-C.  Just like how elementary school was a breeding ground for head lice, college is an ideal environment for the spread of cold and flu bacteria.  Be prepared.
16. Shower flip-flops.  You DO NOT want to shower barefoot in communal bathrooms.
17. Multiple bath towels.  Because there’s nothing worse than having to run back to your room naked and dripping wet.
18. Mattress pad.  This is a necessity, unless you enjoy sleeping on a wooden block.
19. Mini-fridge.  Great for storing snacks, stolen fruit from the dining hall, and late-night Red Bull.
20. Nail polish (girls).  A great tool for procrastination
21. Professional tools: A padfolio, a set of business formal clothes, and one pair of low black leather heels (girls)
22. 700W microwave.  Most college dorms don’t allow open-range cooking appliances, so this pretty much your only option.
23. Lysol wipes.  Because at some point you’re going to have to clean your room.  These cut through grime and grease, AND disinfect 99.9% of germs.
24. Personal information (SIN, passport photocopies, health insurance cards, etc.).  Always a good idea to have these handy in case of emergencies.  Or when you eventually have to file taxes.  YAWN.
25. Printer paper.  Most colleges have printers, but for some reason are always running low on ink or paper.

Things you don’t need:

1. Books “for fun”.  With all the assigned readings for various class, you will be up to your eyeballs in books.
2. A land phone.  Apparently people still bring these to college.
3. A printer.  The printer industry is a cartel, I swear.  There is no possible way that the ink will last through an entire semester, and when you try to buy more ink, SURPRISE, replacement cartridges cost 700% of the cost of the printer.
4. More than one stuffed animal.  I’m sorry, but your bed will be tiny.
5. Fitness equipment.  The gym is free, why bother taking up precious room with dumbbells you likely will only use twice?
6. Magazine subscriptions.  See #1.  Magazines will just morph into excess clutter and/or a surface for you to doodle on while you call your parents.
7. 88-color eye shadow palette.  Girls, time is of the essence in college, especially in the morning.  Just slap on some concealer, mascara, lip gloss and go.  If you’re trying to impress a guy with your glittery purple smokey-eye, trust me, he won’t even notice.
8. School supplies.  Leave your protractors, Sharpies, and rulers at home.
9. Clothing that display the name of your college.  No one in your class needs to be reminded that you go to the same school as they do.
10. T-shirts from high school.  Nothing says freshman like “homecoming 2013″.
11. Candles.  They seem like a nice idea, until your homework catches on fire.
12. Multiple pairs of nice shoes.  All of your shoes will eventually get ruined.  Minimize the damage by only keeping one pair of expensive shoes at school at a time.
13. Fancy kitchenware.  You have plenty of time after college to indulge in your inner Martha Stewart.  Plus, like shoes, most of your kitchenware will eventually be broken/missing.
14. Hand towels.  There is no reason anyone in college needs hand towels.  It’s just one more thing to wash and dry.
15. New textbooks.  The textbook industry, like the printer industry, is a cartel.  They change editions every year by switching around some diagrams, and charge you $200 for $2 worth of paper.  Buy used or international editions where possible.  Besides, many professors only test on their lecture notes.
16. Bottled water.  Get a water filter so you don’t have to lug boxes of water back to your room.  Most bottled water is just glorified tap water anyway.
17. Nice linens.  Let’s be honest, you’re going to be tired and/or depressed at some point in the semester and will end up eating chocolate in bed.

The fact is, you can do almost whatever you want in a dorm. I’ve had water gun fights in a dorm. (Okay, we might have got in a little bit of trouble for that one. But that was only after we switched from water guns to buckets of water.) You can prank each other. I once helped take apart all the furniture in a friend’s room and reassembled it in the bathroom. (Keep it simple and not too messy, and everyone will laugh it off.)

You can make a lot of friends in a dorm, especially your freshmen year. These friends will make the rest of your time in college a lot more enjoyable. They might even become friends that you’ll keep for life. One of my best friends I met in a college dorm, and it wasn’t until my junior year in college. I suggest you be careful about dating people in your dorm though, especially someone that lives on the same floor as you. If/when it goes south and you break up, it’s going to make the rest of your time in that dorm a lot more miserable. You won’t be able to avoid them because you live so close together. If you share the same friends then you might lose some friends as well. Date someone from another dorm if at all possible.

Dorms make life a lot easier. All you have to worry about is your little space. Everything else is taken care of for you. You may have to share bathrooms, but you don’t have to clean them yourself. The food on campus may get a little repetitive. Some schools don’t have the best cooking. But there is usually enough variety that it doesn’t get that repetitive as long as you aren’t too picky about your food. The nice thing about this food is that you don’t have to cook it, and you don’t have to clean up after you eat. This goes a long ways to making up for what the food is lacking.

I chose to live on campus most of my time in college because it forced me to be around people. I was afraid that if I moved off campus, I would hide in my apartment and not be very social. It was also easier to not have to deal with bills going to different people. I paid the school everything and didn’t have to worry about more than one or two bills a quarter.

Of course the downside to dorm life is sharing a room with someone else. Especially if you don’t get along with that person. For that reason I had a single room most of the time that I lived on campus other than my freshmen year. That made the experience even more enjoyable. I had to share a bathroom still, but I had a normal sized bedroom to myself all the other times.

Living in a dorm has a lot of benefits, and some downsides. Life is generally simpler, but at the same time you have a lot less personal space. I like dorms myself, but that might have been more from having a single room to myself. If I had had a roommate for multiple years I might have rethought my position and moved into an apartment sooner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m94dizzZqxE&feature=youtu.be

Please, take a quick moment to watch it — it’s not long — but this is what this week’s blog is about. 

This guy lives in the smallest apartment in America, located in New York City. The space is 78 square feet, which is 6.5 x 12 feet. So as we were watching the video, we were supposed to be posting our thoughts to this class forum that is similar to Twitter. My classmates were posting things like this: 

“I would never have friends over, I would get claustrophobic! I would hang out at a park or something in the open air.”

“this guy is mental”

“how does he live like that and not go crazy”

But while I was watching the video, I was comparing it to my dorm room in Moore Hall. I noted the organization this guy has to have just to fit all of his stuff in this tiny apartment, and again, I thought of the careful organization that I have arranged in my dorm.

When I got back to my room after class, I logged on to the housing website at UNC Charlotte and looked up the dimensions for a dorm in the Highrises. Each room is 15 x 10, and after some math from my smart roommate (since I am terrible at it), she told me that it is around 150 square feet, and then, when divided by two (since we share the room) it comes out to 75 square feet.

75 square feet in this room is my space for my bed, my desk, my wardrobe, my dresser, and my mountain of belongings. And I’m comfortable. Granted, my space is more open, because of Ashley’s side, than this guy’s tiny apartment in New York, but if I had to, all of the stuff in this dorm room currently could easily fit into this apartment. 

And what my classmates were writing bothered me. And I know they didn’t think about what they were writing. But if this guy is “mental” to live in a place this small, then what are we? Do we really need more space than he has? Why do we feel the need to dwell in spacious houses? It’s really just a waste of space. This man is not a family of six, and maybe the guy doesn’t have or need heaps of personal possessions. And neither do we, really… 

Have a great week, readers!

I keep my schedule very full, or what seems full at home so that when I have free time I really feel lucky to steel it. I have slept most of the day, off an on. No reason to go anywhere and nothing uber important to do. I have stuff I could do but nothing of emergency, and it is lonely without my dog and cat and couch… Anyway in my sleepy boardum I did not go down to get dinner so I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, something foreign to my German, Polish, Macau, and Thai roommates….. The German explaining that a mother would never send her kid to school with something sweet on their sandwich.. Poor German kids, I should start a charity.. Just joking. Anyway I document this even to share with you all.

Now when I say tackle the fridge you really must be ready for everything to fall and any unknown sticky substances or smells… The clean it out every Tuesday and if your name and a good date are not on your stuff then it gets thrown out. But instead of throwing it out they sit it next to the fridge for 3 days; eggs, milk, yogurt, pizza, soup, juice, and other really strange things…. It has been over 27 hours since the cleaning of the fridge when I took this picture an hour ago….

” width=”225″ height=”300″ class=”size-medium wp-image-1770″ /> It is almost impossible to get normal bread here, and do not even think about getting sandwich meat…

Spreading knife

grab the peanut butter

leave your room and walk all the way down the hallway to battle the fridge

back to the room…

spread peanut butter

get the jelly out and chop it up before you can spread it.

mmmmm sandwich

Then back to tackle the fridge and put your jelly back. I keep mine in a special silver bag that no one else’s things can touch.

Depending on the definition a college freshman could have anywhere from zero to several hookups over the course of a year. Hookups, at least from what I’ve witnessed, are most often the result of alcohol. One or more persons drank a little too much at a party or a get-together, and it lead to more. Sometimes they’d just make out on the couch, other times they’d go find a bedroom.

While it might seem like a great idea right at that time to hook up with someone. The next morning usually reveals the truth. You could be filled with gut wrenching guilt. You might feel shame. I’ve even seen people that thought the hookup would lead to them going out. Sadly, you need both parties to want a relationship for it to happen. Besides, starting a relationship because of a hookup is a terrible idea.

A hookup might not always result from alcohol. Sometimes two people just want to get together without any desire for commitment. They get together, do their thing and move on. Maybe they’ll meet up again later. Maybe they won’t. Sometimes it might become something more.

Hookups happen. They can happen anytime, anywhere. You don’t always have to be drinking either. Think about it before you end up somewhere that it might happen. Do you want to have hookups? If not, then you should probably try and avoid putting yourself in a position for them to happen. Take some friends with you that will stop you from making bad decisions if you’re going to be drinking.

If you’re okay with the idea of hookups then just be safe about it. Don’t go somewhere you don’t feel comfortable. Let someone know where you’ll be. And be smart about it. If you plan on hooking up, make sure nothing comes out of that hookup that you’ll really regret.

Roommates. Proof that there is a devil and he hates you. How did roommates start? That’s a good question. I often imagine some college president sitting in his office trying to figure out how to make college more miserable for students. After much thought he came up with shared dorm rooms. Throw two people that don’t know each other into a tiny room barely fit for one person and tell them to share the space. Deny them any privacy. Then make sure that they’re on different waking and sleeping schedules. Perfect.

Honestly though, not all roommates make you want to throw them out a window. I only had one out of three that I felt that way about. The other two were perfectly normal, pleasant people. I didn’t become best friends with either of them, but we respected each other enough to get along just fine. We would say hey to each other when we entered the room or saw each other, but we didn’t carry on long conversations. We never hung out besides sharing a dorm room. But to me that was just fine. I had other friends that I knew that I hung out with all the time.

Why do you even need roommates? It’s good for you to understand that you’re not always going to have a comfort zone. Things change, and your life growing up in your parent’s house is not the way of the world. You won’t always have your own space. You’re often going to have to share space with someone else. It’s not usually a bedroom, but once you survive a dorm room , you can handle anything. Understand that in life you have to make sacrifices, this is one of those times. Grow from it, learn from it, and it won’t be such a bad experience when it’s over. Especially if you end up becoming good friends with your roommate.

When filling out your dorm application, the most important thing to remember is honesty. Don’t try to fib about the kind of person you are in regards to sleeping, studying, music, etc. Unless you honestly believe you’re going to go to bed at 10 every night and be up by 6, I wouldn’t put that down. Like your music a little louder than normal? Than I would suggest that you say that if it’s an option. They try to pair you with someone that filled out their application similarly to yours. They won’t always get it perfect.

Regardless of the type of person they pair you with remember that being courteous to them can go a long way towards them being courteous to you. Respect you’re roommate and they’ll probably respect you back. You can only control your own actions, not theirs. Don’t complain about what they do if you aren’t doing all you can to make your room a pleasant space. Talk to your roommate from time to time. Especially early on. This may be hard if you’re shy, or they’re shy, but don’t assume you won’t be friends until you’ve tried to get to know them a little bit. And if you turn out to be different people, not to worry. That doesn’t mean your dorm experience will be bad. Just treat each other well and you’ll probably have a good year regardless.

Your roommate may become a lifelong friend. I know a lot of people that have become great friends with their roommates. If this happens you might choose to share a dorm room with them again, or move into an apartment together. You’ll stay in touch with that person throughout college and for many years after college. This is one of the great things that can come out of college dorms.

Not all roommates work out though, some of them are just not nice people. If this is the case, and you’ve honestly tried to be friendly and respectful to them, your next step is to see your RA. They’ll ask you for some details about the room arrangements. What in particular is your roommate doing that you find so intolerable? Do they stay up late and make noise while you’re sleeping? Do they have bad hygiene? Always have their music up? They’ll next ask you if you’ve tried to talk to your roommate about the things that are bothering you. If you haven’t, they’ll send you back and ask you to talk to them and see if that will solve the issues. If it doesn’t go back to your RA, tell them you tried, and then your RA will go talk to your roommate. If neither of these work then you might have the option to switch rooms if it gets too bad. But that’s generally a last resort option.

The best piece of advice I can offer is this. Respect your roommate as an individual and they’ll very likely return the favor to you. It takes both of you to work together and make it a pleasant year. If it’s going poorly, chances are it’s not just your roommate who is to blame. Remember this the first day you move in, that person you meet could very well become a good friend. Don’t ruin the chance by not giving it a chance.

RA’s are people too. They like to play and have fun. They just have to also take responsibility for a bunch of college students and keep them from killing each other or themselves. Seem simple enough? It’s not. They have to talk to residents about breakups, bad grades, terrible roommates, etc. They’re both counselor and enforcer. They basically get to take care of you because the school thinks you can’t take care of yourself. And for a lot of the freshmen, they’re right. Left alone a lot of freshmen would run wild with their new freedom and drive the other residents crazy.

To be honest, most RA’s don’t want to deal with the stupid things you decide to do. As long as it doesn’t lead to them having to fill out more paperwork on you, they’ll probably leave you be. Want to do something stupid? Do it in the privacy of your dorm room. Out of sight, out of mind. They have no desire to go out of their way to try and get you in trouble. That’s just more work for them.

If you drink in your dorm room, don’t kid yourself that they don’t know about it. They know all about where you’re probably hiding it. If they wanted to catch you with it, they could. Stay in your dorm room, and you’ll probably be fine. (I’m not encouraging you to do these things, but if you so choose then try not to get in trouble.) If you’re wandering the halls drunk, high, or otherwise under the influence of something, chances are you will get caught, and you will get in trouble. Their bosses expect a certain number of write-ups for the students under their care. No one is perfect, and an RA that lets everything slide is obviously not doing his or her job correctly. Don’t push your luck.

An RA is also responsible with providing his or her residents with a certain number of activities per school year. Some of them really enjoy this part of their job. They’ll spend a lot of time trying to figure out a great activity that everyone will enjoy, and they’ll plan it out and implement it. This might be a large event featuring tons of food and lots of little social games. Other RAs will simply tell everyone to come outside on a Friday and play frisbee or some other sport. Not much thought put into it, but it works. The whole purpose of these activities is to build a community between all the members. They want their residents to get along, get to know each other, and hopefully make friends with the people that they live with. It may seem kind of lame, but if you enjoy getting to know those around you, then it makes perfect sense.

In short, your RA is your guide while you live in college dorms, especially for your freshmen year. Ask them anything you need to know about college, classes, roommates, etc. It’s their job to be available for you to talk to. Don’t hesitate to seek them out if you need help. Use them as the resource they are and your life will be a lot smoother and probably more pleasant.

Ha. Wrong. So very wrong.

For those who do not know:

suite-style= two rooms conjoined by a small bathroom (usually just the shower and toilet, sinks are outside in each room) with two people to a room.

community-style= one room not even suitable for a convict you share with a roommate and no bathroom. You share a hall bathroom (similar to gym bathrooms in high school) with about 50 other people. Supposedly they’re cleaned M-F. This is false.

I live in a community-style. Trust me when I tell you I know the truth. If you’re in college and in a community-style, then consider this a shared burden post. If you’re not in college and don’t know about suite-style/community-style, consider this you’re enlightenment. And if you’re getting ready to choose which dorm you want for college, heed my warnings and GO SUITE-STYLE.

Expectations:

Your dorm will look pretty nice. Since it’s community-style, it’s one of the older ones but you think that it’ll still be pretty decent and bearable.

 Reality:

Your dorm is reminiscent of a prison in Detroit.

^This is my dorm hall. I’m serious. I live in that building.

Expectation: 

You figure the lounge would be a fun, nicely decorated place to hang out and go to hall social events at. After all, everyone does see this place!

 Reality:

Jk your lounge is actually a retirement home waiting room from the 80′s.

Expectation:

Your room will be an acceptable size. Not huge but not too small, decent and workable.

 Reality:

Yup that’s it. Nope, there isn’t any more. Yes, that is the door edge you see at the bottom right of the photo. That’s all there is. For two people.

Expectation:

So the room sucks but you hope you and your roommate can match colors and spruce up the place! Give it some life and color.

Reality:

The only thing you matched was your white plastic mattress covers.

Expectation:

Your roommate will be clean, organized, and hygienic in their side of the room just like they claimed to be in the emails you sent each other over the summer in a futile attempt to get to know each other.

Reality:

Better have your prayer beads ready to ward all that junk from your side as well as the roaches, mice, and forest critters that inhabit residence halls.

Expectations:

The bathroom will be your only saving grace at this point. You’re not expecting luxury but you’d like something at least sanitary.

Reality:

Life sucks.

While life up until August 2012 did not prepare me for the realities of college, and many of my expectations were shattered, these indignities are small sacrifices and tribulations most people endure freshman year. Hopefully, hopefully, as an upperclassman you will be able to move into a single room, in a better dorm, with better bathrooms, and a cleaning staff that doesn’t lie about how many times they clean.

Happy dorming y’all!

xxxx,

College Girl

PS: don’t forget Lysol, Clorox wipes, and lots of hand sanitizer.

PPS: WASH YOUR SHEETS

I handed the situation off to my boyfriend, who opted to “set him free”, which entailed transferring Roachy to a cup (which I now want to throw away) and throwing him off the second floor fire escape.  He landed on the cobblestones below, and as of 11:15 pm, he was still there, though he did kick a leg out the last time we checked.

I had almost recovered from the trauma when I went to go take out my contacts in the bathroom, and saw a little black bug crawling around by the door. I squealed, and proceeded to climb the banister to the third floor like a monkey.  Thankfully a couple of my housemates were alerted to the problem, and I let someone else deal with smashing the offensive roach with a shoe.

Which was probably a good thing, because this one was much more active—one girl thought it was the same roach that crawled through her room the night before, which she sprayed with hairspray in an attempt to paralyze it. He got away, but moving much more slowly.

All in all, death by the instant smack of a shoe seemed much more humanitarian than a combo of hairspray-toxin paralysis and my boyfriend’s concept of “setting it free”, by which he apparently meant into free-fall.

In my current paranoia, all I can think about is creepy crawling roaches.  I feel like I have to constantly look at my feet to make sure there aren’t any roaches underfoot.

I guess its time to call the exterminator. Or move.

So, I came upon the realization that it has been quite some time since I payed any attention to this blog.

After blowing the dust off and brainstorming a bit, I thought of a great topic. Procrastination.

That nasty word comes up in every one of our daily lives, whether it be putting off calling that one-really-annoying-friend-that-always-asks-to-hangout, or if it’s more important, for instance, that huge-essay-you’ve-had-all-semester-to-do-that-is-now-due-tomorrow. We avoid talking about it at all costs, but it lingers there, never leaving.

Now, you may be confused as to how this relates to dorm life. If you are, you have obviously never lived in a dorm.

Living in a house, or even an apartment, is incredibly different than living in a dorm. Yes, there are some similarities but all-in-all they are pretty darn different. For one, in dorms you have these things called roommates. You may have them in a house or apartment as well, but most likely you aren’t in such close-quarters with them as you are in a dorm. You will have much more privacy and options off-campus to separate yourself from what is going on and focus on important things, like that huge-essay-you’ve-had-all-semester-to-do-that-is-now-due-tomorrow. You can lock yourself away in an office or your room, and work on whatever it is you need to do in silence. Another way that this differs from dorm life is that okay, we all know sometimes that even in a house you can be distracted. In most cases, you can just easily step outside or maybe walk to the back porch and that  will probably help. If you are in a dorm, the quickest way to get outside is probably a window, and I doubt you’ll be happy to find that you are most likely a few stories up, very far from solid ground.

How does this all have to do with that word-we-do-not-speak-of?

Plain and simple. It is human nature to be attracted to excitement. Even if you don’t like your dorm buddies, you will most definitely be distracted if any sort of social activity is going on that close to you when you’re trying to focus on work. So, I’ve come up with a few easy steps to avoid procrast- you know.

1. Find your “happy place”

And do this at the beginning of the semester. That way, you aren’t in a super stressful situation and having to figure out where you can go for some privacy. Look around. Get to know your dorm building. You may think your roommate is cool, and going to be super quiet when you’re trying to study, but those ones tend to sneak up on you and hit you in the head with a “I’m just having a few friends over, we’ll be quiet” type of situation. (Hint: They will never be quiet – I promise)

If you don’t think your room is a suitable place to do your homework, find a study room. It’s guaranteed every dorm building will have one.

2. Make your productive soundtrack

Some teachers – and maybe some parents – like to argue that you can’t study with music on. For some people, like me, this may be true. Which is why I have found a good alternative. It doesn’t have to be music per say, just some sort of constant noise. I like to listen to the rain, so I just have to look on Youtube and there are plenty of options. I can find links to heavy thunderstorms, or just steady rain with light music in the background. One of my friends from class likes to listen to dead noise in order to focus. I, for one, find it a bit creepy, but if it works for you go for it.

3. Be upfront with your roomies

I may have over exaggerated a little with talking about terrible roommates…they can be pretty awesome. And they most likely will be. But you need to stand your ground early on and let them know your schedule. If you know you have a big test, or project, due in a few weeks, tell them you will need the dorm to be quiet on certain nights so you can study. That way, if they want to have their boyfriend stay over the night before your essay is due, it won’t affect you.

4. Your life is as clean as your room is…sort of

This may sound silly, but I’ve never said any truer words. I’m really a messy person, as much as I hate to say that. I love to take forever to look prim-and-proper, and I like to think of myself as having my shhhh together, but my room likes to prove otherwise. When I move in each semester, I promise myself that I will keep my dorm clean but give it a week and I’ve forgotten what the floor looks like.

You may wonder why this has anything to do with procrastinating, and it really doesn’t. Up until you have to do what you really need to do. If I have an essay to write, and my room is a mess, the first thing I’m going to do is clean my room. I’m not sure why, but when you’re putting off something you really don’t want to do, you end up prioritizing in order of bad, to worse. I hate cleaning my room, but I hate it much less than writing an essay.

Avoid this nonsense. Keep your room clean. And everything else for that matter.

5. School > Partying…it may not seem like it on a Friday night, but I promise, it is

No matter where you are, this one is going to be a problem – especially between the ages of 18 and 22. College is your time to shine – and by shine I mean party-your-pants-off (I apologize for the cheesiness – it’s the nicest I can word it.) Do not let this get in the way of your schoolwork. As much as you can, get things done early. That way, if the “party of the year” takes place the Saturday before a big test on Monday, you can go. That way you don’t have to go through the torture of watching your roommates get all cute while you cry yourself to sleep in sweats surrounded by flashcards.

Katrina’s reasoning for why today is the first sighting we’ve had? Today is the first warm day in a while, and that’s why Roachy felt more active today (yes, I’ve named the loathed creature).

My reasoning? My boyfriend taunted it yesterday.

He dropped a piece of candy on the floor, and then picked it up and threw it in the trash, saying he wasn’t going to leave it for “the roach”.  I immediately pounced on his word choice.  “The” roach?  As in, he had seen a roach in here before?  He backpedaled in light of my approaching hysteria, and went with a strategy of deny, deny, deny.

But now, about 20 hours later, there is a roach trapped under a box Katrina and I use to make buckets of punch with.

Our first reaction when we spotted it peeking out from her desk was to jump up on our respective beds.  As Katrina is an environmental science major, I expected her to make it go away, but somehow I ended up standing on her desk chair with a tiny cup to trap it in.  I rethought the situation and opted for the bucket.  We secured it with one of my heavy Shakespeare books, and the skirmish is now at a standstill.

Life lesson?  Never taunt a roach! I’m just hoping Roachy doesn’t call for reinforcements.  Katrina’s scientific perspective is that it is doubtful he will be able to communicate with his friends while trapped on a box.

But she also looked it up and discovered that roaches are not solitary creatures.  Here’s to hoping I won’t have to get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night tonight!

I took one of those packaged uncooked refrigerated tortillas (mine is from Nona’s and local to Phoenix but tortilla land is good too!) pressed it on the old panini press flat and ended up with a great cracker crust that didn’t flake or break! I spread Nutella on it, broke it into four pieces and spooned a dollop of raspberry jam on each slice before sprinkling the whole thing with fresh blueberries!

Best midnight snack, tonight!

Everything is sort of blurring together at this point, so I can’t really remember what has happened in the last few weeks that I haven’t written about yet, so I will talk about the highlights I guess.

I mentioned last time that we were having Italian/Spanish/American night and that I was making brownies. Luckily, they turned out great! I was thrilled, as I usually make brownies from a box, not from scratch, and I had some trouble figuring out the ingredients in the grocery store. However, they came out beautifully and tasted delicious. By the next morning, they were gone. (Good thing I saved a few for my roommate and I) The Italians made lasagna from scratch, with the help of one of their mothers via skype. It was like heaven in my mouth. Lucia “made” sangria as well. I say “made” because she didn’t have time to make it from scratch so she bought sangria from the store and put fruit and some spices in it. No one knew the difference!

As for the progress in my project, I submitted my ethics form, and it turns out that I actually don’t need approval from the university because I’m not a PhD student. So that saves me some time. I am now about to start contacting schools to ask if they’ll let me give out my survey. I’m a little nervous because I’m not sure anyone will say yes. The reason for this is because they get requests like this all the time, and I can’t promise them anything, like some kind of incentive. But I have to try nonetheless. The other problem is that I don’t speak enough Lithuanian to have an intellectual conversation, so if any school does say yes, I essentially need a translator to come with me. My adviser suggested I attend Childline’s volunteer meeting that day and ask the group of students if anyone would be willing to help me. I don’t enjoy speaking in front of a group of people, but I’m getting better at it. (i.e. less nervous laughter, no voice shaking, actually making eye contact with people) So I got up there and said my spiel, telling everyone to think about it and get back to me at another time. (i’m not really expecting much) Just as I sat down on the bus on the way home, someone taps me on the shoulder and says, “you’re Katie, the American student, right?” One of the girls from the meeting sat down next to me and talked to me the whole ride home and offered to help. I was so thankful!

One Wednesday evening, a bunch of us got together to go to Akropolis and go bowling. Others planned to meet up later. Those who were with me were my roommate, 4 Italians guys and 3 Turkish guys. We arrived and….everyone just stood there like idiots. Finally my roommate went up to the desk to try to figure out how to book a lane. He asked us, how long do you want to bowl for? No one knew. He asked us how many lanes we wanted. Again, no one knew. So I stepped up and decided for them. One hour, two lanes. The guy told me that in 10 minutes, 2 lanes would open up, so we should go check our coats and get shoes. I told this to the group and everyone just stood there. I repeated myself, it was translated into Italian for further emphasis and everyone continued to stand there. “Alright guys let’s go get our shoes! C’mon, c’mon” I said, waving them to follow me. FINALLY everyone followed. The rest of the night went smoothly. We got about 1.5 games in that 1 hour period. My first game was atrocious, and I lost against everyone in my lane. The second game I got a few strikes and spares, and was in second (first was one of the Italians). We also had some food while playing, and others who planned to come eventually showed up and played pool.

Sunday was Easter, and I was feeling a bit down because it’s my favorite holiday, and I felt like it just like any other day. My mom suggested I dye Easter eggs, but most of the people on my floor are either Muslim or lapsed Catholics and I’m not a huge fan of dyeing eggs anyway. I was planning on making a carrot cake, but I couldn’t find all the ingredients in the Iki down the street the night before, so I had to make a trip to Akropolis on Easter, and that took up a lot of time. I also wasn’t feeling that great that day. So needless to say, I was not in a good mood. However, one of my Turkish friends asked if we wanted to go to a Turkish restaurant for dinner. I agreed, my roommate was being lazy and said no. I told him to call ahead and make sure it was open. He agreed, and we went.

Well, apparently he decided not to call, because we didn’t find out that the place was closed until we arrived and discovered this fact. So we ended up eating at Can Can pizza because it was closest. This just added to my feeling of discontent because it really made me feel like it wasn’t even a holiday. However, I was just glad to be around friends, even if most of them don’t celebrate Easter. After dinner, I went to Olandu to hang out with Stooph and her roommate. We were planning on going to karaoke that night as part of Stooph’s last hurrah in Lietuva. (she was leaving on Wednesday) When we stepped outside, it was SNOWING. On EASTER. I was infuriated. We ended up having a good time that night, visiting numerous packed bars, because apparently after spending time with their families, all the young people go out! By the time we headed home, the snow was so deep it was getting in my shoes, which tie up past my ankle. It was April 1st at this point.

Monday was a holiday, so I stayed home and watched Game of Thrones with Stooph, my roommate, and Polish neighbor. I then started working on my carrot cake. It took me about 2 hours to make, and even substituting vanilla sugar for vanilla extract, it was great! That night, we had a bit of a get together to celebrate Easter Monday Polish style. AKA eat and drink around a table. My cake was devoured, we had chocolate and drinks and many laughs. Somewhere around 1am, we decided to try to prank one of the Turkish guys. Now there are few back stories I have to explain first.

1. There has been a trend of pranking people while they sleep after people come back from partying. (usually around 6am or so) This all started when the Italians came back, went into one of the Turkish guys’ rooms, jumped on him, shook him, and yelled. This guy had not gone out that night, he was just innocently sleeping in his room. The next time they went out, this Turkish guy and one of the Italians did the same to the other Italian. And then the Polish guy. From the Polish guy on, every attack has been filmed and put on the facebook group page for the whole floor to see. Lately they’ve been more creative, using the old “put shaving cream in their hand and tickle their nose” trick, dropping clumps of shaving cream on the Slovakian guy’s face, and banging pots and pans. Luckily they have only targeted the men so far! But now everyone knows that if you don’t go out, you risk being woken up when they get back.

2. On April Fool’s day, the Turkish guy I mentioned earlier (the one we wanted to prank after the Easter Monday party), had given everyone sandwich cookies. I took one, and as I was eating it, I thought it tasted strange, but I couldn’t figure out if I liked it or not, so I kept eating it, trying to decide. It was minty, but not the kind of mint I had previously had in sandwich cookies. I also didn’t want to be rude and ask what it was. Well, turns out I should have, because the strange mint taste was TOOTHPASTE. I didn’t find out until after I had finished the cookie. One of the Turkish girls spit it out, but it was too late for me and a few of the guys. So we wanted to take revenge.

So the plan was, knock on their door, and when they come out, throw snowballs at them. I was skeptical from the beginning. He was bound to be on his guard after the prank.Turns out I was right. He never opened the door. So what happened with the snow that was collected? Someone started a snowball fight indoors. One of the Italians yelled, “STOP TO PUT THE SNOW!” (his English isn’t so great, but we call it Marcish because it’s like Marco’s own language..including “Twesday” which he wrote in the group page, meaning Tuesday, “barn” meaning burn, and “learn me” meaning teach me. He’s a good sport though, so he doesn’t mind the teasing by all of us) Anyway, no one stopped “putting” snow, AKA throwing snow, and even gathered more. Then someone got a can of shaving cream and started spraying it, tomato sauce was thrown, and then finally a bottle of dish soap. It was pure madness. The floor was like a lake, so obviously I fell about 20 times. Which resulted in the question by the Italians, “Katie, why you always fall down?” I don’t know, just help me up! All of this was filmed and posted on the group page. The next day, one of the people from downstairs asked us what was going on the night before, because she heard a lot of banging. I’m so surprised that the cleaning lady didn’t murder us all in our sleep. However, we did clean up all the tomato sauce and shaving cream. There was just a massive amount of water in the hallway. Here are some screenshots I took from the video:

“I just wanted to pee!” -Lucia

Poor Lucia wasn’t involved in the fight, but got water poured on her by Marco while she was in the bathroom stall

At least I wasn’t the only one to fall..

SO much shaving cream

Tomato sauce culprit

FIGHT!

“Open, please!” Vincenzo scaring everyone with the fire extinguisher (he didn’t plan to use it, luckily)

On Tuesday, my most notable accomplishment was having a nice conversation in Lithuanian with a taxi driver. I decided to sit in front this time on our way out, and somehow the driver figured out that I was American so he asked me questions like, “are you American?” “what year of study are you in?” Then I talked about my research project with him. He spoke slowly and clearly and was so nice! I tipped him a bit because it was actually very nice to have someone be patient with me and not switch to English. Essentially, it was great practice. My friends also had no idea what we were talking about, which is rare for me because they all have people to talk to in another language besides English, but I don’t. Everyone understands my mother tongue.

Besides the trend of posting videos of pranks on the group page, people have been taking embarrassing pictures on the group page. If any of you are friends with me on facebook, you may have been wondering why I had a picture of my friend Marco as my profile picture yesterday. Well, the other Italian, Vincenzo, took a picture of Marco eating a burger after a night out, and he just looks like he’s in pain. So almost everyone on the floor made this picture their profile picture. Stupid, yes, but also hilarious. Here is the picture:

So that’s all for now. Thursday, I’m off to Amsterdam, so I will be sure to update again when I return on Monday. Viso gero, folks!

I’ve been thinking a lot of my past year at school and although my classes might’ve not improved me and my work interfered with most everything, I love whom I’ve stumbled across. It’s been an learning experience from start to end. I’ve kinda been watching everyone grow and change.

Highs and Lows. My first day moving in, not only was I pissed I had a single and no roommate but I was stuck with avid party girls and a church girl in a suite no one wanted to clean. Who would’ve guess the church girl would’ve damaged me the most or did she help me? Maybe one day I’ll end up thanking her, she reminded me trust is just as fragile as a friendship. I grew dependent on her, told her everything, she was the girl I vented to and I think thats what I needed when I moved here. With her introduction I meet two amazing girls who I continue to hang out with and love dearly, both so unique with little quirks that remind me of how different and complex this world is. Then like what always happens, the truth finds a way to get to you, all those missing money incidents and sneaky backstories caught up. Especially when I saw her cheat on her boyfriend. This is when my other roommates come into play, with their words and questions, I uncovered everything I needed to know about church girl as a person, she was a lier, cheat and stealer. I forgave her with the benefit of the douth and didn’t confront her, I helped her relationship, listened to her vents and I continued being the best friend I could be knowing what I knew. Then I was starting to dance around the truth for her, and then when I needed her, she wasn’t there. I realized as I tried to explain my life, she was judging me and was more a distance friend. Soon after her scolding me over not telling her about my weekend as soon as she got home, I broke, I couldn’t lie for her and I couldn’t dance anymore. I let one of her lies be brought to light to her boyfriend. Luckily he stayed with her, but the amount of guilt I felt was unreal, i apologized more than enough and begged him to un hear what I let slip. Until, she attacked me via text, it’s funny because then i realized and did nothing wrong and this relationship wasn’t worth it. SHE LIED, CHEATED AND STOLE from me and others I cared about. Who is worth my trust after that? Why was I to help her lie so much when she lied to me too? And she had no idea how lucky she was, and needless to say he lost my respect staying with her. So I let it die, she claimed she still cared as I did slightly too but it wasn’t worth it. After that was when I realize how different everything is and how my other girls became “my girls.” Each one I love so dearly for their own quirks and we all seemed to have the same “dislike” for church girl, something I should’ve known from the beginning.

T, my little beauty, my fashion icon and my elephant companion. Her little laugh echoes in my head and lets just make it known, her friends are always hot stuff. I love her and D and truly hope she ends up happy with a guy that always treats her right. She’s essentially my idol and I’ve always been a tad envious, initially was a little intimidated of how perfect she was (first semester). 

J, her crazy friends she invites over who’ve helped me in binds are always great, and her need to yell at everyone whats not to love. she’s our only blonde and i think thats unique. 

B, she’s just so crazy, I love her life, so carefree and easy but I worry about her and she is a smart girl. I know one day she’ll figure it all out. I love thats she’s found love and I hope he doesn’t hurt her. she’s my whiskey go to girl and we just click when she’s coherent. 

C, so naive but always a sweetie. 

G and H, my two little darlings! I literally would do ANYTHING for! 

G, up every night with me, we are weird together, she’s seen me at my worst and is always there. She’s who I worry I’ll miss the most. A girl so fun and funny any and everyday of the week and has moves like a spanish girl. I hope she finds her bravery one day to find a true man, the one she has isn’t there forever and I hope she can have the balls to move out of her comfort zone one day. G is my entertainment but she’s been my rock this semester, always so supportive and I just can’t get enough of her. I think I’ve enjoyed her coming to me for help and I’ve seen her grow and mature over the year. 

H, I love how innocent she seems, how blonde she can be and how genuine she is. I feel awful for what she has gone through and I hope everything clears up in her life. She deserves greatness. I’ll admit, I love her boyfriend, soccer player, sweet, whiskey fan, facial hair, funny, chill, can’t vouch for much more but a great kid. I secretly hope they get married, i think they are made for each other, I love them that much as a couple. I also love to spoil her, she’s our baby, the newest addition and I want her to grow wings and fly.  

I feel alive with these girls and then again they’ve all driven me crazy. But I literally would do it all over again, I’m comfortable with them and they all are so sweet. I want them to move on in my life (like my clothes) and do what I do but I know they have their own stories brewing and I see the greatness in most of them. I want to stay up every night in the company of G and have dance parties with randoms every night, ply our music extra loud to the same songs for weeks. I know life meant for us all to meet and I know it’s going to be so hard moving out and on from these girls. Most are transferring and I don’t even know how this will work out but I’ll always remember surviving this hell of a dorm with these girls. I learned most importantly, time truly shows who the rockstars are! 

Now, let me make it clear, everybody does not drink, smoke, do drugs, have sex, etc, BUT the ones who do are much more visible then they were in High School. Unless you decide to commute, or live off campus, your first year (at least) will be spent living in dorms. And, let’s be honest, the person stumbling around in the hallways is more noticeable then the sober person doing their homework in the study lounge.

Sure, most colleges and Universities have a Substance-Free or Healthy living dorm (or floor) for those students who know they don’t want to participate in that shit. I applaud them for the effort, but even if you plan on living in such, I would suggest you take their promises of substance free housing with a grain of salt. After all, aren’t all dorms supposed to be ‘substance free”? The reality is that no matter what safeguards the University places on these dorms, they will always be the drunk who is put into sub-free living because His/Her parents caught him/her with alcohol or drugs the Senior year of High School and made living in Sub-free housing a condition of him/her going to college on their dime, or the kid who decides half-way through the year that he wants to go out and get it on.

I don’t want to sound like your parent. And if I said ‘Don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t do drug’ I would be a hypocrite as well, as I smoke, drink, and (rarely) do drugs. What I will say is make sure that you do what YOU want. People who say that peer pressure is nonexistent in college are bullshitting you, peer pressure is real and it can be hard to say no when your friends are handing you a beer. But, make your own choices, and live with them. Few people will judge you if you refuse to go out and drink, and those that do are, in my experience, not people you want to hang out with. Stick to your guns! If you take absolutely nothing else from this post, take that. Never let others tell you what is best for you, as that is something only you can tell for yourself.

And, if you do decide to participate in activities that may be dangerous  be safe about it. Know the risks, know your tolerance, and know your priorities. NEVER NEVER NEVER let your ‘party-life’ come before your education. In the end of the day, the buzz from alcohol will fade, while your education will last your entire life. It is a very delicate balance between fun and study, and while I have managed to maintain a good GPA while also going out and having a good time on the weekends, I have seen others- friends, classmates, random strangers- who have forgotten their education, their jobs, and their life goals in favor of just having a fun, drunk four years.